Packaging distributors that hold stock for brands take call-offs every day, usually by email. Each one is read, checked and typed into the warehouse system by hand. CartonCloud handles the warehouse well; the typing in between is the problem.
This guide follows one call-off for the fictional brand Saltbush & Co., which has 12,500 units of carton SB-MAG-120 on 10 pallets at the warehouse.
The manual way today
- The brand emails asking for four pallets, sometimes with the wrong SKU or no delivery date.
- Someone checks the stockholding spreadsheet, which is right on the day it was last updated.
- The call-off is typed into CartonCloud or the 3PL portal.
- The brand emails again to ask when it will arrive.
- Proof of delivery is chased before the invoice can go out.
The automated way
- Call-off read. The brand’s email or form is read for the SKU, quantity, delivery site and date. Anything missing goes back to the brand straight away.
- Checked against stock. Call-off CO-3317 for four pallets (5,000 units) is checked against stock on hand in CartonCloud and against the approved artwork version held in stock.
- Outbound order raised. The order is raised in CartonCloud through its API and linked to sales order SO-40219 in Microsoft Dynamics. Nobody re-keys it.
- Stock updated. The brand’s stockholding now shows 7,500 units on 6 pallets.
- Delivered and invoiced. When CartonCloud confirms dispatch, the brand gets tracking; when proof of delivery arrives, the invoice is raised.
What your team still decides
- What to do when a brand calls off more than you hold.
- Delivery exceptions, such as a site that cannot take pallets that day.
Who does it
In Otopack this is the work of the Dispatch Coordinator, working with CartonCloud and your ERP. See the full Microsoft Dynamics + CartonCloud workflows.
