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FedEx · 2023

Clearing thousands of packages before every flight

A complete redesign of FedEx Brazil’s export operations, replacing manual chaos with an integrated, government compliant digital workflow for both the warehouse floor and back office technicians.

FedEx · 2023

Clearing thousands of packages before every flight

A complete redesign of FedEx Brazil’s export operations, replacing manual chaos with an integrated, government compliant digital workflow for both the warehouse floor and back office technicians.

Overview

The challenge

Every day, FedEx Brazil’s team had to scan, classify and separate more than 1,000 packages before aircraft loading, all within a tight operational window. The existing process was entirely manual and driven by a legacy system that had never kept pace with operational reality.

Embedded as Lead Designer through Thomson Reuters, I worked both as a designer and business analyst, mapping the operation end to end before proposing any solution.

Problem

1,000+ packages.
One shift. Zero margin for error.

FedEx’s promise is speed, but the internal export flow was bottlenecked by legacy processes that created real risk every single day. A missing document meant a package missed its flight. A delayed report to the Receita Federal meant regulatory exposure. New clients were impossible to onboard because the team had no bandwidth.

Before — The pain

  • Scanning required carrying each package to a fixed station (bancada)
  • The technician reviewed every item manually after a full scan cycle
  • Reports assembled by hand per agency: RF, PF, Ibama, Agricultura
  • Documents emailed individually via Outlook: download, attach, send
  • Individual vs. corporate split done manually, different FX rules
  • No capacity to onboard new clients

After — What I designed

  • Zebra Android scan anywhere in the warehouse with no fixed station required
  • Instant on-screen routing decision at the moment of scan
  • Automated report generation per agency, dispatched by the system
  • Zero manual email. Documents sent automatically
  • Business logic is built into the system; smart filters handle all complexity
  • Freed bandwidth opened capacity for new clients

Before — The pain

Scanning required carrying each package to a fixed station (bancada)

The technician reviewed every item manually after a full scan cycle

Reports assembled by hand per agency: RF, PF, Ibama, Agricultura

Documents emailed individually via Outlook: download, attach, send

Individual vs. corporate split done manually, different FX rules

No capacity to onboard new clients

After — What I designed

Zebra Android scan anywhere in the warehouse with no fixed station required

Instant on-screen routing decision at the moment of scan

Automated report generation per agency, dispatched by the system

Zero manual email. Documents sent automatically

Business logic is built into the system; smart filters handle all complexity

Freed bandwidth opened capacity for new clients

Research

To understand real needs, I conducted:

1-on-1 moderated sessions with warehouse operators, understanding physical constraints, pace, and the workarounds they had built over years inside a broken system.

In depth interviews with back office technicians handling DUE/DRE generation and government submissions, revealing the true volume of manual steps involved.

User journey mapping to surface emotional pressure points, where stress peaked, where the system caused frustration, and where the real opportunities were hiding.

Design

Two products.
One connected system.

The solution required designing two interconnected products simultaneously: a mobile app for Zebra Android devices on the warehouse floor and a web platform for back office technicians handling classification, documentation and government submissions.

Impact

Results & Business Impact

Estimates grounded in direct user feedback and operational context gathered throughout the project.

~70%

reduction in scanning time per shift

~85%

faster document generation & agency dispatch

0%

manual Outlook emails for agency reports

1k+

packages processed per shift with the new flow

Clients

onboarding capacity unlocked by freed operational bandwidth

↓ Risk

flight delays from missing documents eliminated

Key takeaways

What I learned

Estimates grounded in direct user feedback and operational context gathered throughout the project.

01

Context before interface


Great UX is not just about clean interfaces. It is about understanding the physical and institutional context people work in. The warehouse floor has its own logic. Constraints become the brief.

02

Ask “why” before “how”

Working as designer and business analyst taught me to ask why the process exists before asking how to redesign it. That shift uncovered the real problem: not the scanning, but everything after it.

03

Immediacy as a design value

In a time-pressured, noisy warehouse, every second of ambiguity is a liability. Zero latency between scan and response became the north star for the mobile experience.

04

Two products, one story

Designing mobile and web simultaneously forced systemic thinking. Decisions for the Zebra device had direct implications for the back-office web app. Coherence had to be intentional from day one.

01

Context before interface


Great UX is not just about clean interfaces. It is about understanding the physical and institutional context people work in. The warehouse floor has its own logic. Constraints become the brief.

02

Ask "why" before "how"

Working as designer and business analyst taught me to ask why the process exists before asking how to redesign it. That shift uncovered the real problem: not the scanning, but everything after it.

03

Immediacy as a design value

In a time-pressured, noisy warehouse, every second of ambiguity is a liability. Zero latency between scan and response became the north star for the mobile experience.

04

Two products, one story

Designing mobile and web simultaneously forced systemic thinking. Decisions for the Zebra device had direct implications for the back-office web app. Coherence had to be intentional from day one.

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