Project 02 — Order Intake & Inventory Management (In Progress)

The business had outgrown its processes.

A wholesale supplier had a huge volume of orders, but every order still passed through several manual, error-prone steps along the way.

BusinessB2B wholesale supplier of hospitality amenities, $4M+ revenue
Team size3 people, family-operated
My roleSystems refinement & build, first outside operations hire
ProjectOrder intake + inventory management system
The Problem

Order volume increased, and the team never had the time to properly create processes that could scale alongside their growth.

Before: orders and inventory still handled manually
Client orders by Email
No fixed format
Manual Warehouse Entry
Retyped by hand
Manual Confirmation
Sent after the fact
Weekly Stock Check
Manual, error prone
Inventory Miscount
Can't fulfill client reorder

The business had recently adopted inventory software, but didn't have capacity to set up the automated features. Every order still had to be manually re-entered into the warehouse system, and every confirmation still went out by hand once someone heard back. Inventory itself was checked manually, once a week, with only mental notes of what seems low. Which left no leeway to fulfill an increase in orders.

Last month, that manual check missed a product dipping below a safe level, and the business couldn't fulfill a customer's order. This harmed their credibility and strained the relationship with their customer.

My Role & Approach

Learn the order & inventory platforms and figure out how to use them effectively.

In progress: standardized intake + automated inventory thresholds
Standardized Order Page
Fixed, uniform fields
Copy/Paste to Warehouse
Fewer entry errors
Team Checklist
Consistent order handling process
Par Inventory Levels
Set per lead time
Automatic Alert
When stock dips below preset

I set up par inventory levels inside their existing platform, accounting for both manufacturing time and shipping time per item, to close the gaps in demand vs supply. The system can flag the item for the team or trigger a manufacturer order automatically, depending on the item.

On the intake side, I'm building a dedicated order-entry page where customers fill in details in a fixed, consistent format, which will eliminate the free-text email that made manual re-entry slow and error-prone. It's designed so it can be copied straight into the warehouse system with minimal handling. Alongside it, a simple checklist keeps the team accountable for confirming every order actually made it through the process, allowing them to close mental (and operational) loops.

Status

Still in building phase, here's what it's projected to do.

5 hrs
Saved weekly compared to
Manual Inventory Checks
1–2 hrs
Saved weekly compared to
Manual Order Entry
0
Unfulfilled Reorders
Since Par Levels Went Live
NOTE — This project is in progress, so the numbers above are projected, not measured. I will be updating this project page with more precise results as they come in.