Wholesale Distribution and Supply Chain Analytics

Supply chain analytics can lead to better performance, but many distributors aren’t even scratching the surface of what they can do.

A recent article from Data Informed on the Advanced Distribution Software website reports that nine out of 10 distributors are struggling to bolster their business. There are two main reasons for that trend: the inability to view the supply chain as an elaborate system and the underdevelopment or ineffective use of analytics.

Analytics is the process of breaking down complex information into its elements, organizing the elements and interpreting them. For most companies, the word analytics is synonymous with reporting. But despite thirty years of supply chain technology evolution, the most commonly used system for supply chain planning is a spreadsheet. Companies cannot effectively model the trade-offs of growth, profitability, supply chain cycles such as procure to pay and inventory turns, and business operations complexity on a spreadsheet. As that complexity increases, most companies are unable to use supply chain systems to improve operating margin and inventory cycles.

To learn more about supply chain analytics and read more of the Data Informed article, visit the Advanced Distribution Software news blog.

The Brown Smith Wallace Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides for 2013 are currently available.

You can download each one directly, or visit our main website to request a copy. Please follow the links below.

2013 Distribution Software

2013 Manufacturing Software

You can also request these guides, as well as all other materials, via our website: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/resources_index.aspx

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Distribution One's V2 ERP Helps Security Lock Distributors Achieve Growth

With over 500,000 products in stock and over 100 manufacturers represented, Security Lock Distributors is a wholesale source for lock, architectural, and access control hardware, boasting the largest in-stock inventory in the security industry.

While the company had an information-based website, it did not offer customers the ability to conduct business online or even via email. The only way to place an order was by fax or through the call center. The company's old mainframe system was extremely inefficient and non-intuitive. Unlike a Windows environment, the old system required employees to remember numerous keystrokes. This had a severe impact on productivity, taking new employees up to 30-minutes just to process a single order.

With four locations, including its headquarters in Westwood, MA and three distribution centers across the United States, it was clear Security Lock Distributors needed a modern, automated ERP system to streamline its operations, increase its visibility across the entire enterprise, and most importantly, achieve the business agility to meet the changing needs of its customers.

After considering various solutions, Security Lock Distributors selected the V2 ERP solution from Distribution One. V2 ERP is a complete system for Wholesalers and Distributors for automating all aspects of business operations, including order entry, sales, purchasing, inventory, CRM, accounting, and finance. In addition, V2 is extremely user-friendly with all screens and menus have a consistent look and feel that is similar to most Microsoft® products which reduces training and processing time for employees. Since implementing V2 and its e-commerce website, Security Lock Distributors has decreased the number of calls to its call center by 20%. The company has also increased its shipping rate to 98% because employees are far more productive and efficient.

To learn more about Distribution One, their products, and case studies, visit their vendor webpage.

The Brown Smith Wallace Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides for 2013 are currently available.

You can download each one directly, or visit our main website to request a copy. Please follow the links below.

2013 Distribution Software

2013 Manufacturing Software

You can also request these guides, as well as all other materials, via our website: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/resources_index.aspx

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VAI Improves Inventory Management For Golden Light Equipment

For over 75 years, Golden Light Equipment (GLE) has provided restaurants, school districts, hospitals, hotels and prisons with a myriad of services such as distributing restaurant equipment and supplies, designing industrial restaurants and kitchens, and providing dish machines and cleaning products. GLE also manufactures many of the dish machine, laundry, hand and housekeeping products that are sold to and provided to its customer base.

GLE's previous ERP system limited their ability to efficiently and cost-effectively perform critical every day sales and service functions. Service billing was a labor intensive process using paper invoices that needed to be printed before going to the customers’ sites. In addition, sales and service reps didn’t have a clear snapshot of what products customers were using, what they were already billed for and what they already paid, and inventory processing and billing could be delayed by up to one full week.

To address these issues, GLE selected VAI’s S2K solution to help automate and integrate all of its ERP processes and provide an accurate, real-time view and control of the organizations’ customer and inventory data. After implementing VAI S2K remote access and service billing, the entire billing and invoicing process was completely automated, allowing GLE to significantly enhance the level of service and support they provide to customers.

Leveraging mobile technology was a key need in upgrading its service and support functions, and providing real-time access to key business applications, and inventory and customer data from tablets and mobile phone. All of the data generated from service billing is now generated real-time and automatically updated in the main system that connects to handheld devices - eliminating thousands of dollars a year in postage costs.

To read more about VAI success stories and the Golden Light Equipment implementation, visit their News Blog.

The Brown Smith Wallace Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides for 2013 are currently available.

You can download each one directly, or visit our main website to request a copy. Please follow the links below.

2013 Distribution Software

2013 Manufacturing Software

You can also request these guides, as well as all other materials, via our website: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/resources_index.aspx

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Blue Link Provides Improved Efficiency for Nuovo Parts

Nuovo Parts Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Wiseworth Canada, provides custom-made parts, typically made in Italy, for various uses in the Oil and Gas industry.

Stan Thompson, President of Wiseworth, Nuovo Parts Canada and Nuovo Parts Inc., decided that a new system was needed in order to improve the efficiency of his businesses. The system in place prior was a custom-built application they had purchased more than 20 years prior. The application provided no real-time information, involved many manual processes and had many other shortcomings. Nuovo staff desperately wanted a new system, employees routinely spent hours in a file room attempting to extract information that was needed for reporting and for ongoing business operations. Clearly something needed to be done to improve efficiency.

Nuovo considered several possible solutions to implement in place of their current manual and cumbersome system and ultimately selected Blue Link for addressing all of their needs while remaining within budget. The Blue Link Elite implementation was successful in meeting Nuovo’s objectives of eliminating time-consuming business processes, vastly improving reporting functionality and automating unique business needs.

Blue Link's Automated Report Module (ARM) completely automated specific customer communication and expedited the communication to Nuovo’s customers, sending them statements automatically. This helped Nuovo save 2-3 working days a month as well as saving paper and postage. The entire system saves Nuovo about 100 days a year; clearly demonstrating the return on investment and very short pay-back period for the purchase of the software.

Visit Blue Link to read more about this business case studies and others.

The Brown Smith Wallace Distribution and Manufacturing Software Guides for 2013 are currently available.

You can download each one directly, or visit our main website to request a copy. Please follow the links below.

2013 Distribution Software

2013 Manufacturing Software

You can also request these guides, as well as all other materials, via our website: http://www.software4distributors.com/vendor/resources_index.aspx

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