Navigating Real-Life Challenges: Inside a Vertically Integrated Cannabis MSO's Inefficiencies and FlyWheel's Solutions

After years of relying on handshake agreements, text message exchanges, and manual, incognito payment tracking, it takes time to shed old habits. Fortunately, for those seasoned in the industry, few things come as a surprise anymore.

Yet, during a recent discovery call with a prominent cannabis Multi-State Operator (MSO), our team unearthed a series of challenges that highlighted the urgent need for innovative solutions within the industry. This conversation revealed significant pain points that many cannabis businesses face, reinforcing the necessity for a more streamlined and transparent approach. Let’s jump in.

Manual Inventory Management

The conversation started off with informal pleasantries and general discussion about the business and the industry. The first sign that things were in dire condition was when we learned that their teams were tracking all of their inventory across multiple locations manually through Excel spreadsheets.

This meant that multiple people a day would update the different inventory amounts for each product, depending on whether it was in production, en route, on the shelves, or sold. In this system, missing an entry or making an error could mean the difference between having a product on the shelves when a customer wants it and missing out on business due to inaccuracies in product tracking.

Moreover, this process lacks the sophistication to pull insights and trends around product movement, leaving inventory managers without the tools they need to make informed decisions about which items to purchase, in which quantities, and when. Under this current system, the organization is susceptible to understocking products that customers want or, worse, overstocking slow-moving products that take up shelf space and eat up open-to-buy dollars.

Siloed Communications

As we continued the conversation, the state of their supply chain only seemed to get worse. Once we dove deeper into the company’s processes and operations, we found very little transparency into inventory levels, with inventory managers relying on text messages to the production facility to order more products.

Not only is this process not scalable, but these siloed communications make it impossible for additional team members and stakeholders to get a transparent view into operations to assess what parts of the process are working and what needs improvement. Additionally, what if a key employee gets sick, goes on PTO, or worse, leaves the organization?

Inefficient Logistics

Inventory management in a vertically integrated organization seems simple: if I need a product, I reach out to our production team to get the product made and back on the shelf. However, the inefficiencies in this system are rampant. How do you know how much to order? What if this was a slow-moving product that we’ve been trying to get off our shelves for months? Is that worth a reorder?

Furthermore, once the order is placed, how do you plan when to make the delivery? When the products are ready, or when the truck is full?

Introducing FlyWheel

In the current state-by-state structure of the cannabis industry, one-size-fits-all logistics solutions simply don’t work. With some solutions focused on growing, others on delivery, and still others on the retail aspect of the business, vertically integrated companies have had to piece together technology to find a solution that fits for them.

Introducing FlyWheel, the solution to fragmented software and the ultimate logistics and inventory partner, equipping you with the tools, data, insights, and expertise you need to maintain profitable operations.

FlyWheel for Vertically Integrated Operations

While many other solutions are focused on building new systems that solve new problems within the industry, FlyWheel is dedicated to bringing tried and true solutions from mainstream logistics into the cannabis industry to improve business operations and create better systems and processes.

Optimized Inventory Management

FlyWheel provides companies with an expansive toolkit of dashboards and reports that allow them to make intelligent, data-driven decisions about their inventory. Features include the Upcoming Events Dashboard to help you prepare for upcoming events in your area, the Sell-Through Analysis Dashboard to help you understand the rate products are moving, the ABC Analysis that categorizes products based on their revenue contribution, as well as Sales Performance Analyses, Weekly Performance Overview Dashboard, Elevated Revenue Forecasting, and more.

Intelligent Communications

FlyWheel integrates with most POS and ERP systems to create a complete ecosystem for inventory management and retail operations. With this intelligent system, you gain the tools and insights to make the right decisions about which products to produce, at which quantities, and when. Additionally, everyone along the supply chain gains transparency every step of the way. With these insights, decision makers can better understand what they’re doing right and what needs improvement.

Expert Logistics

FlyWheel offers vertically integrated organizations the tools they need to be more intelligent about their logistics operations. Gain an understanding of which products are on which trucks, where they're going, and when they're needed, so you can get better use out of your trucks when they’re on the road and reduce the number of deliveries at retail operations.

Ready to get started? Reach out to us today https://www.240logistics.com/contact.