Distribution process automation
Orders, stock and documents that move between systems on their own
We automate the route of an order in a distribution company: orders received by email or phone arrive structured in the ERP, stock syncs with the online shop, delivery notes and invoices come from the same order, and supplier invoices and returns follow a clear path. We work with distributors of 10 to 250 people. It starts with a short diagnosis.
Today and after
One customer order, from email to invoice.
An example built for this page: a 35-person distributor receiving around 80 orders a day by email and phone. The numbers are working assumptions, not a client’s results.
Illustrative example
Today
The order arrives by email, as a PDF or in the message Manual
An operator opens it, looks up the customer in the ERP and types in the product codes. In the example: 6 minutes per order.
Phone orders are written on paper Manual
And typed in later, when the phone goes quiet. Some are lost by the evening.
Online shop stock is updated once a day Manual
From an ERP export. In between, customers order products that have run out.
Delivery note and invoice are made separately Manual
From the same order, but in two steps, sometimes by two different people.
Returns are tracked in a spreadsheet Manual
The credit note appears when someone remembers, and the customer calls to ask.
In the example: 80 orders × 6 minutes = 8 hours of typing a day, a full-time person, plus code and stock errors.
After
The email order is read and prepared in the ERP Automatic
Customer and products are recognized; the operator only confirms.
Phone orders go straight into a form Manual
Linked to the ERP, with customer and product search. No second round of typing.
Stock syncs with the online shop Automatic
At short intervals, not once a day. Products that ran out can no longer be ordered.
Delivery note and invoice come from the same order Automatic
Same data, at the moment of delivery, never retyped.
Exceptions go to a person Human check
Unknown codes, different prices, not enough stock, each with the reason written. The example assumes one order in ten.
In the example, the operator checks instead of typing: about a minute per order, plus the exceptions. The real numbers are measured in the diagnosis, on your orders.
When this fits
When it is worth it, and when it is not.
It fits if
- You receive dozens or hundreds of orders a day by email, messaging or phone, and someone types them into the ERP.
- Your online shop sells products that are out of stock, because stock is updated by hand or once a day.
- The delivery note, the invoice and the e-invoice submission are separate steps, from the same order.
- Supplier invoices are checked by hand against purchase orders and goods receipts.
- Returns and credit notes are tracked in a spreadsheet, and the customer is the last to know.
It does not fit if
- You get a few orders a day. A good form and ERP discipline do more than an automation project.
- The product codes and prices in your ERP are not reliable. Automation would spread the errors faster, so we start with the data.
- Your ERP has no way in: no API, no import, no scheduled export. Then the first conversation is about the system, not automation.
- You only want to choose a new ERP or online shop from scratch, separate from the process. If you want the orders your customers place online to land straight in your ERP, that is what we do.
What we build
The processes, one by one.
Each process can be automated on its own. The diagnosis shows which one is worth starting with.
- 01
Email order intake
Orders in the email body, in PDFs or in spreadsheets are read, customer and products are matched to the ERP, and the order arrives ready for confirmation. Anything that does not match stops with the operator.
- 02
A form for phone orders
A simple screen linked directly to the ERP, with customer and product code search, so an order taken by phone is entered only once.
- 03
Stock synced with the online shop
Stock and prices from the ERP reach the shop at short intervals, through an API or import files. Shop orders travel back into the ERP the same way.
- 04
Delivery notes and invoices from the order
The delivery note and the invoice are generated from the delivered order, with the same data, and the invoice goes on to e-invoicing.
- 05
Supplier invoices
Received invoices are downloaded automatically and matched to the purchase order and the goods receipt. Quantity or price differences go to the person who can resolve them.
- 06
Returns and reporting
Every return has a status, from request to credit note, visible to the sales rep too. A daily report shows orders received, orders blocked and why.
Do the math
What does typing orders by hand cost you today?
Enter your own numbers. The result is the time spent on manual order entry today, not a promised saving. How much of it goes away is what the diagnosis measures, on your real orders.
Estimate
- Manual time per month
- 160 hours
- Cost per month
- €4,800 per month
Per year: €57,600
Assumptions
- With the starting values: 1,600 orders × 6 minutes = 160 hours a month. At €30 an hour, that is €4,800 a month.
- 1,600 orders a month is 80 per working day, as in the example above. Count the orders in a normal week before you pick the number.
- The minutes cover opening the message, finding the customer, typing the products and checking stock. Time a few real orders.
- €30 an hour is a starting value for the full cost of an hour of administrative work, not an official average. Use the real cost in your company.
- The estimate leaves out the cost of errors: wrong codes, repeated deliveries, products sold without stock.
- It is an indicative estimate, not a quote and not a guaranteed saving.
How we work
From today’s orders to a flow that runs by itself.
The first step is The Diagnosis: we follow a few dozen real orders, from the customer’s message to the invoice, and choose together what is worth automating first. Only then do we build.
- 01
Diagnose
We measure how many orders arrive on each channel, how long each step takes, where errors appear and which data is missing from the ERP.
Output: flow map, measured volumes and times, priorities.
- 02
Design
We pick the process with the biggest gain, usually order intake or stock, set the matching rules and decide what stays with the operator.
Output: the new flow, written rules and an owner for exceptions.
- 03
Build
We build the integration and run it alongside the old process, on real orders, until the operators trust it.
Output: the first automated process in production, checked on real orders.
- 04
Scale
We move to the next process: delivery notes and invoices, supplier invoices, returns. We hand over the documentation and the daily report.
Output: documented processes and an owner on your team.
Risks
What can go wrong, and how we handle it.
Wrong data in the ERP
If product codes or prices are wrong, automation passes them on, only faster. We check them in the diagnosis and fix them before we build.
Orders the system does not understand
A customer writes “same as last time, but double”. Orders like that are not guessed: they go to the operator, with the original message attached.
Wrong stock shown in the shop
If the sync stops, the shop can sell what you do not have. The sync is monitored, a person is alerted when it breaks, and low-stock products can be paused from sale.
Personal data and access
Orders hold customers’ contact details. Access is limited to the people who need it, and we sign a data processing agreement for any data we can access. The integration runs on your servers or in the cloud, in EU data centers.
Questions about automation in distribution
Do we have to change our ERP?
Usually not. If the ERP has an API, accepts imports or allows database access, we keep it and build around it. We replace it only if it cannot be connected at all. The decision is made in the diagnosis, with the cost of both options on the table.
Are email orders read with AI?
Sometimes. Orders that always arrive in the same format are read with rules, no AI needed. Free-text orders, or PDFs that differ from one customer to the next, need an AI model, with a human check for anything it is unsure of.
AI document processingWhat happens to phone orders?
The phone stays. We only change where the order is written down: straight into a form linked to the ERP, during the call, not on paper and then again in the system.
How often does stock sync with the online shop?
As often as both systems allow. The interval depends on the ERP and the shop platform, from a few minutes to an hour, and we set it in the diagnosis once we have seen how both behave.
Does it connect to e-invoicing?
Yes. The invoice generated from the order can go to e-invoicing automatically, and supplier invoices can be downloaded from there automatically, to be matched to goods receipts. In Romania that means RO e-Factura.
e-Invoicing automationHow long until the first process works?
It depends on how many order channels you have and how clean the ERP data is. We set the duration in the diagnosis and write it into the proposal. We work one at a time: one process reaches production before we start the next.
What if the integration stops?
Orders are not lost: they wait in a queue and are processed when the system is back. A person is alerted right away, and operators can enter orders by hand, as before, until it is fixed.
How is this different from an ERP-CRM integration?
An ERP-CRM integration connects two systems. Here we start from the whole distribution process, from the customer’s order to the return, and remove the manual steps in it, however many systems it passes through.
ERP-CRM integrationFurther reading
Read more on this.
Tell us how an order reaches your ERP today.
Describe your order channels, the volume and who enters them, in a few lines. We reply honestly on whether a diagnosis is worth it, and what it would cover.