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In an industry as competitive as wholesale distribution, driving efficiency excellence within the company and maintaining excellence in customer service are vital to stay competitive. One way to do so is through technology, a crucial driver of innovation and efficiency.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative tool, and its use within a wholesale distribution company is limitless. AI can streamline operations, improve customer experiences and drive profitability. From predictive analytics anticipating inventory needs to automated systems enhancing supply chain logistics, AI is no longer a futuristic concept — it’s a practical solution redefining how businesses operate. For wholesale distributors looking to maintain an edge, adopting AI is not only an opportunity; it’s a necessity in today’s rapidly evolving marketplace.
APR Supply Co. is a fourth-generation wholesale distributor of plumbing, HVAC, industrial PVF, irrigation and landscape lighting products with 42 branch locations and 11 Oasis Kitchen & Bath Showrooms in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Its state-of-the-art central distribution center uses AI and robotics.
The distributor is proud of its core values: customer, accountability, excellence and results. Its foundational belief is that customers come first. To deliver on its core values, APR exemplifies what it means to embrace forward-thinking technology. By integrating AI into its operations, APR has enhanced its ability to serve customers and its team members with precision and agility.
We wanted to learn more from the company on how it uses AI to transform everything from inventory management to customer insights, demonstrating the immense potential of advanced technology in wholesale distribution. Through its efforts, APR is not only optimizing internal processes but also setting a standard for innovation across the industry.
Chris Bohn serves as the vice president of information technology at APR Supply Co., leveraging nearly two decades of expertise in IT leadership. Since joining APR in 2006, Bohn has overseen the LAN/WAN infrastructure, enterprise systems, network security, server management, telephony solutions and e-commerce platforms. His responsibilities also include managing the company’s Microsoft 365 environment, email systems and website development, while contributing as a key member of the Executive Management Team.
His career reflects a deep commitment to optimizing IT systems and driving business growth through technology. We wanted to discover how AI is being used within APR Supply; here is what he had to say.
The Wholesaler: Chris, tell me about the AI capabilities APR has integrated into the business.
Chris Bohn: We use AI in many areas of the company — from streamlining processes internally to using AI to continue and excel within the customer experience.
AI is integrated with our goods-to-person robotic system, for keeping the most used products in the closest locations to improve picking throughout.
AI is being integrated into our customer relations management software. We are currently building out that capability and expect to launch in early 2025.
We have a component of AI within our business intelligence tool, for natural language data mining. We can ask questions about our data and the system presents the matching data to answer that question.
AI is being used in our Commercial Department for streamlining quotes by having it ingest a bid and extract the relevant products we want to quote.
We are rolling out AI capabilities in our human capital management system allowing an employee to ask natural questions and have the system respond with accurate responses to their HR-related inquiries.
We use the popular GPT models, Open AI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, within our marketing and human resources teams to improve promotional material and job descriptions/posting.
AI meeting notes and summaries are becoming more common using Microsoft Teams or related AI notetaker software.
We are experimenting with Microsoft 365’s Co-Pilot but have been underwhelmed with the capabilities to this point.
We are using AI within our project management software, to help us streamline the use of the tool and easily extract necessary information like projects on track vs. off track and the rationale why.
As seen from this list, most of our current successes have been by using our third-party partners to enhance their products with AI, and we can take advantage of those enhanced features. We have given key departments the authorization to “experiment” with using AI tools to enhance productivity.
TW: What prompted the decision to adopt AI, and how did you determine the right fit?
Bohn: The explosion of AI is all around and includes professional and personal interactions with technology. APR recognizes that the unprecedented change to the capabilities of AI in a short time will allow software/platform providers to offer dramatically improved services. This will offer a competitive advantage to those who adopt early, but we wouldn’t expect that advantage to last long.
Getting in now and getting familiar with what is capable will help keep us on the leading edge and have a learning curve that is following the technology instead of waiting and having to catch up.
TW: What operational improvements have you seen since implementation?
Bohn: Operational improvements at APR have been mostly related to efficiency and not directly related to cost savings at this time. With the systems mentioned previously, we believe we can offer more, do more, communicate better and be better informed with the same level of staffing.
TW: Were there any initial hesitations? How did you address them?
Bohn: APR has a forward-thinking ownership and executive team and has had very little hesitation. The only significant hesitation is exposing APR data to public sources. With that, we have drafted an AI use policy.
TW: How has AI influenced decision-making and daily tasks?
Bohn: AI’s impact today has mostly been in improving daily tasks and not much in the way of decision-making. With some of the projects underway with our CRM, there will be a direct correlation to AI providing actionable activities.
TW: What advice would you give other distributors considering using AI?
Bohn: The best advice is to start now. Here are some specific actions to take:
At a minimum, get a free GPT account with one of the big players (ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, etc.) and start asking questions. If you don’t know where to begin, literally type in this question: “How should I use GPT to make my day more productive?” Let AI help you learn AI!
Use the Internet for short training videos.
Leverage your partners, specifically software vendors. Ask them how they are using AI to enhance their services.
Be curious. Ask your peers in other companies what they are doing. You can learn a lot from what they have accomplished.