Inventory management software for plumbing and PVF supply houses
A plumbing and PVF supply house runs two inventory problems at once, and most software is built for neither: a fitting is a family rather than a product, and every stock figure is a per-branch figure.
What is plumbing and PVF inventory software?
Plumbing and PVF inventory software is a stock and order system that models pipe, valves and fittings as families distinguished by size, schedule, material and end type rather than as flat SKUs, and that tracks quantities separately per branch so a counter can see what is here as against what is at another location. It differs from general inventory software in two specific ways: attributes vary by category, and stock committed to a will-call order is held in reserve rather than deducted at the moment of sale.
Identity is the first of those problems in practice. A 2-inch 90 is separated by schedule, end type, material and pressure class, and a counter man needs to tell a threaded malleable elbow from a grooved ductile one while somebody waits. Location is the second. Stock lives across a counter, a yard, a warehouse and whatever is on a truck, and the question at the counter is never "do we have it" but "do we have it here, and if not which branch does, and can I promise it by four". That pairing is why generic inventory tools get returned. A flat field list cannot express the first, and a single stock number cannot express the second, so the branch network ends up coordinated by phone calls and the counter runs on somebody's memory of what came in this morning.
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Identity: a fitting is not one product
The catalog problem in PVF is that the distinguishing detail is technical and varies by family. Pipe needs nominal size, schedule and material. A valve needs body material, pressure class, end connection and how it is operated. A fitting needs configuration, size — often two sizes, when it reduces — and end type.
When those live in a description field, they cannot be filtered, which means they cannot be found by anyone who does not already know the part number. The practical cost lands at the counter: a customer describes what they need in trade terms and somebody has to translate that into a search that works.
LineraFlow defines attributes per category and binds each product to the schema version it was created under, so adding a field next year does not change what last year’s products mean.
Location: the question is always “which branch”
Every stock figure in a supply house is a per-location figure. Treating stock as one number works until somebody promises material that is forty minutes away, and then it works badly and visibly, in front of a customer.
Per-location balances make branch stock a fact rather than a phone call. Transfers move quantity between locations as recorded movements, so the movement history explains a discrepancy instead of leaving two.
Will-call is a reservation, not a sale
Between an order being taken and a customer collecting it, material is present but spoken for. A system that holds one quantity per product cannot express that, and forces a choice between deducting early — so the count disagrees with the shelf — or deducting late, so somebody else sells it in the meantime. Reservations exist to avoid that choice, and expiry keeps them from accumulating on orders nobody collects.
Where LineraFlow fits, and where it does not
One to five locations, catalogs up to 10,000 SKUs, orders arriving over a counter, a phone or a Shopify store. Beyond that ceiling, or where you need hard EDI onboarding with large wholesale partners, this is the wrong tool. There is no lot, serial or expiry tracking, so anything requiring material traceability on stock is out of scope.
Can it handle size, schedule and end type as separate fields?
Yes. Attributes are defined per category, so pipe carries nominal size, schedule and material while valves carry body material, pressure class, end connection and operator type, and neither category shows the other's blank fields. Those attributes are filterable, which is what makes them useful at a counter rather than just recorded.
How do branch transfers work?
Each location holds its own on-hand and reserved balance, and stock moves between them as recorded movements rather than as an adjustment at each end. That distinction matters at month end: a transfer that is two independent adjustments is indistinguishable from shrinkage in one branch and a mystery receipt in the other.
What happens to will-call stock between the order and the pickup?
It is reserved rather than deducted. The goods stay physically on the shelf and still count in a stock take, but they stop being available to sell, which prevents the classic counter double-sale where two people commit the same fitting. Reservations are held per location, so a will-call at the yard does not silently consume counter stock.
Can we import our existing price and product files?
Yes, through CSV import with a dry run. You map your columns, run a validation pass that reports every row that would fail before anything is written, correct the source file and run it for real. Supply houses usually migrate their own catalog and opening stock without help.
Is this the right size of system for us?
It fits one to five locations with catalogs up to 10,000 SKUs. A single counter with a back warehouse is a good fit; a twelve-branch operation with hard EDI onboarding to large wholesale partners is not, and neither is anything that needs lot or serial traceability on stock, which is not built.