High-season logistics management

Integrated logistics for managing Christmas peaks

Galup, a historic Piedmont-based brand specializing in the production of panettoni and Christmas sweets, required a logistics space and an operational system capable of handling peak-season volumes, while maintaining control, traceability, and fast shipping operations.

The goal: to outsource and structure logistics management in order to support the high seasonal production and distribution demand during the Christmas period.

Sector:

Food & Beverage

Scope:

Integrated logistics and seasonal peak management

Partnership period:

2014 – present

From context to solution

The Galup production is highly seasonal: most of the logistics volumes are concentrated in the three months leading up to Christmas. The company’s spaces are mainly focused on production, with limited storage capacity and shipping management.

This scenario required:

  • logistics outsourcing
  • progressive management of incoming production flows
  • coordination of shipments in Italy and abroad
  • ability to absorb strong daily operational peaks

Logistics had to evolve from an operational support function into a structural element of the commercial process.

The main critical issues were:

  • management of large volumes in condensed timeframes
  • coordination between production, stock, and sales orders
  • need for full traceability of food batches
  • picking optimization within limited operational space
  • fulfillment of up to 100–150 orders per day during peak periods
  • document integration across different information systems

The goal was not only to manage storage, but to build a logistics system capable of sustaining seasonality without slowing down sales.

A seasonal integrated logistics model was activated, with full management of flows from production to shipping.

Receiving and storage

  • Goods arrival from production starting in September
  • Shared monitoring of climatic conditions to preserve product quality
  • Storage in a dedicated HACCP area for packaged food products
  • Item coding and batch traceability per production lot
  • Automatic pallet identification through system-generated labeling

Thanks to advanced data exchange, the warehouse knows the shipment content before the physical arrival of goods.

Order management and picking

Upon receipt of sales orders:

  • the system automatically checks stock availability
  • plans activities based on required delivery dates
  • generates RF operational tasks

During peak periods, dedicated seasonal picker teams operate.

A custom-developed system:

  • analyzes daily orders
  • checks availability in the picking area
  • automatically generates stock replenishment lists from upper storage levels
  • prepares the warehouse before picking operations begin

This allows operators to work without interruptions throughout the day.

Operational optimization

The system also guides:

  • optimized picking routes
  • picking sequence for pallet stability (heavy items at the bottom, light items on top)
  • automatic separation between full-pallet orders and mixed orders

Result: faster flows and reduced operational congestion.

Document integration and shipping

A direct integration with the client’s systems was developed to enable:

  • autonomous issuance of delivery notes (DDT) with Galup’s custom layout
  • automated management of accompanying invoices
  • bidirectional digital document exchange
  • automatic creation of shipments from the logistics environment

This eliminated manual billing activities even on days with over 100 shipments.

Value-added services: Christmas gift box assembly

In addition to standard logistics management, custom gift packaging preparation is provided.

The service includes:

  • management of multi-product bills of materials
  • assembly of gift boxes
  • kit composition of 4 to 9 different product references
  • national and international shipping

Logistics thus becomes an active part of the production process.

Our tailored approach transforms logistical challenges into scalable, reliable processes.
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Results achieved

The project enabled:

  • Supporting seasonal peaks without operational impact
  • Ensuring full traceability of food products
  • Handling high daily volumes with continuous operations
  • Reducing manual tasks and administrative time
  • Integrating production, logistics and shipping into a single operational flow

Logistics became a structured extension of the client’s organization.

The value of the project

Not a simple outsourcing of warehousing, but the development of an integrated logistics system capable of adapting to the extreme seasonality of the confectionery sector.
Through process automation, digital integration and dedicated operational organization, logistics directly supports commercial growth during peak demand periods.

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