Kashiyama USA

Reimagining an order processing workflow

Kashiyama USA is a manufacturing company that produces manufacturing parts and ships them to their established clients. I designed a real-time order dashboard to streamline order processing for internal logistics teams, leading UX research, wireframing and dashboard UI design. 

A huge weight fell on the sales administrators’ shoulders to keep the order processing operations functional. Sales administrators had to juggle between client portals, a slow ERP, convoluted Excel sheets and e-mail communications with their clients and manufacturing vendors to deliver orders in time. There was no centralized view of customer-specific purchase order data. The stakeholders struggled to identify order statuses at a glance, and the subsequent lack of clarity caused missed commitments and bottlenecks. Additionally, order processing relied on manual data entry. Manual updates of purchase orders from client portals into the ERP system were time-consuming and prone to errors. This workflow led to delays and potential discrepancies in purchase order data, impacting decision-making, inventory management, and customer satisfaction.

First, I had to get a full picture of the workflow so I could map out the user journey. I conducted task analysis and contextual interviews with the internal staff about their process, and observed live order processing. Working directly with the stakeholders helped me identify major pain points: tasks that could be automated were done manually, there were too many tools that admins had to switch between, and the ERP alone was not enough to provide a meaningful glance at existing orders. With these takeaways, I outlined the required information to be represented in the dashboard. I created wireframes, then high-fidelity prototypes based on internal workflows. While designing, I also communicated my recommendation for automation of tasks to the stakeholders, outlining how automation would benefit the business by reducing time and errors. I ran usability walkthroughs to refine layout and flow, ran feedback sessions with 3 internal users, and iterated based on the data prioritization patterns from the users.

At the end, I was able to provide the stakeholders with an internal dashboard that reduced order processing time by 45%. The dashboard provided internal clarity around customer order status and centralized sales administrators’ activities by collecting key order data and tasks in one place. My recommendations also eliminated manual data entry from the entire process. After my demo to the stakeholders, I received positive feedback on data clarity and visual hierarchy.

The project highlighted how user-friendly interactions and touchpoints can optimize a process and enable users to spend precious time on other important tasks. Eliminating manual entry was a huge part of the overhaul, but automation can’t succeed without usable interfaces. By grounding the design in real employee workflows, the dashboard is both functional and intuitive for the users.  

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Redesigning Order Processing for Internal Logistics Teams

Client/Company: Kashiyama USA

Role & team: Solo PD

Versions: v 2.0

Timeline: Sep 2024 - Jan 2025, 5 months

Result: 45% reduction in order processing time

Kashiyama USA manufactures and ships parts to B2B clients across the U.S. To streamline operations for their internal logistics and sales admin teams, I led the end-to-end design of a real-time order dashboard. This included user research, task analysis, wireframing, and UI design.

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Problem

Sales administrators managed orders by juggling client portals, a sluggish ERP system, Excel sheets, and endless email threads. This fragmented process caused errors, delays, and constant context-switching.

Through contextual interviews, shadowing, and task analysis, I uncovered key issues:

• Frequent tool-switching slowed workflows and increased error risk
• The ERP lacked real-time visibility into order statuses
• Manual entry of PO data was time-consuming and unreliable
• Teams couldn’t quickly answer: “What’s the status of this order?”

This made it clear the team needed a centralized, real-time dashboard to streamline operations and reduce cognitive load.

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Design

I defined the dashboard requirements based on user needs and business priorities, then translated those into wireframes and a high-fidelity prototype. Key decisions:

• Designed a consolidated view of order status, with shipment history and payment details in one place
• Applied logical groupings and a clean visual hierarchy to support quick scanning
• Recommended and advocated for automation of order syncing from portals to reduce time and eliminate manual entry
• I ran usability walkthroughs with 3 internal users, iterated based on feedback around layout and data prioritization, and refined the experience to match real workflows.
  
  
  

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Outcome

• 45% reduction in order processing time
• Eliminated manual data entry from the workflow
• Centralized all key order info, improving visibility and reducing missed commitments
• Stakeholders praised the clarity and usability of the final dashboard during the final demo

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Impact

This project demonstrates how aligning design with real user behavior—and advocating for automation—can radically improve operational efficiency. The dashboard replaced guesswork with clarity and freed the team to focus on what matters most: delivering on time.