Electronics Distribution Software
(Electronic components distribution software)

Integrated business software from IBS can help electronic components distributors to realize immense benefits throughout their operations, including these main functional areas:

• Distribution and logistics
• Warehouse and Inventory Management
• Sales order and CRM
• Procurement
• Financials and Business Intelligence

This section highlights some of the many benefits that your electronic components distribution business can gain with IBS software.

Distribution and logistics

• NON-CONFORMING GOODS

  Goods used for demonstrations or that have packaging defects must be handled. ENTERPRISE software can automatically define unusable goods and provides follow-up capability

• BACK-TO-BACK DELIVERY

  The IBS solution gives you the ability to coordinate direct deliveries from suppliers to customers, helping to eliminate costs associated with receiving and picking sold goods

• SERIAL NUMBER TRACKING

  Total, automated tracking power lets you track individual items through serial number from stock receipt through to customer invoicing. Lot and batch tracking is also supported

• AUTOMATED SHIPPING OPTIMIZATION

  including automatic disposal check of stock, capacity, components and transportation. Other automated shipping capabilities include picking and dispatching based on shipment plans, delivery advice and route plan creation and notification at order entry, alternative delivery address for freight documents, complete shipping documentation and loading area instructions

• WAREHOUSE DIVERSION

  In case of shortages or an emergency at one warehouse location, the system can automatically divert or block shipments or change shipments for a specified line, helping to ensure uninterrupted delivery and customer satisfaction

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Warehousing and inventory optimization

• AUTOMATIC NOTIFICATION AND WARNING

  ALERT MANAGEMENT monitors warehouse inventory and alerts you to actual or potential problems. You can set up parameters, filters and conditions such as minimum stock quantity, that trigger notification to authorized staff. The system can also provide messages that suggest actions for solving problems that might arise

• BAR CODE AND RADIO FREQUENCY (RF) SUPPORT

  Fully integrated support for bar coding and RF handling allows quick tracking and communication of serial and lot numbers or batch codes. Labelling accuracy is improved through the reduction of human error and paperwork

• CROSS-DOCKING, PICKING AND PACKING, PUT-AWAY, RECEIVING

  The IBS solution helps to increase throughput velocity for faster receipt and delivery. Receipt against ASNs, RF dispatching, scanning and barcoding are all designed to ensure that stock movements are recorded as they occur. Volume picking, priority pick-list printing and preferred pick and put-away unit handling are just a few automated features that help move large volumes of goods with top efficiency

• INVENTORY SEGMENTATION

  Stock items can be classified based on volume value classification, helping to plan products more effectively. This feature can help identify products that are, for example, highturnover, low-margin, high-value and slow-moving. This can enable a more efficiently managed inventory, with positive effects on such KPIs as inventory days supply and cash-to-cash cycle time

• ITEM CROSS-REFERENCE

  Electronic parts often have short product lives. Automated cross-referencing helps you define replacement products and customer or supplier item codes

• SKU MANAGEMENT

  The IBS solution helps you manage thousands of SKU numbers, helping to reduce overhead costs

• STOCK OPTIMIZATION

  Inventory Control contains functionality for dynamic demand forecasting for different item segments, automated replenishment suggestions, inventory analysis and simulations, helping to ensure that the right components are available in stock at economical levels

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CRM and sales order management

In addition to Ship and Debit, fair share handling and back-to-back orders, the IBS solution addresses specific sales order and CRM needs for electronic components distributors, such as:

• BACK ORDERS AND SOURCING

  Can be handled automatically on a customer level at order entry, speeding up order fulfilment processes

• CREDIT CHECKS AND PAYMENTS

  Automatic support for credit overdraw percentage helps fulfil orders without permanently increasing overall credit exposure. A warning informs you when a customer's ordinary credit limit is exceeded, and orders are held if the overdraw percentage is also exceeded. Credit holds on order line level allow efficient management of orders based on sales order lines

• CUSTOMER DELIVERY SCHEDULING

  Automated forecasting, based on safety stock levels and other information from customers, lets you predict what stocks customers will require in forthcoming periods. Your business can benefit through more efficient Inventory Control as well as greater customer satisfaction

• CUSTOMER SELF-SERVICE

  Web-enabled customers can use NetStore capabilities to place orders and track product, reducing your operation's administrative and staff costs while providing 24/7 one-stop-shop service to your customers

• PRICING FLEXIBILITY

  Pricing methods are built into the system to help attract and keep customers, including discount methods, buying groups, baskets (parcels) and order summary discounts, with complete sales price visibility to let customers know exact cost details

• PRODUCT CONFIGURATION

  The PRODUCT CONFIGURATOR helps to ensure component accuracy and integrity for creating made-to-order BOMs that fit customer specifications. This can lead directly to better customer satisfaction and product quality and reduce the need for technically trained staff to complete complex order structures

• RESTRICTED SALES

  The solution has seamless handling of restricted sales, when certain items may not be sold to specific regions, firms or locations because of standards or legal reasons. Status numbers are assigned to each order, which lets you track and monitor held orders and take action to fulfil legal obligations

• RETURNS HANDLING

  Mandatory return reason codes at the order line level streamline returns processes, enhance quality control and avoid frequent defects. Customer returns are facilitated with automatic return collection notes on delivery lists for drivers

• SOURCING FOR RUSH ORDERS AND SPECIAL ORDERS

  The system's automatic product sourcing capability is ready-made for rush orders, back to back orders or alternative and replacement items. Continuous status monitoring helps identify orders that need stock allocation priority. MULTI DISTRIBUTION CENTER enhances the ability to find and allocate stock in a multi-site environment. Enhanced product visibility can help to produce shorter order fulfilment lead-times and reduce safety stock

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Procurement

The IBS solution supports procurement on a wide-ranging basis, including strategic sourcing, to help your business secure stock at the best price.

Coupled with automated warehousing and inventory routines that maintain optimal stock levels, IBS procurement routines help your business to minimize total supply chain costs through lower payrolls, lower operating costs, and the most efficient purchasing methods. IBS procurement functionality includes:

• AUTOMATED PURCHASE ORDER CREATION

  Purchase orders can be created automatically, based on system suggestions when user-defined criteria are satisfied. The system can also check order points instead of performing this manually

• AUTOMATED PURCHASE SIMULATION AND SUGGESTION REVIEW

  Simulations let you anticipate real procurement costs through current system information. Purchase suggestion reviews take into account inventory levels, helping you maintain safety stock and pinpoint items to purchase

• DISTRIBUTION ANALYSIS

  Based on current information from throughout the system, this analysis capability helps you to determine real procurement costs. It also gives you the capability for direct automatic replenishment based on the analysis results

• LANDED COST

  The IBS solution automates the calculation of landed cost, which can be spread over several purchase order lines in a reception. This helps to lower overhead through the reduction of administrative costs and manual errors

• PULL, PRIORITY AND SHORTAGE EVALUATION

  This automated analysis provides automatic monitoring of urgent stocks, plus the capability for automatic order generation

• PURCHASE SUGGESTION MANAGEMENT

  The IBS solution provides suggestion management capabilities with automatic review codes for product lines, helping to ensure accuracy, maximum line value, stock levels and optimized values. Additional functions include special buy evaluation, interactive line buying and graphical planning tools that give a complete overview of procurement information

• SUPPLIER AGREEMENT AND PRICE NEGOTIATION

  Supplier Marketing Support provides you an automated method to take advantage of supplier discount programs. The software handles complex supplier rebate rules and can be an invaluable tool for negotiating the best supplier agreements and prices

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Financials

• ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

  Allows you to register and track supplier and expense invoices, book VAT or GST and match against purchase order and reception information including invoices for landed costs. A/P invoice matching allows forward charge date override, three-way match sorting sequences for checking invoice items, and automatic invoice matching from an incoming invoice file, to save Time and resources in the invoice workflow

• ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE

  FINANCIALS helps you reduce bad debt and improve accounts receivable and payment statistics. You can monitor and administer customer account balances through automatic statements of account, reminders for overdue invoices and collection handling. This help to reduce A/R days outstanding and your cash-to-cash cycle time

• ACTIVITY BASED COSTING REPORTING

  Measure and improve the efficiency of your CRM and SCM processes. The IBS solution calculates net profitability from an Activity Based Costing (ABC) approach. The equations used can include any type of balance, whether these are pre-defined in the system, quickly and easily defined by users, calculated or redistributed

• ASSET MANAGEMENT

  ASSET CONTROL helps you obtain maximum value from assets – including physical property, warranties and service contracts

• AUTOMATIC TRANSACTION CREATION AND TRANSFER

  Each event in the operational system has user-defined accounting rules for automatic transfer to the General Ledger and sub-ledgers

• CASH FLOW MANAGEMENT

  Provides a complete picture of your company's cash flow, including views of all types of incoming and outgoing payments on a daily level, cash flow forecasts and balance files

• CONSIGNED INVENTORY ACCOUNTING

  Buffer stock from a supplier can be set up as a separate warehouse for accounting purposes, as can your consignment stock in a customer's warehouse

• CROSS-COMPANY REPORTING

  Lets you choose a range of your system companies to include in financial or other reports. Assets analysis, profit and loss per division, and figures vital to a multi-company environment can be reported for any period

• TAX HANDLING AND CONTROL

  The IBS solution uses country-specific VAT rules to provide automatic calculation and accounting of ingoing and outgoing VAT for international business. The system also gathers information for full Intrastat reporting and Tax declarations. This helps reduce overhead costs related to VAT obligations in the form of administrative costs. The system also handles North American taxation and other GST (general sales tax) orders

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Service management

IBS provides an all-in-one service solution that handles both field service and internal service maintenance, both internally and out in the field.

On-line call center functions let you provide immediate responses to customer service requests">customer service requests. On-call engineers have instant access to all service information needed for the job, with the ability to enter reports and invoices from customer sites. Support for replenishing van inventory (work tools and spare parts) helps to ensure high levels of job quality and customer satisfaction, as well as reduced return visits.

Transparency, scalability and easy-to-use features let your company integrate its service operations with the entire system. The IBS service solution includes agreement and warranty handling, extensive CRM functionality, graphical tools for resource planning, office-field entry and information updating, service kits handling, resource planning, flexible pricing and charging methods, advanced follow-up capability, time reporting and communications with EDI, XML, web services and other methods.

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Business Intelligence

Pre-loaded client applications with OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) tools for data marts are included. The IBS solution uses SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference-model) to help measure business performance.

Contact IBS for more information on Electronics distribution software. »