How SUNiCE got the inventory system it never had

3 months from no inventory system to one centralised system covering raw goods, production and sales

*Our most complex Notion build so far, and now the starting point for other companies that assemble raw materials into finished goods*

SUNiCE makes pouch-packaged, ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages, assembled and shipped to distributors across the US. Wyatt also runs Su Casa Mezcal, which had spent years working around Cin7, a large, expensive inventory platform that makes a business run its operations the software's way. He didn't want to repeat that with SUNiCE. When he brought us in, SUNiCE had no inventory system at all.

What was going wrong

SUNiCE was tracking raw materials, production runs and finished goods well enough to ship, but not well enough to know its true cost of goods or margin. Vendors, raw goods, production runs and distributor orders each lived wherever they landed, if they were recorded formally at all.

How we built it

Centralisation. Matt led the build. We brought raw goods, finished goods, production runs and stock movements into one connected system. With no legacy system to migrate and no habits to unlearn, we could build it around how SUNiCE actually works.

Collaboration. Raw goods, production runs, vendors and sales each have their own dashboard, built around how the team manages that part of the business. All of them pull from the same data, so nothing has to be reconciled by hand between systems.

What changed

SUNiCE can pull up its raw goods data and see where a shortfall is coming, and which vendor to reorder from. When a cost moves, it shows straight away, and checking cost of goods sold or margin is no longer a separate exercise. If a production run comes in over cost, the team can trace it back to the vendor or shipment that drove it, including whether transport costs cut into the margin.

The result: shortfalls spotted weeks early

The system runs close to 50 SKUs. A few weeks after launch, it flagged a shortfall of about 24,000 bottles against an upcoming run, before it became a shipping problem.

Because we built it as a template from day one, it's now the starting point for other manufacturing and assembly businesses that want an inventory system built around how they work.

Matt has been excellent at quickly learning new, industry-specific concepts, skills, processes, and workflows. He picks things up fast, runs with them, and consistently comes back with real progress each time we meet. We've really appreciated his ability to turn new information into action, and we're looking forward to continuing to work with him as we grow the business.

Wyatt, founder of Su Casa Mezcal and SUNiCE

Inventory system missing, or not working? You don't need an ERP. Talk to us about building one around how your business runs.