Inventory Management

Keep an automatic, real-time “paper trail” that makes audits easy

With Plex, you can pinpoint exactly where your inventory came from, where it is, what it was used for, and where it went. Every single transaction and shop floor operation is traced and recorded as a transaction in the system. You can know precisely who was on the floor, at what time, performing which operation, and much more. 

This precise track-and-trace process is a key advantage of the Plex system. You record inventory movements and activities at the manufacturing moment so you have documentation to refer to in the case of a recall, continuous improvement project, or audit. During audits, every piece of documentation is accessible and linked to the processes that it has completed. It’s no wonder that auditors love working with Plex customers.

Accurately manage inventory by “lots” with common characteristics and attributes

With Plex, you can maintain upstream and downstream genealogy, including very detailed information about your inventory, such as lot and heat data and critical lot-specific information such as Best By, Use By, and Sell By dates. You can define lot attributes with associated allowable values and tolerances for any product or raw material. And you can build flexible, custom certificates of analysis (COA), including lot and attribute data that is automatically filled in for industry, product, and specific customers.

Plex allows you to prevent the use or sale of inventory when lot attribute values are unknown or out of tolerance. You can also restrict or override tolerances of saleable products on a customer-specific basis, map lot attributes to inspection specifications, and manage how attributes are recorded on checksheets and COAs. Plex’s industry-leading traceability capabilities allow you to easily identify the inventory when required.

Digitize your materials with real-time precision

Plex includes fully-integrated barcode printing and reading capability for inventory, gage control, time and attendance, locations, user log-in badges and more. You can apply barcoded labels to packages and master units, with label data constructed automatically based on product, customer and destination. You can also use mobile devices to scan barcoded inventory tags.

You can associate specific label templates with customers, customer addresses or specific products. When packing for shipment, sophisticated logic automatically determines the correct label template based on product and destination.

Take complete control of your shipping and receiving processes

Plex’s color-coded shipping interface gives you an at-a-glance indication of releases requiring fulfillment, available inventory, and completeness of shipment preparation. You can then print shipping documents including packing lists, manifests, bills of lading, and customs papers. Plex makes this process simple by automating shipping tasks such as creating and posting accounts receivable invoices, generating and transmitting EDI advanced shipping notices (ASNs), and updating sales order, release, and balance due statuses.

With Plex, you can easily manage miscellaneous shipments of supplier returns, maintenance items, supplies, and equipment. You can also manage disposition and effects for product returned by a customer with automated RMA creation, tracking, and other downstream processes.

Deliver just-in-time and in sequence for your customers

Plex makes it possible to arrange the packing and truck loading of products in the correct line sequences that your customers specify. Our flexible, out-of-the-box sequenced delivery solution supports electronic data interchange (EDI), application program interfaces (API), and spreadsheet uploads. This solution allows you to quickly and unobtrusively adjust to changes that your customer makes on their production line.

You can use the same application to support multiple customers’ requirements, multiple plants, and production lines. Plex also provides support for packing, kitting, and pack and load variations as well as additional packing validation on a line-by-line basis. This includes integral label printing and shipping support.