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AutomationSystems IntegrationFulfillment

End-to-End Order Fulfillment Automation

Food distribution company — local delivery and national shipping across B2B clients

6
Systems connected
500–750
Hours saved annually
$12K–18K
Annual labor savings

The Problem

Six disconnected systems. Every order touched by human hands at every step. No way to scale without hiring more people to do the same manual work.

  • →Orders manually entered from e-commerce platform into Fishbowl (inventory/fulfillment system)
  • →Sales orders stuck in "issued" status — required manual updates to "fulfilled"
  • →Pick lists cluttered with unfulfilled orders, creating poor warehouse visibility
  • →Invoices manually downloaded, modified, and emailed to client accounting departments
  • →No automated customer notifications for local delivery payment requirements
  • →QuickBooks reconciliation manual and error-prone
  • →Multiple disconnected systems with no integration between them

What I Did

Built an integrated automation workflow connecting 6 systems:

Order Flow Automation

  • ✓Shopify → Fishbowl: orders automatically flow into Fishbowl for fulfillment — eliminated manual entry
  • ✓Shopify → Spoke (Local Delivery): Georgia orders auto-route to Spoke dispatch for local delivery routing
  • ✓Spoke → Shopify → Fishbowl fulfillment sync: delivery completion triggers fulfillment status updates automatically

Customer & Financial Automation

  • ✓Automated payment notifications: when driver starts route, system auto-sends "Payment required upon delivery" email
  • ✓Shopify → QuickBooks: orders automatically sync for financial reconciliation
  • ✓Automated invoice generation using Carbone + Make.com + Loops.so — custom PDF invoices generated and emailed to correct billing contacts on fulfillment trigger

Key Approach

Connected disparate systems that vendors don't natively integrate, creating a seamless workflow without an expensive custom ERP implementation. The invoice automation alone required building logic to check a data store for recipients, generate custom PDFs, and route them to the right contacts — and it only fires for customers who need it.

Results

  • ✅100% elimination of manual order entry (Shopify → Fishbowl automation)
  • ✅Eliminated manual fulfillment status updates via Spoke sync
  • ✅Clean pick lists for warehouse — auto-updated fulfillment status improves operational visibility
  • ✅Automated payment reminders for local delivery — reduced delivery failures and cash collection issues
  • ✅Automated invoice generation and distribution for major accounts
  • ✅QuickBooks auto-reconciliation — reduced accounting labor and errors

Labor Savings Breakdown

Order entry~30–60 min/day
Fulfillment updates~20–30 min/day
Invoice generation/distribution~15–20 min/day
Payment follow-up reduction~10–15 min/day
Conservative annual estimate$12K–$18K saved

Tech Stack

Shopify, Fishbowl, Spoke Dispatch, QuickBooks, Carbone, Make.com, Loops.so

Timeline2 months

Recognize Any of This?

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