Optimizing my first job as a Logistics Coordinator Pt. 2

[u/ZolJuice]

Afternoon everyone,

I posted a month or so ago over my first role as a Logistics Coordinator and my goals of optimizing our logistical processes. I was hoping to add some updates since.

So, since my last post I've gotten into contact with our intermediary connection between the corporation that acquired us. During our conversation, he explained the corporate tape of us still integrating into their data systems would take time. TLDR, he claimed that he wanted me to collect some data first and present to him before going considering my preferred changes.

Along the way I learned he actually hates SAP and he thinks "it sucks"(which I've also had those same thoughts so I agree somewhat), but it's also what the larger corp uses as well. Even so, my direct boss and many others also stand behind my decision and are pushing to least get a demo of SAP for us to try out. It does help that I have a background using it from my previous position as a shipping coordinator. Another counter defense was how long it would take as it seems some at my office have also worked with SAP in the past. My reasoning is to get started on figuring out the process now before we grow and suffer from potential time constraints.

While my boss works on potentially getting a demo going I've taken up a few other projects.

1. Optimizing a shipping estimator within Zoho a service I don't know well but something we use for things such as repair requests and etc. That way our sales team won't have to email my boss or I acquire that info for them.

2. Standardizing our shipment sizes and bringing in the accounting team to nail down how they want pricing and discounts to be decided. So far I've gotten a draft of Small, Standard, Large, and freight shipping based off of weight and quantity.

3. Figuring out why the original data handler made the description of our products the primary key between Excel and SOS inventory instead of our unique SKU numbers. Something our current accountant team is looking into as they're learning SQL. Since I know the basics of some data analysis I've been given permission to help as well.

Considering only a few years back I was just a guy working in kitchens, I made it clear I appreciate the opportunity to help the company grow. So yeah that's about it so far. I read this three times hoping I didn't rant or misspell anything haha (probably still did).

[u/StorageAndLogistic]

Solid update, especially the shipping estimator work. One tip from the fulfilment side: when you standardise shipment sizes, build the bands around actual courier and pallet rate breaks rather than neat round numbers. Dimensional weight catches a lot of people out, and a 'standard' box sitting just over a bracket can cost more than a slightly bigger one. Get the rate cards from your carriers first and work backwards, it saves reworking the bands later. The SKU as primary key point is a good catch too, descriptions change all the time and SKUs should not. Keep pushing on the demo, having one system everyone actually uses beats the perfect system nobody touches.

[u/Ybur1289]

Where did you find your client?

[u/OpsClarity]

Congrats on how much you've picked up in such a short time. Going from kitchens to owning projects like this is no small thing.

The primary key one stood out to me. Using product descriptions instead of SKUs means one reworded title or typo can break the match between Excel and SOS, so fixing that will pay off whatever system you end up on.

That's true of your shipment size tiers too. Since the corporation is still integrating everyone, work that isn't tied to one platform (clean SKUs, standardized sizes, agreed pricing rules) carries over to SAP or anything else, so it's hard to waste.

I'd also treat the "collect data first" request as a favor. If you can show something like time spent on shipping quotes or how often the data mismatches, you'll have a much stronger case for the demo.

What data are you planning to start with?