Customer-owned & free-issue material
Same part.
Different owner.
Jems manages purchased and customer-owned material against the same part record. Record free-issue requirements in the manufacturing workflow without creating a duplicate catalogue part simply because a customer supplies it.
What free issue means
The customer supplies it.
You still need to manage it.
In manufacturing, free-issue material is supplied by the customer for use in their job. It may be a component, a set of parts or material that your team incorporates into a finished assembly. It still needs to be identified and handled within the job’s requirements, even though your business is not purchasing it in the usual way.
The part’s identity and its ownership are different pieces of information. If you buy a connector for one order and a customer supplies the same connector for another, the catalogue part does not need to become a different item just to reflect who owns it.
One part record
Keep the catalogue clear.
Keep ownership visible.
Jems retains the same part record while managing company-owned and customer-owned stock separately. Free-issue requirements can be recorded against the customer and order, helping your team keep the ownership context with the manufacturing work.
For example, your business may purchase a PCB assembly for one product while a customer supplies that assembly for their own order. The part remains identifiable in the catalogue, while the customer’s material and requirements are managed in their own context.
This matters during quoting as well as production. The assembly still requires the component, but your team needs to understand whether it is purchased or supplied. Explore quoting and costing to see how materials and operations connect.
Across the job
Ownership belongs
in the material plan.
Free-issue material sits alongside BOMs, stock, material requirements planning and works orders. A useful plan needs to account for the components required and the ownership of the stock involved, rather than treating every quantity of a part as interchangeable.
Jems also includes goods-in inspection, quarantine, customer returns and supplier returns. During an assessment, we review how your team receives, checks and handles customer-supplied material and demonstrate the relevant workflows.
Bring a job containing a mix of purchased and customer-supplied parts. We can follow the part records, requirements and ownership through a demo, then discuss your data, reporting and implementation needs. If you currently use duplicate part numbers to represent ownership, that is a useful example to bring.
Your questions
Free issue in Jems.
Do we need a separate part for free issue?
No. Jems retains the same catalogue part while recording ownership and free-issue requirements. Company-owned and customer-owned stock can be managed separately.
Is free-issue functionality included in Standard?
Yes. Customer-owned material and free-issue workflows are included in Jems Standard alongside quoting, stock, MRP and production. See the package and pricing.
Is this only for businesses moving from iCaps?
No. The workflow is relevant to manufacturers handling customer-supplied material, regardless of their current system. We also have a dedicated iCaps migration page for businesses considering that move.
Start with your workflow
Bring a real job.
See how it fits.
Tell us what you make, how you quote and what your team needs to track. We’ll walk through the relevant workflows and discuss migration, training and implementation with you.