Inventory software for janitorial and sanitation supply distributors
Jan-san inventory goes wrong at the pack break. The same liquid sells as a case to a contract customer, as a single gallon over the counter, and as a drum to the one account with a pump: one product, three ways of buying it.
What is janitorial and sanitation inventory software?
Janitorial and sanitation inventory software is a stock and order system whose catalog can describe the same chemical or paper product in the several pack configurations a distributor actually sells (case, each, drum) with pack size, unit of measure and dilution ratio held as searchable attributes rather than as description text, and which tracks stock separately per location. What distinguishes it from general inventory software is that the identifying detail differs by product family, so liners, concentrates and paper goods each need their own field list.
Software that models a product as a single sellable unit forces a choice between two wrong answers: three SKUs that do not know they are related, so the stock figure for one says nothing about the others, or one SKU with the pack size buried in a description, so nobody can filter by it. Both fail in the same direction, and the direction is that the catalog stops describing how the business actually sells. Add liners graded by thickness and dimension, concentrates that dilute at different ratios, and paper goods that vary by ply and sheet count, and the detail that identifies a product is exactly the detail a generic field list has nowhere to put. The result is a catalog that is technically complete and practically unsearchable.
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The pack break is the whole problem
Ask what “we have twelve” means for a product sold by the case and by the gallon and the answer is ambiguous, which is why counts drift. Every serious jan-san operation resolves this by treating each sellable configuration as its own stocked item and then needing a way to see that those items are related.
Per-category attributes are what make that navigable: pack size and unit of measure become fields you can filter, so a counter can find the gallon when the customer asks for one and see that the case exists.
Dilution, grade and count are product identity
A concentrate that dilutes one to sixty-four is a different product from one that dilutes one to two hundred and fifty-six, even when the label art is identical. A liner is identified by dimensions and thickness. Paper is identified by ply and sheet count. None of that fits a fixed field list shared across a catalog, and all of it is what a customer asks about.
What this system will not do for you
Chemical distribution frequently carries a traceability obligation, and LineraFlow does not meet it. There is no lot or batch tracking, no expiry dating, and no way to answer “which customers received this batch”. If that requirement is real for your business, stop here — trialling a system that cannot do it wastes a month and ends in a migration back.
Where LineraFlow fits
One to five locations, catalogs up to 10,000 SKUs, orders over a counter, a phone or a Shopify store, with CSV import and a dry run to get your catalog in. Outside that: no EDI onboarding for large wholesale partners, no lot or expiry traceability, and single-channel B2C sellers are better served elsewhere.
Can it handle case and each pricing for the same product?
Pack configuration is an attribute you define on the category, so pack size, unit of measure and case quantity are fields you can filter and display rather than text in a description. Each sellable configuration is its own product record with its own stock, which keeps counts honest; what the attributes give you is the ability to find and group them.
Does it track chemical lot numbers for traceability?
No, and this is the honest answer rather than a roadmap one: there is no lot, batch or expiry tracking in LineraFlow and none is planned. If you distribute chemicals under a traceability obligation and need to identify which customers received a specific batch, this is the wrong system and you should not trial it expecting that to arrive.
What about safety data sheets?
There is no dedicated SDS module. You can attach documents and images to a product record, which covers keeping the current sheet with the product, but compliance workflows — revision tracking, distribution logs, expiry chasing — are not built and should not be assumed.
Can we run a warehouse and a will-call counter from it?
Yes. Each location keeps its own on-hand and reserved balances, and stock committed to an order is reserved rather than deducted, so material waiting for collection stops being sellable while still counting in a stock take. That is usually the first thing a jan-san distributor needs once there is more than one place stock sits.
How big can the catalog get?
Ten thousand SKUs on the Pro plan, across one to five locations. Jan-san catalogs run wide, so count what you actually stock rather than what your suppliers list — a distributor carrying 4,000 active items with three locations sits comfortably inside that envelope.