This series uses Dingli, a Patisco demo account. Every system screen and all the data shown here came from real operations in the system, including the exchanges between buyers and suppliers; they are not mock-ups. The people and dialogue are dramatized, and the illustrations are for illustration only. Screens are shown in the system's Chinese interface; Patisco is also available in English and other languages.
In the story: Thursday, Wuri in Taichung, 9:30 a.m.
Forty-eight cartons
Hongtai's warehouse was cold, and A-Mei had put on an extra jacket. Ms. Chang brought her a hot cup of longan and red date tea. "For the mom-to-be."
The cartons on the pallets were stacked neatly. A-Mei opened three of them and pulled ten chains: appearance, the color of the new plating, quick links, the quantity per carton, the shipping marks on the outer cartons. All correct.
Then she counted the cartons. First count: forty-seven. She frowned and counted again: forty-eight.
"It's forty-eight," Ms. Chang said. "The last one's in the row at the back."
A-Mei wrote "48" in her notebook and put a small check mark next to it.
How it used to go
Inspection photos used to travel like this:
A-Mei took twenty-odd photos on her phone and sent them to A-Zhe on LINE. Back at the office, A-Zhe saved them to his computer, picked eight, and emailed them to Jonas. Jonas's QC person looked them over and replied: "Can you show the close-up of the quick link?" A-Zhe relayed that to A-Mei on LINE, but she had already left Hongtai.
The photos ended up in three places: A-Mei's phone, A-Zhe's computer, Jonas's inbox. Three months later, a customer says "there's a problem with this batch of chains," and three people go hunting for the inspection photos, each on their own.
How it goes in Patisco
Post the photo in the group, and it's on the document
The Hongtai group already has its record-keeper and is bound to PI-0411. On site, A-Mei just uses LINE on her phone as usual and posts the photos to the Hongtai group.
The photos sync into the PI-0411 discussion, marked as sent by A-Mei. Back in the office, A-Zhe opens PI-0411 and sees twenty-odd inspection photos, each of which opens with [View larger].
A-Zhe types an internal message in the discussion: "Can you take two more close-ups of the quick links? Jonas's QC will definitely ask." He clicks [Send to LINE group], and A-Mei gets it right there in Hongtai's warehouse.
Three minutes later, the quick link close-ups come in.
Send it to the customer, keep it in the same thread
A-Zhe picks the photos and, in the same discussion thread, clicks [Reply by email] to send them to Jonas with one line: "Inspection done today. 48 cartons, new plating, quick links checked."
Jonas's reply comes back to the same thread. Inspection photos, the customer's confirmation, the supplier group's conversation: all of it hangs under PI-0411.
Jonas replied with a thumbs-up, then added one more question:
"Can you ship directly from the chain factory? It saves a few days."
More than photos
Back at the office, A-Mei also wrote the "48" from her notebook into the discussion.
"Why write that? You can see it in the photos," A-Zhe asked.
"I counted twice, and the first count was 47," A-Mei said. "If it's written down and someone asks later, they'll know how it was counted at the time."
Before vs. With Patisco
| Before | With Patisco | |
|---|---|---|
| How photos travel | LINE to the salesperson → saved to a computer → emailed to the customer | Post in the group, and they're in the document's discussion |
| Customer wants another shot | The salesperson relays it, and the inspector has already left | [Send to LINE group] from the discussion reaches the site right away |
| Where the photos end up | Three people, three places | The same discussion thread on PI-0411 |
| Finding them three months later | Everyone hunts on their own | Open the document |
A word for the boss: Inspection photos are your evidence when something goes wrong. Evidence belongs at the company, not on somebody's phone.