Wholesale Distribution clients choose Strategic Systems Group (SSG) to support their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems

Wholesale distribution organizations are inherently complex. We’ve come to learn that are many moving parts:

  • Finance (A/P, A/R, G/L, product costing, landed cost)
  • Logistics (sales, purchasing)
  • Inventory control (items purchased in bulk, kitting, material planning)
  • Product engineering (light assembly bills of material)
  • Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
  • Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP)
ERP System for Wholesale Distribution

ERP Experts in Wholesale Distribution

We guide Executives to skillfully use timely and accurate information together with Intelligent Systems to drive improvements in five (5) critical cost and performance areas:

  1. Material shortages / substitutions
  2. Material defects and related scrap
  3. Obsolete and excess inventories
  4. On – time delivery
  5. Minimum – cost transportation and warehousing

Ultimately, our wholesale distribution clients choose us to implement and support their ERP systems because t hey know the job will get done on time and within budget.

How SSG Supports Wholesale Distribution Clients

Our team is passionate about delivering business applications to solve business problems and finding effective and efficient ways to do things. W hether it’s a simple as developing a report to identify obsolete and excess inventory to routing shipments at minimum cost to implementing an advanced planning and scheduling system, we truly enjoy working with wholesale distributor companies to achieve th eir business objectives (more revenue, less cost, efficient operations, and growth). Our clients benefit from our experience and skills in:

  • Understanding business models
  • Technology strategic planning
  • Business process re – engineering
  • Software development and customization
  • Implementation
  • Post – Go Live support

Our Approach to ERP Wholesale Services

Rollover the sections below to learn more

Supply Chain Management

Complexity in wholesale distribution organizations extends outside of the four walls of the company. As we saw during the pandemic, a disruption in the supply chain of a wholesale distributor company can have significant long - term effects.

We help clients:

  • Leverage one fully - integrated ERP system that provides timely and accurate visibility into all aspects of the supply chain
  • Accurately track product availability, landed cost, and defect rates by supplier
  • Plan appropriate inventory levels to meet actual and forecast demand
  • Reduce inventory carrying costs

Quality Assurance

Quality assurance is a vital process in any wholesale distribution organization. Product defects costs time and money and diminish customer satisfaction.

We help clients:

  • Ensure that receiving, assembly inspection, and measurement processes are in place to deliver high - quality products to customers
  • Accurately track and report product dispositions
  • Delight customers with zero - defect products

Planning & Scheduling

Material planning is a key activity in a wholesale distribution organization. Advanced planning and scheduling is required in situations where it is critical that customer delivery dates must be met.

Our clients benefit from:

  • Effective and efficient utilization of material, equipment, and transportation
  • Advanced scheduling systems to plan and execute to stringent customer delivery dates
  • Balancing available inventory and delivery performance based on forecast demand
  • Clearly seeing when alternate distribution is needed to meet customer delive

Financial Management​

While efficient distribution vital to a wholesale distribution, all roads seem to lead to Accounting. Unfortunately, the operation's impact on the financials is often realized at the end of the implementation rather than the outset.

We help clients:

  • Get a clear picture of the company's financial condition
  • Establish and maintain necessary fiscal controls
  • Identify, create, and maintain audit trails
  • With multiple entities in varied currencies generate consolidated financial reporting
  • Customize reports to provide relevant key performance indicators
  • Shorten the time to close out the month and report performance to the executive team

Distributed Resource Planning (DRP)

Distributed resource planning (DRP) is vital for wholesale distribution to plan orders within their supply chain. DRP allow clients to set inventory control parameters and calculate time - phased inventory requirements. This process is also referred to as Distribution Requirements Planning.

We help clients:

  • Implement distributed resource planning to purchase, warehouse, and deliver products to customers in the most cost - effective manner
  • Develop and execute streamlined business processes to leverage the system's distributed resource planning functionality
  • Re - engineer business processes to streamline operations
  • Reduce transportation and inventory carrying costs and working capital requirements

Operations Metrics​

Wholesale distributor organizations have specific operational performance reporting requirements.

Our clients benefit from our Business Intelligence (BI) expertise in reporting:

  • Vendor delivery time, defect rate
  • Favorable / unfavorable purchasing variances
  • Warehouse loading versus capacity
  • Actual versus ideal transportation costs
  • On - time / late customer deliveries
Dynamics 365 Business Central Readiness Assessment for Wholesale Distribution

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central replaces the process of managing documents and spreadsheets with an integrated solution that saves you time and reduces errors. This Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP) is specially designed to meet the needs of wholesale distribution clients that previously struggled with operations management. 

Let’s say you operate a wholesale distribution company and you require an accounting system that’s efficient and reliable. To their credit, many wholesale distribution companies in this category are successful using simple accounting systems. The trouble is that these systems require an inordinate amount of time to manually update; time which could be channeled into other strategic business initiatives. 

 

ERP Wholesale Distribution Readiness Assessment

To find out if your company is suitable for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, consider the questions below:

    • Does your company have 100 to 2,500 employees?  
    • Does your company purchase or manufacture products that must be kept in inventory?  
    • Does your team process thousands up to hundreds of thousands of transactions per month?  
    • Do you have people or departments that manage sales, purchasing, inventory, and finance?  
    • Are you frustrated about not meeting customer demand and delivery dates?  

If you decide that Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is the right fit for your business, contact Strategic Systems Group (SSG), a Los Angeles-based I/T consulting firm and experts in enterprise resource planning. SSG can help you create a roadmap, resolve alignment issues, and use technology to achieve business objectives.

To make things easy, we conduct our Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Readiness Assessment and deliver findings and recommendations to you for a ridiculously low price. For more information, please call (310) 539-4645 or click here to schedule a time to speak with one of our experienced consultants.

Staying Ahead of the Game in the Wholesale Distribution Industry

The global wholesale distribution industry took a downturn in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related trade and personnel restrictions. However, it’s expected to grow over the next few years. Taking a look ahead, wholesale distributors will face many challenges. Here are five of them:

1. Shipping Errors and Returns
2. Outdated Technology
3. Slow Reporting
4. Inventory Management
5. Direct Sales to End-Customers

It is crucial to stay ahead of the game and face these challenges head-on. This guide can help you understand these challenges and to conquer them.

Shipping Errors and Returns

Shipping Errors and Returns

In a multi-channel retail environment, wholesalers lacking the capabilities to deal with returns from customers efficiently risk being swamped by unexpected costs and inventory they had not expected to be returned. Many wholesalers’ systems were set up well before the multi-channel age and are stretched to the limit. Too often, companies are more than happy to minimize the costs of managing and administering the cost of product returns. However, product returns management can become a profit center if appropriately operated and administered.

Inventory Management

Inventory Management

As well as addressing slow reporting, this software can help with inventory. One great thing about distribution management software is that it can track your products and goods in real-time and upload this critical data to the cloud. This means you can stay on top of your inventory needs regardless of your geographical location.




Outdated Technology

Outdated Technology

Until recently, the wholesale industry has been slow to accept technology. Today, digital transformation is becoming incredibly important in wholesale distribution. The motivation to accept and embrace technology is a relatively new concept for the industry. Wholesalers also operate on low margins and outdated IT systems, which harm the bottom line. Hire tech-savvy workers to help push technology forward.




Direct Sales to End-Customers

Direct Sales to End-Customers

Direct selling has disadvantages; it means approaching each customer individually by going door to door or hosting in-house parties. Therefore, it is difficult for an individual to reach a broad audience. Like all other businesses, there is a risk of falling too. However, it can also be beneficial; new channels for selling emerge constantly. Social media is making your business visible to prospective customers. You’ll also find competitors selling to consumers at “wholesale prices.” And that’s likely your audience as well.

Slow Reporting

Slow Reporting

Advances in retailer demand and technology mean the wholesale and distribution industries are changing. Slow Reporting equates to financial loss. Software tools such as distribution management software and dealer distribution management systems slowly take over the industry and related marketing functions. Various programs will provide highly cost-effective, robust, optimal resource usage, and efficient answers to the old and traditional problems of managing your inventory.

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There is a constant flood of new sales channels, and many target the average consumer. Small businesses and sellers know this and often jump in, especially fashion and beauty brands. First, look for the people doing this direct selling and getting significant traction, and then execute your sales and marketing strategies. 

When it comes to customer satisfaction, industry leaders have prioritized collaboration and service. This means better understanding customer needs, making it easier for them to interact with the business, and changing the way the organization delivers its products and services. 

For more information about how we support our wholesale distribution clients, please call (310) 539-4645 or click here to schedule a time to speak with one of our experienced consultants.

 

 

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Wholesale Distribution ERP FAQs