CFOs of multi-entity wholesale distribution businesses, are you looking for ways to achieve supply chain excellence? If so, NetSuite ERP is a powerful tool that can help.
NetSuite ERP offers comprehensive solutions that can help streamline the entire supply chain process, from order management to fulfilment and shipping. This integrated system provides an end-to-end view of your business operations, giving you visibility into all aspects of your supply chain. Additionally, it allows you to automate processes and maximise efficiency.
The benefits of using NetSuite ERP are tremendous. With it, you can reduce costs and increase sales by utilising automated processes and real-time analytics. It also enables you to easily manage multiple entities with a single system, as well as analyse and track key performance metrics such as order fill rate and inventory turns.
In this article, DWR – a NetSuite Solution Provider, will discuss the key components of achieving supply chain excellence with the help of NetSuite ERP and provide helpful tips for using the system effectively.
Overview of Supply Chain Management
To achieve supply chain excellence with NetSuite ERP, it is essential to have a clear understanding of the underlying purpose of supply chain management. Supply chain management is the process of planning, organising, and managing all aspects of a company’s supply chain activities. It covers the procurement of raw materials, production, transportation and delivery of finished goods. Companies use this method to ensure that their product gets from point A to point B in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible.
NetSuite ERP helps companies achieve supply chain excellence by providing visibility into all stages of the supply chain. This includes inventory control, order management, demand forecasting, vendor management, and shipping and fulfilment operations. In addition to tracking data points such as customer order status, customer satisfaction ratings and supplier performance metrics, this comprehensive ERP system also provides valuable insights into potential risks that can jeopardise a company’s ability to meet customer demands.
By leveraging NetSuite ERP’s forecasting capabilities and predictive analytics tools companies gain greater control over their operations and are able to proactively identify areas for improvement.
Importance of Supply Chain Excellence for Businesses
Businesses need to provide better customer service, increase inventory accuracy, and reduce costs in order to achieve supply chain excellence. But when companies don’t have the right tools in place to manage their supply chain, they suffer from a slew of problems such as:
- Slow response times due to manual order entry and lack of automation.
- Difficulty finding the right inventory levels because there is no integrated inventory management system.
- Poor customer service due to lack of visibility into customer orders.
- Difficulty creating accurate forecasts due to poor data accuracy and lack of analytics.
- Difficulty managing supplier relationships due to inadequate communication and collaboration tools.
NetSuite Wholesale Distribution ERP helps businesses overcome all these issues. It provides a comprehensive set of capabilities that gives you the visibility, speed and agility your business needs to succeed. With NetSuite ERP, companies can manage their entire supply chain from one platform, including purchase orders, customer orders, inventory tracking, forecasting, demand planning and more. This removes the need for manual processes, increases efficiency and improves accuracy by providing real-time insights across multiple departments. It also helps achieve cost savings through improved supplier relationships by leveraging built-in collaboration tools and analytics.
Introduction to NetSuite ERP, A Supply Chain Automation Solution
NetSuite Supply Chain Management Module is a comprehensive cloud-based solution that automates and streamlines operations across the entire supply chain. It helps businesses manage inventory, order management, fulfilment, and finances efficiently. With NetSuite Supply Planning, wholesalers can effortlessly carry out their daily operations with fewer manual processes.
Automate Your Business Processes
NetSuite ERP makes it easy to automate key processes like purchasing, inventory management, order fulfilment and invoicing to reduce complexity in business operations. By implementing NetSuite ERP, your wholesale business will quickly enjoy improved efficiency as manual processes are replaced with automated solutions that easily scale from small to large multi-entity and international wholesale operations.
End-to-End Visibility
NetSuite ERP can provide end-to-end visibility into your entire supply chain so you can gain a comprehensive view of your business. This enables you to make better decisions in real-time and build stronger relationships with customers and suppliers by providing accurate information on stocking levels, deliveries, invoices, payments and other critical data points. With better visibility into your supply chain processes you’re able to forecast levels of inventory accurately so you can ensure stock availability across all locations.
The Role of ERP in Supply Chain Management
As a CFO of a multi-entity wholesale distribution business, you understand the impact of an effective supply chain management system. To ensure success in the highly competitive world of distribution, you must have an ERP system that drives supply chain excellence.
NetSuite Wholesale Distribution edition is designed to help you create and maintain a more efficient supply chain. With real-time visibility into inventory movements, you can plan and control inventory more effectively in order to cost-effectively manage and optimise the entire value chain. This includes both inbound and outbound transactions.
The ability to lower costs without sacrificing customer service requires visibility of all components that drive your operations’ success, from materials and inventory through to customer demand. With NetSuite Wholesale Distribution Edition, you have these insights with access to real-time order visibility across all channels/locations as well as automated replenishment processes based on data from multiple sources, ensuring products arrive on time, every time.
Key Features of NetSuite ERP for Supply Chain Management
NetSuite ERP offers you complete visibility into your entire supply chain – from the initial purchase order to tracking warehouse inventory to the final delivery of goods. With NetSuite ERP, you can manage your supply chain more effectively and efficiently.
NetSuite ERP allows you to gain a comprehensive view of your entire supply chain with the following features:
Automated Inventory Management
NetSuite Inventory Management enables you to automatically track and handle inventory across multiple locations, set up replenishment points, and configure reordering parameters. This will save time and reduce errors by allowing you to better manage inventory levels in real-time with minimum effort.
Order and Fulfilment Management
Easily track orders and shipments within your supply chain with NetSuite’s order and fulfilment management. This feature allows you to monitor product availability, automate or streamline fulfilment workflows (such as put-away or relabeling), prioritise shipments, track cost/margin accuracy, manage inventory transfer orders, and more.
Warehouse and Distribution Management
NetSuite’s sophisticated warehouse management system (WMS) enables organisations to manage all aspects of distribution centre operations such as putaways, transfers between warehouses, cycle counts, location transfers, and pick/put cycles for multiple locations in a single environment. This helps organisations move closer to achieving their goals for Supply Chain Excellence on a global scale.
Procurement and Supplier Management
NetSuite helps you procure materials from suppliers quickly with automated ordering processes that let you set up pre-defined supplier KPIs along with automated workflow rules for supplier RFPs (request for proposals). The system also simplifies procurement tasks such as international payments processing.
Automating and Optimising Supply Chain Processes With NetSuite ERP
With NetSuite ERP, the CFOs can automate and optimise their supply chain processes. This comprehensive business management application provides users with the tools to accurately manage all areas of their operations – from inventory, purchasing, sales and accounting to customer service and warehousing.
NetSuite Wholesale Distribution edition includes features such as:
- Automated demand planning and order optimisation that enable users to accurately anticipate customer demand, plan orders and allocate resources.
- Advanced visibility into inventory movement that provides real-time insights on stock levels in all warehouses.
- Configurable workflows for better control of operations such as fulfilment, invoicing and returns.
- Mobile capabilities for field sales teams to manage orders remotely.
- Integration with third-party applications to ensure accurate data exchange between systems.
These powerful features give CFOs the ability to identify efficiencies in their supply chain process, minimise costs and ensure inventory accuracy. Having access to a cloud-based ERP also greatly reduces time spent on manual processes so finance teams have more time to focus on strategic tasks.
Benefits of Implementing NetSuite ERP for Supply Chain Management
NetSuite Supply Chain Control offers the following benefits to multi-entity wholesale distributors:
Improved Efficiency and Reduced Operational Costs
NetSuite allows you to streamline your supply chain processes with automation, eliminating manual tasks and data entry. It also allows you to gain insights into your inventory levels with improved stock visibility, helping you to better understand which products are selling, when they’re selling and where they’re selling. This can save you time and money by reducing operational costs.
Enhanced Collaboration and Communication
NetSuite ERP provides improved collaboration between departments on a single platform, with real-time visibility into inventory levels and demand forecasts. The system also allows you to seamlessly integrate your business with customers and suppliers for greater collaboration.
This will enable you to react quickly to customer demands, as well as accurately monitor supplier performance.
Increased Accuracy in Demand Planning & Forecasting
NetSuite ERP’s advanced analytics features enable you to create more accurate demand forecasts based on customer buying patterns. This will help you plan ahead more effectively, allowing you to better manage supply chain disruptions and lead times — improving response times and customer satisfaction in the process.
Streamlined Processes & Workflows
NetSuite ERP offers preconfigured workflows that make it easy for your team to process orders quickly and efficiently. And its automated reporting capabilities allow users to gain access to valuable data on orders, shipments, inventory and more in real time.
”NetSuite ERP offers comprehensive solutions that can help streamline the entire supply chain process, from order management to fulfilment and shipping.
Tiernan O'ConnorSales Director - DWR
Tips to Reduce Risk When Implementing NetSuite ERP for Supply Chain Excellence
Once you have identified your organisational goals and objectives and taken the necessary steps to ensure data accuracy and integration, it is critical to think about risk reduction when implementing NetSuite ERP. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
Employee Training and Change Management
When implementing NetSuite, it is essential that employees are properly trained on the new system. Ensure they understand how processes work and the impact the solution has on their daily activities. Change management is necessary for successful implementation, as it helps to ensure that employees accept and understand the new system.
Partner With Experienced NetSuite ERP Consultants
While NetSuite ERP offers an array of features that can help to improve supply chain excellence, working with a certified NetSuite Solution Provider can help walk you through the process. The experts at DWR have experience helping businesses like yours achieve their organisational goals by leveraging NetSuite ERP technology.
Regularly Reviewing and Optimising System Performance
Finally, be sure to regularly review and optimise your system performance, so you can identify any potential issues or opportunities for improvement. This will allow you to remain competitive in your industry while continuing to increase your supply chain excellence initiatives.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the goal of supply chain optimisation can be achieved with NetSuite ERP. The system provides an integrated, powerful, and scalable suite of software modules that enables wholesale businesses to optimise their supply chain operations and gain competitive advantage in the market.
With NetSuite ERP, businesses can streamline their supply chain processes, reduce costs, and improve inventory management, supply chain control, supply planning, and shipping methods. Investing in NetSuite ERP will provide businesses with the platform they need to take their supply chain operations to the next level.
About DWR
DWR Consulting is a team of experienced NetSuite professionals who focus on helping businesses streamline their processes and unlock their full potential with the power of NetSuite. Whether you’re looking for implementation, customisation or updating your existing system, DWR Consulting can help you get the most out of your business software. Contact us today for a free consultation on how we can help you revolutionise your customer’s retail experience.