A plant runs on two kinds of calls. The office takes orders, quote requests and "where's my shipment" from buyers who want an answer now. The floor needs to reach a forklift driver, a maintenance tech or the shift lead over the noise of a press line, and the old overhead paging amp is held together with tape. When a tornado warning hits, someone is supposed to tell three buildings, and nobody is quite sure who.
Cannon VoIP puts both sides on one system: order and customer service calls go into queues with callbacks, paging groups and scheduled shift bells run from the portal, severe weather warnings reach every phone and can be read over the paging speakers, and cloud eFax handles the purchase orders some customers still fax. Flat $34 per extension, no contracts.
Order desks, shop floors and the call nobody heard
Customer service at a distributor is a queue whether you call it one or not. Buyers call to place orders, check stock, chase a late truck, and ask for the inside rep they always deal with. When those calls ring one desk and roll to a general voicemail, orders wait, and buyers try the next supplier on their list.
The floor has the opposite problem: people who are nowhere near a phone. Paging is how a plant finds someone, shift changes run on bells, and safety depends on reaching every building at once. Those jobs usually sit on aging hardware separate from the phones, looked after by whoever still remembers how it works.
What we set up for manufacturers and distributors
Why manufacturers switch to Cannon VoIP
Flat $34 per extension, month to month, with texting and transcription included and no regulatory fees. A new second shift or a seasonal crew adds extensions when they start and drops them when they leave, and volume discounts start automatically at 25 extensions.
Paging, bells and weather alerts are part of the phone system, not a separate box with its own vendor. One portal runs the order desk queue, the shift bells and the warehouse paging group, and every settings change is logged with who made it.
The main number on every invoice and packing slip ports for $15 per line, usually next business day, with about two minutes of downtime. We install on site for free within about an hour and a half of DFW Airport, and we support plants and warehouses nationwide.
What a typical setup looks like
A typical distributor runs inside sales, customer service, purchasing and accounting extensions on desk phones at $34 each, with outside reps on the mobile app. The main menu sends orders and stock checks to the customer service queue, "where's my order" to shipping, and vendors to purchasing.
On the floor, the shop and dock get a phone each and their own paging groups, shift bells run on the schedule, and severe weather warnings are read over the warehouse paging group. After hours, the main line goes to transcribed voicemail, or to the AI receptionist, which answers from the hours, address and policies you give it and takes a message for anything else. Injuries and emergencies always go to people or 911, never the AI.
Common questions from manufacturers and distributors
Before switching, walk the building and list every phone that is not on a desk: the dock, the breakroom, the QC bench, the guard shack, the fax machine and any alarm line. Those are the lines that get forgotten, and each one needs a plan on the new system.
One system, office to shop floor
Talk to us about order desk queues, paging, shift bells and weather alerts for your plant or warehouse.
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