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Why Narada

Narada is an AI inventory and cash analyst for wholesale distributors. It reads your ERP data every night. Each morning it shows where cash is trapped, what is about to run out, and what to order. Then it drafts the work for you to approve.

And before you pay anything, it runs its own buying engine over your last year, so you can judge it on your own numbers.

New to the words? Inventory words, explained covers each one in a sentence.

The night shiftYour ERP files go to Narada overnight. Narada checks the business and works out what to order. In the morning you review and approve. Your ERP sends the orders.Your ERPsales, stock, ordersNarada, overnightchecks, investigates, sizesYou, at 8amread, decide, approveYour ERPsends the orderswhile you are closedabout 10 minutes
The night shift. Narada does the counting while you are closed. People make every decision.

The problem it solves

Section titled “The problem it solves”

Most distributors find out too late, and from someone else. A customer calls about a part that ran out. An accountant asks why stock went up again. A supplier minimum agreed years ago is still filling a shelf nobody buys from.

The data to see it coming is already in your ERP. An ERP records what happened. It does not ask what it means, because asking needs the demand, the supplier’s real delivery times, the stock and the money in one place, every night. That is the work Narada does.

What it does, every night

Section titled “What it does, every night”

  1. Scans. Every part at every branch, every night. Not the report someone remembered to run. See What Narada checks.

  2. Finds. Stock that is not selling, parts about to run out, customers quietly buying less, margins slipping, orders running late, data that looks wrong.

  3. Investigates. It joins facts from different corners of your data into one story. Example below.

  4. Explains. In plain English, with every number’s working one click away.

  5. Recommends and drafts. What to order and how much, which stock to return, who to chase. The purchase orders and emails are drafted for you to check.

What “investigates” means, with an example

Section titled “What “investigates” means, with an example”

Most systems can tell you a part has gone dead. Narada works out how it got there.

A supplier minimum of 500 units, agreed back when the part sold 40 a month. Demand falling to 5 a month in the third quarter. A minimum nobody revisited, because nothing was watching those two numbers together.

Three facts, from three corners of your data: the supplier’s terms, the sales history and today’s stock. One sentence, with the dates on it. These numbers show the shape of an answer. They are an example, not a measurement.

How it decides what to order

Section titled “How it decides what to order”

This is the heart of Narada. For every part at every branch, every night, it works out when to order and how much. Here is what goes into one order quantity.

How one order quantity is builtThe stock a part needs is the expected sales during the delivery wait, plus the days until your next check, plus spare stock for bad weeks. Subtract what you hold and what is already on order. Round up to the supplier’s order multiple and minimum.Sales during the waitDays to your next checkSpare for bad weeksWhat the part needs−On the shelfAlready on orderWhat you already have=To orderrounded to the supplier’smultiple and minimumThe suggested quantity
One order quantity. Each block is worked out fresh every night, for every part at every branch.

Each block moves with your business:

  • Sales during the wait come from a forecast for that part at that branch. Several methods compete, including a machine-learning model that learns from your whole book. The simple 13-week average is the bar. A method only wins if it beats it. See How the forecast is made.
  • The wait is how long that supplier really took, from your own receipts. Not the number on the supplier card. The average and the spread, because a supplier who swings between 12 and 40 days needs more cover than one who always takes 30.
  • Spare for bad weeks is set from how much that part’s demand swings and how much that supplier’s delivery swings. And where your margin data allows, from what running out costs you against what holding one more costs. A high-margin part defends itself harder than a commodity one. See What sets your safety stock.
  • What you already have counts stock on its way, and leaves out orders too late to help and special orders bought for one customer.

So your reorder points and safety stock are not typed in once and left. They are worked out again every night, from what your business is doing now.

Every supplier rule, applied

Section titled “Every supplier rule, applied”

A quantity that ignores the supplier is not an order. Narada applies the rules your buyer juggles in their head.

Minimums and multiples

Rounds each quantity to the supplier’s order multiple and minimum. When a minimum would leave you with far too much, it holds the line and shows what buying it anyway would cost. You decide.

Transfers before buying

Before it buys for one branch, it checks whether another branch has spare stock. If moving it makes the supplier order smaller, it suggests the move first.

Free freight and order value

Checks each supplier’s whole order against their minimum order value and free-freight line. When an order is short, it pulls forward lines you will need soon anyway, within your cover limit.

Late orders

Counts what is on its way, and asks you about orders past their delivery date. You answer still coming or not, so it knows what to count.

The full list, rule by rule: Supplier rules.

What it does for you

Section titled “What it does for you”

Narada drafts the routine work. You check it and send it. Nothing goes to a supplier or a customer on its own.

Purchase orders

One draft per supplier, from the lines you tick. Download it for your ERP, which sends it as always.

Supplier emails

Asking a supplier for a lower minimum, or to rush an order. Drafted for you to send from your own email.

Returns

Stock still inside a supplier’s return window, found early while it is credit at cost. The return request is drafted.

Chasing what you are owed

Who to chase today, with the reminder or statement drafted. If you send your receivables file.

A photo of an order

Snap a photo of a purchase order, on paper or on screen, and Narada drafts it for you. You check it before anything is sent.

Questions in plain words

“What runs out first?” “Who should I chase today?” Answers from your own numbers, with the table underneath.

Proof before you pay

Section titled “Proof before you pay”

Most ROI estimates start from your revenue and a percentage. Narada starts from your own year. It runs its actual buying engine over your last year. The same code that would write your orders on Monday. No vendor we found runs it on your book before you pay.

How the free report worksTwo years of your history. The first year teaches Narada your demand and seasons. The last twelve months are replayed twice, once with your buying and once with Narada’s, then compared.Learn your demand and seasonsYour last year, replayed twiceyour buying vs Narada’s buying2 years agoyour last exportTwo reports. You decide.
Each week of the replay, Narada sees only what your buyer knew that week. Its settings are fixed before the replay starts.

What you take away:

  • Whether the orders it would have written look sane to you, part by part.
  • Where it disagreed with your buyer, and the arithmetic behind each disagreement.
  • Whether it would have run out less often, and how much stock that took. Both numbers, always together.
  • The yearly figure against Narada’s price, on your own book.
  • Whether its replay of your own buying reproduces the year you actually had. It checks that first and says so, whatever the answer.

What not to take from it: it is last year, re-run, not a promise of next year’s saving. And your buyer stepped in with judgement when it was needed. Those decisions are in your numbers. The engine had none. So this compares a person using judgement against software given none.

If it is worth it on your numbers, you start. If it isn’t, you stop there and pay nothing. See The free report.

It keeps score of itself

Section titled “It keeps score of itself”

Every figure has its working under it, one click away. So you can check it before you take its word for anything. See Health, where each business number opens to its formula.

The honest catch

Section titled “The honest catch”
  • It is not a person. It works the night shift and explains itself like an analyst, but it only knows what your files tell it. A promotion you planned, or a customer you just lost, is yours to add.
  • It is only as good as your data. It checks your files every night and tells you what looks wrong, but a wrong cost in your ERP is a wrong cost in Narada.
  • Margin-based decisions need margin data. Where a part has no price or cost, Narada uses its class target instead.

What it takes to start

Section titled “What it takes to start”

$0 setup from Narada. No statement of work, no IT project. Your ERP’s standard exports, zipped, or a scheduled email from your ERP once. The one export that can take real work is past stock counts, if your ERP cannot print them. See The files Narada needs. Narada reads your data and writes nothing back to your ERP.

Questions: hello@naradaos.com.