Distribution

Business Central for Distribution

Business Central for distributors: warehouse logistics, replenishment and routing. See warehouse and distribution in Business Central.

Distribution companies face specific processes that an out-of-the-box system covers poorly. We implement Business Central so it fits your reality — not the other way around.

Industry challenges

Picking and shipping errors
Overstock in some warehouses, shortage in others
Manual replenishment
No supply-chain transparency

How it works in your industry

A distribution warehouse in Business Central runs on directed processes: receiving with bin put-away, picking along optimal routes, scanner-based shipping. Picking errors drop because the system guides the picker, not memory.

Replenishment is calculated across the warehouse network: where there's surplus, where shortage, what to transfer between locations, what to reorder. Demand forecasting accounts for seasonality, and inventory decisions become calculation rather than intuition.

How the distribution cycle runs in the system

Stage	What the system records	What it gives you
Purchase planning	Demand across the whole network, with supplier lead times	Orders come from a shortfall calculation, not from memory
Goods in	Put-away to bins, batch numbers and expiry dates	Stock is found without asking a colleague where it went
Storage	Balances by site, zone and bin	Surplus in one location and shortage in another become visible
Picking	Pick tasks routed through the warehouse, scanner confirmation	Mispicks fall because the route is instructed, not remembered
Despatch	Delivery documents linked back to the sales order	The customer receives what was actually ordered
Settlement	Receivables, credit limits, overdue ageing	Shipments to a debtor are blocked automatically

The four problems that come up most

Surplus at one site, shortage at another

Replenishment is calculated across the network rather than per warehouse. Stockkeeping units hold a reorder point, safety stock and lead time for every item and location pair, so a central warehouse and a regional depot run on genuinely different rules instead of one shared guess.

Picking errors

The pick task walks the operative through a route and asks for confirmation at each line. At volume this is usually the fastest payback in the whole project: one pallet returned because of a mispick costs more than a month of running the module.

Cost that ignores freight

Item charges spread freight, duty and insurance across document lines by weight, quantity or value. Margin is then calculated from landed cost rather than from the supplier invoice, which on imported goods is a materially different number. The mechanics are covered in inventory costing methods.

Cash frozen in receivables

The credit limit is checked as the order is raised, not discovered at month end. Aged debt reports build in seconds instead of being assembled by hand from three spreadsheets.

Decisions to make before you start

The warehouse process level for each site — single, two or three step. Set out in detail in the article on warehouse logistics.
Whether you need bins, and how they should be named and numbered.
Pricing rules — by customer group, volume band or campaign.
Who owns credit limits and what happens operationally when a shipment is blocked.
Your analytics dimensions — channel, account manager, region — through dimensions.

Key BC capabilities

Warehouse management (put-away, picking)

Multi-warehouse inventory

Demand forecasting

Shipment routing

Discuss your project

Frequently asked questions

Is directed warehousing supported?

Yes. Business Central supports zones, bins, directed put-away and picking, plus cycle counting.

How does replenishment work?

By minimum and maximum levels, reorder point or demand forecast — with automatic vendor order creation.

Can we run multiple warehouses?

Yes, with real-time stock and inter-location transfer tracking.

How does the system plan replenishment across several warehouses?

Through stockkeeping units: for every item–location pair you set a reorder point, safety stock and lead time. The planner produces suggestions for each location separately, taking existing stock into account.

Do we need bin-level storage?

You need it once a new employee cannot find an item without asking a colleague. Below that threshold bins add more work than accuracy.

How is delivery cost included in item cost?

Through item charges: freight, duty and insurance are allocated across document lines by weight, quantity or amount. Margin is then calculated from the full landed cost.