Run your automotive parts exports with delivery, quality and traceability discipline
In the automotive supply industry, exporting is a continuous supply relationship, not a one-off sale: OEM and tier customers demand on-time delivery, part-level quality records and lot traceability. That discipline cannot ride on spreadsheets and disconnected programs; one missed deadline or one unrecorded non-conformance puts a multi-year supply contract at risk. Sighthem keeps the whole chain on a single platform, from finding customers to the proforma, from work orders to quality control, from lot-based shipping to customs and VAT refund files. When a customer audit comes, you do not scramble to assemble an evidence binder; the records are already in the system.
Reach OEM, tier supplier and aftermarket buyers
In the automotive supply business, a new customer is often an OEM or tier supplier with a long evaluation process; on the aftermarket side, the distributor network decides. Sighthem gives you targeted prospecting tools for both channels.
- Discover manufacturers and distributors in your target market by country, sector and product; confirm purchasing decision-maker emails with the discovery and verification service instead of writing to dead addresses
- Build segments by part family and send bulk email campaigns; use open and click data to keep interested buyers warm with email sequences
- Scan the business cards you collect at automotive trade fairs with the mobile PWA; OCR turns every contact into a lead in your pipeline, with no manual entry back at the office
- Talk to the foreign buyer in their own language and channel with the official WhatsApp API and phone calls with live translation, with every message and call stored on the customer card
Continuous orders and deadlines: a quote flow with OEM discipline
A relationship with an OEM or tier buyer does not end with one order; there are annual price agreements, revisions and quantities pulled batch by batch. Sighthem builds the quote-proforma-order chain around that rhythm.
- Turn the quote into a proforma and the proforma into an order in a single flow; set Incoterm, delivery terms and multi-currency correctly from the start so they carry cleanly into later documents
- Keep a record of every price and quantity change with revision history; in the annual price negotiation, which version was approved and when is never up for debate
- Capture buyer approval through the system; when the approved proforma becomes an order, quantity and price flow in without breakage
- Manage orders pulled in batches with partial shipments at line level; see how much of each item has shipped, the remaining balance and the time left to the deadline on one screen
Lot traceability: minutes, not hours, in a recall
When a part fails in the field, the buyer's first question is fixed: which lot, which shipments, which customers are affected? Sighthem prepares that answer at the moment of recording, not in the middle of the crisis.
- Track every production and goods-receipt batch in stock by lot number; which lot was reserved for which order and which shipment it left on is always on record
- Scan GS1 barcodes at goods receipt and at shipping to capture the lot without typing, eliminating misreads and skipped entries
- Use order-based stock reservation so a critical customer's batch is never lost to another shipment; a reserved lot stays with the order it was reserved for
- In a recall or customer complaint, pull the lot report; see the affected shipments, customers and remaining on-hand stock in a single list and narrow the action fast
Production and quality: from work order to non-conformance report
An automotive buyer audits the record chain, not just the part: which work order produced this batch, who inspected it, how was the non-conformance closed? Sighthem joins production and quality in the same record.
- Open work orders with a bill of materials (BOM); which raw material and semi-finished part went into which job is recorded at material level
- Record quality control per batch; the system issues a certificate of conformity for a passing batch and a non-conformance report for a failing one
- Link the non-conformance report to its work order, lot and order; show the buyer with records which batch was blocked
- Tie critical steps to manager approval with the production approval flow; an unapproved batch never enters the shipping queue
Purchasing and 3-way matching: the supply side on record
A parts supplier is also a buyer: steel, castings, plastic granules and fasteners flow in constantly. Sighthem runs the purchasing side with the same discipline, including incoming goods quality control.
- Raise purchase orders (PO) from the system and track the supplier account; what was ordered from which supplier and what was delivered lives in one place
- Compare the supplier invoice against the order and the goods receipt with 3-way matching; catch quantity or price discrepancies before payment goes out
- Run incoming material through quality control at receipt; with the incoming goods QC report, discuss which supplier caused problems in which batch based on data
- Keep raw material, semi-finished and finished stock in separate warehouses; run transfers between warehouses through the system, and import your existing stock list from Excel
Shipping, customs and the audit trail: one chain from document to report
The job does not end when the part is ready; shipping, customs and documents must run to the same quality standard. Sighthem carries the chain unbroken from shipment to VAT refund and leaves every step auditable.
- Bind the shipment to packages and pallets and generate the packing list from the system; run forwarder, container and demurrage tracking on top of the shipment record
- Keep the GTIP code on the product card and link the declaration to the shipment; track inward processing (DIIB) input, offset and commitment closure, and the VAT refund file, attached to the export transaction
- Issue the COMMERCIAL INVOICE for exports from the system; produce GIB-compliant UBL-TR e-invoices for domestic sales, working with your e-invoice integrator
- Before a customer audit, shape order, shipment, production and QC reports with the column picker and download to Excel; approval center records and revision history answer who-did-what-when with evidence
Segment your pipeline separately for OEM/tier and aftermarket channels. The two channels differ in sales cycle, pricing logic and documentation expectations; segmented campaigns and reporting only pay off when that split is built in from day one.
When lot, QC and approval records are kept on one platform from goods receipt to shipment, the pre-audit binder scramble ends. The order-production-quality chain an auditor asks for is pulled from reports in minutes and handed over as Excel.
If the lot is not recorded at the moment of shipping, you cannot isolate the affected shipments in a recall and are forced to widen the scope to everything you shipped. Make GS1 barcode scanning a mandatory step at goods receipt and shipping, and remove hand-written lot entries from the process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is a generic CRM not enough for automotive parts exports?
A generic CRM stops at tracking customers and opportunities; in parts exporting, that is where the real work begins. Deadline-driven continuous orders, part-level quality records, lot traceability, 3-way matching and the customs-DIIB-VAT chain are the operation itself. Sighthem keeps these steps in the core of the product, not as add-ons; the sales record moves through the same chain as the production, quality and shipment records.
What does the system give me in a recall?
Because every batch is tracked by lot number through stock, reservation and shipment, entering the problem lot shows you the affected shipments, customers and remaining on-hand stock in a single report. Since you can narrow the scope to lot level, you are not forced to recall everything you shipped. GS1 barcode scan records prove which lot left when and on which shipment.
How do I prepare for an OEM customer audit?
The chain the auditor asks for is already on record: the order, the work order, the materials used (BOM), the batch-level QC result, the certificate of conformity or non-conformance report, and the shipment record are all linked. You shape order, shipment, production and QC reports with the column picker and download them as Excel in the format the auditor wants. Approval center records and revision history show who made each critical decision and when.
How are non-conformance reports and quality records kept?
Quality control is recorded per batch; the system issues a certificate of conformity for a passing batch and a non-conformance report for a failing one. Because the report is linked to its work order, lot and order, why a batch was blocked never has to be reconstructed later. On the incoming side, QC is recorded at receipt, so you discuss supplier performance based on the incoming goods QC report, not memory.
How does 3-way matching work and what does it save me?
When the supplier invoice arrives, the system compares it against the purchase order and the goods receipt record. Discrepancies such as short delivery, a higher unit price than agreed, or invoicing for rejected material become visible before payment goes out. For a parts maker constantly buying raw material and semi-finished goods, that means catching invoice discrepancies at the source instead of chasing them afterwards.
Are inward processing (DIIB) and VAT refund tracking included?
Yes. You track DIIB inputs, offsets and the commitment closure process through the system; the export link of a part produced with imported inputs stays on record. The documents and amounts needed for the VAT refund are collected attached to the export transaction, so you never hunt for the refund file piece by piece. The GTIP code lives on the product card, and the declaration is linked to the shipment.
Try Sighthem free for 14 days on the PRO plan, no credit card required. Test it on a real flow with your own parts, your own orders and your own lots.
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