Today we announced a partnership with Labor AI to add intelligent workforce planning capabilities to our integration services. This gives our clients a faster path to optimizing one of their largest operating costs: labor.
The Problem with Labor Planning
Distribution centers face a constant staffing dilemma. Overstaff and you're paying people to wait around. Understaff and you miss shipments, frustrate customers, and burn out your team with mandatory overtime.
Most operations rely on spreadsheets, historical averages, or gut instinct to set staffing levels. These approaches break down when volumes spike unexpectedly, when you're launching new SKUs, or when seasonal patterns shift.
Traditional labor management systems don't solve this problem. They track task performance during execution. They tell you how productive people were after the shift is over. They don't tell you how many people you'll need tomorrow or next week.
How Labor AI Works
Labor AI takes a different approach. Instead of looking backward at historical performance, it looks forward at your actual workload.
The platform connects to your WMS or YMS through APIs. It analyzes what's in your order pool—not just order counts, but the actual SKU characteristics that affect how long work takes. A pallet of uniform cases moves differently than a pallet of mixed items. Labor AI understands these differences.
Using over 1,000 industrial averaged standards, the platform calculates labor requirements across 37 operational touchpoints. It factors in volume forecasts, holidays, attrition rates, attendance patterns, and shift dynamics.
When conditions change, the system sends automatic notifications. Volume dropping? It can tell staff to stay home before they drive to work. Unexpected spike? You know early enough to call in additional help.
Fast Deployment, Immediate Results
One of the biggest advantages of this partnership is deployment speed. Labor AI connects via APIs and typically goes live in about half a day. There's no lengthy implementation project. No professional services engagement. No months of configuration.
You get a working labor planning system that starts delivering value immediately.
Labor AI clients have reported over $15 million in actionable savings since January 2024. One operation running seven sites recovered more than $1 million in the first year.
Built by Operators
Labor AI's team has over 50 years of combined warehouse and logistics experience. They've run shifts, managed costs, and dealt with the uncertainty that comes with labor planning. The platform reflects that operational perspective.
As Lee Rector, Labor AI's CEO, puts it: "We built what we always wished we had when the stakes were high and the clock was ticking."
What This Means for Your Operations
If you're running a distribution center with 20,000+ square feet, managing seasonal volume swings, or dealing with increasing SKU complexity, labor planning accuracy directly impacts your bottom line.
This partnership gives you access to enterprise-grade labor planning without enterprise-grade implementation timelines or costs.
Want to learn more? Contact us to explore how Labor AI can fit into your operations.
