AI for distribution
and wholesale.
High volume, thin margin, and a lot of decisions made quickly. Purchasing, allocation, quoting, and logistics all depend on information that usually lives one system away from the person deciding.
Margin is decided in small, fast decisions.
A quote given without current cost, an allocation made without knowing the inbound, a replenishment missed by a week. Each decision may look small in isolation. Together they determine margin, availability, and customer experience.
Cost moves faster than price lists
Landed cost changes, and quotes go out against yesterday's assumptions.
Allocation is a judgment call
Limited stock across competing accounts is decided in the moment, often without full context.
Replenishment is a lead-time bet
Demand variability plus supplier drift makes coverage a moving target.
Order intake is unstructured
Orders arrive by email, PDF, portal, and phone, and get re-keyed by hand.
Accounts have history nobody reads
Buying patterns and past exceptions predict the next conversation, if anyone surfaces them.
Logistics exceptions find you late
A delayed inbound only becomes visible when a customer asks.
The work worth
building around.
Not a menu to buy from. These are the places where connected systems most often remove work, improve a decision, or keep the operation moving.
- 01
Demand & Replenishment
Coverage, velocity, and reorder points monitored against real supplier lead times.
- 02
Purchasing
Buy recommendations and draft orders prepared with cost and terms attached, queued for approval.
- 03
Inventory Allocation
Competing demand surfaced with account, margin, and commitment context for the person deciding.
- 04
Vendor Management
Supplier performance, fill rates, and lead-time drift tracked with evidence.
- 05
Warehouse Exceptions
Short picks, discrepancies, and receiving issues routed with the history attached.
- 06
Order Intake
Orders arriving by email, PDF, or portal parsed into structured records for review.
- 07
Quoting
Quotes prepared from current cost, account pricing, and availability — approved by a salesperson.
- 08
Account Management
Buying patterns, gaps, and at-risk accounts surfaced before the renewal conversation.
- 09
Customer Communications
Status, backorder, and delivery updates prepared from live order and logistics data.
- 10
Logistics & Freight
Inbound status, delays, and freight cost visible before they become a customer problem.
- 11
Margin Visibility
Contribution by account, product, and channel kept current instead of reconstructed quarterly.
- 12
Returns & Claims
Return reasons, vendor claims, and recovery handled as a tracked workflow.
- 13
Sales Follow-Up
Open quotes and lapsed ordering patterns worked systematically.
- 14
Reporting
Operational and commercial reporting assembled on a schedule your team trusts.
A large request lands. Margin is visible before the answer is.
The quote is prepared with everything it depends on. The commercial decision stays with the salesperson, and purchasing sees the consequence immediately.
- 01Sales
Large customer request arrives
Observed - 02AI Environment
Account terms, pricing, and order history retrieved
Reasoned - 03Inventory
On-hand, allocated, and inbound stock checked
Reasoned - 04AI Environment
Margin impact calculated at current landed cost
Reasoned - 05AI Environment
Quote prepared with availability and terms attached
Reasoned - 06Salesperson
Commercial terms reviewed and approved
Human authority - 07Operations
Order workflow created and confirmed
Reasoned - 08Purchasing
Replenishment implication surfaced for approval
Human authority - 09Logistics
Inbound and delivery plan updated and communicated
Reasoned
One illustrative workflow, not a product. The architecture behind it — how systems, context, and approvals fit together.
What stays
with a person.
Preparation, calculation, and visibility are automated. Committing price, stock, and delivery to a customer remains a human decision.
- Quoted pricing, discounts, and commercial terms
- Allocation of constrained stock between accounts
- Purchase commitments and supplier negotiation
- Credit, claims, and dispute outcomes
- Delivery commitments made to a customer
How Big Timber works
We don't start with
a product.
We learn how the business works, then identify where connected AI creates useful capacity — and where it does not.
See the engagement model →Discover
We learn how the operation actually runs — systems, handoffs, and where work stalls.
Design
We map where connected AI creates capacity, and what stays with a person.
Build
Integrations, context, workflows, approvals, and logging built into your environment.
Train & Maintain
The team is brought with it, and the environment keeps an owner afterwards.
Find where AI fits in yours.
A working session across purchasing, inventory, quoting, and logistics. We will identify where connected AI protects margin and removes re-keying — and where the current process is already fine.