Northwind runs a regional 3PL operation across six warehouses. Dispatch ran on whiteboards, inventory ran on four spreadsheets, and finance ran on a NetSuite instance that nobody on the floor ever touched.
The brief was simple to say and hard to do: one system, one number, no parallel reality on a clipboard.
We started by mapping the real workflow — not the one in the binder. Receiving, putaway, pick, pack, dispatch, returns. Then we configured NetSuite around it, not the other way around.
Custom SuiteScripts handle the parts NetSuite doesn't ship out of the box: zone-based putaway rules, multi-leg dispatch, and a returns flow that closes the loop with the originating warehouse.
We shipped a small Next.js app for handhelds: barcode scan, pick confirm, exception flag. It writes to NetSuite over a hardened API layer and works offline when the warehouse Wi-Fi drops, which it does.
Adoption hit 90% in the first two weeks because the app does fewer things, and does them in two taps.
Four spreadsheets — inventory, dispatch, fuel, driver hours — were quietly killed. Their replacements are NetSuite saved searches and one custom report that the ops director reads with her morning coffee.
We can finally tell you where every pallet is, in real time, without anyone walking a clipboard. That used to be a fantasy.
