How ShipHero WMS Helps Ops Engine Master Automation & Growth

How Frankly Fulfillment Scaled from Near Zero to 65,000 Orders per Month with ShipHero WMS

A fast-growing 3PL outgrew spreadsheets and a rigid legacy WMS. Learn how switching to ShipHero unlocked same-day shipping speed, real-time client visibility, and 30-to-60-minute staff onboarding.

The Challenge: Scaling a 3PL on Spreadsheets Isn't a Strategy

Frankly Fulfillment was built by an e-commerce veteran who understood fulfillment from the merchant side. But as order volume climbed, the tools holding operations together — spreadsheets, pen and paper, ShipStation — became the biggest obstacle to growth.

The core problem wasn't just inefficiency. The existing warehouse management system was architecturally incapable of handling the realities of a growing 3PL operation.

No real scalability. Spreadsheets and basic shipping tools were never designed for multi-client, high-volume 3PL workflows.

Locked orders. The previous WMS locked orders on receipt. Editing or canceling required manual phone and email support — a constant drain on staff.

Fulfillment errors. Missing items from totes were a recurring issue, forcing packers to stop mid-workflow to investigate discrepancies.

Vendor lock-in. Their previous provider charged extra for reports, API access, and new features — a "my way or the highway" model that penalized growth.

"The astronomical benefit of using a WMS built by people who actually understand warehouse procedures — that's what we were missing."— Founder, Frankly Fulfillment

Why Frankly Fulfillment Chose ShipHero

The decision came down to one thing: partnership over transactions. Where the previous vendor charged for every feature and resisted customization, ShipHero's model was built around helping 3PLs grow.

Despite a tight transition window caused by an ending contract, the ShipHero onboarding team facilitated a smooth migration. Shipping speeds and order processing volumes improved immediately after go-live, driven by a more intuitive UI and smarter picking and batching logic.

• Smooth onboarding executed within a tight contract deadline
• Immediate gains in shipping speed and daily order throughput
• iPad-based pick-and-pack interface that new employees learn in 30 to 60 minutes
• Rate Shop Plus for complex carrier rules — exclude carriers, prioritize by cost percentage
• Client-facing inventory portal with order editing, cancellation, and detailed inventory logs

Results: Operational Visibility, Client Empowerment, and Rapid Growth

Since implementing ShipHero, Frankly Fulfillment scaled from near zero to approximately 65,000 orders per month. But the impact goes beyond volume.

KPI visibility. The warehouse now tracks brand storage utilization, order profitability, and individual picker and packer speeds — metrics that were invisible before.

Client self-service. Clients can directly manage their inventory and orders in real time — no support tickets, no phone calls to cancel an order.

Flexible shipping logic. Rate Shop Plus supports nuanced rules that match the complexity of running multiple client accounts at scale.

Labor efficiency. Color-coded picking racks and intuitive iPad workflows reduce training time and picking errors across the warehouse floor.

Frequently Asked Questions

‍

Executive Summary

Top Operator (TOP), a national 3PL with 7 locations, partnered with High-Volume Brand (HVB) to optimize fulfillment for a rapidly scaling product line. By implementing ShipHero’s Direct Pack-to-Light technology, the operator proved that a single warehouse station can handle massive volume. The result was a sustained average of 253 items per hour and a peak throughput of 555 items per hour, allowing the 3PL to centralize inventory and manage 1.1 million projected annual orders without bottlenecks.

The Challenge: Managing Steady, High-Volume Growth

HVB did not face an overnight crisis, but rather the compounding pressure of sustained success. Their order volume nearly doubled in two years, creating a complex logistical hurdle:

• 2023: 602,000 Orders
• 2024: 970,000 Orders
• 2025: 1.4 Million Orders

As the brand grew, TOP faced a choice: continue fracturing inventory across multiple warehouses to handle the load, or find a technology that could process the entire volume from a single hub.

The Strategic Pivot: Centralization via Automation

In previous years, the 3PL attempted to manage peaks by splitting inventory among different warehouses. According to the 3PL’s Key Accounts Director, this was “not a good idea,” as it added complexity and reduced efficiency.

To solve this, TOP deployed ShipHero’s Direct Pack-to-Light. This system uses visual cues to automate decision-making at the packing station, allowing a single facility to handle the throughput that previously required a multi-node network.

“Pack-to-Light was undoubtedly a game changer; it allowed us to handle the entire projected peak volume from a single facility, whereas in previous years, we had tried splitting the inventory among different warehouses. This client’s order profile and product mix are a perfect fit for this flow.”

— Key Accounts Director, Top Operator (TOP)

The Solution: Direct Pack-to-Light Automation

To achieve this level of centralization and speed, the 3PL utilized a dual-feature strategy. The concept of “Direct Pack-to-Light” combines two distinct ShipHero capabilities into a unified, high-velocity workflow:

• Direct Pack Station: A setup where the packer completes an entire order—scanning, packaging, and labeling—at one station. This eliminates the travel time between picking and packing areas, streamlining the fulfillment lifecycle into a single touchpoint.
  
  
• Pack-to-Light Technology: A visual guidance system using LED light modules on bins or carts to direct the packer to the correct items. This eliminates guesswork by illuminating the exact product location, ensuring the packer never has to search or read complex screen instructions during the picking process.
  
  See more information at ShipHero’s Pack-to-Light feature page. 

By combining the structural efficiency of the Direct Pack Station with the visual speed of Pack-to-Light Technology, the operator removed cognitive load from the packers, allowing for “follow-the-light” simplicity even with complex orders.

The Results: Verified Throughput Data

TOP relied on this combined technology to successfully meet the brand’s throughput needs. To ensure the case study relied on accurate production capabilities rather than theoretical estimates, the operations team analyzed performance using “5-minute active blocks” to filter out idle time.

The Benchmark: Before vs. After

The warehouse shattered its previous manual baselines established during the 2023 peak season:

The Impact on “Massive Orders”

The data highlights that the system maintained high velocity even when handling “massive orders”. Typically, large orders with high line counts create bottlenecks at the label printer, but the Pack-to-Light workflow mitigated this, allowing for continuous flow even during complex packing scenarios.

Beyond Speed: Strategic & Operational Gains

While speed is the primary metric, the 3PL’s leadership identified two critical indirect benefits that brought immense value to the business structure:

• Simplified Inventory Planning: In logistics, managing the right inventory volume to meet demand is a major challenge requiring precise forecasting. By using Direct Pack-to-Light to handle all volume in one place, the brand removed the variable of “multi-node splitting” from the equation. This simplified demand planning, reduced the complexity of allocation, and lowered the costs associated with fracturing inventory across locations.
  
  
• Optimized Replenishment: The efficiency gains extended beyond the pack station. The operator noted that on-site inventory movements related to replenishment tasks were positively impacted. As the pack stations became more predictable and efficient, the flow of goods for replenishment became smoother and more synchronized.
  

Why This Matters for Scaling Brands

For HVB, the partnership with TOP provided stability during critical growth phases. As noted by the Key Accounts Director, the brand has “found a solid partner... one that covers the market effectively by providing great shipping service.”

By moving from manual processing to Direct Pack-to-Light, the 3PL successfully maintained system integration and on-time accuracy for a volume of 1.1 million orders, proving that the right tech stack allows brands to scale without fracturing their inventory operations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Disclaimer:The companies featured in this case study requested anonymity for competitive reasons. “Top Operator (TOP)” and “High-Volume Brand (HVB)” are placeholders used to represent the parties involved; however, all throughput metrics and operational results presented are factual and verified based on actual warehouse performance data.

Start a 3PL Two Weeks Before Black Friday? It’s Possible with ShipHero.

Good Company was approached by a large dinnerware supplier that needed a 3PL, just a few weeks before Black Friday.

They would be Good Company’s first ever 3PL client and there was no room for error. Good Company needed a solution that could easily integrate with Shopify, and that would scale with them as they were looking to grow quickly. This was just the beginning. Enter ShipHero. With Warehouse Management Software that can serve 3PLs just as well as brands, and a direct integration with Shopify, it was the obvious choice. After the first sales call and then onboarding, it became apparent that ShipHero was the right solution.

A Multi-Tool for Your Business

“ShipHero checked all the boxes,” said Chad Carlton, the founder of Good Company. “All the fundamentals are there.”

Good Company found that the seamless integration with Shopify was just the beginning of how ShipHero could make their 3PL work better than ever. With an average of six items per order and over 2,000 SKUs, ShipHero’s multi-item batch feature was key to making their warehouse team’s lives easier. “We were able to slash pick times in half,” Carlton said.

“ShipHero for the money, service level and support there is no comparable offering. ShipHero is the multi-tool in our belt.”

Moving Beyond Basics

Good Company was able to use many of ShipHero’s most helpful features to increase their revenue and build a reputation for good work. “We went from shipping out 500 to 600 units a day to 6,000 to 10,000 units a day. That was all built on the back of ShipHero managing the nuts and bolts of the organization,” Carlton said.

Dynamic slotting and rate shopping proved their value as quickly as multi-item batch and the seamless Shopify integration. With these tools, Good Company was able to build their business without a website or a name. Their outstanding work and service levels were all the promotion they needed.

Helping Clients to Help Themselves

Because ShipHero is intuitive and easy-to-use, Good Company clients have all they need to help themselves. “The ability to teach new customers how to use the software so they can help themselves is a huge difference maker,” Carlton said. “ShipHero’s client facing transparency and the dashboard that it delivers to clients has been probably the best wow factor when prospecting new customers.”

Growth is On its Way

Chad Carlton believes that the future is bright for Good Company. “The intent is to continue to scale – we will go multi-warehouse – will go to more LTL fulfillment to become more well-rounded … go more omnichannel to contact more traditional brick and mortar retailers …”

“With so much growth on the horizon, it’s important to know that your partners are in it for the long haul. The leadership, the service levels, they all inspire confidence that we needn’t be concerned that ShipHero will no longer grow to satisfy our current and future needs.”

‍