Enforce cut policies, track remnants by length, and protect margins on every stick of pipe. Ximple’s cloud ERP gives plumbing distributors real-time visibility into full lengths, usable remnants, and available-to-promise (ATP) across all branches, so you reduce scrap while keeping jobs on schedule.
Metric
• Inventory Carrying Cost
• Cut Waste & Scrap
Impact
• Up to 8–15% lower with better replenishment
• 12–20% reduction
Plumbing distributors manage thousands of pipe SKUs in different diameters, materials, and schedules, with irregular demand and bulky inventory. Manual tracking of cuts and remnants leads to lost pieces, inaccurate stock levels, and unplanned scrap that quietly erodes margin.
• Common issues : Paper cut tickets, ad-hoc rules, lost remnants, inconsistent charges
• Business impact: Margin leakage, write-offs, rush buys, missed ETAs
• Ximple focus: Policy-driven cuts, real-time inventory, ATP, and profitability
In many legacy systems, pipe is simply stocked and sold by “piece” or “length.” There’s no visibility into how much is left after a cut, which remnants are usable, or whether a branch has enough material to cover a job. Ximple ERP brings cut-length and remnants into the core inventory model, so every cut is tracked, priced, and visible across the network.
✓ Track full sticks and remnants by actual remaining length—not just theoretical counts.
✓ Enforce standardized cut rules so every branch follows the same playbook.
✓ Quote accurately using real ATP that includes usable remnants by branch.
✓ Reduce unplanned scrap and emergency buys by putting data behind every cut.
✓ Feed finance and purchasing with clean, real-time data for better decisions.
This cut-length capability is part of Ximple’s broader plumbing distribution ERP, which also covers alternates, substitutions, UoM packaging, and multi-branch visibility.
Configure minimum cut lengths, rounding rules (e.g., to nearest ½ ft), and cut fees by product group or SKU. The system enforces these at order entry so counter staff don’t have to memorize rules or improvise pricing.
Every cut updates the originating stick’s remaining length. Remnants under a defined threshold can be flagged for scrap or special pricing; usable remnants appear in lookups and ATP so teams can allocate them first and protect margin.
Sell and purchase pipe by stick, foot, or job bundle while maintaining a single source of truth for on-hand inventory. Conversions are automatic, so reporting works regardless of how the material is sold.
Available-to-promise considers full sticks, usable remnants, and inbound POs by branch. Counter and inside sales users can see where material is, when it’s available, and whether transfers are needed to meet a job date.
Barcoded pick tickets guide staff to the right bin and stick. Once a cut is made, the system updates remaining length in real time and can prompt for labeling remnants or staging for specific jobs.
Dashboards show scrap percentage, remnant utilization, and profitability by product line, branch, or customer segment—so you can tune cut policies and replenishment over time.
Distributors that move cut-length management into a modern cloud ERP typically see improvements in accuracy, waste reduction, and service levels. These gains compound when combined with automated purchasing, rebates, and margin controls.
Inventory accuracy: Increase to 90–99% with real-time updates and barcoding.
Cut waste & scrap : Reduce by 10–20% through remnant visibility and smarter allocation.
Quote-to-order speed : Reduce by 25–40% when cut rules and ATP are available at the counter.
Rush buys & stockouts : Decrease as replenishment uses real demand and accurate on-hand data.
Gross margin : Lift 2–5 points when pricing and fees consistently reflect the true cost of cuts.
A regional plumbing distributor running multi-branch operations reduced cut-related scrap by 12% and improved quote-to-order cycle time by 35% after consolidating cut rules, remnant tracking, and ATP in a single cloud ERP platform. Counter staff stopped guessing, and purchasing finally had reliable consumption data to work with.
The same platform also supports alternates, substitutions, UoM packaging, and rebates—making it easier to optimize the entire pipe category, not just the cutting process.
Ximple follows a structured modernization roadmap that fits within your broader ERP plan—covering data standards, branch policies, and user training. Cut-length is implemented as part of the inventory and warehouse modules, not as a bolt-on.
✓ Discovery: Document current cut rules, pricing practices, and pain points by branch.
✓ Data setup: Standardize pipe SKUs, UoM, and attributes (material, size, schedule).
✓ Policy design: Define minimum lengths, rounding, fees, and scrap rules by product group.
✓ Configuration: Enable cut-length, remnants, ATP, and related WMS processes in Ximple.
✓ Pilot : Run a pilot at one or two branches with targeted training and side-by-side comparisons.
✓ Rollout: Expand across branches with KPIs on accuracy, waste, and cycle time.
Share sample pipe SKUs and your current cut rules. We’ll configure them in a demo environment so your team can see exactly how cuts and remnants are managed in Ximple ERP.
For a broader view of modernization steps, including purchasing, multi-branch visibility, and cloud migration, review our whitepaper on modernizing plumbing distribution with cloud ERP.
Cut-length and remnant tracking are part of Ximple’s end-to-end plumbing distribution platform, which also supports alternates, UoM conversions, counter POS, and rebates.
Yes. Each cut updates the remaining length on the original stick or batch. Remnants above your defined threshold stay available for allocation and appear in lookups and ATP, so teams can use them on future orders before pulling new stock.
You define minimum cut lengths, rounding rules, and cut fees by product group or SKU. Ximple enforces these during order entry and pricing, so every cut follows the same rules—reducing one-off exceptions and protecting margin.
Yes. Available-to-promise can be configured to include full sticks, usable remnants, backorders, and inbound POs by branch. Counter and inside sales users immediately see whether they can fulfill from local stock or need a transfer.
No. Cut-length and remnants are part of the core inventory and warehouse capabilities in Ximple Plumbing ERP, so they work seamlessly with purchasing, pricing, rebates, and financials.
Timelines depend on data quality and the number of branches, but most distributors align cut-length rollout with the broader inventory and WMS deployment—often in the 8–12 month modernization window outlined in our cloud ERP roadmap.
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