Orders to route
Daily orders had to be grouped, mapped and allocated across the fleet before vehicles could leave the depot.
200+ orders.
Routes in under 20 minutes.
How a route optimisation tool integrated with Crowbond’s order system replaced a full working day of spreadsheets and manual planning — while cutting fleet costs by approximately 12.5%.
One bottleneck. Four measurable outcomes.
200+ / day
8 hours → <20 minutes
Planning time
A process that could consume a full working day became a short, reviewable planning step.
≈12.5%
Lower fleet costs
Routes were optimised for total distance while work was balanced across vehicle capacity and delivery volume.
£36k+ / year
Reported annual saving
The operational and fleet savings turned one fixed workflow into a significant recurring return.
The challenge
BEFORE / 01A delivery plan rebuilt by hand, every day.
Crowbond already had a custom warehouse system designed around its picking and checking workflows. The remaining bottleneck came after order intake: turning more than 200 orders into practical vehicle routes.
01
Export the orders
Daily order data left the order management system and entered a spreadsheet-based planning process.
02
Group by location
A planner manually organised deliveries geographically and plotted them against Google Maps.
03
Allocate the vehicles
Orders were assigned while accounting for vehicle capacity, delivery volume and the practical knowledge held by the planning team.
04
Check it all again
The final plan remained vulnerable to spreadsheet errors and depended heavily on manual review.
The packaged option
£4,500 per month
An off-the-shelf logistics tool had been trialled, but its licence cost was high and it did not integrate properly with Crowbond’s order system.
The underlying problem
Automation without integration still left work
A separate optimiser could calculate routes, but manual data movement meant it did not remove the operational bottleneck end to end.
Route optimisation inside the operation.
ORBN built the missing workflow around Crowbond’s existing systems. Orders move directly from the OMS into a multi-vehicle optimiser, and planners keep the final judgement where local knowledge matters.
B/01
Direct OMS integration
Orders are pulled from the system of record without a daily export, reformat and re-entry step.
B/02
Postcodes converted to coordinates
Delivery addresses are geocoded consistently so every stop can enter the same planning model.
B/03
Multi-vehicle route optimisation
Google OR-Tools minimises overall travel while balancing capacity and volume across the fleet.
B/04
Human override by design
Planners can adjust the generated result for real-world constraints instead of fighting a closed black box.
B/05
Existing access controls retained
The tool uses Crowbond’s established authentication, keeping the workflow secure and familiar.
Google OR-ToolsGoogle MapsNext.jsOMS integrationClient-owned
The wider platform
SOFTWARE / 01One workflow in a connected system.
Crowlite
Operations and warehouse software
Orders · picking · routes · reportingRoute planning is most valuable when it shares clean order data with the rest of the operation. Crowlite brings operational reporting and mobile warehouse workflows into that same connected environment.
The result
AFTER / 01Planning became a review, not a working day.
Time returned
Less than 20 minutes
The generated plan needs little manual intervention, freeing the team from hours of repetitive route assembly.
Lower fleet cost
Approximately 12.5%
Better route and workload decisions reduce the cost of serving the same delivery demand.
Recurring value
More than £36,000 each year
The reported saving repeats because the software removes cost from a process that happens every working day.
Operational resilience
Less dependence on one planner
Planning logic is encoded into a repeatable system while manual control remains available for exceptions.
“ORBN Digital cut our delivery planning from 8 hours to 20 minutes — and saved us £36k per year.”
Results reported for this engagement. Outcomes vary with each operation, workflow and starting point.
From one route to the whole platform.
R/01
Foodservice wholesale software
See how ordering, ERP, warehouse, delivery and reporting work as one system.
R/02WMS & ERP integration
Remove rekeying and connect stock, orders and fulfilment in real time.
R/03B2B foodservice ecommerce
Connect customer ordering and account pricing directly to the operation.
R/04Foodservice ERP decision guide
Decide whether to replace a system, integrate what works or build the missing workflow.
R/05Custom software cost guide
Test the team, duration, rate and risk assumptions behind a UK software budget.
R/06Custom vs off-the-shelf guide
Score whether buying, integrating or building is the stronger operational decision.
R/07API and systems integration
Scope one data flow, compare API, EDI and event patterns, and design accountable failure handling.
R/08Custom software development
See how ORBN discovers, prototypes, builds and operates client-owned web and mobile applications.
R/09Digital transformation consulting
Turn a constrained operational journey into a working change with adoption and measurable benefits included.
R/10Technology strategy consulting
Compare retain, buy, integrate and build options and sequence investment around evidence and whole-life cost.
Start with one expensive workflowWhat takes your team
What takes your team
a working day?
Bring us the spreadsheet, handoff or planning process that has become part of the furniture. We will map the integration and put numbers around the value of fixing it.