Case Study: Direct Relief achieves 20% faster, more accurate warehouse operations with Zebra barcode and mobile workstation solutions

Direct Relief Cuts Complexity with Targeted Warehouse Investments

Direct Relief is a nonprofit that delivers donated medicine, medical supplies and essentials to vulnerable people worldwide from its 130,000 sq. ft. Santa Barbara warehouse. With constantly changing donated SKUs, limited space and resources, the organization needed to speed outbound shipments, improve receiving accuracy and eliminate errors to meet urgent humanitarian commitments.

Direct Relief deployed Zebra rugged cordless scanners and label printers plus Newcastle Systems’ mobile powered workstations with PowerSwap lithium power to give associates real-time WMS access and on‑the‑spot scanning, packing and labeling. The changes cut steps and fatigue, enabled paperless workflows, and drove measurable gains — processing 40% more batches in the first month while improving accuracy and achieving about a 20% efficiency gain.

Direct Relief

Dawn Long

Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer