We Replaced 5 Hours of Manual Work With One Button: Here’s How

There’s a common myth in small and mid-sized operations: if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. But what if doing it right—every time—meant not having to do it at all?

This is the story of a Charleston-based appliance manufacturer that cut 5+ hours of daily manual tasks down to a single button. Not a metaphorical one—an actual, physical button inside a custom dashboard. One click now handles everything from quoting to delivery updates, all in under 10 seconds.

🛠️ The Problem: A Frankenstein Process Built from Too Many Platforms

Before automation, their freight shipment process looked like this:

• Pull orders from one system
• Manually quote rates using an external freight marketplace
• Log shipment details in Google Sheets
• Send emails to vendors with manual delivery info
• Track status updates in a separate portal
• Update the team via Slack and spreadsheets

It worked—technically. But it relied on tribal knowledge, copy-paste gymnastics, and the availability of a few key employees who basically moonlighted as freight dispatchers. As volume grew, the process cracked at the seams.

This is a textbook case of what we call a time vampire—repetitive, non-strategic work that drains energy and blocks scale.

🚚 The Solution: One Dashboard, One Button

We built a lightweight custom dashboard that plugged directly into their existing order system. It wasn’t flashy. But it was ruthlessly functional. And it had exactly one job: consolidate a fractured process into something clean, centralized, and automatic.

• Pulled pending orders automatically via API
• Pre-selected freight carriers based on weight, distance, and client preferences
• Auto-generated rate quotes in real time from integrated providers
• Scheduled the shipment with a single click
• Sent delivery instructions to vendors with templated, branded emails
• Updated order statuses and delivery tracking info back to the core system
• Notified the team via Slack and dashboard flags

The end result? One button. One action. Zero headaches. What used to take up 5 hours of a coordinator’s day now happens automatically—accurately, reliably, and with full visibility.

This isn’t a unicorn story. It’s the result of applying principles we’ve shared in From Intake to Invoice: What a Fully-Automated Client Pipeline Looks Like and our Automate Before You Hire philosophy.

📦 Bulk Options That Don’t Break the System

One of the best parts? We layered in bulk functionality. Instead of repeating the process per order, the user can now process 10, 20, or 100 shipments in batches with smart filtering. We even added logic to flag exceptions (like backorders, incomplete addresses, or weight mismatches).

This turned the dashboard from a tool into a freight command center—and gave the team breathing room to focus on operations, not logistics headaches.

💡 Why This Worked: Custom Doesn’t Mean Complicated

The secret wasn’t AI. It wasn’t some expensive subscription platform. It was custom code solving a real-world bottleneck. A single-use tool, beautifully built for one business—and owned by them forever.

This kind of build aligns with what we explore in ‘Custom’ Doesn’t Mean Complicated. When built intentionally, even a simple tool can have enterprise-grade impact.

🚀 Ready to Reclaim Hours from the Repetitive Grind?

If your team is wasting hours in spreadsheets, bouncing between portals, or manually tracking things that should be automated—it’s time for a rethink. A button doesn’t sound revolutionary. Until it saves you 25 hours a week.

Let’s talk about what your version of “one button” could be. Whether it’s shipping, invoicing, onboarding, or fulfillment—we’ve seen how a few lines of code can free up entire teams.

#businessautomation #charlestonlogistics #smartsystems #customdashboards #workflowautomation