Core Wins
70+ Hours
Saved Per Week
Reclaimed ~2.5 full-time staff roles across warehouse & order processing.
95%
Error Reduction
Near-elimination of picking errors & out-of-stock fulfillment issues.
Real-Time
Stock Auditing
Accelerated stock takes & replaced manual Excel spreadsheets with live tracking.
Overview
Our warehouse used to rely on paper picking sheets and old Linnworks Desktop software. Sorting orders into folders, printing physical invoices, and walking paperwork across the warehouse created packing mistakes and wasted staff time.
I led the move over to Linnworks.net and built a fully digital warehouse setup. I specified and configured Android barcode scanners, thermal label printers, packing bench workstations, and mapped barcode shelf locations across our entire warehouse.
Process Comparison
LEGACY PROCESS
Old Paper Picking Process
- • Manual Batching: Staff manually split incoming orders into paper folders.
- • Paper Distribution: Physical invoices and pick sheets were walked to the floor by hand.
- • Paper Picking: Staff picked items into trolleys guided strictly by paper sheets.
- • Quality Bottleneck: A manager had to physically inspect every single packed order.
- • Manual Dispatch: Paperwork was walked back to sales desks for manual dispatch confirmation.
Impact: Required 1–2 full-time staff members just to manage paper routing.
MODERNIZED PROCESS
New Digital Scanner Workflow
- • Automated Order Routing: 99% of incoming orders route straight to the warehouse automatically.
- • Barcode Scanner Picking: Pickers use handheld Android scanners to pick directly into barcoded totes.
- • Scan-to-Print Packing: Scanning tote barcodes auto-validates items and prints shipping labels on demand.
- • Automated Tracking Emails: Packing an order sends tracking emails directly to customers.
- • Direct Courier Staging: Packed parcels go straight into carrier cages ready for collection.
Result: 70+ hours saved weekly and 95% reduction in picking errors.
Key Achievements
- Staff Savings: Saved ~1.5 full-time staff hours in warehouse packing, plus 1 full-time staff member in sales by stopping manual invoice processing.
- Auto Customer Tracking: Configured Linnworks to send tracking details automatically upon dispatch, cutting down customer support tickets without paying for custom website plugins.
- Multiple Bin Locations: Enabled multi-bin location tracking in Linnworks so single items can sit across multiple shelf locations, completely replacing fragile Excel spreadsheets.
- Event & Trade Show Inventory: Separated trade show stock digitally and physically so show items don’t sell online by mistake.
- Single Source of Truth: Shifted the business to a single-source-of-truth stock management model across all marketplace channels.