Delivery Management
Automating labels and invoices by moving
beyond paper and spreadsheets
beyond paper and spreadsheets
About Nashiya Pear Orchard
We grow and sell a wide variety of pears in the hills of Fujiyama, Kurume, Fukuoka, with a focus on cultivation and direct sales.
Our orchards sit on well-drained slopes with plenty of sunlight, overlooking the city of Kurume in a beautiful rural setting.
By digitising our back office, we created space to focus on harvesting, serving customers, and delivering quality fruit.
From beloved heritage varieties to new cultivars, we carefully tend each tree so we can offer pears that are delicious and unique.
Master Data
Centralise products, pricing, and shipping fees
Customer Mgmt
Standardise 'Who' and 'Where'
Order Entry
Accurately track 'What' and 'How much'
Auto Output
Generate shipping labels & invoices automatically
Challenges Before Implementation
Management relied on 'mental databases', leading to high dependency on specific individuals.
Manual entry for labels and invoices caused chronic overtime during peak seasons.
Customer records were scattered across different PCs and files, wasting time on searches.
Legacy printer software required time-consuming manual adjustments and data entry.
Effects After Implementation
Input Certainty
Consistent quality regardless of user. Automatic checks for typos and omissions.
Significant Time Savings
Automated creation of labels and invoices. More time to focus on core business.
Data-Driven Decisions
Visualized shipping performance. Management based on numbers, not just intuition.
Eliminated Dependency
Latest data accessible from any PC. Smooth handovers even when staff changes.
Voices After the Digital Transformation
Hear directly from the team running the new system every day.
Orchard Owner
Before the transformation we could barely keep up with shipping labels—during peak season we often had to handwrite them in a rush, and it was honestly chaotic. Now we can batch-print most labels before the store opens, so we can focus on packing and customer service. With less last-minute work, mistakes and confusion dropped sharply, and the overall stress of the busy season eased a lot.
Admin & Front Desk
I used to write labels between serving customers, but that extra step is gone and the work flows much more smoothly. Part-time staff used to help with labels; now they can focus on merchandising the storefront, which is a big help. When preparing shipments for the evening pickup, the organised labels mean we always know exactly which items and quantities to ship, reducing mix-ups. For customers who pay later in-store, we can print invoices ahead of time, so checkout is quick and painless.
Key Capabilities
Master Management
Centralises baseline information such as varieties, pricing, and shipping fees for the whole team.
- Auto-select shipping fees by region
- Prevent duplicates across carrier × box size
- Annual update workflow
Customer Records
Standardises how recipient names and addresses are stored to eliminate variations.
- Combine name, company, and title
- Automatic format validation
- Switch sender names for different scenarios
Order Entry
Accurately captures what to ship and how much, preventing incorrect entries.
- Track planned box counts and sales channels
- Manage discounts and payments
- Auto-judge delivery vs. pickup
Automated Outputs
Generates shipping labels and invoices with just a few clicks.
- Automatically pick the right carrier
- PDFs optimised for shipping label printer
- Aggregate quantities by variety and box type
Contents
Challenges Before the Transformation
At Nashiya Orchard, every piece of operational knowledge lived in the team’s heads. Product varieties, pricing, shipping fees, customer details, and order history were all tracked through paper notes or memory—there was no central database.
Key Issues
- Order management depended on individuals: Shipping labels and invoices were created by hand or in Excel, so busy seasons meant long hours.
- Information was scattered: Customer ledgers were split across different PCs and folders, while order notes sat in paper files, spreadsheets, and email. Finding the right information took far too long.
- Output was inefficient: Labels were handwritten and invoices built in spreadsheet tools. Even though the team owned a a dot-matrix printer for multi-part shipping forms, the legacy software was hard to use and required constant manual tweaking.
Target Outcome
Automate shipping labels and invoices through digital transformation.
The first mission was to build a database that accurately stores the three critical data sets—master data (product varieties, pricing, shipping fees), customers, and orders. Only after establishing this foundation could automation deliver results.
Overall System Flow
[Input] → [Database] → [Output]
↓ ↓ ↓
Master Centralised Shipping labels
Customer Accurate data Invoices
Orders Analytics reports
The system follows these steps:
- Capture master, customer, and order data accurately.
- Store everything in a central, reliable database.
- Automatically generate outputs (shipping-label PDFs, invoices, analytics reports).
- Feed the results back into day-to-day decisions such as production planning and shipping volume.
Development Approach
Start With the Desired Outcome
We defined the goal as “print-ready shipping labels” and “one-click invoice creation,” then worked backwards to identify the required data points and workflow.
Add Features in Stages
Model → Input → Database → Output
- Design the data model.
- Implement input flows for master data, customers, and orders.
- Build input screens and refine them while accumulating real data.
- Develop the logic for generating shipping labels and invoices.
Whenever requirements shifted, we walked through the entire stream—from the data design down to PDF generation—to keep everything consistent.
Standardising Inputs
Master Data Management
All shared baseline data lives in one place:
- Delivery regions
- Product varieties
- Box types and pricing
- Region-based shipping fees
- Refrigerated shipping fees
Shipping fees are stored as a single valid combination of carrier (Yamato or Sagawa) and number of boxes (1, 2, or 3), preventing duplicates or incorrect rates.
Customer Management
Standardise “who and where.”
- Combine name, company, and title to produce the right addressee for each document.
- Validate phonetic guides, phone numbers, and postcodes automatically.
- Register alternate sender names when billing and shipping differ (e.g., send on behalf of a spouse).
Order Entry
Capture “what and how much” precisely.
- Record planned box counts, sales channels, discounts, and payments.
- Switch invoice recipients or track payment status as needed.
- Validate decisions such as delivery vs. pick-up and refrigerated shipping limits before saving.
Generating Outputs With Minimal Effort
Shipping-Label PDFs
- Automatically pick the best carrier based on the destination region.
- Produce PDFs optimised for the OKI MICROLINE dot-matrix printer used on-site.
- Start printing immediately: each multi-part label is aligned correctly across all copies.
Automated Invoices
- Filter orders by sender, season, or invoice cycle and aggregate quantities.
- Group output by variety and box type (3 kg / 5 kg, gift / everyday).
- Show detailed shipping fees, including refrigerated and regional surcharges.
- Merge company information and honorifics automatically from settings.
Visualisation for Decision Making
- Visual dashboards track shipment volume by variety and box type.
- Filter by season or shipping method to spot trends.
- Use the insights to schedule order cut-offs and adjust harvest plans.
Benefits After Implementation
Reliable Data Entry
Validation ensures consistent inputs regardless of who enters the data. Because shipping labels and invoices are generated immediately, there is no rework later.
Time Savings
Labels and invoices now require only a few clicks, drastically cutting the time spent on paperwork. The team can focus on customers and orchard work instead of forms.
Data-Driven Decisions
Daily and seasonal performance is available as charts, making it easy to decide when to pause orders or harvest more of a popular variety.
Less Dependency on Individuals
Anyone can access the latest data from any workstation. Handoffs are smooth even if responsibilities shift, and shipping or regional data is shared across the entire team.
Summary
By building a central database and standardising inputs, Nashiya Orchard moved beyond the “database in our heads.”
Automated labels and invoices freed significant time, while analytics made production decisions data-driven. Eliminating dependency on individual knowledge created a workflow that anyone can run, letting the team focus on growing and selling excellent pears.