Tether flags supplier delays before they become stockouts

Tether flags you the moment a supplier delivery date slips, long before it becomes a stockout. It predicts the stockout date for each SKU at each warehouse and recommends a purchase or transfer when it sees one coming. Your team decides which recommendations to act on and places the orders itself.

Why a late shipment turns into a stockout

A supplier delay usually does its damage weeks after the date moves. The stock you planned around has not shipped yet. Meanwhile the units on your shelf keep selling.

Picture a reorder of Cotton Throws that was due before your busy season. The supplier pushes the ship date back. Nothing looks wrong yet because you still have stock on hand. The gap between the day you sell out and the day the new order lands is growing anyway.

Each week that gap stays hidden is a week you could have used to expedite, split the order, or move stock from another warehouse. The hard part for a procurement team is seeing the gap while there is still time to act.

Every purchase order is tracked from draft to delivery

Tether follows every order from draft to delivery in purchase order management. When a shipment slips, your forecast updates on its own. Tether syncs purchase orders with your ERP and shows how incoming stock affects your forecast.

Once the stock lands, Tether runs an automatic analysis and reconciliation of the initial plan against the actual receipt.

Every SKU gets a predicted stockout date

Tether predicts the stockout date for each SKU at each warehouse in inventory management.

Purchase order drafts appear the moment your coverage hits your reorder point. Coverage is the days of stock you have left. Each draft already respects your supplier minimums, lead times, and preferences.

Tether AI drafts purchase orders in the app

In the Tether app, Tether AI drafts POs and other changes for your team to work from. In purchase order management, every order arrives drafted. Your team shapes the plan and decides which drafts become orders.

Lead times that reflect how suppliers really deliver

You can base every reorder on what your suppliers have actually delivered and not on guesswork. You can also spot trends in past lead times and set expectations you can keep.

Tether tracks production time and shipping time separately so each estimate holds up. It also tracks on-time delivery and quality so sourcing sharpens over time.

If one supplier keeps running late, you have room to change course. Tether keeps multiple suppliers per product without losing track of who delivers what. You can split orders across suppliers by your own rules or draft each PO to your fastest, cheapest, or most reliable supplier. You can also plan around supplier holidays so a closure never catches you off guard.

The supplier lead times and purchase order guide covers supplier terms and order tracking in more depth.

FAQ

Does Tether place purchase orders on its own?

Tether predicts and drafts, and your team decides what to order. A recommendation becomes an order only when someone on your team accepts it and places it.

Is there a record of what changed and why?

The Tether app records each change Tether AI makes there in a visible edit log. Each entry shows who, what, why, before, and after.

Can Tether AI build me a regular report on my orders?

With standing reports, Tether AI builds a custom report with tables and charts on request. It then reruns the report on a schedule such as daily, weekly, or monthly.

Does Tether work alongside the ERP and 3PLs I already use?

Tether connects to the warehouses and 3PLs you already use, and your 3PL or WMS still runs the floor. You can run Tether as a planning layer on top of your ERP, as a replacement for an ERP you have outgrown, or as the foundational system for a brand with no ERP yet.

Do I need to clean up my supplier data before I start?

Our team handles the data migration and mapping for you, and no data cleaning is required. Implementation typically takes 2 to 4 weeks.