Case Study: Colorado Distribution Group
Background:Colorado Distribution Group in Denver, Colorado provides small parcel fulfillment services for many of their clients. The products range from police and military clothing to snow and ski recreation equipment. |
The Challenge:CDG’s main goal is to improve accuracy in packing high-volumes of orders and reduce unnecessary labor efforts for printing labels and shipping documentation. The process for picking and packing orders requires at least 3 warehouse operation staff members per shift. |
Process:
- When an order is received, the information gets communicated to the floor for picking
- After the shipment has been picked, it is moved to the packing area for packaging and labeling
- The cartons are then packed and verified for order accuracy
- And finally the shipping label and packing list are printed to complete the order
Discovery:
CDG inquired about how Camelot could improve their packing operations. The recommendation was Camelot’s Easy Scan and Small Parcel integration solutions. At that time, the volume of pieces to be packed and shipped was between 1,000 to 1,500 pieces per 8-hour shift. CDG receives orders in several ways including: importing orders via CSV file, email, WebLink Order Entry and manually keying in orders. These orders are then handled using Batch Functions to commit inventory to shipments in order to print picking tickets.
CDG worked with Camelot to design the features and process flow for the Easy Scan user interface screen, in addition to the shipping program integration which allowed for an efficient process to print carrier labels at the packing station.
Results:
The project took 3 weeks from start-to-finish including the customized development of the Easy Scan interface. After developing Easy Scan screen , CDG was able to improve their order accuracy from 99.2% to 100%. They also shaved off 1.75 man-hours of labor per shift by reducing unnecessary work previously needed from a dedicated resource responsible for manifesting orders through a separate small parcel program. This represented a labor savings of approximately $41,000 annually. The integration with small parcel carrier systems also improved the accuracy of the operation by making sure the correct label was on the
right carton.
Additionally, the system produces detailed packing list contents and weight per carton, further reducing potential returns and freight claims for missing items. Not only does this eliminate extra work at the warehouse, it creates a better customer experience.
CDG estimates they are saving approximately 45 minutes of labor daily that was spent sending tracking information and freight charges manually. The tracking number and freight charge is automatically updated on WebLink (Camelot’s online web portal) immediately following the shipping label printing. From the customer’s perspective, CDG was able to reduce chargebacks from miss-shipments by showing accurate inventory levels through the use of periodic physical counts (cycle counts).