Manufacturing
Deposits, progress payments and PO matching across long production cycles.
Discrete and custom manufacturers get paid in stages against work orders, match payments to purchase orders, and deal with customers whose AP departments pay by commercial card for the float. The payment data has to carry enough detail to survive both interchange qualification and the customer's own PO matching.
Industry payment challenges
- Milestone payments spread across a production cycle measured in months.
- Customer AP departments paying by p-card, downgrading without PO and line-item data.
- Purchase order numbers not carried through to the transaction record.
- Deposits tying up customer credit lines unnecessarily.
- Reconciliation done by hand between the ERP and the settlement report.
Relevant services
Modern card processing built around your business, not a template.
Learn moreLine-by-line statement work that removes real cost — not marketing math.
Learn morePayments wired into the systems that already run your business.
Learn moreA written, line-by-line analysis of what you actually pay for.
Learn moreCommon software integrations
Payment acceptance connected to the ERP where finance actually lives.
Learn morePayments that post themselves into your books.
Learn moreWhen a certified integration does not exist, we build one that behaves like it does.
Learn moreRecommended payment methods
- • Deposits against work orders
- • Milestone and progress payments
- • Commercial and purchasing cards from AP departments
- • ACH for scheduled milestones
- • Final balance on delivery
Reporting needs
- • Payments matched to purchase orders and work orders.
- • Milestone payment status across open jobs.
- • Interchange qualification on p-card volume specifically.
Security considerations
- Card data tokenized in the gateway, never stored in the ERP or on a quote.
- Hosted payment fields so PCI scope stays with the gateway, not your AR desk.
- Role-based access so counter staff cannot see full card numbers or run refunds.
Implementation Process
- 1
Statement review
You send three months of statements and a sample invoice. We return a line-item breakdown of what is downgrading and what it costs per year.
- 2
Connector and field mapping
We map your invoice fields to the Level 3 data the card brands require, through your ERP connector rather than a virtual terminal.
- 3
Test and cut over
Test transactions confirm qualification before anything moves. Cutover happens between billing cycles.
- 4
Verify the first full month
We compare actual qualification rates against the projection and report the difference. If it did not land, we say so.
Related case studies
All case studies →Purchase order and line-item data carried through to every transaction.
Frequently asked questions
Why do purchasing cards cost us more than consumer cards?+
They do not have to. A p-card with full Level 3 data qualifies for some of the lowest interchange available. Without it, the same card lands in a non-qualified bucket and costs substantially more.
Can payment data carry our PO numbers?+
Yes, and it should. The PO number is a required Level 2 field, and your customer's AP department usually needs it too.
We bill in milestones. Does that break anything?+
No, but each milestone has to carry its own line-item detail rather than referencing the original order.
Talk to an industry specialist
Tell us about your setup — we'll return honest, industry-specific recommendations.
Ready to see what your setup could look like?
Book a working session focused on manufacturing. Clear recommendations, no obligation.
- • 150+ software platforms reviewed
- • 1,500+ merchant environments evaluated
- • Under 24-hour average response time
- • 7–14 business day onboarding