Teamwork: Behind the Scenes with the AIFP Admin Department

At AIFP, our team is everything. Without their hard work, effort, and dedication, AIFP simply wouldn’t run. While our steel and lumber traders drive business and make sales, it’s our admin team working behind-the-scenes to make sure that things run smoothly from the point of sale to the moment the product is delivered. Here’s a sneak peek at how the admin team supports our traders, our partners, and our customers.

All Our Departments Working Together to Make Things Happen

There’s a lot of love and labor that goes into completing bulk lumber and steel orders. In fact, AIFP commodity traders simply couldn’t serve their partners and customers without the confidence of our amazing admin team providing behind-the-scenes support.

Whether it’s our transportation, distribution, and logistics department ensuring on-time steel and lumber delivery or our accounts payable/invoicing team making sure that our customers are accurately charged and our partners are promptly paid, the admin team touches every step of the process. In fact, they’re completing tasks and offering support from the moment the trader takes the order until money has been exchanged and delivery has been made. Each department works together, directly and indirectly, to provide our clients with smooth and reliable service at every step of the process.

The Day-to-Day Duties

Our team knows how to do what they do best: supplying great service! Each of our admin departments play a vital role in AIFP and our team is so grateful for all the work they do to make us who we are today. From order entry to booking trucks here is a little peek into some of the day-to-day job duties of each of our departments on the admin team.

Trucking and Logistics

Our trucking and logistics team works tirelessly to build strong relationships with carriers, secure the best and fairest rates for our traders, and choose the most strategic route for steel and lumber delivery. Because of the nature of their role, they work closely with the inventory team, mills and other suppliers, the credit team, our steel and lumber traders, and shipping and freight carriers across the country. Our trucking and logistics team understands that time is money in the building materials industry, so they make prompt, clear communication their top priority. Our goal isn’t just to provide the best service to our customers. We also work hard to be a great partner to our carriers, mills, and other suppliers, so they’ll continue to provide the best service for our clients.

Credit

Our credit teammates are the protectors of the business. In fact, the traders rely on our credit team to help them understand risk management, handle product claims, provide information to our partners, and to vet the companies we do business with. Because of the size of many of our bulk lumber and steel orders, it’s important to have this extra layer of protection to protect our traders, our business, our partners, and our clients.

Inventory Management

At AIFP, we’re often managing a serious amount of steel and lumber inventory for our customers and suppliers. Our inventory coordinators collaborate with our traders and the reload/port facilities we partner with across the country, ensure that our numbers match the book, and enter orders that aren’t mill direct to offer our customers and suppliers more flexibility with their order dates. Whether our team is receiving inventory into our system so traders know what is available or shipping out inventory that has been picked up from our partnered facilities, our inventory team prides itself on quick communication and fast problem-solving skills.

Accounts Payables/Invoicing

Our money management team works tirelessly to make sure the money movement is balanced and prompt. From making sure customer rebates are entered correctly to producing invoices for building materials our traders have sold, our accounts payables and receivables team members make sure AIFP is still operable at the end of the day. Our team produces the checks to pay our suppliers as well as the invoices for our customers. They make sure everyone gets paid for their part in this industry and they keep the money flowing.

Import

From steel to lumber, our import team manages the customs paperwork, port documents, inventory, and invoicing that comes with importing building materials. They also coordinate with all of the necessary touch points throughout the buying and delivery process to help our traders and our trucking department predict workable delivery dates for our customer’s wholesale lumber and steel products.

Admin Appreciation

At the end of the day, we know we wouldn’t succeed without our beloved admin team. The work they put into their careers and the dedication they show is something that AIFP will forever be grateful for. We have admin who have been with us from 1 year to 35 years and we count ourselves lucky to have such a great group of people. The teamwork that our traders and our admin have are what makes AIFP a family, and we always want to take a moment to step back from the hustle and bustle of the industry to say a massive thank you to our admin. From admin appreciation day to the admin retreat we want our team to know that we appreciate them. So, to all the admin out there: We truly appreciate you!

Whether you’re looking to buy lumber in bulk, find an admin or trading career at one of the best places to work in Portland, or just looking to better understand the building materials industry, AIFP can help. Check out our blog to learn more about everything from the benefits of working with a wholesale lumber supplier to how AIFP traders can help your business.