Every distribution center eventually hits it.
You add people.
You approve overtime.
You extend shifts.
You push harder.
And yet… throughput stops improving.
Cases-per-hour flatten.
Cost-per-case creeps up.
Supervisors are exhausted.
And leadership is left asking:
“Why can’t we move more volume when we’ve added more labor?”
This is known as the case capacity plateau — and it’s one of the most misunderstood performance challenges in warehouse operations.
The plateau isn’t a labor shortage problem.
It’s a system constraint problem.
Let’s break down what causes it — and how high-performing operations break through it without chaos.
The case capacity plateau occurs when:
…but total throughput stays flat or improves only marginally.
In short:
You’re paying more for labor, but you’re not getting more output.
This is where many DCs mistakenly assume:
In reality, the operation has hit a structural ceiling.
Common physical bottlenecks include:
Once these constraints are maxed, adding labor only increases:
More people don’t create more space.
At a certain point, too many people in the same process step:
This is especially common in:
The result is negative marginal productivity — each additional person produces less than the one before.
As headcount rises:
Supervisors move from leading to crowd managing.
Once leaders lose visibility, performance stalls — no matter how many people you add.
High-performing DCs run on rhythm:
During plateau conditions:
Without rhythm, throughput flatlines.
If you’re seeing two or more of these, you’re likely there:
This is not a people problem.
It’s a design and execution problem.
The first rule: optimize the bottleneck, not the headcount.
Ask:
Until the constraint moves, throughput won’t.
Instead of spreading labor evenly:
This often means:
Counterintuitive, but effective.
When capacity is limited, consistency matters more than speed.
High-performing operations:
At the bottleneck, variation is the enemy.
Plateaued operations often review performance:
Breakthrough operations review:
Fast feedback restores momentum.
If supervisors are:
…they cannot drive throughput.
Leadership needs time to:
Without that, no system improvement sticks.
This is where managed labor becomes strategic, not supplemental.
A managed labor partner like FHI helps by:
Instead of:
“Let’s add more people.”
The conversation becomes:
“Let’s stabilize throughput at the constraint and build from there.”
That shift alone breaks many plateaus.
Before
Headcount: +18%
OT: 20%
CPC: $1.08
Throughput: Flat
Dock congestion daily
After Constraint-Focused Execution + Managed Labor
Headcount: Stable
OT: 11%
CPC: $0.91
Throughput: +14%
Dock flow stabilized
The improvement didn’t come from more labor.
It came from better labor orchestration.
Plateaus are expensive because they:
Breaking the plateau:
For executives, it’s the difference between:
“We’re spending more to stand still”
and
“We’re scaling profitably.”
If your operation feels maxed out despite more labor, you haven’t failed — you’ve reached a natural system limit.
The case capacity plateau isn’t solved by:
It’s solved by:
When labor is managed around the system — not just added to it — throughput breaks free.
Q1: What causes the case capacity plateau?
Physical constraints, labor interference, loss of leadership control, and breakdowns in operational rhythm.
Q2: Why doesn’t overtime fix throughput issues?
OT increases fatigue and congestion but doesn’t remove system constraints.
Q3: How do I identify my bottleneck?
Look for queues, waiting, rework, and congestion — that’s where capacity is capped.
Q4: Can automation alone solve the plateau?
Not without disciplined labor execution. Automation shifts constraints; it doesn’t eliminate them.
Q5: How does managed labor help?
By providing leadership, consistency, and real-time labor orchestration focused on throughput, not just staffing.
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