Work we usually map in Wholesale distribution
- Build quotes and check customer pricing
- Enter orders from email, phone and portals
- Check stock and confirm ship dates
- Handle backorders and substitutions
- Process returns and credits
- Answer order status questions
Where work usually waits
- Orders arrive by email and are typed in by hand.
- Ship-date questions go to one person who knows the warehouse.
- Pricing exceptions wait for a manager.
Tasks AI can help with
- Read order emails and draft the order for a person to check
- Draft ship-date replies
- Flag pricing that is outside the rules
- Prepare the daily backorder list
These are examples. Your own list comes from your team's answers. A person stays in charge of each task and makes the judgment calls.
Questions we ask your team
- How do orders reach you, and how many ways?
- Who decides pricing exceptions?
- Who knows the real ship date, and how do others ask?
- What happens when an item is out of stock?
How the one-week map works
- Days 1 to 3: your team talks. Each person answers a few questions about their own work, on their phone or by typing. It takes about 20 minutes.
- Days 4 to 5: we map the work. Every task, who does it, how many hours it takes and where work waits. The people who do the work check it.
- Days 6 to 7: you pick what AI does. A ranked list of tasks AI can help with and the hours each one takes today. You choose. A person stays in charge of each one.
What you get on day 7
- One map of who does what in the department.
- A written card for each task: what starts it, the steps, who gets the result, how often it happens and how long it takes.
- The hand-offs where work waits.
- The tasks only one person knows.
- A ranked list of tasks AI can help with, each with a named owner.
Every number comes from your team's own answers. You keep the readout and the files.
Questions and answers
Where should a distributor start mapping?
Most start with quote to order to ship, because it touches sales, inside sales, purchasing and the warehouse, and it is where customers feel delays.
Which distribution tasks can AI help with?
Order entry from emails, status replies, pricing checks and backorder lists. A person checks each order before it is placed.
Do you connect to our ERP?
We build each business-system connector during your project. The first map comes from your team's answers, not from a system integration.