Thank you, Rick. Do you have some time discuss about the API’s you have created?
John
@GTI07094 that would be potentially pretty helpful. Distribution is different given each company, but maybe you have overcome some of the issues we are having with it.
I’ll shoot you a direct message.
Absolutely. Send me an email to ricks@greywolf.com with your availability. In the meantime, you can visit greywolf.com.
We are. Epicor/Kinetic ERP isn’t pretty and has a lot of problems, but frankly 99% of them would be solved by better docs.
But it’s incredibly versatile, and we do distribution, individual sales, and massive multi-years project sales all with the one system.
A friend who used Epicor for a few years recently evaluated P21 for a Jan-San pure distribution/3PL business, and ultimately decided it didn’t offer anything better. But I haven’t seen it myself.
We couldn’t do this without heavily customizing the system - and, let’s be honest, a lot of smartsheets - but it gives such a complete framework, whether you’re a code or low-code user, that all business models are possible.
It’s actually a great question and thank you, because I’ve been raging against the machine a bit lately and it helps to remember what the wretched thing CAN do.
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We buy sheet goods
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we buy components that we also sometimes make from sheet goods
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we buy and resell finished products that we don’t touch
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we assemble products and also sometimes subcontract that assembly
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within that, we sometimes also have the subcontractor make the components and sometimes not
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we sell to about 250 distributors who sell value-added packages
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we sell to end users who do their own installs
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we sell to wholesalers. who sell to distributors
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we sell to distributors who then install and bill us for installation, which we then bill to the end user
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we sell to huge customers, ship to up to 300 different installers for them, pay the installers and bill the customers, associating every SO with a TO, a VIN, and the installation invoice
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we manage 27,000 components that are sold as 3000 finished products
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we have about a dozen different price programs plus custom
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we have multiple companies, sites and currencies
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we enter all orders in one site and automatically determine where to build and ship from
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we automatically determine the correct site to build vs stock in, and generate TOs and jobs accordingly
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we execute 3500 jobs per week and 99.7% complete and close automatically within tolerance
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we don’t use AMM or material queue
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we don’t use scheduling, fulfilment workbench, job wizardy things, etc
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we don’t use ECM
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we don’t use AFR
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we grow 15-20% every year
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we have tripled in growth without adding IT or ERP staff
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99% DIFOT for 3 years
EVERY SINGLE USER POLLED says access to clear information about the system is their ONLY constraint. Sometimes they call that “more Steve” and sometimes “more docs” but it’s all the same.
So I think distribution works fine.
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I would make a distinction between distribution and big box distribution.
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I agree, but so far nobody has been able to say clearly what P21 does out of the box that ERP couldn’t do with some tweaks. In either case it’s all about the process.
If you’re big enough for there to be a major difference, you’re probably big enough to roll your own EDI connections using the EI system built in to ERP.
To be fair, we’ve sold to big box but only as a specialty supplier, not a high volume low margin supplier. So I don’t have much exposure there.
It’s still going to come down to getting the process right, and Rona Canada uses a skinned Epicor for big box quite successfully
I would agree Alisa. B2C (e-commerce), vs b2b and b2bb (bigbox) all have their own challenges.
99% DIFOT (OTIF) is a great number.
Just curious why you are not using AMM, Fulfillment Workbench, Material Queue or job Wizard? It does sound like you do use Jobs though. Not a far of AFR either but ECM we do like for the automation for AP.
Thank you for your comments, Steve. Good healthy discussion on this topic.
John
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Steve!?!?!?! Where have you been 
Haven’t you heard my distant cries for distribution help?!
Glad to have reached you!!!
Ah, see we sell big box. And it’s tough. We only have a few big box clients, but it’s enough of a headache that it takes up a huge portion of our time. We are talking ten thousand order lines to distribute across US… for one order…
See what happens with a simple discussion. Why I like this user group.
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orders of magnitude too slow.
Average job time (pick, assemble, package) is <15min, almost 1 pc flow. Takes longer to manage using Epicor tools than to execute.
We use C# code to do all those things, for example a process runs hourly to check new orders for sales kit items that need MTO jobs, and makes them, notifying the planners.
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Yes this is the scenario I’m talking about - Kinetic just does not have tools out of the box to deal with this at all. Also pick/pack process and label printing is sorely lacking even with advanced everything. PCID was just starting to be offered in 10.0 but didn’t work really at all, maybe its better now.
yes, you would have to have excellent input controls and automation, and yes that’s much higher volume than anything we’d see.
However, with recently onboarded customers we’re seeing orders for 12000 vehicle modifications, each requiring a separate SO.
Steve
Thank you for the clarity. I have a couple meetings today to discuss our go forward. I will keep the team updated.
I was fortunate enough to get trained on the automotive industry’s PFMEA and now its my main tool for planning customizations
I’ll admit though Steve, we don’t have a high volume of orders from big box, maybe one a month I think? I am new to this company.
Most of our distribution is to smaller sets of stores and less product mix.
So probably closer to your scenario
So are your Jobs, Jobs in the sense that you are adding operations and managing waste or more assemblies? Ours are more assemblies with no additional operations or cost 97% of the time.
I do like the idea of the code to create the MTO.