How We Built a Custom Cable Cutting Workflow for an Electrical Retailer

A Nantes-based electrical equipment retailer selling to both consumers and professional electricians. While standard products like circuit breakers and switches follow normal picking flows, a significant portion of their business involves cable — and cable requires cutting to customer-specified lengths before it can be shipped.

The Challenge

Cable cannot be handled like a standard e-commerce product. When a customer orders 10 meters, they expect one continuous 10m piece, not ten 1m segments. The retailer had no system to manage this. Operators had to remember which orders needed cutting, choose a reel, and track each cut piece back to its order. Wrong cuts, forgotten cuts, and cables sent to the wrong customer were common.

The Solution

We designed and built a complete cable cutting management system integrated directly into the myFulfillment order workflow.

Smart reel optimization: if a customer orders 10m, the system directs the operator to cut from a 15m reel rather than a 6m reel, minimizing waste and avoiding impossible cuts.

The Results

Cutting errors dropped sharply, and the cutting area became fully industrialized. Operators now receive clear cutting orders instead of working from memory. Smart reel selection minimizes waste, while the barcode system traces every cut piece back to its order. Orders move from cutting to picking without manual coordination.