> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.spherecast.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Suppliers & co-manufacturers

> Model who supplies or manufactures your goods, their commercial terms, and how orders are split and timed.

## What this page is for

A **supplier** is anyone who provides your goods — a raw-material vendor, a finished-goods manufacturer, or your own plant. You model each one here so the engine knows who can source each product, on what terms, and how long it takes.

A **co-manufacturer** ("co-man") is not a separate kind of record — it is simply a supplier. The switch that matters is **External vs In-house**:

* **External** — an outside supplier or co-man. Products sourced from them get a **purchase order (PO)** — an order you send to buy or produce goods.
* **In-house** — your own production operation. Products sourced from it get a **work order (WO)** — an internal instruction to build the goods yourself.

That one flag changes what the plan generates: POs for external suppliers, WOs for in-house production.

## Key attributes

| Attribute            | Plain meaning                                                                                                        |
| -------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Name**             | The supplier or co-man.                                                                                              |
| **Active**           | Whether the supplier is in use for planning.                                                                         |
| **Currency**         | The currency their orders are priced in.                                                                             |
| **VAT**              | Value-Added Tax percentage applied to their invoices.                                                                |
| **Incoterm**         | The shipping/responsibility term (for example, FOB, DDP).                                                            |
| **Payment terms**    | How many days after invoice you pay.                                                                                 |
| **Pre-payment %**    | Share of the order paid up front.                                                                                    |
| **Lead times**       | Standard shipping, production, and clearance times, plus the shipping mode.                                          |
| **Production sites** | The warehouse(s) where this supplier produces or holds your stock.                                                   |
| **Order cycle**      | How often, and on which day of the month, POs are placed for this supplier. Overrides the product-level order cycle. |
| **Regions**          | Inherited from the warehouses this supplier connects to.                                                             |

## Per-product sourcing terms

A supplier can supply many products, and each product can have more than one supplier. The terms that vary by product live under each product's **sourcing options**:

| Term                 | Plain meaning                                                                                                                  |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Supply share**     | Percentage of orders routed to this supplier for this product. Shares must total **100%** across all suppliers of the product. |
| **Reorder multiple** | The pack or batch size orders round to.                                                                                        |
| **Prod. lead time**  | Production lead time for this product from this supplier.                                                                      |
| **Price breaks**     | Tiered pricing by quantity. The lowest tier's minimum is the **MOQ** (Minimum Order Quantity).                                 |

## How it affects planning

These fields shape the **timing, quantity, and split** of every replenishment order:

* **Order cycle** decides *when* an order can be placed. If a supplier orders on the 1st of each month, the engine batches demand to that date instead of ordering daily.
* **Lead times** decide *how early* the order must go out to arrive on time.
* **MOQ** and **Reorder multiple** decide the *quantity* — the engine rounds up to the MOQ and to the nearest multiple.
* **Supply share** decides the *split* — if two suppliers are 70/30, the engine routes that share of the volume to each.
* **In-house vs External** decides whether the result is a **work order** or a **purchase order**.

## Step by step: set up a supplier

1. Open **Settings → Supply chain network → Suppliers** and add the supplier.
2. Set **External** or **In-house** — this decides POs vs WOs.
3. Enter commercial terms: currency, VAT, incoterm, payment terms, pre-payment.
4. Enter **lead times** and shipping mode.
5. Set **Production sites** to link the warehouse(s) where they make or hold your stock. See [Locations & warehouses](/guide/network/locations-warehouses).
6. Set the **Order cycle** if this supplier orders on a fixed schedule.
7. For each product, open its sourcing options and set **Supply share**, **Reorder multiple**, **Prod. lead time**, and **price breaks**. See [Sourcing](/sourcing).

## Example

You buy a finished good from two external co-mans: a primary at **70%** supply share and a backup at **30%**. The primary has a **5,000-unit MOQ**, a 45-day production lead time, and places orders on the 1st of each month. When demand builds, Spherecast batches it to the 1st, rounds up to at least 5,000 units, and splits 70/30 across the two — generating **purchase orders**. If you later switch the primary to **In-house**, its share comes back as **work orders** instead.

> **Note:** A supplier's **Order cycle** overrides the product-level order cycle. If a product seems to order on the wrong day, check the supplier's cycle first.

Related: [Purchase orders](/guide/supply-planning/purchase-orders) · [Work orders](/guide/supply-planning/work-orders)