Warehouse & Dispatch — Summary
Across 2 mapped workflows · annualised so different rhythms add up fairly
Opportunities in Warehouse & Dispatch
6 opportunities — every size; the org review only shows the biggest| Impact | Opportunity | Workflow | Kind | Effort | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 63 | Wave-picking by zone Full recommendation ▾Three people walk the whole floor for every order. A build groups the day's orders into waves and gives each picker a route through one zone, so the same orders are picked with less walking. The floor layout and the wave times are agreed with the warehouse team first. | Pick, pack & dispatch step 2 | Simplify | needs other teams | 125h/yr |
| 45 | One booking screen for three carriers Full recommendation ▾The same consignment data is keyed into three courier portals. A build takes the day's manifest once and books all three via their APIs, returning labels together. | Pick, pack & dispatch step 4 | Simplify | needs other teams | 63h/yr |
| 40 | Manifest built from the bookings Full recommendation ▾Once the couriers are booked in one place, the manifest already exists. A build assembles it per carrier and prints it for the drivers, so the supervisor checks it instead of compiling it. | Pick, pack & dispatch step 5 | Simplify | needs setting up | 50h/yr |
| 33 | Pick lists allocated and sent on their own Full recommendation ▾The 6am order batch is already in the ERP. A build splits it into pick lists by zone and sends each list to the picker's handheld, so the supervisor stops printing and allocating by hand and only steps in when stock runs short. | Pick, pack & dispatch step 1 | Simplify | needs setting up | 33h/yr |
| 33 | Tracking numbers sent back automatically Full recommendation ▾The courier labels carry the tracking numbers. A build posts each one to the online store as the label prints, so nobody copies them across at the end of the day. | Pick, pack & dispatch step 6 | Simplify | needs setting up | 33h/yr |
| 22 | Variance report without the VLOOKUP wall Full recommendation ▾Count export and system stock both come from the ERP. A build joins them and produces the variance report with big movers flagged — the spreadsheet that breaks when a column moves is retired, and the Inventory Controller reviews the flagged lines instead of building the comparison. | Stock-take reconciliation step 2 | Simplify | needs setting up | 15h/yr |
Workflow by workflow
Click a workflow for its own detailed summary.
| Workflow | Owner | Complete | Steps | Hands-on /run | Runs /yr | Friction | Planned /run | Planned /yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stock-take reconciliationMonthly | Inventory Controller | 95% | 6 | 4.8h | 12 | 1 | 0m | 0h |
| Pick, pack & dispatchDaily | Dispatch Supervisor | 91% | 7 | 7.6h | 250 | 1 | 0m | 0h |
Top friction points
Across every workflow, worst first — how much a step hurts, multiplied by how long it takes. So a long mildly annoying step can outrank a short painful one.
| Step | Workflow | Who does it | Kind of pain | Hurts | Time | Why it hurts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2Compare counts to system stock in a spreadsheet | Stock-take reconciliation | Inventory Controller | — | badly | 90m | A wall of VLOOKUPs that breaks if anyone renames a column |
| 4Book couriers across the three carrier portals | Pick, pack & dispatch | Dispatch Supervisor | — | a lot | 20m | Three logins, three interfaces, same data keyed into each |
Comms insights
Where the department's time goes: doing work in systems vs moving information between people.
Run “Analyse workflow” on a map to surface glue patterns.