Streamline Your Order Fulfillment: Cook

“Cook” might seem like a strange way to describe order fulfillment but there are a lot of similarities between cooking and order fulfillment. We’ve already had a post that discussed the similarities between grocery shopping and order fulfillment, in this post we’re going to be talking about what you need for in-house order fulfillment; the recipe for order fulfillment.

Recipe for Successful In-House Order Fulfillment:

Recipe Name: Successful In-House Order Fulfillment

Prep Time: None (you should already have all of your supplies organized)

Cook Time:

• Printing: 5-10 minutes for printing shipping label sheet document that includes pick tick/packing list and shipping label
• Picking: Varies greatly depending on the size of your warehouse and where your warehouse is located (same building, same room, different state, etc.)
• Packing: Varies depending on the size and organization of your warehouse (do packers have to run back and forth to pick pack products, are there multiple items, did the packing tape get stuck to your cat again)
• Shipping: 5-XX minutes for peeling off the shipping label, placing it on the box, and calling your supplier to come pick it up (if applicable), placing it in your car to drop off, sending it to the shipping bay, or placing it directly in your company’s own shipping truck

Required Ingredients:

• Shipping label sheets
• Organized pick ticket
• Shipping boxes
• Shipping tape
• Bubble wrap (optional)
• Packing peanuts (optional)

Necessary Equipment:

• Computer for receiving orders
• Printer for printing packing slips and shipping labels
• Tape gun to aid in taping boxes (optional but very, very, very helpful)

Preparation Steps:

1. The first step is to get the order and let the customer know you have received it.
2. Next you’ll want to make sure you can receive payment either by charging a credit card, setting up a terms account, etc.
3. Then create an effective Warehouse Pick Ticket that includes:
   • Order number
   • Customer shipping information
   • Item # or Part #
   • Item description
   • Quantity shipped; and
   • Other internal information
4. You’ll also want to create a shipping label during this time and on the same sheet if you can. The shipping label must include:
   • Carrier issued bar code
   • Shipping Method
   • Return Address
   • Customer shipping address
   • Internal reference #
5. Let the customer know that you are ready to ship their product and send them a tracking number (if applicable)
6. Use a shipping label sheet (which combines packing list with shipping label) to print the shipping label and packing list on the same sheet
7. Pick and pack the items requested into a sturdy box, adding packing peanuts or bubble wrap if needed
8. Peel out the shipping label and attach it to the package
9. Make sure you avoid these common shipping errors!
   • Old shipping address.
   • Bad shipping address.
   • Incorrect weight.
   • Unreliable packaging material.
   • Missing international paperwork.
   • Bar code doesn’t scan.
   • Shipped wrong product.
   • Shipped wrong quantity.

Serving size (Yield size):

1 order fulfilled correctly will yield 1 happy, satisfied customer.

Flavor of Finished Dish:

The finished flavor should be happy customers and happy shippers. When you keep your order fulfillment simple, your warehouse organized, your paperwork collated, and your recipe on hand, you can keep your order fulfillment flowing steadily!

Want your very own recipe for simple order fulfillment?

Related posts:

Streamline Your Order Fulfillment: Organize Streamline Your Order Fulfillment: Decide Streamline Your Order Fulfillment: Simplify 5 Ways You’re Wasting Order Fulfillment Time.