Managing Suppliers

The Suppliers page is where you maintain your list of vendors, material providers, and outside service shops. Supplier records connect to RFQs and purchase orders throughout the purchasing workflow.

Go to My Company > Suppliers to see your supplier list.

Adding a Supplier

  1. Click Add Supplier in the top right corner.
  2. Fill in the required fields:
    • Supplier name -- the company name as you refer to them.
  3. Fill in optional fields as needed:
    • Default currency -- if this supplier invoices in a specific currency. Leave blank to use your company's default currency.
    • Billing address -- start typing and select from the address suggestions. The address auto-populates the city, state/province, postal code, and country.
    • Shipping address -- defaults to the same as the billing address. Uncheck Same as billing address if they differ.
    • Payment terms -- select from common options (Net 30, Net 60, etc.) or type a custom term.
    • Delivery terms -- select from common options (FOB, Ex Works, etc.) or type your own.
    • Lead time (days) -- the supplier's typical delivery lead time.
    • Minimum order value -- the minimum dollar amount this supplier requires per order.
    • Tags -- add tags to categorize suppliers (e.g., "metals", "fasteners", "local"). Tags autocomplete from tags you have used before.
    • Notes -- free-form notes about this supplier.
  4. Click Save Supplier.

Managing Contacts

Each supplier can have multiple contacts. Contacts are the people you correspond with at that company -- a sales rep, an accounts receivable clerk, an engineer, etc.

To add a contact:

  1. Open the supplier (click the row in the supplier table, or click the edit icon).
  2. In the Contacts section, click Add Contact.
  3. Fill in the contact details:
    • Type -- the contact's role (Sales, Engineering, Admin, Purchasing, Accounting, or Other).
    • Primary -- check this box to mark the contact as the primary contact. The primary contact's email and phone appear in the supplier list. Only one contact can be primary at a time.
    • Name -- the person's name.
    • Email -- their email address. This is where RFQ emails are sent.
    • Phone -- their phone number.
    • Language -- English or French. This controls the language of emails sent to this contact.
  4. Click Save Supplier to save the contact along with the supplier record.

You can add as many contacts as needed. To remove a contact, click the trash icon next to it.

When you remove a primary contact, the first remaining contact is automatically promoted to primary.

Editing a Supplier

Click any row in the supplier table to open the supplier modal, or click the pencil icon on the row. Make your changes and click Save Supplier.

Searching and Sorting

  • Use the search bar above the table to filter suppliers by name, notes, city, or state.
  • Click any sortable column header (Name, Location) to sort ascending or descending.

Archiving Suppliers

If you no longer work with a supplier, you can archive them rather than deleting them. Archived suppliers are hidden from the main list and from supplier selection dropdowns, but their records remain intact on any existing RFQs or purchase orders.

  1. Click the archive icon on the supplier row.
  2. Confirm the action.

To view archived suppliers, toggle Show archived at the bottom of the page. From the archived view, you can unarchive a supplier to bring them back to the active list.

You can also archive or unarchive multiple suppliers at once using batch selection -- check the rows you want and use the batch action toolbar.

Importing Suppliers

If you have a list of suppliers in a spreadsheet, you can import them in bulk:

  1. Click Import at the top of the page.
  2. Upload a CSV file or paste your data.
  3. Map your columns to the supplier fields.
  4. Review and confirm the import.

Duplicate names are flagged during import so you can skip or resolve them.

How Suppliers Connect to RFQs and Purchase Orders

Supplier records are used across the purchasing workflow:

  • RFQs -- when you create a Request for Quotation, you select one or more suppliers from your list. Forge sends each selected supplier an email with a link to the supplier portal where they can submit their pricing. The RFQ email is sent to the contact's email address.
  • RFQ responses -- when a supplier submits a response through the portal, it is linked back to their supplier record. You can compare responses from multiple suppliers side by side.
  • Purchase orders -- when you create a PO, you select the supplier. Their address, payment terms, and contact information carry over from the supplier record to the purchase order.

Keeping your supplier records complete -- with up-to-date contacts, addresses, and terms -- saves time every time you send an RFQ or create a purchase order.

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← Responding to an RFQ