Software for medical supplies distributors: run quotes, POs, batches and deliveries on one system
A hospital sends a PO. You quote, they accept, you invoice against their PO number, you deliver, someone signs, stock leaves in batches with expiry dates. Most distributors run that chain across five tools and a filing cabinet. Here's how to run it on one system — with a signature at every hand-off.
Jeph Fernandez
Founder
Distribution is a paperwork business wearing a logistics costume. The goods matter, but what actually decides whether you get paid on time is the chain of documents: the hospital's purchase order, your quote, the acceptance, the invoice that references their PO number, the delivery docket someone signed at the loading dock. Lose one link and you're on the phone for a week arguing about a box of gloves.
This guide walks through setting up a medical or pharma distribution business on Wemu — the same setup used by hospital suppliers running everything from infusion pumps to consumables — and then explains, honestly, where a one-system approach beats the usual ERP-plus-spreadsheets stack.
The problem: five tools, zero signatures
- Quotes live in Word templates, so nobody knows which version the hospital actually accepted
- The hospital's PO number lives in an email thread — and their accounts-payable team won't pay an invoice that doesn't quote it
- Batch numbers and expiry dates live in a spreadsheet that's right until the day it isn't
- Deliveries are confirmed by nothing at all — 'we never received the third box' arrives ten days later
- Your own supplier orders start from scratch every time, even though the products, suppliers, and lead times never change
Setup tutorial: a distributor on one system, in an afternoon
Step 1 — Create your suppliers
Suppliers → New supplier: name, contact email, lead time in days, payment terms. Five minutes for a typical supplier list. The email matters most — it's where your purchase orders will go with a one-click confirmation link.
Step 2 — Add products and tie each one to its supplier
For each product: name, sell price, cost, SKU — and crucially, the Supplier field (who you reorder from) plus a low-stock threshold. That one field is what lets the system draft the right purchase order to the right company automatically when stock runs down. Turn on inventory tracking for anything physical.
Step 3 — Create your hospital and clinic accounts
Customers → Add Customer, one per account. Use the procurement email address, not a ward contact — quotes and invoices go there. Everything that follows (quotes, invoices, deliveries, calls, support emails) files itself under the right account automatically.
Step 4 — Run your first order end to end
- 1A hospital orders → create a quote (or ask Wemu AI: "create a quote for Port Moresby General for 2 patient monitors"). Add their PO reference in the Customer PO # field — or leave it and they'll type it themselves.
- 2Tick "Require a drawn signature to accept" for formal or tender orders, and send. The hospital gets a link — no account, no login.
- 3They enter their PO number, sign on screen, accept. The invoice creates and emails itself, printing "Your PO: …" under Bill To — exactly what their AP team needs.
- 4When it ships: open the invoice → Deliveries → Create delivery. The receiver gets a link (or the driver carries it), checks quantities line by line, corrects any shorts, and signs. The signed docket is frozen — name, time, quantities, signature.
- 5When the invoice is paid, draft purchase orders to your own suppliers are generated automatically for the products it consumed.
Step 5 — Receive stock with batches, expiry, and serials
When your supplier's shipment arrives, receive it against the PO: each receipt takes a lot code and expiry date; serialised equipment (monitors, pumps, defibrillators) takes one serial per unit. From then on the system sells oldest-expiry first and warns you before stock dies on the shelf — and you know exactly which unit went to which hospital.
The whole chain is signed
Quote acceptance (their name, PO number, signature, IP) → invoice → delivery (receiver's signature and per-line quantities) → your supplier's PO confirmation (their signature on prices and availability). Every hand-off has a name on it.
Why Wemu fits distributors better than the usual stack
| The usual way | On Wemu |
|---|---|
| Word quote → PDF → email ping-pong | Quote link the hospital accepts, signs, and stamps with their PO number |
| Invoice chased because AP can't match it | Their PO number rides quote → invoice → PDF automatically |
| Delivery disputes settled by memory | Signed delivery note with per-line received quantities, frozen at the door |
| Expiry tracked in a spreadsheet | FEFO batches with expiry warnings; serials per unit |
| Reordering from scratch each time | Low stock auto-drafts a PO to the product's supplier — you review and send |
| ERP implementation project | One flat plan, unlimited staff, live in an afternoon |
Where a full ERP still wins: statutory accounting inside the same system, and multi-warehouse picking operations with dedicated WMS depth. Most small and mid-size distributors don't need either on day one — they need the order-to-cash chain to stop leaking, this week.
Run the whole chain on one system
Quotes with customer PO numbers, signed acceptance, signed deliveries, batch and expiry tracking, and supplier POs that draft themselves. 7-day free trial, no card required.
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