Order Entry Built for the Way Lumber Dealers Price and Sell

Canals reads your customers' orders–board feet, pieces, random length, mixed lumber-and-BMC lists–and drafts them in your ERP with live  pricing from your system. No templates, no keying in products, just faster, fresher quotes.

Distributors using Canals see up to a 2.8x increase in hit rates, 90% time savings on quoting and order entry, and 96% touchless invoicing.

See how fast and accurate order entry automation can be

100+ distributors trust Canals for order entry, accounts payable & more

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Man receiving text message that says "Got everything right on time! Thanks for the super fast turnaround!"

What Is Canals?

Canals is the Operating AI over one hundred distributors rely on to automate the critical but repetitive manual workflows of their sales, accounting, purchasing, and receiving teams.

Eliminate the tedious data entry holding back your people so they can focus on the strategic work and relationship-building that grows the business.

Meet Customers Where They Prefer to Do Business

Reduce your margin risk with faster quoting, no matter how the request comes in

01

Email

As soon as a message hits a rep's inbox, Canals identifies it as an order or quote request and drafts it automatically–pulling today's pricing, not yesterday's

02

Phone

Answer customer calls and process voicemails in Canals to have them transcribed in real time and turned into an ERP-ready order before the market moves again

03

Counter & Yard

Whether it's a contractor at the counter or a rep out in the field, record the live conversation and a quote is built as it happens–no notepad, no re-keying later

Turbocharge Your Team with AI-Powered Workflows

Let AI do the tedious work so your people can do the valuable work

Streamline Quotes and Orders

Canals takes customer asks and turns them into quotes or orders, ready for your reps to approve and pass into your ERP in minutes.

  • Any format: handwritten note, takeoff, PDF, email, spreadsheet, voicemail, and more
  • Every rep: inside sales, counter sales, outside sales
  • Proven ROI: higher hit rates, fewer returns, happier customers

As your team uses it, it automatically gets smarter about your customers, your products, and your business. No templates or customer-specific setup required.

Process Invoices Automatically

Canals examines invoices for validity according to your records and business rules, handling both trade (PO) and expense invoices. Invoices meeting your requirements are automatically processed into payables in your ERP, along with a copy of the invoice.

No templates or customer-specific setup required.

Vendor
PO Number
Invoice total

Track POs & Receipts with Next-Level Accuracy

Canals reads vendor PO acknowledgments, shipping notices, and packing slips and compares them to your POs. Discrepancies are flagged as early as possible for human intervention. Any changes to ship dates can be automatically updated in your ERP, ensuring up-to-date data for you and your customers.

Convert Large Product Lists

Canals converts large lists of products from one set of part numbers to another, across different manufacturers or simply different formats. If your business acquires another and you need to map their products to yours, or if you’re trying to win new business with a competitive pricing list, get it done in record time.

Real Customer Results

90%

TIME SAVINGS

Turn around quotes and orders in minutes

2.8X

HIT RATE

Speed, accuracy, and customer service for the win

59%

Fewer RETURNS

Grow customer trust and your bottom line too

Streamline Every Order and RFQ–Lumber and BMC Alike

Canals reads what a customer actually sent–a cut list, a handwritten note, a spreadsheet–and matches every item to your product catalog, whether it's priced by the board foot, by the piece, or by a mixed tally. Reps review the pre-built order, submit to your ERP with a click, and the customer has an answer while the price is still good.

Handles Mixed-Unit Orders in Any Format

Canals is built for how lumber actually gets ordered, no templates or part numbers required

  • Board feet, piece counts, and random-length tallies in the same order
  • Handwritten cut lists and yard notes
  • Takeoffs and other complex spec documents
  • Spreadsheets (Excel, CSV, etc.)
  • PDFs and emailed RFQs
  • Voice audio from calls and counter conversations
  • Combined lumber + building materials (windows, doors, and other configured products) on a single job

Eliminates Manual Data Entry and the Repricing Risk That Comes With It

Every minute a quote sits un-keyed is a minute it can go stale. Canals removes the lag between "customer asked" and "order in the ERP":

  • Best matches for species, grade, thickness, treatment, and length
  • Branch-based availability across your yards
  • Live pricing pulled directly from your ERP, not a cached or manually updated number
  • Non-stock sourcing for mill-direct or wholesaler items
  • Customer ship-to, required data, and delivery instructions
  • Unified handling of lumber and BMC lines on the same order, so one CSR–not two separate workflows –serves the whole job

Delivers ROI in Days, Not Quarters

Get up and running in under a week, with minimal IT lift and setup

  • Independently verified data security (SOC 2 Type II)
  • Personalized training and customer support
  • Time savings–and margin protection–from day one
  • No need for data cleanup–Canals starts learning from Day 1 so the more you use it, the more accurate it gets

Customers Love Canals

The product speaks for itself. I think it sells itself, honestly.

Michael Ratner

President

Honestly, it’s one of the smoothest transitions I’ve ever been part of.

Brett Turner

Regional Operations Manager

Canals is actually driving more sales by improving our hit rate.

Brian Fitzgerald

SVP Digital Operations

Canals helped us get to things that had been on the back burner for years.

Travis Bryant

Inside Sales Manager

Implementation was quick and painless, and benefits were recognized immediately.

Cole Harrison

VP of Operations

Tasks that previously took hours of inside sales time now take minutes. We tried another solution and just couldn’t make it work… the more we use it, the better it gets.

George Vorwick

President

Right now, 57% of Canals transactions turn into orders, when our average is closer to 20%. Customer satisfaction goes up because you can get to quotes you wouldn’t otherwise, and sales will grow because customers realize that when they come to you, you’re more responsive because you have a tool like Canals. You’ll see not only top-line growth, but also bottom-line growth because of the efficiencies it creates.

Read the case study
Brian Fitzgerald
Brian Fitzgerald
Senior Vice President of Digital Operations
Turtle

They're real experts in Eclipse and it makes a difference. For example, we just fed a 1,000 line cut order all with parallel data into Eclipse. Saved our salesman about 2 days of work.

Ben Causey
Ben Causey
System Operations Manager
Central Supply Company

Not only are we making the experience better for our users, but we have better relationships with our customers. We're able to increase customer service, and we're able to increase our vendor service.

Read the case study
Dave Bledsoe
Dave Bledsoe
Executive Vice President of Operations
The Kendall Group

We're used to software vendors over-promising and under-delivering. With Canals, it worked much better than expected. The few issues we had were addressed immediately. Adoption by our users has also amazed us. We hope you continue to amaze us with your dedication to being the most responsive vendor we’ve ever worked with.

John Heinzel
John Heinzel
Manager, Business Systems
‍Eclipse Users Group

One of our automation guys had sent over a project with 100+ line items in a spreadsheet. I ran it through Canals and had it back in 20 minutes. He called me and said, ‘How is that even possible?’ That would’ve taken a CSR group all day before.

Read the case study
Brett Turner
Brett Turner
Regional Operations Manager
Kirby Risk

The product and team have delivered on everything they've said, and it just keeps getting better. Whenever we've requested any kind of customization, they've listened carefully to our needs and implemented solutions in days. You guys make stuff happen.

Dominic Desmond
Dominic Desmond
Chief Operations Officer
‍Benfield Electric Supply

There was a time when we had a backlog of quotes that was a week out. Canals gives us the bandwidth to handle that kind of surge without burning out the team.

Read the case study
Travis Bryant
Travis Bryant
Inside Sales Manager
Puget Sound Pipe & Supply

The integration was done in just a few days, and our sales team started seeing the impact immediately. Instant gratification. The speed and quality they've brought to addressing our specific needs are like nothing else I've experienced in distribution software.

Jim Warshauer
Jim Warshauer
President
‍Warshauer Electric Supply

When you consider the cost of hiring a person who would be completely dedicated to sales order entry–and you multiply that cost across every branch, and you assume they can do so quickly and without error–you see how minimal the cost of Canals is.

Read the case study
Michael Ratner
Michael Ratner
Co-Owner, Atlantic Plumbing Supply
Atlantic Plumbing Supply

The longer they're in it, the more they love it. If we ever told the team we were taking Canals away, I think we'd have mutiny on our hands. It has very quickly become a need-to-have tool in their tool belt—and not a lot of technology has that kind of impact.

Read the case study
Isaac Regenstreif
Isaac Regenstreif
Chief Operations Officer / Owner
Regency Supply

It has not only substantially reduced the time for entry but also improved accuracy, especially on large orders that would take hours to enter line by line. The time savings we’ve gained have allowed our team to focus on other initiatives that enhance the customer experience. Implementation was fast and easy, and the Canals team is very responsive.

Farrah Mittel
Farrah Mittel
President
Schaedler Yesco Distribution, Inc.

Implementation was quick and painless, and benefits were recognized immediately. The team at Canals has been wonderful to work with and responsive.

Cole Harrison
Cole Harrison
Vice President of Operations
McNaughton-McKay

As early adopters of artificial intelligence, we've seen our quoting get faster and smarter than ever, and it's definitely boosting sales. The technology is also a training and retention tool. I've had one of our guys say to me "I wouldn't work anywhere without this."

Jerry Herring
Jerry Herring
E.V.P. of Sales & Marketing
Locke Supply Co.

Tasks that previously took hours of inside sales time now take minutes. We tried another solution and just couldn’t make it work. Canals’ AI application is the future of order entry. It's had a significantly positive impact on our business, and the more we use it the better it gets.

George Vorwick
George Vorwick
President, CEO
‍United Electric Supply

It was very fast to get up and running, both technically and in terms of usage. Our team has all kinds of different backgrounds and technical abilities, and they were able to pick it up easily. We had evaluated some other options, and Canals was the most intuitive. The Canals team has been extremely responsive and willing to accommodate our requests.

Justin Murphy
Justin Murphy
Chief Operating Officer
Johnstone Supply, The Balsan Group

Our order entry process used to be very inefficient. Since implementing Canals, it's like night and day! We've seen a dramatic reduction in processing times, freeing up our team to focus on strategic tasks. Canals' training and customer service have also been top notch. Overall Canals has improved our efficiency immensely, I highly recommend it for any business looking to streamline order entry and boost productivity.

John Haury
John Haury
Inside Sales Manager
Parrish-Hare Electrical Supply

I was a huge skeptic of Canals at first. I was like, "I don't know about all that," but it has really saved me so much time entering orders. I think we're on a really good track with it.

Genevieve Masuda
Genevieve Masuda
Inside Sales Assistant
Lohmiller & Company

Your team's help is making the transition from submitting wire quotes, using the old Eclipse method to a more robust Canals interface, easy and efficient. Thank you and your team very much for all the hard work on this. We really appreciate it.

Larry Levesque
Larry Levesque
Senior Business Systems Analyst
Granite City Electric Supply Company

You can just see the wheels in their head turning and it's like, "Why didn't I think of that?" They never say no. It's always, "Yeah, we can do that."

Tina Lemke
Tina Lemke
Continuous Improvement Leader
Werner Electric Supply

One of the questions someone asked during a recent town hall was, "We're not losing Canals, are we?" Nope, we are not losing Canals. Canals is a fixture. It is going to be here.

Jennifer Cianciarulo
Jennifer Cianciarulo
Vice President Customer Experience
Crescent Electric Supply

As DSG has expanded to serve customers across electrical, HVAC, plumbing, and waterworks, technology has always been a key enabler of our growth. Canals is now our gold standard for how technology can continue driving the business forward. It not only increases productivity so we can grow more efficiently, but also improves the customer experience and employee-owner experience. There’s a lot of hype when it comes to AI, but Canals is the real deal, the best-in-class product delivering real results that matter.

Paul Kennedy
Paul Kennedy
CEO
DSG

The team always works on the enhancements we request. They're super easy to partner with.

Tammy Paters
Tammy Paters
Director of Pricing
Connexion

From the smoothest implementation to the best customer service, Canals has exceeded our expectations at every level.  We appreciate you guys, you guys are so responsive and we cannot stop saying good things about Canals!

Jim Yagow
Jim Yagow
Chief Operations Officer
Capitol Group

We’ve worked through other implementations before, and none have come close to this level of responsiveness, clarity, and consistent follow-through. The open communication and regular updates made the entire process smooth and confidence-building. You are truly an outstanding team.

Mele Gonzales
Mele Gonzales
Assistant Controller
Techni-Tool

Literally for a specific customer, you use Canals once or twice and it starts to learn who is asking for the product. Now there's a lot of things I don't even have to fill out anymore because it automatically knows what to do. It's helping Kendall, the owner associates, do their job and in a more timely fashion. It really will help you be more proactive for your customers.

Read the case study
Julie Miller
Julie Miller
Inside Sales Rep
The Kendall Group

Bring Your Own Orders to Test Live on a Call

See for yourself how Canals turns a mixed-unit lumber order or RFQ into an ERP-ready quote in minutes.

Sales Order Entry FAQs for LBM Suppliers

Have a question that’s not answered here? Please email us at sales@canals.ai and we’ll get back to you shortly.

What is sales order automation for lumber dealers?

Why does speed matter more for lumber pricing than other categories?

Can Canals handle mixed lumber and building materials orders?

How long does implementation take?

Is my data secure?

How much does Canals cost?