Updated September 25, 2026 | 5 min read
It was great to be at PARCEL Forum 2026 in Orlando, connecting with leaders from across the parcel, fulfillment, and logistics industry. While conversations covered a wide range of topics—from AI and automation to evolving fulfillment strategies—one theme was especially consistent: organizations are under increasing pressure to manage costs while continuing to improve operational performance.
The challenge is not necessarily new. Freight and parcel expenses represent a significant portion of the cost for B2C and B2B businesses, labor in manufacturing and warehouse environments remains a major operating expense, and investments in automation require both capital and ongoing support. At the same time, warehouses are becoming more technologically complex as organizations introduce robotics, conveyors, sortation systems, and other automation alongside existing WMS, WES, and control systems.
Against that backdrop, simply adding more automation is not necessarily the answer. Increasingly, the opportunity is to make better use of the resources and technology already inside the operation while setting the foundation for future investment.
Moving From Automation to Orchestration
That idea was at the center of our PARCEL Forum presentation, “The Next Leap in Parcel Performance Is Not Automation: It’s Orchestration.”
Warehouse automation has traditionally focused on deploying technologies to improve individual processes. As multiple technologies are deployed to solve multiple individual problems, however, the challenge shifts from automating individual tasks to coordinating the entire operation. A traditional WMS determines what needs to happen to fulfill orders, while an orchestration platform determines how multiple automation systems and operational resources should work together to execute that work, continuously adjusting as conditions and constraints change.
This distinction has important implications for cost management. When automation, software, equipment, and people operate as disconnected resources, organizations can find themselves adding capacity to compensate for inefficiencies elsewhere in the workflow. An Orchestration platform provides an opportunity to look at those resources collectively and allocate work based on what is happening across the operation in real time.
Getting More Value From your Investments
For many organizations, improving cost performance does not necessarily require reducing resources or immediately investing in additional automation. There may be significant value in improving the utilization of what is already in place and when this is done with an eye to the future and how to adopt new automation, that results in the true win for the organization
A vendor-agnostic orchestration layer can provide a common architecture across different automation technologies while allowing organizations to select the appropriate technology for each use case. It can also make it easier to replace or introduce technology without redesigning the broader operation, reducing integration complexity and helping preserve flexibility as automation continues to evolve.
The same principle applies when evaluating future investments. Simulation and digital-twin capabilities can model workflows, equipment, and resource mixes before deployment, allowing organizations to compare alternatives and validate design decisions before committing significant capital. Those capabilities can also support ongoing what-if analysis as operational requirements change.
A More Flexible Approach to Cost Management
One of our key takeaways from PARCEL Forum is that cost management and operational agility are becoming increasingly interconnected. Organizations need to control expenses today without making technology decisions that limit their options tomorrow.
A consistent solve for cost management across PARCEL Forum was the value of a multi-carrier approach to support businesses that require omnichannel fulfillment. The vendor optionality ultimately drives competition and will ensure efficiencies. Selecting a platform that aligns to that same goal of being vendor agnostic while having immediate support for a multi-carrier strategy is key to ensure alignment between transportation and warehouse operations.
As costs continue to rise and warehouse technology continues to evolve, the opportunity is not simply to automate moreit is to maximize the value of the investments through better orchestration.
Is your warehouse technology stack falling behind? Book a demo to see how Onomatic can help.