Case study
Manufacturer OS
Designed and built a custom staff operations platform for managing orders, production tracking, shipping, and vendor relationships, all from one place.
Replaced spreadsheets and disconnected tools with a single operations platform managing 3,000+ orders annually
Context
A custom manufacturer was coordinating production across 57 vendor partners using a combination of email, spreadsheets, and manual processes. As order volume grew, the team lost visibility into production status, shipping timelines, and vendor performance. There was no single system staff could use to track an order from submission through production, shipping, and delivery.
Challenge
The business needed a centralized operations platform that could manage the full order lifecycle across multiple vendors, without requiring staff to switch between disconnected tools or rely on manual coordination for production tracking, shipping, and accounting.
Approach
- 1
Mapped the end-to-end order lifecycle from initial submission through vendor assignment, production tracking, shipping, and delivery to identify every manual handoff and visibility gap.
- 2
Designed and built a custom staff operations platform with role-based access, a real-time dashboard, and integrated order management across the full production pipeline.
- 3
Built a vendor portal allowing the business to manage its network of production partners, track order volume and completion rates, and sync vendor records with QuickBooks for accounting.
- 4
Integrated UPS shipping directly into the platform so staff could generate labels, link shipments to orders, and provide end-to-end tracking without leaving the system.
- 5
Deployed operational reporting covering order volume, turnaround times, open order aging, and vendor activity to give leadership clear performance visibility.
Selected outcomes
- Staff gained a single control plane for managing orders across 57 production vendors, eliminating the need for spreadsheets and manual status tracking.
- Average order turnaround dropped to 4.2 days with clear visibility into production bottlenecks through real-time status tracking and aging reports.
- Shipping and fulfillment became a one-step process with integrated UPS label generation linked directly to orders.
Deliverables
- Custom staff operations platform (Manufacturer OS)
- Order management and production tracking system
- Vendor portal with QuickBooks integration
- UPS shipping label generation and tracking
- Operational reporting and performance dashboards
- Admin controls and system health monitoring
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