New OrderFlow Release 4.2.1

We’re pleased to announce the release of OrderFlow 4.2.1. We’re particularly excited about this release, because as well as using our new OrderFlow logo for the first time, we’ve added some powerful new capabilities to the system. We’ve also added a new integration to the Help Scout customer service platform.

We recently changed our company name to OrderFlow, which for a long time has been the name of our flagship product. In this release we have now added the key elements of the new branding into the product itself. We’ve backed this up with some substantial functional enhancements.

We’ve added enhancements to handheld receipt and putaway that allow for area-specific putaway operations. Each item can be received into one of multiple licence plates, with the stock for each licence plate designated for a different warehouse area. For operations that use this feature, the benefit is a more efficient putaway, with less walking.

Single lot order lines

With OrderFlow 4.2.1 it is now possible to restrict order lines to only use stock from a single lot. This feature is relevant for products where there are differences between lots of the same SKU that prevent them from being used in the same order.

As part of this feature, OrderFlow is now able to provide an inventory availability figure on a per-lot basis. It is also possible for third party eCommerce systems to identify the specific lot that will need to be used for an order line, and to pass this requirement through to OrderFlow.

Order line pallet assignment

In recent versions we have been moving towards a much more complete end-to-end offering for pallet-oriented operations. With OrderFlow 4.2.1, the system is now able to select an available pallet for matching against a received order line. Previously, it had been necessary to identify the pallet to be used in the order line itself.

This feature gives greater flexibility to operators who may be fulfilling orders for pallets for which the specific pallet to be used is not known up front.

Cross-site task generation

Stock move tasks are a powerful feature in OrderFlow, but prior to 4.2.1 they have been limited to use within a single site only. With OrderFlow 4.2.1 it is now possible to raise a stock move task requirement against a second site.

An important use case for this is for operations where a primary warehouse is used for fulfilment, and a secondary warehouse is used for bulk storage. OrderFlow can now use configured product storage quantities and thresholds to drive the transfer of stock from the bulk warehouse to feed into a replenishment operation at the primary warehouse.

The replenishment task can be automatically generated but we’ve also made it possible to edit the quantities and SKUs before the cross-site replenishment is generated.

Packing desk scales integration

In this release we have added support for weight capture at the packing desk using USB scales, with the solution so far targeting Dymo scales. The scales integration allows the weight of the items being packed to verify the contents of a shipment, replacing the need to scan each item before entering the packing screen. A deviation from the expected weight prevents the shipment from being packed without further action being taken.

Where this is used in conjunction with a handheld scan of picked items, the weight validation offers the benefit of a faster packing operation while still limiting the risk of despatching the incorrect stock for an order.

In OrderFlow 4.2.1 we have added an integration to the Help Scout customer service platform. This allows OrderFlow to create customer service ‘conversations’ within Help Scout. A conversation can be triggered either automatically (on an event such as a return being received), or manually, when a user within OrderFlow wants to initiate a conversation between customer service and the customer.

Find out more

If you’d like to transform your warehousing and fulfilment operations, please get in touch for more information about the OrderFlow warehouse management system and the services and support we offer.