ShipHero's Work Orders feature is a tool for managing specialized tasks that operate outside the standard daily order fulfillment workflow. This structured system allows warehouse teams to efficiently schedule, assign, and track unique projects. Work Orders can be created by Brand and 3PL accounts, or requested directly by 3PL clients.
This article goes into details about the various options and tools available within the Work Order page tool, including:
Additional Resources:
- Creating and Managing Work Orders
- How to Process an Assembly Work Order
- 3PL Billing: How to Charge Clients for Completed Work Orders
Types of Work Orders
To accommodate diverse needs, ShipHero provides two distinct options: Assembly Work Orders are used for controlled kitting and pre-building of inventory, while Custom Work Orders are utilized for managing unique value-added services and non-standard inventory preparation tasks.
Assembly Work Orders
The Assembly Work Order in ShipHero is a powerful tool specifically designed for kitting or pre-building products that are sold as a bundle.
Assembly work orders help track the process of combining multiple individual components (SKUs) into a single, new finished product (a single, new SKU) that is then stocked and sold as one unit.
Common Use Cases:
| Use Case | Description |
| Subscription Boxes | Building a monthly box that contains 5 or 6 different products, and assigning the finished box its own single SKU (e.g., BOX-OCT2025). The components are consumed, and the new finished box is added to inventory. |
| Gift Sets/Bundles | Creating a holiday gift set that contains a coffee mug, a bag of coffee, and a spoon. You build 100 of these kits, and they are now tracked in inventory as one item, COFFEE-GIFT-SET. |
| FBA Prep | Combining items into a single, FBA-compliant polybagged unit that has its own new FBA SKU, which is then shipped to an Amazon Fulfillment Center. |
Custom Work Orders
Custom Work Orders are ideal for one-off or non-standard tasks that require specific instructions and documentation. Unlike an "Assembly Work Order" which is purely for kitting components into a finished product, the Custom Work Order is a blank slate, allowing you to:
- Provide Detailed Instructions: You can type out manual instructions for the task in an empty field.
- Attach Documents: You can upload attachments like images, videos, or PDF documents to provide visual examples or detailed specifications.
- Track Progress: The system tracks every step, making it easy to monitor the assignment and progress of the special project.
Common Use Cases:
| Use Case | Description |
| Relabeling or Barcoding | When you receive inventory that needs new labels (e.g., FBA labels, corrected barcodes, or price tags) before it can be stored or shipped. |
| Inspecting and Quality Assurance (QA) |
Performing a detailed, non-standard QA check on a specific batch of products (e.g., checking for damage after a certain transit route). Specialized QA Processes not covered by standard packing checks. |
| Custom Packaging and Prep |
Amazon FBA Prep: Any specific tasks required to make products compliant with Amazon's FBA guidelines, such as poly-bagging, adding suffocation warnings, or grouping items for specific FBA shipments. Wholesale or Retail Order Prep: Preparing large bulk orders with unique palletizing, manifesting, or labeling requirements that go beyond a typical e-commerce order. |
Work Orders Page Overview
Understanding the Work Orders page and its components will make managing your work orders easy. In this section we cover the basic overview of the information you can find and define the different terms used throughout the flow.
Available Filters
Use the Search bar and Order Status filter to find the work order you are looking for.
The Search bar checks the following fields:
| Checked Field | Definition |
| Work Order ID | The numeric work order identifier. |
| Work Order Name | The name/title of the work order |
| Warehouse Name | The warehouse associated with the work order. |
| Customer/Client Name | The customer account name. Available for 3PLs only. |
Work Order Statuses
After a work order has been opened, it will go through the following statuses:
| Work Order Status | Definition |
| Awaiting Approval | Initial status when a 3PL client submits a work order to a 3PL for approval. The 3PL approves it by moving it to another status, e.g., In Progress |
| In Progress | Initial status when a Brand or a 3PL creates a work order. This status indicates the work order was approved by the 3PL or active work is being planned or prepared, but has not been picked yet. |
| Ready to Pick | Assembly work order is configured and ready for picking components. The user selects the pick locations for the components as well as the staging location (not applicable to custom work orders). |
| Assembly in Progress | The components are deducted from the pick locations and moved to the staging location. The items are assembled and can be transferred to the receiving location during this step (not applicable to custom work orders). |
| Completed |
For Assembly: all requested items have been created. For Custom: work is marked complete. |
| Closed |
Work order is manually marked Closed with partial completion.Used when an Assembly work order is finished before creating all requested items Note for 3PLs: You can bill your client for the work that was done (even if not 100% complete). |
| Canceled | The work order is canceled. No editing can be done. |
Things to Consider:
- Work orders details can only be edited in these statuses: In Pprogress, Ready to Pick, Assembly in Progress. Editable fields include: name, dates, users, notes.
- Fees cannot be added/edited in Cancelled and Completed statuses.
- Picking sheets can only be generated when status is Ready to Pick.
- Transfers to receiving location can only happen when status is Assembly in Progress
Columns Defined
Customize the displayed columns by selecting the Columns icon. Checked column names show on the data table; to hide columns, uncheck the box next to the column name.
| Column Name | Definition |
| Work Order ID | The numeric work order identifier. (Sortable Column) |
| Preview | Shows thumbnail images of products; if no images available it shows "-". |
| Customer: 3PLs only | The 3PL customer account name. (Sortable Column) |
| Warehouse | The warehouse associated with the work order. (Sortable Column) |
| Order Type | Indicates if the work order is an Assembly or Custom work order. (Sortable Column) |
| Scheduled Date | Optional field that can be set on the work order details page. Represents when the work is scheduled to be performed. If set it shows the date if not set shows "-". Can only be edited in the statuses: In Progress, Ready to PIck and Assembly in Progress (Sortable Column) |
| Requested Date | Required field when the work order is created and represents when the work order should be completed by. (Sortable Column) |
| Order Status | Shows the current status the wokr order is in; Awaiting approval, In progress, Ready to pick, Assembly in progress, Completed, Canceled, Closed. (Sortable Column) |
| Priority: 3PLs only |
Shows dropdown selector for: High, Medium, Low Can be edited inline if work order status is In Progress, Ready to Pick, or Assembly in Progress |
| Order Name | Shows the name/title of the work order; if not set shows "-". (Sortable Column) |
| Actions |
Shows 3 milestone dates with icons:
If status has not been reached yet it shows "-" |