The Customer:

A third-party logistics, or 3PL, provider managing a growing portfolio of e-commerce clients. Their clients ranged from quaint online shops to big-box retailers. Regardless of size, the clients all shared an expectation of swift, reliable order fulfillment.

The Challenge:

The growth of e-commerce business brought escalating pressures to the 3PL and a host of paint points:

• Customers expected same-day or next-day fulfillment, leaving no margin for clerical delays.
• Warehouse layout wasn’t optimized for high-velocity e-commerce operations, demanding unnecessary travel from staff.
• Picking processes were inefficient, with workers repeatedly revisiting the same locations for similar single-SKU orders.
• Orders arrived in waves that at least seemed unpredictable, leading to challenges allotting warehouse staff and saddling the floor with costly bottlenecks.
• Parcel shipping required printing labels, searching for tracking numbers, and reconciling carrier data manually. Visibility could lag, with managers struggling to provide clients with real-time status updates on orders.
• Seasonal peaks like Black Friday strained staff and systems alike, risking fulfillment accuracy and timeliness.

To keep ahead of market trends, the 3PL needed a fulfillment platform that could scale with growth while ensuring precision, speed, and visibility.

The SC Codeworks Solution: Codeworks Enterprise

SC Codeworks offered its proprietary warehouse management system—Codeworks Enterprise—as the foundation for a streamlined e-commerce fulfillment operation.

The dynamic Codeworks Enterprise solution included:

• Warehouse Layout Optimization: Introduced pick lines and preferred locations to minimize travel distance, enabling faster batch picking and reducing congestion during peaks.
• Batching Orders: Grouped single-SKU and high-frequency orders into batch waves, using a waterfall system. This minimized redundant travel while maximizing workers’ order-fulfillment capacity.
• Automated Charges: Built contract-based rules into Codeworks Enterprise so variable fees (by piece, by box, by special handling) were applied automatically, reducing clerical overhead and ensuring accurate billing.
• Parcel Integration: Connected Codeworks Enterprise directly to FedEx/UPS parcel systems. Labels printed instantly, weights and dimensions fed automatically, and tracking numbers synced in real time. This eliminated hours of manual entry and sped up throughput.

The Benefits:

The transition delivered both operational and financial upsides:

• Reduced clerical labor and paperwork
• Higher throughput with the same or even reduced workforce
• Faster turnaround for clients, strengthening competitiveness
• Improved employee morale by minimizing tedious manual tasks
• Prompt return on investment, with the batching and parcel integration showing the fastest payback.

Conclusion:

For 3PLs serving e-commerce customers, manual or semi-digital workflows are no longer viable. Codeworks Enterprise transforms fulfillment operations with speed, accuracy, and scalability —equipping providers to thrive in an industry with ever-rising expectations.