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Industry 01Distribution and wholesale

AI for distributors and wholesalers, starting at the order desk.

Purchase orders retyped from PDFs. Quotes that wait on one person. Vendor invoices paid twice. We find which of these costs you the most, install the play that fixes it, and run it for you.

Book an intro call Hand it a purchase order

01Where the return is

The warehouse gets the headlines. The office pays back sooner.

Robots, slotting and forecasting are large projects with long paybacks. An order desk that retypes forty purchase orders a day is a smaller fix, and its saving is easy to count.

What most AI for distribution is about

Warehouse robots and picking

Slotting and layout

Demand forecasting

Route planning

Where we start

Purchase orders retyped from PDFs

Quotes that wait on one person

Vendor invoices checked line by line

Margin that leaks one account at a time

02The desk

Hand it a document. Step it through.

Three documents that land in a distributor's inbox before 8 a.m. Pick one, then walk it through the four steps the play takes.

Purchase orderPO 44817
Bill to
Account 20931, mechanical contractor
Ship to
Job site, 1180 Fremont Ave
Requested
Thursday, October 8
Terms
Net 30
ItemDescriptionQtyUnit
CU-L-0753/4 in. copper tube, type L, 10 ft4038.20
BV-100-S1 in. ball valve, sweatBelow the price floor of 16.10. Held for the inside sales lead2414.75
PF-075-903/4 in. copper 90 elbow1201.34
HX-2231Clevis hangers, 3/4 in. (customer part number)602.18
34 more lines
Entered as SO-10442
  1. 06:52:10
    Arrives

    PO 44817 by email from account 20931. A PDF with 38 lines.

  2. 06:52:16

    Every line, the ship-to, the requested date and the terms lifted from the PDF. Two lines used the customer's own part numbers and were matched to your catalog.

  3. 06:52:21

    37 lines match the account's pricing and your stock. One is below the price floor, so it waits for a person.

  4. 06:52:24

    Sales order SO-10442 entered in the ERP with 37 lines. The held line goes to the inside sales lead with its price history attached.

The playP06 Never touch a PO or invoice againTIMEDocuments move on their own only where your rules allow. Where money moves, a named approver signs off.
Request for quoteAccount 31877

From: purchasing, plumbing contractor · Subject: pricing for a Friday job

Can you price the list below for delivery Friday? Need it by 2 p.m. today.

As writtenQty
PEX-A 3/4 in. x 300 ft coil6
Brass PEX elbow 3/4150
Same water heater as last time2
Expansion tank, 2 galNo contract price for this account. Priced from the last three wins2
10 more lines
Quote Q-2291 sent 07:31
  1. 07:18:02
    Arrives

    A request for 14 lines from account 31877, needed by 2 p.m.

  2. 07:18:09

    14 lines matched to your catalog. "Same water heater as last time" matched to the account's June order.

  3. 07:19:40

    Priced from the account's contract pricing and your price book. Two lines had no contract price and were priced from the last three wins.

  4. 07:31:15

    Quote Q-2291 drafted for the rep, who approved the prices and sent it at 07:31. It was due at 2 p.m.

The playP08 Instant quotes, proposals, RFPs, and contractsREVThe machine drafts every page. A human signs every price and every clause.
InvoiceINV 88120
Vendor
Vendor 4471, fittings supplier
Your PO
PO 3302
Invoice date
September 24
Amount due
$4,318.40
ItemDescriptionQtyAmount
PF-100-TEE1 in. copper tee4001,248.00
PF-075-CPL3/4 in. coupling1,2001,020.00
BV-075-S3/4 in. ball valve, sweat1502,050.40
Same PO, lines and amount as INV 88102, paid September 12
Held: likely duplicate
  1. 08:03:31
    Arrives

    Invoice 88120 from vendor 4471 in the AP inbox. $4,318.40 against PO 3302.

  2. 08:03:36

    Vendor, PO, lines and amount lifted from the PDF.

  3. 08:03:44

    Same PO, same lines and the same amount as invoice 88102, paid on September 12. Flagged as a likely duplicate.

  4. 08:03:52

    Payment held. A note to the vendor is drafted with both invoices attached, for the AP lead to send.

The playP05 Find the money you are leakingCOSTThe play drafts and tracks every chase. A named person sends it.

Sample documents. Account numbers, items and figures are illustrative. The play runs on your documents, in your systems.

03Where we would look first

Five places AI pays in a distributor's office.

StrikeArc Scout scores all twelve plays against your own answers. These five are where we would start looking in a distributor, and the readout says plainly which to skip.

  1. 01

    Purchase orders retyped from PDFs and emails

    Customer POs arrive in every format. Each one is keyed into the ERP by hand, and the typos surface at the dock.

    P06Never touch a PO or invoice againTIME

    ReportsShare of documents processed without a touch.

  2. 02

    Quotes that wait on one person

    The rep who knows the price book is on the road. The quote goes out tomorrow, and the order goes to whoever answered first.

    P08Instant quotes, proposals, RFPs, and contractsREV

    ReportsQuote turnaround and win rate.

  3. 03

    Duplicate payments, missed credits and unclaimed rebates

    Credits promised on the phone and volume rebates earned over the year. Nobody has the hours to chase them.

    P05Find the money you are leakingCOST

    ReportsRecovered dollars.

  4. 04

    Margin that erodes one account at a time

    Price exceptions and freight give-backs pile up quietly. The margin report shows it a quarter late.

    P10Get told before it becomes a problemCOST

    ReportsEarly catches on churn, margin and cash.

  5. 05

    Product knowledge in two people's heads

    Substitutes, specs and what the customer bought last time. Everyone asks the same two people.

    P12Your company's second brainTIME

    ReportsAnswer rate, and how fast new hires get productive.

04Find

What StrikeArc Scout measures in a distributor.

StrikeArc Scout, our Intake and Diagnostic, works from your answers and read-only access to your systems. It puts a dollar figure on each workflow before we recommend a play.

How StrikeArc Scout works

M1Purchase orders keyed by hand each weekFrom your order inbox and your ERP
M2Minutes from quote request to quote sentFrom your inbox and your CRM
M3Invoices touched more than onceFrom your AP inbox and accounting system
M4Credits and rebates owed and never claimedFrom vendor statements and your books
M5Accounts sold below their price floorFrom invoices and your price book
M6Questions only two people can answerFrom your team's intake answers
1 · FindStrikeArc Scout

Intake, scoring and a readout with our recommendation. Free, and yours to keep.

2 · InstallThe first play

One play at $20,000 one-time, or the library at $7,500 a month with one play installed each quarter.

3 · RunWe run it

The result is reported in StrikeArc Helm, in dollars. How it works

Keep reading.

AI use cases in distribution: the office work to fix firstArticle Invoice processing automation with the ERP and inbox you already haveTopic Which processes to automate firstTopic Back-office automationGuide 03 Sales automationGuide 02

Other industries.

How to get started

Bring one messy purchase order to the call.

Book an intro call

Thirty minutes with the exec who owns the order desk. If a play could fit, StrikeArc Scout comes next.