Industrial Distribution
Know when an order no longer matches what the customer was told, before they call.
Hundreds of orders, dozens of suppliers and carriers, and every update arrives by email. LevelOneAI connects each change to the customer promise it breaks and the invoice it puts at risk.
Where the work gets stuck
A carrier hold reaches logistics, and customers find out when they call
Orders entered at a price or date that doesn't match the accepted quote
Short-ship deductions and disputes found weeks later in the aging report
Supplier confirmations that never reach the order they belong to
Price Variance & Rebate Workflow
Claim every rebate you've earned.
Many lines are sold at a thin margin, or below standard cost, and the margin comes back through rebate claims to the manufacturer. The agreements live in PDF contracts, vendor emails and claim rules, so eligible dollars go unclaimed or get rejected for missing documentation.
Rebate exceptions · this week
SPA 22-118 · Ridgeline Fluid Power
$900 unclaimedAdd to claimERP sales history
2,000 fittings sold at SPA price, Oct 3–14
Claims submitted
None
SPA 21-044 · Corbett Electric
Margin at riskRequest extensionSPA contract (PDF)
Expired Sep 30
ERP pricing
14 lines still sold at the SPA price
Claim 5531 · Vantor Fasteners
$1,240 short-paidResubmit with listVendor email · remittance
Paid $1,240 less than claimed
ERP price list
Vendor's Oct 1 list never loaded
3 exceptions, $2,140 to recover
Illustrative example · sample company and data
What comes in
- Vendor SPA contracts (PDF)
- Price list updates (email)
- Manufacturer claim rules
What it does
- Matches sales history to each SPA
- Flags unclaimed and underpaid claims
- Builds the claim pack, with the evidence
What goes back, after approval
- Claim lines and GL credits
- AR deductions
- True margin on every line sold
What it changes
How the work changes
Measured in the pilot
Sales lines checked against agreements
A monthly sample → Every line
Claims prepared
When someone gets to it → As each sale qualifies
Reconciliation time
15–25 hrs a week → Exceptions only
The business results it drives
Which way each one moves, from where it typically is today
- HigherRebate dollars recoveredtoday 75–85%
- LowerClaims rejected by vendorstoday 10–18%
- LowerWait to see true margin on a saletoday 30–90 days after the sale
Illustrative ranges, not results: business results also depend on your team acting on what it finds. The pilot measures both against your own baseline.
What's at stake: a $50M distributor
- $50Mannual sales, for example a fluid power, fastener or electrical distributor
- $10Mof sales under Special Pricing Agreements (20%)
- $800,000in rebates expected from manufacturers (8% average)
- $120,000lost each year if 15% falls through: expired contract codes, missed claim windows, price mismatches in the ERP
- ~$12,000a year for every 10% of that leakage recovered
In sales terms · at a 5% margin
That $120,000 of leaked rebates is the profit you would make on $2.4M of new sales. Recovered margin needs no new customers, inventory or credit risk.
Example assumptions, not results, so use your own numbers. A pilot measures the change against your baseline.
For the CFO, controller and purchasing leader. Claims, credits and deductions are posted only after approval.
Customer Quote-to-Order Workflow
Quote first. Enter it right.
Customer orders arrive as emails, PDF POs, Excel line lists and re-quote requests, and reps spend hours a day re-keying them into ERPs like Prophet 21, Infor CSD or Eclipse. It matches every line to your ERP and shows a rep only the lines that need a decision.
Why not automate it end to end? Customer POs are messy (old part numbers, wrong units, last year's prices), so a person reviews only the exceptions instead of letting straight-through processing stop or enter the mistake.
PO 88214 · Harbor Supply · 24 lines
Line 1 · HYD-HA-12 hose assembly · 40 ea
MatchedLine 7 · FST-5016 hex bolt · 10 bx
Price varianceUse $13.10Customer PO
$12.50 / unit
ERP contract price
$13.10 / unit
Line 12 · 440-A relief valve · 6 ea
DiscontinuedSwap to 440-BCustomer PO
Part #440-A
ERP item master
Discontinued · replace with #440-B
Line 15 · SEAL-KIT-9 · 3 crate
Unit mismatchConvert to 72 bxCustomer PO
3 crates
ERP unit of measure
Sold by the box · 24 per crate
Reviewed in 48 seconds
Create sales orderIllustrative example · sample company and data
Before
- A customer PO arrives as a PDF. A rep re-keys every line into the ERP
- Contract prices, units of measure and ship-tos are looked up by hand
- A discontinued part or a wrong price is caught later, or not at all
- The quote goes out hours later. Another distributor answered first
With LevelOneAI
- It reads the email and the PDF or spreadsheet
- Every line is matched to your item master, contract price and ship-to
- Clean lines are ready. Only the exceptions go to a rep
- The rep confirms in one click, and the order or quote is created after approval
What comes in
- Customer POs emailed as PDFs
- Re-quote requests in email threads
- Excel lists of part numbers
What it does
- Reads each line and matches it to your item master
- Flags price and contract variances
- Puts each exception up for one-click review
What goes into the ERP, after approval
- Draft sales orders or quotes
- Inventory reserved for the order
- Order acknowledgment to the customer
The first answer usually wins
A customer emails five distributors for a $20,000 hydraulic hose assembly, and a rep keying it in by hand answers hours later. It gets the quote out in minutes.
One wrong line costs more than the margin
A mistyped part, a box entered as a crate, the wrong job site. Return freight both ways, restocking and an emergency replacement can wipe out the profit on the account.
What it changes
How the work changes
Measured in the pilot
Order lines checked against the quote
Spot checks → Every line, before saving
Quote turnaround
4–24 hours → Within the hour
Order mismatches caught
After shipping → At entry
The business results it drives
Which way each one moves, from where it typically is today
- LowerWrong orderstoday 3–5% of orders
- LowerCredits, returns and re-shippingtoday ~$250 per wrong order
- LowerQuotes lost to a faster replytoday Common
Illustrative ranges, not results: business results also depend on your team acting on what it finds. The pilot measures both against your own baseline.
What's at stake: a $50M distributor
- $50Mannual sales, about 25,000 orders a year
- 750orders a year entered wrong, at a 3% error rate
- ~$190,000a year off the margin in credits, re-shipping and restocking, at about $250 each
- ~$19,000of margin kept for every 10% of those errors caught at entry
In sales terms · at a 5% margin
The $190,000 lost to wrong orders is the profit you would make on $3.8M of new sales. Every 10% caught at entry is worth about $380,000 in sales.
Example assumptions, not results, so use your own numbers. A pilot measures the change against your baseline.
For the VP of Operations or COO (throughput, capacity, error rates) and the VP of Customer Service or Sales Operations (response time to key accounts, CSR workload, ramp time for new reps). Nothing is written to your ERP without a rep's approval.
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Pick the workflow that costs you the most. We'll show you a workflow on work like yours.
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