Policy Updates: Call-Off Orders & End Customer Channel Transitions

We have made some updates this quarter to our call-off order and end customer channel transition policies:

Call-Off Orders

A call-off order (COF) is a purchase order that reserves a quantity of product for release only when specified by the issuer of the PO. When a COF is in place, the reserved stock is made unavailable for any other order in our system. Please find below our revised COF guidelines:

• Standard products cannot be processed on a COF; they may be processed on scheduled orders with specific release dates.
• Special products can be processed on a COF only if the specified end customer has sales exceeding $200,000 USD over the past 12 months, or if they are a strategic account with Seco. Please reach out to your local Seco sales representative to verify this information.
• The maximum duration of a COF is 170 days from the date that the special product has completed its production. Once the 170 days have passed, Seco Customer Support will release any remaining quantity on the order; returns will not be allowed. Seco will monitor COFs monthly.
• Exceptions to these guidelines may only apply if a business case is submitted to your local Seco sales representative and approved by Seco management.

Seco Customer Support is currently working to review existing, past-due COFs in order to close them out: whether products should be shipped or are no longer needed.

End Customer Channel Transitions

We have seen an increase in the number of requests to change the Seco Channel Partner through which an End Customer purchases their tooling and would like to take this opportunity to provide guidelines for this process. We want to ensure that the End Customer, incumbent Channel Partner, and incoming Channel Partner are appropriately communicated within this process.

Please find the attached guideline document that may be shared with your end customers; transitioning end customers from one channel to another can create opportunities for confusion among the involved parties. These guidelines will help to ensure clear communication.