Configuring alot of iPhones?

I configured a bunch of iPads at my previous job, and I had to do it one at a time. Granted, there were only like 6 of them, but I am wondering what I would do if I needed to configure a whole bunch of iDevices. I know at the Apple Store they apply updates on a bunch of them without taking them out of the package, so there must be some sort of way to do this.