# Supplier facilities

In contrast to managed facilities, the operational responsibility at supplier locations lies entirely outside the network's control. A supplier may operate multiple physical locations, but these individual sites are typically not known to the fulfillment network. Consequently, supplier facilities only have an optional registered addresses within the platform. Additionally, information such as working hours, capacity limits, or specific shipping carrier integrations are not maintained for supplier facilities.

### Implication on routing decisions

This lack of visibility has important implications for certain standard [routing rules](/documentation/by-pillar/advanced-order-routing/doms-toolkit.md). Since key data points about supplier facilities are unavailable, some rules can only consider the supplier part of the supply chain to a **limited extent** when dealing with supplier facilities. For example:

* The **geo distance rating** does not factor in transport routes originating from suppliers, as their exact locations might not be known.
* The **country fence** rule does not take into account the geographical location of supplier facilities.

These constraints should be considered when configuring routing strategies, especially when suppliers play a significant role in the overall fulfillment flow.

### Facility data

Supplier facility data is limited to a few key attributes due to the reasons mentioned above. These attributes are interpreted analogously to those of managed facilities:

* facility name
* facility status
* tenant facility ID

In addition, supplier facilities can be enriched with [tags](/documentation/getting-started/tags.md) and [custom attributes](broken://spaces/2u56u6iixikInznwlzwk/pages/D7DnyvCI0VacsOw5AJXl) to provide further categorization or metadata.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Important information**

* Supplier facilities can also have [listings](/documentation/by-pillar/global-inventory-hub/listing.md) assigned to them.
* [Facility carrier connections](/documentation/by-pillar/store-operations/carrier-management.md#carrier-connections-to-facilities) and [facility custom service connections](/documentation/by-pillar/store-operations/services.md#facility-custom-service-connection) are not applicable for supplier facilities.
  {% endhint %}


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.fulfillmenttools.com/documentation/getting-started/facilities/supplier-facilities.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.
