These people work closely with customers, determine upcoming needs and then relay this information to production coordinators who schedule the work. At the same time, we are developing new methods to speed order processing. Our ability to process information quickly is a key to improving service. Each order is entered on the system when it is received at shipping. With terminals located throughout the facility, any user may call up an order and learn its current status.
Production coordinators use the system to schedule and prioritize orders.
Customer service people use the information to meet the needs of customers with changing needs. When a customer changes a request date, the change is immediately updated on the system. Once an order has a promise date, that date cannot be changed unless the customer is informed. In the last year, Smith has introduced PM's next generation, PM-2. Like PM, it allows the company to track each finishing order, plus all fabrication orders, the fastest growing segment of the company's business.