We look at these problems constantly at Shapeways as we handle manufacturing and distribution for a ton of crazy 3d printed objects. I suggest reading this seri

We look at these problems constantly at Shapeways as we handle manufacturing and distribution for a ton of crazy 3d printed objects. I suggest reading this series of blog posts by Albert wenger on Continuous improvement: http://continuations.com/post/37634462048/continuous-improvement-revisited-bonus-statistical http://continuations.com/post/37634462048/continuous-improve... The best advice I can give is to avoid being afraid of manual/unscalable processes. When you attack a problem, pick the immediate solution that solves your problem. It could be using a kitchen knife to breakdown boxes. Once you've used it for a bit, improve it. All too often we see a problem and try to throw software at it, only to find that our fancy sorting algorithm reduced time to pack by 6% whereas reducing the # of box sizes reduced time by 60%. (note: I just made up that example but you get the idea).