Shipping Station Best Practices - Revision history

Russ horton: Replaced content with 'Page moved to Shipping Station - Best Practices'

2014-08-27T21:25:20Z

Replaced content with 'Page moved to Shipping Station - Best Practices'

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:25, 27 August 2014
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	~~=Overview=~~		Page moved to [[Shipping Station - Best Practices]]
	~~In 2014 a team of our finest went on the road~~ to visit clients all over the country. One of the biggest things we learned is how much room there is for improved efficiency in the shipping department. The great news is that there are quick and easy solutions.

	~~=My~~ Shipping ~~Dept is Fine, Thank You=~~
	~~All of our clients have been shipping long enough to have reliable processes in place...but that doesn't mean they're efficient. Consider some of the benefits of enhancing those processes:~~

	*fewer shipping errors
	*reduced hours/employees needed to ship each day
	*have scalability to ship higher volumes of packages with your existing staff
	*offer your customers a later cut-off time for same day shipping

	~~Any of that sound interesting? Read on!~~

	~~=Feeding the Warehouse=~~
	Are you still printing orders one at a time as they save? That may be okay if you're processing 20 orders a day, but most of our clients are doing much more than that and would benefit from printing in selective batches. Use the Fulfillment>Batching option to either release a select number of orders to the warehouse (first-in, first-out) or create invoice filters to prioritize your fulfillment in other ways such as by shipping method, price category (retail vs. wholesale), products on the order, or most any other criteria you can define. These options can ensure your most important and time-sensitive orders get handled first. Most important is that you could gain efficiencies by having the warehouse picking certain types of orders as part of the same batch instead of scattered throughout the day.

	~~=Shipping~~ Best Practices=
	~~There are several things you can do to improve. Based on our decades of experience, here is a list of our recommended improvements and the order in which you might consider implementing them.~~

	~~==Entry Level==~~
	*Shipping station in warehouse - First and foremost, you'll want at least one CMS workstation set up in your warehouse. If you're still printing shipping labels in the office and carrying them out to the warehouse, it's time to move that operation out to the warehouse.

	~~==Good==~~
	*Get a [http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/sri/wor150.html thermal printer from UPS] so you can print 4x6 thermal shipping labels. In our experience, this same printer, if converted to using the stock manufacturer's driver instead of UPS's driver, can be set up to also work with Dazzle so you'll have one label printer for both carriers.
	*Use the Manifest screen in CMS to ship with both UPS and USPS. This screen provides you with an identical shipping process for both carriers including a single click to add packages to your shipment when more are needed than CMS projected. Just click the Label button and CMS will trigger the appropriate label to print from UPS Worldship or Endicia's Dazzle software (USPS.) In CMS 10.0 we've also added dimensions to the Manifest which will be required for more packages in 2015.

	~~==Better==~~
	*Scale - Connect an electronic scale to your shipping workstation so weights don't have to be typed in, avoiding errors and saving time.
	*Bar codes - Add a package number bar code to your CMS invoice or pick ticket (e.g.InvoiceTemplate-MS-BC.rpt) to make adding a package to the Manifest a snap.

	With the scale and scanner in place, you can just place the package on the scale and scan the bar code to have the package added to the Manifest and the weight automatically brought in from the scale. Easy, fast, and accurate! See our [http://wiki.newhavensoftware.com/index.php/CMS_System_Requirements CMS System Requirements] ~~page for information on the scales and scanners CMS supports.~~

	~~==Best==~~
	*International - International shipping doesn't have to be chore! In fact, it can be just as easy as a domestic shipment with the right setup. Just scan and print. CMS supports international shipping with USPS and our Endicia/Dazzle integration; and in CMS 10.0, we'll support it for our UPS Worldship XML integration as well. Take the time to set up each product’s custom data (weight and country of origin, at least) to facilitate this automation. If you need to set this for hundreds or thousands of products/SKUs, call us and we can help by importing data or using SQL queries to help set them for you.
	*Automated Label Printing - An option you can enable in CMS Setup is for automatic label printing on scan. This setting will use the weight from the scale (described above), or the CMS calculated weight if no scale is in place, to automatically print the appropriate shipping label as soon as the package bar code is scanned. Couldn't faster or easier. In cases where you know you'll want to make changes to the shipment such as adding packages or changing shipping methods, you can type the package number into the Manifest instead and it will quickly bring up the package details without auto-printing the label.

	~~=Summary=~~
	Implementing the above best practices will allow you to maximize the efficiency and throughput of each shipping station. After implementing these solutions, we've seen companies reduce their number of shipping stations in the warehouse from four down to just one. You may still want to set up an additional shipping station so you have a backup and scalability.

Rob parkes at 15:58, 22 August 2014

2014-08-22T15:58:20Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:58, 22 August 2014
Line 13:		Line 13:

	=Feeding the Warehouse=		=Feeding the Warehouse=
	Are you still printing orders one at a time as they save? That may be OK if you're processing 20 orders a day but most of our clients are doing much more than that and would benefit from printing in selective batches. ~~Using~~ the Fulfillment>Batching option to either release a select number of orders to the warehouse (first in first out) or create invoice filters to prioritize your fulfillment in other ways ~~like~~ by shipping method, price category (retail vs wholesale), products on the order, or most any other criteria you can ~~come up with~~. These options can ensure your most important and time sensitive orders get handled first ~~and/or~~ you could gain efficiencies by having the warehouse picking certain types of orders as part of the same batch instead of scattered ~~through~~ the day.		Are you still printing orders one at a time as they save? That may be okay if you're processing 20 orders a day, but most of our clients are doing much more than that and would benefit from printing in selective batches. Use the Fulfillment>Batching option to either release a select number of orders to the warehouse (first-in, first-out) or create invoice filters to prioritize your fulfillment in other ways such as by shipping method, price category (retail vs. wholesale), products on the order, or most any other criteria you can define. These options can ensure your most important and time-sensitive orders get handled first. Most important is that you could gain efficiencies by having the warehouse picking certain types of orders as part of the same batch instead of scattered throughout the day.

	=Shipping Best Practices=		=Shipping Best Practices=
Line 19:		Line 19:

	==Entry Level==		==Entry Level==
	*Shipping station in warehouse - First and foremost, you'll want at least one CMS workstation ~~setup~~ in your warehouse. If you're still printing shipping labels in the office and carrying them out to the warehouse, it's time to move that operation out to the warehouse.		*Shipping station in warehouse - First and foremost, you'll want at least one CMS workstation set up in your warehouse. If you're still printing shipping labels in the office and carrying them out to the warehouse, it's time to move that operation out to the warehouse.

	==Good==		==Good==
	*Get a [http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/sri/wor150.html thermal printer from UPS] so you can print 4x6 thermal shipping labels. In our experience, this same printer, if converted to using the stock ~~manufacture~~'s driver instead of UPS's driver, can be ~~setup~~ to also work with Dazzle so you'll have one label printer for both ~~carrier's~~.		*Get a [http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/sri/wor150.html thermal printer from UPS] so you can print 4x6 thermal shipping labels. In our experience, this same printer, if converted to using the stock manufacturer's driver instead of UPS's driver, can be set up to also work with Dazzle so you'll have one label printer for both carriers.
	*Use the Manifest screen in CMS to ship with both UPS and USPS. This screen provides you with an identical shipping process for both carriers including a single click to add packages to your shipment when more are needed than CMS projected. Just click the Label button and CMS will trigger the appropriate label to print from UPS Worldship or Endicia's Dazzle software (USPS.) In CMS 10.0 we've also added dimensions to the Manifest which will be required for more packages in 2015.		*Use the Manifest screen in CMS to ship with both UPS and USPS. This screen provides you with an identical shipping process for both carriers including a single click to add packages to your shipment when more are needed than CMS projected. Just click the Label button and CMS will trigger the appropriate label to print from UPS Worldship or Endicia's Dazzle software (USPS.) In CMS 10.0 we've also added dimensions to the Manifest which will be required for more packages in 2015.

	==Better==		==Better==
	*Scale - Connect an electronic scale to your shipping workstation so weights don't have to be typed in, avoiding errors and saving time.		*Scale - Connect an electronic scale to your shipping workstation so weights don't have to be typed in, avoiding errors and saving time.
	*Bar codes - Add a package number bar code to your CMS invoice or pick ticket (e.g. InvoiceTemplate-MS-BC.rpt) to make adding a package to the Manifest a snap		*Bar codes - Add a package number bar code to your CMS invoice or pick ticket (e.g.InvoiceTemplate-MS-BC.rpt) to make adding a package to the Manifest a snap.

	With the scale and scanner in place, you can just place the package on the scale and scan the bar code to have the package added to the ~~manifest~~ and the weight automatically brought in from the scale. Easy, fast, and accurate! See our [http://wiki.newhavensoftware.com/index.php/CMS_System_Requirements CMS System Requirements] page for information on the scales and scanners CMS supports.		With the scale and scanner in place, you can just place the package on the scale and scan the bar code to have the package added to the Manifest and the weight automatically brought in from the scale. Easy, fast, and accurate! See our [http://wiki.newhavensoftware.com/index.php/CMS_System_Requirements CMS System Requirements] page for information on the scales and scanners CMS supports.

	==Best==		==Best==
	*International - International shipping doesn't have to be chore! In fact it can be just as easy as a domestic shipment with the right setup~~, just~~ scan and print. CMS supports international shipping with USPS and our Endicia/Dazzle integration and in CMS 10.0 we'll support it for our UPS Worldship XML integration as well. Take the time to ~~setup your products'~~ custom data (weight and country of origin at least) to facilitate this automation. If you need to set this for hundreds or thousands of products/~~SKU's~~, call us and we can help by importing data or using SQL queries to help set them for you.		*International - International shipping doesn't have to be chore! In fact, it can be just as easy as a domestic shipment with the right setup. Just scan and print. CMS supports international shipping with USPS and our Endicia/Dazzle integration; and in CMS 10.0, we'll support it for our UPS Worldship XML integration as well. Take the time to set up each product’s custom data (weight and country of origin, at least) to facilitate this automation. If you need to set this for hundreds or thousands of products/SKUs, call us and we can help by importing data or using SQL queries to help set them for you.
	*Automated Label Printing - An option you can enable in CMS Setup is for automatic label printing on scan. This setting will use the weight from the scale (described above) or the CMS calculated weight if no scale is in place, to automatically print the appropriate shipping label as soon as the package bar code is scanned. Couldn't faster or easier. In cases where you know you'll want to make changes to the shipment such as adding packages or changing shipping methods, you can ~~instead~~ type the package number into the ~~manifest~~ and it will quickly bring up the package details without auto-printing the label.		*Automated Label Printing - An option you can enable in CMS Setup is for automatic label printing on scan. This setting will use the weight from the scale (described above), or the CMS calculated weight if no scale is in place, to automatically print the appropriate shipping label as soon as the package bar code is scanned. Couldn't faster or easier. In cases where you know you'll want to make changes to the shipment such as adding packages or changing shipping methods, you can type the package number into the Manifest instead and it will quickly bring up the package details without auto-printing the label.

	=Summary=		=Summary=
	Implementing the above best practices will allow you to maximize the efficiency and throughput of each shipping station. After implementing these solutions we've seen companies reduce their number of shipping stations in the warehouse from four down to just one. You may still want to ~~setup~~ an additional shipping station so you have a backup and scalability.		Implementing the above best practices will allow you to maximize the efficiency and throughput of each shipping station. After implementing these solutions, we've seen companies reduce their number of shipping stations in the warehouse from four down to just one. You may still want to set up an additional shipping station so you have a backup and scalability.

Russ horton: /* Feeding the Warehouse */

2014-08-21T00:32:07Z

Feeding the Warehouse

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:32, 21 August 2014
Line 13:		Line 13:

	=Feeding the Warehouse=		=Feeding the Warehouse=
	Are you still printing orders one at a time as they save? That may be OK if you're processing 20 orders a day but most of our clients are doing much more than that and would benefit from printing in selective batches. Using the Fulfillment>Batching option to either release a select number of orders to the warehouse (first in first out) or create invoice filters to prioritize your fulfillment in other ways like by shipping method, price category (retail vs wholesale), products on the order, or most any other criteria you can come up with. These options can ~~both~~ ensure your most important and time sensitive orders get handled first and you ~~might~~ gain efficiencies by having the warehouse picking certain types of orders at same ~~time~~.		Are you still printing orders one at a time as they save? That may be OK if you're processing 20 orders a day but most of our clients are doing much more than that and would benefit from printing in selective batches. Using the Fulfillment>Batching option to either release a select number of orders to the warehouse (first in first out) or create invoice filters to prioritize your fulfillment in other ways like by shipping method, price category (retail vs wholesale), products on the order, or most any other criteria you can come up with. These options can ensure your most important and time sensitive orders get handled first and/or you could gain efficiencies by having the warehouse picking certain types of orders as part of the same batch instead of scattered through the day.

	=Shipping Best Practices=		=Shipping Best Practices=

Russ horton: /* Feeding the Warehouse */

2014-08-21T00:30:47Z

Feeding the Warehouse

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:30, 21 August 2014
Line 13:		Line 13:

	=Feeding the Warehouse=		=Feeding the Warehouse=
	Are you still printing orders one at a time as they save? That may be OK if you're processing 20 orders a day but most of our clients are doing much more than that and would benefit from printing in ~~batch~~. Using the Fulfillment>Batching option to either release a select number of orders to the warehouse (first in first out) or create invoice filters to prioritize your fulfillment in other ways like by shipping method, price category (retail vs wholesale), products on the order, or most any other criteria you can come up with. These options can both ensure your most important and time sensitive orders get handled first and you might gain efficiencies by having the warehouse picking certain types of orders at same time.		Are you still printing orders one at a time as they save? That may be OK if you're processing 20 orders a day but most of our clients are doing much more than that and would benefit from printing in selective batches. Using the Fulfillment>Batching option to either release a select number of orders to the warehouse (first in first out) or create invoice filters to prioritize your fulfillment in other ways like by shipping method, price category (retail vs wholesale), products on the order, or most any other criteria you can come up with. These options can both ensure your most important and time sensitive orders get handled first and you might gain efficiencies by having the warehouse picking certain types of orders at same time.

	=Shipping Best Practices=		=Shipping Best Practices=

Russ horton: /* Summary */

2014-08-21T00:02:01Z

Summary

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:02, 21 August 2014
Line 35:		Line 35:

	=Summary=		=Summary=
	Implementing the above best practices will allow you to maximize the efficiency and throughput of ~~your~~ shipping station~~(s)~~. After implementing these ~~at some sites~~ we've seen ~~them~~ reduce their number of shipping stations in the warehouse from four down to just one. You may still want to setup an additional shipping station so you have a backup and scalability.		Implementing the above best practices will allow you to maximize the efficiency and throughput of each shipping station. After implementing these solutions we've seen companies reduce their number of shipping stations in the warehouse from four down to just one. You may still want to setup an additional shipping station so you have a backup and scalability.

Russ horton at 23:59, 20 August 2014

2014-08-20T23:59:47Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:59, 20 August 2014
Line 31:		Line 31:

	==Best==		==Best==
	Automated Label Printing - An option you can enable in CMS Setup is for automatic label printing on scan. This setting will use the weight from the scale (described above) or the CMS calculated weight if no scale is in place, to automatically print the appropriate shipping label as soon as the package bar code is scanned. Couldn't faster or easier. In cases where you know you'll want to make changes to the shipment such as adding packages or changing shipping methods, you can instead type the package number into the manifest and it will quickly bring up the package details without auto-printing the label.		*International - International shipping doesn't have to be chore! In fact it can be just as easy as a domestic shipment with the right setup, just scan and print. CMS supports international shipping with USPS and our Endicia/Dazzle integration and in CMS 10.0 we'll support it for our UPS Worldship XML integration as well. Take the time to setup your products' custom data (weight and country of origin at least) to facilitate this automation. If you need to set this for hundreds or thousands of products/SKU's, call us and we can help by importing data or using SQL queries to help set them for you.
			*Automated Label Printing - An option you can enable in CMS Setup is for automatic label printing on scan. This setting will use the weight from the scale (described above) or the CMS calculated weight if no scale is in place, to automatically print the appropriate shipping label as soon as the package bar code is scanned. Couldn't faster or easier. In cases where you know you'll want to make changes to the shipment such as adding packages or changing shipping methods, you can instead type the package number into the manifest and it will quickly bring up the package details without auto-printing the label.

			=Summary=
			Implementing the above best practices will allow you to maximize the efficiency and throughput of your shipping station(s). After implementing these at some sites we've seen them reduce their number of shipping stations in the warehouse from four down to just one. You may still want to setup an additional shipping station so you have a backup and scalability.

Russ horton: /* =Good */

2014-08-20T23:47:00Z

=Good

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:47, 20 August 2014
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	==Entry Level==		==Entry Level==
	*Shipping station in warehouse - First and foremost, you'll want at least one CMS workstation setup in your warehouse. If you're still printing shipping labels in the office and carrying them out to the warehouse, it's time to move that operation out to the warehouse.		*Shipping station in warehouse - First and foremost, you'll want at least one CMS workstation setup in your warehouse. If you're still printing shipping labels in the office and carrying them out to the warehouse, it's time to move that operation out to the warehouse.
	==Good=		==Good==
	*Get a [http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/sri/wor150.html thermal printer from UPS] so you can print 4x6 thermal shipping labels. In our experience, this same printer, if converted to using the stock manufacture's driver instead of UPS's driver, can be setup to also work with Dazzle so you'll have one label printer for both carrier's.		*Get a [http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/sri/wor150.html thermal printer from UPS] so you can print 4x6 thermal shipping labels. In our experience, this same printer, if converted to using the stock manufacture's driver instead of UPS's driver, can be setup to also work with Dazzle so you'll have one label printer for both carrier's.
	*Use the Manifest screen in CMS to ship with both UPS and USPS. This screen provides you with an identical shipping process for both carriers including a single click to add packages to your shipment when more are needed than CMS projected. Just click the Label button and CMS will trigger the appropriate label to print from UPS Worldship or Endicia's Dazzle software (USPS.) In CMS 10.0 we've also added dimensions to the Manifest which will be required for more packages in 2015.		*Use the Manifest screen in CMS to ship with both UPS and USPS. This screen provides you with an identical shipping process for both carriers including a single click to add packages to your shipment when more are needed than CMS projected. Just click the Label button and CMS will trigger the appropriate label to print from UPS Worldship or Endicia's Dazzle software (USPS.) In CMS 10.0 we've also added dimensions to the Manifest which will be required for more packages in 2015.

Russ horton: /* Good */

2014-08-20T23:46:39Z

Good

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:46, 20 August 2014
Line 18:		Line 18:
	There are several things you can do to improve. Based on our decades of experience, here is a list of our recommended improvements and the order in which you might consider implementing them.		There are several things you can do to improve. Based on our decades of experience, here is a list of our recommended improvements and the order in which you might consider implementing them.

	==~~Good~~==		==Entry Level==
	*Shipping station in warehouse - First and foremost, you'll want at least one CMS workstation setup in your warehouse. If you're still printing shipping labels in the office and carrying them out to the warehouse, it's time to move that operation out to the warehouse.		*Shipping station in warehouse - First and foremost, you'll want at least one CMS workstation setup in your warehouse. If you're still printing shipping labels in the office and carrying them out to the warehouse, it's time to move that operation out to the warehouse.
			==Good=
			*Get a [http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/sri/wor150.html thermal printer from UPS] so you can print 4x6 thermal shipping labels. In our experience, this same printer, if converted to using the stock manufacture's driver instead of UPS's driver, can be setup to also work with Dazzle so you'll have one label printer for both carrier's.
	*Use the Manifest screen in CMS to ship with both UPS and USPS. This screen provides you with an identical shipping process for both carriers including a single click to add packages to your shipment when more are needed than CMS projected. Just click the Label button and CMS will trigger the appropriate label to print from UPS Worldship or Endicia's Dazzle software (USPS.) In CMS 10.0 we've also added dimensions to the Manifest which will be required for more packages in 2015.		*Use the Manifest screen in CMS to ship with both UPS and USPS. This screen provides you with an identical shipping process for both carriers including a single click to add packages to your shipment when more are needed than CMS projected. Just click the Label button and CMS will trigger the appropriate label to print from UPS Worldship or Endicia's Dazzle software (USPS.) In CMS 10.0 we've also added dimensions to the Manifest which will be required for more packages in 2015.

Russ horton: /* Best */

2014-08-20T23:38:05Z

Best

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:38, 20 August 2014
Line 29:		Line 29:

	==Best==		==Best==
	Automated Label Printing -		Automated Label Printing - An option you can enable in CMS Setup is for automatic label printing on scan. This setting will use the weight from the scale (described above) or the CMS calculated weight if no scale is in place, to automatically print the appropriate shipping label as soon as the package bar code is scanned. Couldn't faster or easier. In cases where you know you'll want to make changes to the shipment such as adding packages or changing shipping methods, you can instead type the package number into the manifest and it will quickly bring up the package details without auto-printing the label.
	*Add more shipping ~~stations~~ and ~~conveyor belts~~

Russ horton at 23:33, 20 August 2014

2014-08-20T23:33:51Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:33, 20 August 2014
Line 12:		Line 12:
	Any of that sound interesting? Read on!		Any of that sound interesting? Read on!

	=Best Practices=		=Feeding the Warehouse=
			Are you still printing orders one at a time as they save? That may be OK if you're processing 20 orders a day but most of our clients are doing much more than that and would benefit from printing in batch. Using the Fulfillment>Batching option to either release a select number of orders to the warehouse (first in first out) or create invoice filters to prioritize your fulfillment in other ways like by shipping method, price category (retail vs wholesale), products on the order, or most any other criteria you can come up with. These options can both ensure your most important and time sensitive orders get handled first and you might gain efficiencies by having the warehouse picking certain types of orders at same time.

			=Shipping Best Practices=
	There are several things you can do to improve. Based on our decades of experience, here is a list of our recommended improvements and the order in which you might consider implementing them.		There are several things you can do to improve. Based on our decades of experience, here is a list of our recommended improvements and the order in which you might consider implementing them.

	==Good==		==Good==
	*Shipping station in warehouse - First and foremost, you'll want at least one CMS workstation setup in your warehouse. If you're still printing shipping labels in the office and carrying them out to the warehouse, it's time to move that operation out to the warehouse.		*Shipping station in warehouse - First and foremost, you'll want at least one CMS workstation setup in your warehouse. If you're still printing shipping labels in the office and carrying them out to the warehouse, it's time to move that operation out to the warehouse.
	*CMS ~~Manifest (~~UPS and USPS) ~~- XML integrations, duping, dropping, and~~ dimensions		*Use the Manifest screen in CMS to ship with both UPS and USPS. This screen provides you with an identical shipping process for both carriers including a single click to add packages to your shipment when more are needed than CMS projected. Just click the Label button and CMS will trigger the appropriate label to print from UPS Worldship or Endicia's Dazzle software (USPS.) In CMS 10.0 we've also added dimensions to the Manifest which will be required for more packages in 2015.

	==Better==		==Better==
	*Scale		*Scale - Connect an electronic scale to your shipping workstation so weights don't have to be typed in, avoiding errors and saving time.
	*~~Scan~~ and bar code		*Bar codes - Add a package number bar code to your CMS invoice or pick ticket (e.g. InvoiceTemplate-MS-BC.rpt) to make adding a package to the Manifest a snap

			With the scale and scanner in place, you can just place the package on the scale and scan the bar code to have the package added to the manifest and the weight automatically brought in from the scale. Easy, fast, and accurate! See our [http://wiki.newhavensoftware.com/index.php/CMS_System_Requirements CMS System Requirements] page for information on the scales and scanners CMS supports.

	==Best==		==Best==
	*Auto weigh on scan		Automated Label Printing -
	*Auto print on scan
	*Add more shipping stations and conveyor belts		*Add more shipping stations and conveyor belts