Cooksongold Enhances the Fulfillment Process for Its People, Adopting the Gold Standard in Automation

Investing in the OPEX^® Sure Sort^® Sorting System Enriched Cooksongold’s Service Offering While Still Preserving Company Values

The Background

Cooksongold is the UK’s leading manufacturer and retailer of precious metal products, tools, and equipment to the jewelry industry. Founded in Birmingham over 100 years ago, the company serves professional and hobbyist jewelry makers as a one-stop shop solution. Cooksongold offers a wide range of services, including bespoke manufacturing capabilities, stampings, scrap metal recycling, plus customization options with laser cutting and precious metal casting. Cooksongold maintains 17,000 active product lines, with 13,000 of those lines stored on-site in Birmingham. Cooksongold maintains a service-level agreement (SLA) where orders placed before 5 PM will have same-day shipping.

The Challenge

Before implementing the OPEX^® Sure Sort^® sorting system, Cooksongold relied entirely on manual processes for order collation and sorting, scaling operations by increasing headcount. Its previous operation required extensive manual labor to achieve the same results that the automated system now delivers. The manual process involved multiple workers manually picking and sorting items into orders. This traditional approach had been in place for decades, as the jewelry industry is rooted in tradition and hasn’t undergone significant change.

Key Challenges

The Solution

Cooksongold’s partnership with OPEX began when the company recognized the need for automation to support its growing B2C business. Strong roots in tradition and a focus on valuing the individual created a resistance to change with concerns about new technology. This required careful planning and buy-in from both stakeholders and employees, as Cooksongold has been in operation for over 100 years, with multiple generations of the same family. OPEX recognized this need, being in business for over 50 years and sharing the same values as Cooksongold.

Cooksongold implemented the OPEX Sure Sort, a high-speed, small-item sorting system, in its fulfillment center. The system integrated seamlessly with Cooksongold’s warehouse management system (WMS), making intelligent decisions about order processing and handling complex scenarios. The system handles both standard inventory and custom production items, which are manufactured to order, supporting the company’s commitment to next-day delivery. The system has demonstrated exceptional reliability since installation, operating with an uptime rate in the high 90% range through multiple peak periods.

The implementation process placed a strong emphasis on employee engagement and consultation. Leadership included staff in the process, helping them understand how the new system would benefit the company, customers, and their individual roles. Cooksongold realized a savings of 400 labor hours per week for fulfillment with Sure Sort, with those labor hours shifted to other valuable areas.
During Cooksongold’s peak around Black Friday, 12,000-15,000 line items are sorted per day using Sure Sort, while an average day processes approximately 8,000 line items.

Cooksongold has achieved a 99.96% delivery performance with Sure Sort, maintaining the company’s commitment to fast and accurate shipping. As part of the solution, OPEX provides dedicated local support through a named service engineer who performs weekly preventive maintenance whilst promptly responding to any issues. This hands-on approach ensures the system remains in peak condition, with minimal disruption to operations. The Sure Sort system has achieved exceptional operational uptime of over 95% since its installation in 2023.

Key Results

400

Labor hours saved per week by consolidating staff to different areas

99.9%

Delivery performance rate across all shipments

15K

Line items picked per day during peak times

“Once we introduced Sure Sort, there were immediate benefits on quality and on the accuracy of completed orders. It also helped us increase our capacity and delivery performance.”

Paul Chapman

Operations Director, Cooksongold

The Future

The strong partnership between Cooksongold and OPEX is ongoing, with efforts to further optimize the company’s automation solution. Cooksongold aims to modernize the precious metals and jewelry industry, positioning itself as a role model to show the rest of the industry the way forward.

Rather than eliminating positions, Cooksongold has upskilled employees to new roles. The operational improvements from automation have freed up workforce capacity, which has been redirected toward customer service and other value-added activities that strengthen Cooksongold’s service offering to its customers and industry, maintaining the company’s commitment to its people.

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