Forty emails by two o'clock, each in a different format
Customers send releases however they like. One emails a spreadsheet. One sends a PDF from their ERP. One writes an email: 'Please release 6 pallets of the 2kg chips to the Leeds depot tomorrow, batch as usual.' Another phones.
The customer services team retypes each into the WMS. They look up the product codes, check there is enough stock, pick the batch or date that should go first, and book the transport. Afternoon releases pile up near the cut-off, and the picking team waits.
Why releases need retyping
Every customer's instructions are clear to them. They are just written in their own language, with their own codes and assumptions about what 'as usual' means.
- Formats vary by customer, and sometimes by person within a customer.
- Customer product codes differ from your stock codes.
- Batch or date selection rules are implied, not stated.
- Instructions arriving after the cut-off are mixed with those before it.
- Amendments come as separate emails and are easy to miss.
What retyping costs
Customer services time, concentrated at the busiest point of the day. Keying errors that send the wrong product, the wrong quantity or the wrong batch. Late picks because the order reached the WMS late. And the stress of cut-off time for a team that knows one slip means a lorry leaves wrong.
In a cold store, late picks have a physical cost as well. Pallets assembled in a rush sit on the marshalling area longer than they should while the paperwork catches up, and the transport planner cannot fix the evening's routes until the last release is in.
How we read and check release orders
- Releases are collected from a dedicated mailbox, portal form or EDI feed, whichever each customer uses.
- Each format is read: spreadsheets and structured PDFs by rules, and free-text emails using a language model such as OpenAI or Anthropic Claude to pick out product, quantity, destination and date.
- Customer product codes are mapped to your stock records with a table your team maintains.
- Each order is checked against available stock, the customer's rotation rules and your cut-off times.
- Clean orders post to the WMS. Anything unclear, short of stock, after cut-off or unusual goes to an exception list with the reason and the original message beside it.
- Customers receive an acknowledgement with what was understood, so errors are caught by them too.
| Check | What it catches |
|---|---|
| Code mapping | Unknown or retired product codes |
| Stock availability | Releases for more than is in store |
| Cut-off | Instructions too late for the requested day |
| Amendment match | Changes to an order already posted |
Free-text reading is always checked: anything the model is unsure about goes to a person, and the acknowledgement lets the customer confirm.
What customer services does after
Deal with the exception list and the phone calls that need a person, rather than typing. Orders reach the pickers earlier. Customers get a clear acknowledgement and can see what was booked.
Over time, you can encourage customers onto a simple portal form, but you do not have to force anyone to change how they send instructions.
Is your customer service team retyping?
- Release instructions arrive in many formats.
- Every release is retyped into the WMS.
- Errors in keying have sent the wrong stock.
- Releases pile up near the cut-off.
- Amendments are missed.