Solution · Simplify
Consignment puts the parts on your site and leaves the ownership with CSG until you use them. You get the availability of local stock without the working capital on your balance sheet, and without the trade-off that normally forces between the two.
Order accuracy
Global operations
Containers a year
Bufab network suppliers
Cash committed months before the part is used.
Imported lines where cover is measured in months.
Stock owned against a part that was superseded.
Stock on site that nobody can reconcile cleanly.
Consignment exists because availability and capital pull against each other. These are the five places that tension shows up on a real bill of materials.
Cover against a long lead time is cash sitting on a shelf for months, against parts that individually cost very little.
CSG response · Availability held locally without you owning it until use
Many part numbers must be available but are drawn unpredictably, so cover has to be broad even though most of it moves slowly.
CSG response · Breadth of cover without breadth of purchase
A part goes end of life while months of stock sits against it, and the write-off lands on whoever happens to own it that day.
CSG response · An obsolescence process agreed before the first delivery
At some plants a missing part costs orders of magnitude more than the part itself, so the rational stock level looks irrational on a spreadsheet.
CSG response · Levels sized to the real consequence, not the part value
Without a defined consumption trigger, consignment turns into a monthly argument about what was used and when.
CSG response · Trigger, recording and invoicing defined before anything ships
Consignment is about ownership. It is normally run alongside a managed replenishment programme, so the counting and the refill are handled too.
Title stays with CSG
Until the agreed point of consumption.
Local stock, no local capital
Cover where running out is expensive.
Run with managed replenishment
The counting does not fall to you.
CSG is an engineered solutions partner, not a commodity distributor. Founded in 1997 in Dayton, Ohio and part of the Bufab Group, with access to a network of 1,600+ suppliers across 30+ countries.
Design assist on the joint itself, not just supply of a part someone already specified. Where the right answer is a different fastener, we say so before it reaches the line.
The Bufab Group network of 1,600+ suppliers across 30+ countries, alongside CSG’s own 200+ global suppliers and 200+ containers moved a year.
ISO 9001:2015 and AS9120 Rev B certified, IATF 16949 with full PPAP for automotive, plus ITAR, FAA AC 00-56D, DLA Qualified Supplier and JCP. EcoVadis-rated for sustainability.
The piece price is rarely the cost. We work on transactions, handling, stock held and the shortages that stop a line, which is where C-parts actually spend money.
Holding title on your site is a commitment. These are CSG’s own published figures.
Measured across CSG operations, not a target.
Cover across time zones, not a single desk.
Physical scale behind the replenishment commitment.
Through the Bufab Group across 30+ countries.
The usual answer to a long lead time is to buy cover and hold it. That works, and it is expensive, because the cash is committed months before the part is used.
Consignment separates the holding from the owning. The stock sits where it is needed, title stays with CSG, and it transfers at the agreed consumption trigger rather than on delivery.
Most consignment arrangements that go wrong go wrong here. If consumption is not defined precisely, invoicing becomes a monthly reconciliation argument.
We set the trigger, the recording method and the invoicing cycle before the first delivery, as part of the agreement rather than an operational detail to settle later.
Obsolescence is the risk everyone remembers after the first time. Stock sits against a number engineering has superseded, and the write-off has to land somewhere.
Because the stock is ours until consumed and the usage history is held centrally, the exposure is visible early and sits in a defined place, handled by the route agreed at set up.
Consignment is rarely right for a whole range. Applied everywhere it adds administration without adding value on fast moving, short lead time items.
The lines that pay are the ones where cover is expensive and running out is costly. We size that with you against real usage rather than applying it by default.
Four things are agreed before anything is delivered.
Which part numbers are held on consignment, and at which locations.
What counts as consumption, how it is recorded and how it is invoiced.
How much is held against usage, lead time and the cost of running short.
How obsolescence and end of life are handled if a part is superseded.
Browse the C-part product categories CSG supplies through these programmes:
Consignment inventory sits alongside these CSG programmes:
Ready to scope a programme? Submit an RFQ and we will come back with a proposal.
The questions buyers and engineers ask before a programme starts.
VMI is about who does the work of replenishment. Consignment is about who owns the stock. They answer different questions and are frequently run together, with CSG managing the replenishment and holding title until consumption.
On consumption, against the trigger agreed at set up. That trigger is defined before the first delivery so there is no ambiguity later.
The obsolescence process is agreed up front rather than negotiated afterwards. Because the stock is ours until consumed, the exposure sits in a defined place and is dealt with by the agreed route.
It can, but most programmes apply it selectively, typically to long lead time or imported lines where safety stock would otherwise be significant capital. It sits inside our wider C-parts management programme.
Responsibility for the physical stock while it is in your facility is set out in the agreement, alongside the consumption trigger. It is one of the four things settled before the first delivery rather than afterwards.
Through the same scan and replenish cycle that runs the programme. Because counting already happens on a fixed cycle for replenishment, reconciliation is a by-product rather than a separate exercise.
Commercial terms are set per programme against volume, range and the holding involved, so there is no single answer and we will not publish one. What we will do is set it out against your own numbers before you commit.
Yes, and that is a common path. The operational mechanics are identical; what changes is the point at which title transfers, so the change is commercial rather than physical.
Levels are reviewed against measured consumption, so a sustained drop moves the profile down at the review. Where a programme is ending, the run-down is handled through the exit process agreed at set up.
Yes. Multi-site is often where it is most useful, because cover has to exist at each location while the total capital committed multiplies with every site.
Either, and it is set at design. Line-side presentation suits fast movers and consumables; a stores location suits breadth and slow movers. Most programmes use both.
Yes. Certification and traceability are carried through the replenishment cycle under ISO 9001:2015 and AS9120 Rev B, with IATF 16949 and full PPAP for automotive programmes.
Tell us the lines you would rather not own until you use them. We will look at usage, lead time and the cost of running short, and come back with what a programme would cover.
CSG is an authorised distributor for the ranges OEMs specify by name, alongside standard and made-to-print fasteners.
Consignment is the one lever that does not force a choice between holding enough and tying up cash. It only pays on the right lines, and the survey is what identifies them.
Tell us the lines you would rather not own until you use them, and we will show you what a consignment programme would cover.