Industrial supply companies sell a large number of products that industrial customers use for maintenance, repair, operations, and production (the industry refers to itself as the MRO supply or MROP supply industry). Examples include tools, pipe, and valve fittings; electrical products; fluid handling equipment; pumps, motors, fasteners, instruments; and safety and cleaning equipment and supplies.

Infor’s ERP FACTS Industrial Supply components

• Rebate Tracking- ties directly to order processing, making them easier to track, which can help maximize the amount of money earned.
• Multiple Units of Measure- offers unlimited flexibility with units of measure on an item-by-item basis, while allowing differentiation between purchasing (i.e., by the case, pallet, etc.) and sales (i.e., by the pack, kit, etc.).
• Pricing Service and Pricing Matrix- enables distributors to update prices and enter new items into their databases electronically.
• EDI- send and receive EDI 840, 843, 850 by requesting and responding to quotes from both the sales and purchasing modules.
• Labeling- ability to generate labels such as items, bins, tags, shipping, etc. from receiving, shipping as well as on demand. It also has the flexibility to provide customer specific labels at shipping time.
• Order Entry- one screen order entry, quote entry, quote to order conversions, and expediting.
• B2B Seller- offer ‘round-the-clock inventory information with a Web-based storefront.
• Wireless Warehouse Management- a small wireless hand-held device communicates with your Infor’s ERP FACTS System, sending information about who picks what inventory activity and when in real-time for accuracy, control, and efficiency.
• Remote Order Entry- downloads and stores customer information into a personal digital assistant (PDA) that can upload orders directly into Infor’s ERP FACTS.
• Component Kitting and Processing- allows distributors to efficiently manufacture, stock, track, and sell kits and other complex items with multiple components, or disassemble items and redeploy it’s components to stock.
• Light Manufacturing- tracks the costs as a raw item goes through various stages (including movement at an outsourced vendor) and rolls them up into a final cost for the finished good.
• Automated Accessory Items- this will prompt the sales person to suggest a go-together items when an item is placed on an order.
  

Distributor Profile   

Large distributors may carry 500,000 different items (stock keeping units - SKUs). Products are grouped into product lines. Wholesalers are often referred to as either "general line," meaning they carry six or more different product lines, or as "specialty line," meaning they carry less than five product lines.

The operations of industrial supply wholesalers revolve around inventory management, including order taking and fulfillment, delivery, billing and collections, and inventory replenishment and control. A typical wholesaler must track thousands of orders because the average customer order consists of just two items and is valued at less than $150. Computer systems are vital to the wholesaler operations, both for processing customer orders and reordering products from suppliers. A typical local distributor may process 200 to 300 orders per day.

A typical industrial supply company has more than 1,000 customers and may buy materials from hundreds of suppliers, either manufacturers or other wholesalers. Companies may have authorized distributorship arrangements with manufacturers and provide training, maintenance, and repair for some equipment. Large distributors may have dozens of local retail outlets and a network of regional or local warehouses, but the typical distributor operates one combined retail/warehouse location.

Customers include industrial companies and maintenance departments, janitorial service companies, and maintenance and repair companies. Small orders are often picked up by the customer ("will call" orders). Large orders may be delivered either by the wholesaler's own trucks or contract truckers. Wholesalers sometimes offer maintenance, security, or janitorial services as additional products. Price, product selection, customer service, and convenient location are major factors affecting sales. The staff usually needs to be highly knowledgeable about a large number of individual products.

 

Industry Terms

 

Several websites offer glossaries of INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY terminology, including:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/static/rc_techglass.html 
http://www.safecoinc.com/services/glossary.cfm 
http://www.jamarco.com/09a_Rope/rope_glossary.htm 

 

 

  Infor has customer overviews available on the following Industrial Supply distributors 

• Safety Products – Lakeland, Florida
• Anich Industries – Ocala, Florida
• Other Available Upon Request

Associations  

• Industrial Supply Association:  http://www.isapartners.org/
• Net Plus Alliance:  http://www.netplusalliance.com/

 

Buying/Marketing Groups 
 

• Affiliated Distributors (A-D) INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY, More then 50 distributor members, www.adhq.com/divisions

 
Learn more about ERP industrial supply distributor solutions from DPI and Infor's FACTS :  view a demo of ERP FACTS for Industrial Supply Distributors.

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