Industries / Transport & logistics

Empty kilometres, waiting time you don’t charge for and a customer who calls all day asking where their order is.

In transport you earn on full trucks and lose on everything around them that goes wrong. Empty kilometres, waiting time at loading that nobody records, a signed consignment note that goes missing and holds up the invoice. Margins are thin and drivers are scarce, so every trip has to be right. The planning often lives in the head of one planner. That works well, until he’s off sick.

A transport or distribution company with its own fleet, one or two planners and customers who call all day asking where their order is.

Sound familiar?

Route planning is a puzzle on a map and in the head of one planner; if he’s out, the company grinds to a halt.
Trucks drive back half-empty because the return load was in another mailbox.
The signed consignment note goes missing and the invoice waits for it.
The driver stands waiting an hour at loading; nobody records it, so nobody charges for it.
An address turns out to be inaccessible for a large truck; you only find out on the spot.
Customers call all day with “where’s my order?”, and the answer is a phone call to the driver.
Nobody knows exactly which customer or route loses money time and again. There is no job costing per trip.

What usually runs here

TransportManagerTransusSimacanRoutigoAFAS or Exact for orders and invoicingOn-board computers from VDO or TransicsCarrierWebe-CMR for the digital consignment notePeppol and EDI with customersTrack and trace portals

That does not have to go. We build in between and around it.

Where the gains are

Route planning that does the sums

The system proposes a schedule with driving time, loading and unloading times, load factor, time windows and known difficult addresses factored in. The planner adjusts based on his knowledge and gives the go-ahead.

the planning no longer lives in one head only and the juggling takes less time

Track and trace without phone calls

Customers automatically receive a link with an arrival time that moves with delays, instead of a promise made this morning.

fewer phone calls for the planner and customers who no longer need to call

Digital consignment note and immediate invoicing

The consignment note is signed digitally en route; as soon as the trip is completed the invoice is ready, including the right surcharges.

invoices go out straight away and nothing goes missing any more

Waiting time that charges itself

Waiting time at loading and unloading is recorded automatically via the on-board computer; anything beyond the agreed time goes on the invoice.

you no longer forget to charge for what you’re entitled to

Finding return loads

Onward and return loads are automatically sought for existing trips, so trucks run fuller.

fewer empty kilometres, and every filled return trip is direct margin

Margin per trip and per customer

Trip data, hours, fuel and surcharges come together in a job costing per trip and per customer.

the next price agreement is substantiated instead of a gut feeling

The honest bit

Route optimisation is only as good as your data. If the loading and unloading times or the addresses are wrong, the system optimises on nonsense. Getting that basis in order takes time.
Matching return loads only works if there is something to match. If you drive fixed round trips for one client, there is little to gain there. We say so up front.
Drivers aren’t waiting for yet another app. Most of it has to run on the on-board computer that’s already there, otherwise it doesn’t happen.
Track and trace takes away phone calls, but only if the arrival times are realistic. A promise that’s too good is worse than no promise.

How we start

A core session of one half-day, four hours for €596 excluding VAT and travel costs, with the planners and if possible a morning riding along. We follow the trips, the waiting times and the phone calls and look at where the money leaks away. The first step is usually track and trace or the digital consignment note, because they’re quick to build and immediately take the pressure off. Smarter planning and return loads come after that, once the basic data is right.

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From our insights

Where do you start with AI in your business?

Most businesses start with the tool and then get stuck. It is better to start with one piece of work that comes back every week and nobody enjoys.

What does AI automation really cost?

The build costs are usually the easiest part of the bill. The surprises are in the clean-up beforehand, the monthly usage and the maintenance afterwards.