Finnish 3PL Plugo Onboards New Customers in Minutes with Ongoing WMS

The Challenge: Moving Beyond Custom Developments

Plugo provides e-commerce logistics services from one of Finland's most modern logistics centers in Vantaa, home to the country's largest AutoStore™ installation. As customer expectations evolved, the company recognized that its existing approach to handle new customers within e-commerce was becoming increasingly difficult to scale.

According to Mikael Wahren , Head of E-Commerce & Automation at Plugo, traditional, lengthy integration projects no longer matched market demands.

"We needed to improve both the acquisition and onboarding processes for new customers. Long, costly, and custom-made integrations were no longer the solution in today's fast-paced AI-driven world. Customers now demand plug-and-play solutions that are ready to use immediately."

The company needed a warehouse management system that could support a multi-customer 3PL environment while reducing the time and cost associated with onboarding new clients.

Finding a True Cloud-based WMS

When evaluating alternatives, Ongoing WMS stood out because of its extensive integration ecosystem and broad functionality designed specifically for 3PL operations.

"With its extensive integration ecosystem, combined with an overwhelming amount of features, especially designed for 3PL multi-customer environments, Ongoing stood out on its own. It is a true cloud-based WMS that simply works."

The ready-made integrations were particularly important. Instead of continuing to build and maintain custom connections for each customer, Plugo could leverage an existing ecosystem that connected warehouse operations with leading e-commerce, shipping, automation, and analytics platforms.

Powering Every Logistics Process

Today, Ongoing WMS supports Plugo's entire warehouse operation.

The company uses the system across receiving, storage, pick and pack, returns, shipping, and billing processes. Warehouse staff primarily work through handheld devices, tablets, and PCs, enabling efficient operations throughout the facility.

Plugo has also implemented the first Ongoing-Swisslog AutoStore integration, allowing Ongoing WMS to power pick and pack operations directly from Finland's largest AutoStore installation.

Alongside AutoStore, Plugo utilizes integrations with Shopify , WooCommerce , nShift , and Power BI . The company also uses Ongoing's REST API for billing, goods owner management, and dimensioning table functionality.

The Results: Faster Onboarding and a Stronger Competitive Position

The biggest impact has been felt in customer onboarding.

"Hands down, the most important benefit for us was the ready-made integrations and features. We can now onboard new customers in minutes instead of weeks or months."

This dramatic reduction in onboarding time has delivered both operational and commercial benefits.

"This doesn't just deliver massive cost and time savings—it gives us a real competitive advantage in the market."

Just as importantly, Plugo has been able to move away from maintaining and expanding its own warehouse management system.

"We were also able to completely stop constantly developing new features for our own WMS. Ongoing already had everything we had planned for our old system - and far more than we ever dreamed of having someday."

Instead of investing resources in continuous software development, the team can focus on improving customer service and growing the business.

A Partnership Built on Speed and Responsiveness

Beyond the software itself, Plugo highlights the close collaboration with Ongoing as a key factor in its success.

From the beginning, the company worked closely with its dedicated contact, Johannes Blomquist , and the wider Ongoing team.

"Saying that we have been pleased with working with Johannes - or indeed anyone from Ongoing - would be a massive understatement."

Johannes shares his view on the collaboration:

"I truly appreciate the Plugo team's technical expertise and deep understanding of how our solution is structured. Given the highly technical nature of the platform and its close integration with several surrounding systems, this enables us to have constructive and insightful discussions around the different options, carefully weighing the advantages and trade-offs of each proposed approach."

According to Wahren, Ongoing's responsiveness has fundamentally changed how quickly the company can solve problems and implement improvements.

"Whenever we've had questions, issues, or development ideas, Ongoing has always been exceptionally responsive and helpful. They not only resolve our requests but often suggest better, smarter ways to achieve what we need."

What stands out most is the speed.

"Most importantly, all of this has been handled in minutes or hours—not weeks or months. This level of speed and agility is something we're still getting used to."

Without lengthy development projects, extensive backlogs, or ongoing sprint planning, Plugo can concentrate on what matters most. Mikael concludes:

"No more long, costly development projects, endless sprints, or backlogs of tickets waiting to be addressed. Instead, we can now focus entirely on delivering the best possible service to our customers."