Open production report tracking by item, status, and ship date Shipment log and advance shipping notice capture Invoice handoff from logistics records to ERP registration Factory-to-office status coordination across time zones Filtered views by team role to surface relevant records

Pain points addressed

Manual CSV merges to reconcile US and India spreadsheets Lack of visibility between office and factory teams ERP usability gaps requiring separate tracking workarounds Dropped handoffs delaying invoice registration

Real-time source of truth shared across all teams Consolidated international communication in one base Operational visibility without status calls or email threads

Operations Supply Chain Accounting Manufacturing

Use Case

One live tracker for global manufacturing and supply chain handoffs

A global jewelry manufacturer replaced a tangle of emailed spreadsheets with a single Airtable base that surfaces open production reports, shipment logs, and advance shipping notice data in real time. Operations, Accounting, and factory teams in two countries share one source of truth.

The problem

Production status lived in a rotating set of emailed Excel files. Each week, the US office and India factory teams would independently update spreadsheets and then merge them by hand, a process that regularly surfaced duplicate entries, stale ship dates, and mismatched item-level pricing.

Accounting could not register invoices in their ERP until an advance shipping notice arrived, but notices were tracked separately and often delayed. Dropped handoffs between the factory team and the US office meant invoices queued up and operational visibility was effectively zero until someone sent a follow-up email.

What they built

The manufacturer built a consolidated Airtable base that serves as the live open production report. Every item-level record carries its status, pricing, and expected ship date in one place. Factory and US office teams write to the same records, so updates are immediately visible on both sides without a merge step.

A dedicated shipment log section captures advance shipping notices as they arrive, and Accounting accesses those records directly to register invoices in their ERP. Automated views filter records by status so each team sees only the rows relevant to their next action, reducing noise and missed handoffs.

The outcome

Cross-country coordination now happens inside a single base rather than across an email thread. The open production report is always current, and the time lag between a shipment leaving the factory and Accounting posting the invoice in the ERP dropped because the advance shipping notice record is visible the moment it is logged.

The manufacturer eliminated the recurring weekly CSV merge, removed duplicate data entry between factory and office, and gave leadership a real-time view of production status without waiting for a status call. The ERP continues to serve as the system of record for financials, with Airtable acting as the operational layer that feeds it.

Inside the solution

Manufacturing and supply chain orchestration

Quality & Manufacturing Operations

Operations

Open production report tracking by item, status, and ship date
Shipment log and advance shipping notice capture
Invoice handoff from logistics records to ERP registration
Factory-to-office status coordination across time zones
Filtered views by team role to surface relevant records

Manual CSV merges to reconcile US and India spreadsheets
Lack of visibility between office and factory teams
ERP usability gaps requiring separate tracking workarounds
Dropped handoffs delaying invoice registration

Real-time source of truth shared across all teams
Consolidated international communication in one base
Operational visibility without status calls or email threads

Operations
Supply Chain
Accounting
Manufacturing

ERP
Excel/CSV

Build out this use case

Global Manufacturing & Supply Chain Orchestration

Track every item in production on one live open production report (status, pricing, expected and revised ship dates, the factory building it, and the advance shipping notice that lets Accounting register the invoice) with role-filtered tabs so Operations, the factory desks and Accounting each see only their next action. Automations open the pre-production QC gate on new orders, put an item on QC hold the moment an inspection fails, flag the linked order for ERP registration as soon as a notice is logged, and email a Monday digest, while AI columns draft the production status line, the notice digest for Accounting, and the corrective action request to the factory.

Use this template

How it works

How to build manufacturing and supply chain orchestration on Airtable

Consolidate the open production report into a single base

Create one table where every item in production has a dedicated record with fields for item ID, status, price, and expected ship date. Migrate existing spreadsheet rows into Airtable so both factory and office teams write to the same source.

Build a shipment log linked to production records

Add a second table for shipment events and advance shipping notices, linked to the relevant production item records. When a shipment is logged, the linked record makes the notice immediately visible to the Accounting team without a separate communication step.

Create role-filtered views for each team

Set up views filtered by status and team so Operations sees open items, Accounting sees records ready for invoice registration, and the factory team sees items awaiting confirmation. Each team works from a focused view rather than the full table.

Connect the ERP handoff with a status field

Add a status field that Accounting updates when an invoice is registered in the ERP. This closes the loop in Airtable, giving the factory and logistics teams confirmation that the financial record is complete without requiring an email back.

Review and refine with weekly operational checks

Use a saved view grouped by ship date to run the weekly production review inside Airtable rather than assembling a report. Over time, add automations to alert team members when records move into a status that requires their action.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Airtable is designed to complement an ERP, not replace it. It works best as the operational coordination layer, where teams track real-time production status and logistics handoffs, while the ERP remains the system of record for financials and official inventory counts.

Airtable is a cloud-based platform, so all users with access write to and read from the same records regardless of location. Role-based views ensure each team sees the records relevant to their work without overwhelming them with the full dataset.

Existing CSV and Excel data can be imported directly into Airtable tables. Field mapping is done at import time, and records can be reviewed and cleaned inside Airtable before the base goes live, so teams do not lose historical production data.

Advance shipping notices are captured as records in a dedicated shipment log table, linked to the corresponding production items. Accounting can access the notice record directly to pull the details needed for ERP invoice registration without waiting for an email forward.

Yes. Airtable automations can trigger notifications when a record's status field changes, for example when a shipment moves from 'in transit' to 'delivered' or when an advance shipping notice is logged. Alerts can be sent to specific team members or internal channels.