Lead Time

Distributors run on margins of about 4%, so a single missed $5,000 vendor credit on a warranty claim comes straight out of profit. In this episode of the Lead Time Podcast by Continuum, founder and CEO Alex Witcpalek talks with Brett Jaussi from Continuum’s customer success team. They cover how distributors get teams to adopt AI-powered warranty and returns automation, from the CFO down to the branch counter.Brett has spent 15 years in supply chain and logistics technology. He explains why warranty claims get lost (sticky notes, spreadsheets, logging into one manufacturer portal after another) and how a connected supply chain fixes it.What you’ll learn:Why missed warranty credits can add up to six or seven figures a year for distributorsHow claims that used to take 45 days now close in 4 to 7 days, and many are approved the same dayHow branch staff file a warranty claim in about 60 seconds instead of 15 to 30 minutesWhy leadership buy-in, including a mid-level branch champion, decides how fast adoption happensHow AI connects distributors to manufacturer portals that have no APIsHow implementations finish in about 45 days, even across different ERPs like Epicor Eclipse, Prophet 21, CSD and SAPHow to talk about ROI differently with a CFO and with a counter repChapters:0:00 The real cost of a missed vendor credit0:23 Meet Brett Jaussi, Continuum Customer Success2:07 What customer success looks like after the sale3:11 Where a CSM’s time actually goes4:20 Driving adoption and change management6:27 Connecting branch work to P&L impact8:51 Distribution vs. logistics technology9:41 Building a connected supply chain without APIs11:06 How distributors feel about AI12:25 The sticky-note warranty problem14:14 Same ERP, different customers: the 80/20 rule16:08 Learning the whole supply chain17:03 Where leadership and branch users see things differently19:46 Why leadership buy-in drives adoption21:29 What separates successful customers23:17 Two or three uses and nobody goes back24:14 76% of claims approved same day25:00 Bears, Cubs and TigersAbout Continuum: Continuum builds AI-powered warranty, returns and vendor claims automation for wholesale distributors and manufacturers. It connects ERP systems and manufacturer portals so distributors recover every vendor credit faster.🎧 Subscribe to the Lead Time Podcast for more on distribution, supply chain and AI.

Most B2B distributors have no idea how much money is leaking out of their returns and warranty process. In this segment, Continuum's Jake Flory (Solution Engineer) and Tyler Fennema (Account Executive) break down the financial leakage hiding in the reverse supply chain: returns, warranties, cores, and repairs.  

They cover a real customer who waited 180 days for warranty credit from LG and cut it to 7 days with Continuum, a distributor sitting on nearly $1M in outstanding return POs, why building a warranty claim form on your website doesn't actually solve the problem (it just duplicates the work before your ERP), and what happens when a 30-year warranty admin walks out the door with all the knowledge in her head. If you run operations, finance, or customer service at a wholesale distributor, this is the visibility problem you're probably not measuring. 

Inventory is a distributor's biggest asset and biggest risk. Dead and slow-moving stock quietly lock up millions in working capital and kills margin. Distributors know that they're carrying some of the wrong inventory — they just can't see which SKUs, how much, or what to do about it.

Alex Witcpalek (Founder and CEO of Continuum) sits down with Conor McNamara (AI Lead Engineer at Continuum) to discuss Continuum's latest product, ReFlow, and how it helps distributors stop inventory mistakes before they keep piling up.

ReFlow is a first-of-its-kind inventory optimization solution that helps distributors better align inventory with demand, reduce asset exposure, and recover working capital trapped in the wrong stock. Learn more: lp.gocontinuum.ai/reflow-inventory-optimization.