Four formats, one Friday
One distributor emails a spreadsheet with their own product codes. A national wholesaler sends a PDF purchase order with a PO number you must quote on the invoice. Another has a portal you have to log into to see what they want. A bottle shop chain emails a list. Someone in the office types each into the brewery system, matching their codes to your beers, and hopes the pallet quantities are right.
When they are not, you find out at the depot, which is a bad place to find out.
Why larger orders are the messiest
Bigger customers have their own systems, and they do not bend to yours. Their product codes do not match your names. Their pack formats may be pallets of cases or specific keg sizes. Their POs carry reference numbers, delivery slots and terms that must be carried through. Retyping is slow, and every retype is a chance to misread a line.
- Each customer uses its own product codes.
- Orders come as spreadsheet, PDF or portal.
- PO numbers and delivery slots must appear on paperwork.
- Prices on the PO may differ from your agreed price.
- Pallet and case quantities are easy to misread.
What the retyping costs
Hours each week of careful, dull work. Mistakes that surface as rejected deliveries, short-shipped lines or invoices that are rejected because the PO number is missing. Disputes about price because the PO price was never checked. And late orders into production, because the order was not keyed until someone had time.
Depot deliveries are the painful case. Miss the booked slot or arrive with the wrong pallet configuration and the load can be turned away, which means another trip and a customer who now thinks you are hard to deal with.
Reading orders in whatever format they arrive
- A shared orders mailbox that receives emailed spreadsheets and PDFs.
- Portal orders collected by a scheduled download where the portal allows it, or by a reminder to check it where it does not.
- Each document is read and turned into lines: product, quantity, pack, PO number, delivery date or slot.
- A mapping table links each customer's product codes to your beers and containers, built up as new codes appear.
- Quantities and prices are checked against agreed prices and pack rules, and mismatches are flagged.
- The draft order is created in your brewery system with the PO reference, ready for a person to approve.
- The PO number and slot flow through to the delivery paperwork and the invoice.
| Check | What it catches |
|---|---|
| Unknown product code | A new line or a typo on their side |
| Price differs from agreed | An old price on their PO |
| Quantity not a full case or pallet | A misread or a special request |
| Missing PO number | Paperwork that would be rejected |
| Delivery slot conflict | A slot that clashes with your runs |
What changes for the office
Orders appear as drafts shortly after they arrive. The office reviews flags instead of typing lines. Price differences are raised before delivery, not after the invoice bounces. PO numbers are always on the paperwork. Production sees large orders in time to plan packaging.
Adding a new wholesaler becomes a matter of mapping their codes once, rather than training someone on another format to retype.
Is this your order desk?
- Wholesaler and distributor orders are retyped by hand.
- Their product codes are matched to your beers from memory.
- Invoices have been rejected for missing PO numbers.
- PO prices are not checked against agreed prices.
- Large orders reach production late.