More is not always better.

Indeed, in the world of distribution, a condition of either too much or too little is equally undesirable. Best of all? Just enough.

It’s extraordinary now to conceive of a time when wholesale distribution software was not as prevalent as it has become. Imagine the world when it was populated by order-counting drones who spent the better part of their days chasing and accounting for things. Orders were lost, invoices were miserably delayed, salespeople were too caught up with data entry to sell much, employees spilled coffee on their daybooks. Awful.

Thank heaven someone brilliant came up with the idea of automating the whole affair.

Distribution software’s appearance on the scene replaces all kinds of tasks of unfathomable drudgery with tap-of-the-keyboard alternatives. And I don’t have to tell you into what this time savings has translated.

Just the same, I’m not convinced we’re where we need to be yet. Distribution software is a rich and eminently useful resource. Too many companies, no doubt bowled over by its impressive powers to rewrite their corporate existence, employ only the top layer of functionality. They learn the superficial tricks of their fancy new system, but fail to dig very much into the bag.

It’s frustrating for me to watch from the sidelines, this cursory appreciation of such an extraordinary tool.

At 360, our robust wholesale distribution software solutions can control your inventory levels with the precision of a nun with a graphing calculator. With it, firms can handily skate across the minimums in inventory levels and costs (bidding farewell forever to the always unsavoury concept of “guesstimation”), and managers can earn stripes for running the tightest ships in the business.

More than that, our contribution to your day to day means you can mount the invoice heap, plant a flag in its midst and proclaim your utter ownership of this all-too-unwieldy essential of running a business. Thanks to the sense of control adopting a comprehensive distribution software solution lends managers, invoices, job orders and a dozen other stacks of paper can get picked up by a strong wind and never come back.

A solid distribution software system means:

• Increasing your order speed
• Reducing your order backlog (and gaining points for customer service along the way)
• Becoming more efficient than your dreams’ wildest imaginings.

And automation frees up hands that would otherwise have been engaged in picky, paper-clogged business for more productive occupation.

Like selling.

Or dealing with customers’ issues in real time.

Or counting profits.

An effective supply-chain strategy is key to corporate success.

But what’s up with this ancient concept, a staple of business organization since the industrial revolution swept into town (although the term “supply chain management” was first coined by an American industry consultant two decades ago)? And how to exploit its evolving magic to its greatest advantage?

Here’s how.

1. Get informed. Today’s supply chains have something yesterday’s didn’t: access to boatloads of information. For us to genuinely delight the consumer—ever our goal—we need to dig deep into the well and surface with data that can drive real changes in work process and flow.
2. Collaborate. Precisely because no one enterprise controls the entire supply chain, collaboration—among not just manufacturers and retailers, but also third-party suppliers, and transportation and logistics players—is critical to change. Ideally, a spirit of global cooperation would oversee a kind of worldwide supply chain in which companies work together to eliminate waste, donate surpluses and reduce carbon footprints.
3. Call in the big guns. Supply chain management software executes supply chain transactions, manages supplier relationships and directs associated business processes. The functionality of today’s supply chain management software is vast, and includes tools for managing a range of operational processes, including inventory management; sales forecasting; order fulfillment; demand, inventory and returns management; and purchase order processing. Serious, smart supply chain software will eradicate such unpleasantries as shipping delays, production delays and stockouts.
4. Get a handle on costs. You might know your high-level numbers, but are you losing money on certain mixes of customer, product and geographic locations? Are you figuring in that the costs of certain processes may be higher than expected? You can measure supply chain costs as a percentage of sales, or per order, pallet or carton. Pick one and figure it out. And, while you’re at, what are your storage and delivery expenses, your average cost per order, your stock turns?
5. Expand your view. Historically, broad, big-picture efforts to improve supply chain management fare better than those that see a business’s various transactions unfolding inside narrow, separate silos. Regard your supply chain as a wide sea, not a collection of individual puddles, and invest in its revision with a clever, coordinated philosophy.
6. Break it down. Use surveys and industry research to separate your customers according to their unique service needs—not according to their industry, product or trade channel—and adapt the supply chain such that it best serves these segments. Analyze each one’s profitability to determine how to most efficiently allocate resources.
7. Be realistic. Overhauling a company’s supply chain management system is a massive undertaking whose eventual impact—both financial and operational—is profound. But patience is important. This is a long-term effort, and management must be mindful of that, balancing the revolution’s long-term promise against a company’s more pressing business needs. Plan ahead. Be transparent with your vision. Communicate your goals.

Tight economic times, after all, turn the screws on the imperative for a business to enhance all elements of its operational processes, and to do so while resisting the temptation to pile on yet more disparate technology, thus manufacturing an even more tangled chain of supply.

The complexity of integrating many different e-business products to achieve a seamless portal environment can seem intimidating. But there are lots of reasons why overhauling a supply-chain strategy into a simple, lean system is clever. Here are six of them.

1. It improves the lines of communication. If everyone is in regular receipt of the most up-to-date data, they can make smarter, better decisions and leverage the Internet to exploit real-time collaboration among suppliers, manufacturers, customers, vendors, product design partners and so on.
2. It increases access to information. If all interested parties have easy access to the latest on a project’s progress, there’s less time wasted in the updating and dissemination of same. What’s more, a lean supply chain that lets you make all your business decisions according to real and accurate data translates into a reduction in sales forecasting errors and a scene where mission-critical tasks are kept squarely on track.
3. It ensures that those rules that dictate the management of your business are firm and present. These include supply-chain visibility, sales forecasting, cash flow, customer loyalty, on-time delivery, credit control, minimum margin measurements and a whole host of other key measurements.
4. It reduces costs. Myriad reports crow about the savings businesses can enjoy with synchronizing their systems. On-time deliveries, for one, mean reduced costs of capital tied up in inventory, warehouse space and in writing off potentially obsolete stuff because less inventory needs to accumulate to meet fluctuating demand.
5. It increases everyone’s sense of control. A single system with lots of ways in means the vendor has direct access to a company’s goings-on and can view activities without having to wait on purchase orders or forecasts. The customer, more linked into the process than ever before, enjoys an improved ordering experience. And with a smart solution, you can ensure accurate registration of your employees’ time throughout your project lifecycle, meaning you can bill more frequently and with better precision.
6. It streamlines points of contact. By centralizing your system, multiple vendors, platforms and interfaces all retract into a single one.

An efficient, optimized supply chain system provides savings not just in costs, but also in time. Successfully integrating a range of inputs across the supply chain such that they spit out integrated, rationalized data means never missing an order, never missing a chance, never missing a beat.

Learn more about how our ERP manufacturing software and wholesale distribution software solutions can help you optimize your supply chain.