Industrial & MRO distribution

Forty thousand SKUs.One honest count.

Blanket orders that release for a year, bins you fill at the customer’s plant, and part numbers that mean something different to every buyer. Elixir keeps the cross-references, the counts and the contracts straight.

Elixir/Industries/Industrial & MRO
Built for distributors · 2026
What changes

What changes in an industrial & MRO branch.

Blanket orders release without a phone call

Releases are scheduled against the agreement, priced at the contract, and the customer’s remaining balance is a line in their file.

Bins are filled from what was actually used

Vendor-managed bins and vending machines report consumption; replenishment is proposed from it, with the slow bins flagged before they become write-offs.

Every part number resolves to one thing

Customer numbers, vendor numbers, superseded numbers and your own. The counter types any of them and gets the right part and the contract price.

Morning noteWed 22 Jan
Branch 3 · Contracts
Blanket releases due, 7 d
19
Bins below min at customers
43
Contract prices past review date
6 accounts
SKUs with no sale in 12 m
3,140 · $186k
Northgate’s fastener contract was priced on 2024 cost. Cost is up 9%. The review clause allows a change on the 1st.
How it is used

How industrial & MRO distributors use Elixir

Six things that happen every week, and what Elixir does with each.

Blanket orders and releases

Agreements with a schedule, a price and a balance, released on time and reconciled at the end without a spreadsheet.

VMI and vending

Consumption read from bins and machines, replenishment proposed, and the account’s real usage compared with what the contract assumed.

Cross-references

Customer, vendor, superseded and internal part numbers resolve to one item, at the counter and on the incoming PO.

Cost-plus contracts

Contract prices tied to cost with their review dates, so a cost increase becomes a conversation on the right day.

Slow movers

Items with no sale in a year, by bin and by dollar, with the vendor return window and the last customer who bought them.

Kitting and assemblies

Kits held as their components for stock and as one line for the customer, so the count is right and the invoice is simple.

Common questions

What industrial & MRO distributors ask us

Ask us something else ↗
We have decades of part numbers. How long does the cross-reference take?

A first pass is built from your sales and purchase history in days, because most cross-references are already implied by what you bought and sold together. The rest are confirmed as they are used.

Our vending machines come from the vendor. Can Elixir read them?

Most machine and bin programs export consumption; Elixir reads those files or feeds and treats them like any other demand signal.

Do our customers see contract balances?

If you want. Many branches start by giving the rep the number; a customer page with releases and balances comes later.

How does it handle cost changes on cost-plus work?

Each contract carries its formula and review date. When vendor cost moves, the note says which accounts are affected and what the clause allows.

Other kinds of distribution

The same system, set up for how your branch trades.

Every trade runs on different numbers, so there is a page for each.

Get in touch

See what Elixir finds in your numbers.

Tell us what you distribute, how many branches you run and which systems you run them on. We reply within one business day and tell you plainly whether we can help.

It goes straight to the founders.