$4.8M Saved: Revolutionizing Shipment Label Accuracy for a Global Apparel Brand
The Problem: A $4.8 Million Drain
A Global Apparel Brand lost a staggering $4.8 million due to erroneous “duplicate or stale” Outbound Shipment Labels in the past fiscal year. This was a heavy monetary hit and signaled critical inefficiencies within the supply chain. These questionable charges arose from packages either being shipped with redundant labels, leading to unnecessary reprocessing, or more critically, from a complete disconnect between virtual inventory records and physical stock. In the latter case, License Plate Numbers (LPNs) associated with labels were canceled with no actual packages existing to be shipped. This discrepancy pointed to a breakdown in inventory management and order fulfillment, resulting in charges for non-existent shipments, a clear source of operational friction.
Navigating a Complex Ecosystem
The company’s operations are built on a complex system and manages a massive volume of LPNs, labels, and their myriad states. Dealing with this sheer scale demands an exceptionally sophisticated tracking system which constantly challenges their ability to maintain real-time accuracy and visibility.
The shipment generation process isdeeply integrated with their Enterprise Parcel Integration (EPI) system and relies on multiple programs. While powerful, this deep integration also introduces inherent complexities, making troubleshooting and managing the outbound flow particularly difficult.
A custom-built table serves as the crucial bridge between their Manhattan Warehouse Management System (WMOS) and the Enterprise Parcel Integration (EPI). This bespoke solution meticulously tracks every label request and response, fundamental for precisely matching labels to shipments in their outbound logistics.
Uncovering the Root Causes of Erroneous Charges
Our expert investigation pinpointed two primary contributors to the $4.8 million in “duplicate or stale” label charges:
1. Complex Order-to-Label Workflow
The current order-to-label workflow is inherently error-prone due to aggressive timing, placing significant pressure on the process. Shipping labels and shipment IDs are created immediately upon order release, often before actual picking and packing begins. This premature generation introduces significant risk: any subsequent changes to the order (e.g., quantity adjustments, cancellations) can lead to invalid or “stale” labels, setting the stage for discrepancies and unnecessary carrier charges.
2. Shipment Cancellation Constraints
Rigid and varied shipment cancellation constraints by carrier compound these issues, challenging staff to void labels within the required windows. Each carrier enforces unique rules and deadlines for voiding labels or canceling shipments. If a cancellation isn’t triggered precisely within the carrier’s specified window, their system still anticipates a package and levies a fee—even when nothing ships. This lack of a unified, flexible cancellation process across carriers was a major source of inefficiency and financial loss.
ITOrizon's Strategic Approach and Solution
ITOrizon implemented a comprehensive strategy to tackle these systemic issues. A dedicated team of WMOS Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) meticulously analyzed application behavior and data patterns, leveraging fishbone analysis to classify and identify the precise root causes behind the “duplicate or stale” label problem. We conducted an exhaustive deep dive analysis into duplicate shipments, involving extensive research into customer programs.
A Robust, Non-Intrusive Technical Solution
To address these challenges, ITOrizon developed a standalone, cloud-hosted application designed for seamless deployment across multiple Distribution Centers (DCs) without impacting existing critical systems.
The application intelligently connects to WMOS via its database and communicates with the EPI system using REST APIs. All data interactions are handled through a lightweight custom table. This table exclusively logs label requests and responses, ensuring it remains a leaf table that minimally impacts core transactional workflows like wave runs, picking, or packing, guaranteeing unaffected system performance.
Proactive "Duplicate/Stale" Label Detection & Cancellation
The application functions as a proactive sentinel. It continuously monitors shipping activity by periodically reading labels and LPN information from the WMOS database (currently every 30 minutes, configurable by business needs). It then validates shipment data against actual inventory, parsing information stamped on LPNs to accurately identify duplicate or “Duplicate/Stale” labels. When detected, the application automatically triggers cancellations directly with the carrier via the EPI system. This scheduler-based process runs 24/7. The solution, cloud-hosted in a Kubernetes cluster, ensures scalability and reliability across all DCs.
The ITOrizon team provided end-to-end solution ownership, encompassing:
- Solution design and architecture
- Development and environment setup
- Production deployment
- Hyper-care support post go-live
Transformative Business Benefits
The new ITOrizon solution delivered immediate and substantial business benefits:
- Zero Cost from Duplicate/Stale Shipments: The automated cancellation process directly eliminated approximately $4.8 million in annual carrier charges for non-existent or duplicate shipments. This completely eradicates significant financial drain.
- Significant Reduction in Manual Effort: Prior to automation, operations teams spent considerable time manually investigating, tracking, and canceling unused labels across disparate systems. The new solution reduced manual cancellation time by over 90%, freeing up labor hours across all DCs to focus on core warehouse and fulfillment operations, rather than error remediation.
By addressing these complex operational challenges with a targeted, non-intrusive cloud-based solution, ITOrizon rectified a significant financial leak and streamlined critical outbound logistics processes, demonstrating proactive problem-solving.
ITOrizon Inc., a global end-to-end IT supply chain ecosystem service leader based in Atlanta, with offshore locations in India and Dubai, has been helping clients ensure success for more than 10 years. We maximize the value of existing ecosystem investments while outpacing the competition with a human-first service delivery client experience. Industry analysts such as Gartner, ISG, and ARC Advisory have recognized us for our high-performance services team, built to scale and delivering strategic advisory, implementation/integration, digital transformation, and managed support services.
