Case Study: Mid-Market Automotive Aftermarket Distributor achieves 25% inventory cost reduction and $5.5M annualized value with Blue Ridge

Auto Distributor Streamlines Data from 7 ERPs to Reduce Inventory Costs by 25%

The Mid-Market Automotive Aftermarket Distributor, a Southeast-based company operating 15 fulfillment centers and in-house manufacturing, was operating seven separate ERP systems and lacked unified inventory visibility. Buyers spent roughly 80% of their time building orders, making accurate forecasting and inventory allocation across regions and seasons very difficult. The company engaged Blue Ridge for consolidated forecasting and inventory optimization.

Blue Ridge consolidated product availability, location, and stock-level data from all seven ERPs into a single application and used AI/ML to auto-classify and select best-fit forecasts. The change cut demand planning and purchasing effort by 68%, reduced overall inventory costs by 25%, enabled a smaller expert team to manage orders and collaborate with suppliers in real time, and delivered $5.5M in annualized value with a payback period of less than one year.