Our client is based out of India that is a digital platform for providing logistic services and tools for various transportation vehicles and drivers. It is an integrated multi-channel solution that has connected around 60 cities over the country and is now expanding its reach to the world. By connecting vehicles, drivers, customers, local agents, logistic providers, and manufacturers for carrying out daily transport activities, they have done over 3000 deliveries with more than 65000 tons of material moved. A pioneer already, the platform is reducing transportation costs, minimizing the transit timeline, and utilizing optimum resources to speed up the quality and execution of such operations.
Our client’s main challenge was to create a seamless and streamlined transport network that would connect all the main participants and enhance coordination across each operation. As a company coming under the segment of small businesses, they were:
Seeking proper resources to reach all the local transport agents.
Planning the resources, material, geographical locations, and payment for each participant involved.
Cutting the transportation costs of each partner involved in the journey from transporting vehicles to their destination.
Concerns regarding a due and proper supply chain in terms of increasing visibility and decreasing expenses.
Earlier, they had an app which partners and customers can use for shifting and transporting any material by contacting the local drivers. However, they wanted to take this on an industrial level where they can manage each mode of transport and even transport machinery and freight.
Our client’s most essential need was that they wanted to focus on industries and industrial groups and expand their digital logistics operations. When they developed a mobile app earlier, it took the app some time to gain popularity. As it got popularized, their needs of the market also transformed. As technology is entering the logistics operations, they wanted to:
Develop a cost-effective solution for truck and cargo services customized as per their customer needs.
Create a streamlined system for accommodating the deliveries by lessening the traffic congestion and lesser transit time while moving domestic transportation or large amounts of cargo.
Build an integrated solution that operates, automates, and focusses on multi-channel and multiple logistics partners.
Make a mark as an emerging small business company by fixing appropriate prices on the transportation vehicles according to the material that is being loaded on them.
We came up with an all integrated software in the form of a web app that allows companies involved in heavy machinery, tools, and freight to find the right service partner for moving their materials from one place to another. It included:
Optimization of each feature right from the cost of transportation, time taken for the movement, level of services, type of service provider, location, route, among many others
Enabling the real-time decision making power to schedule and manage each operation.
An added support for integrating existing mobile app platform too, with multiple service providers and modes of transport across geographies.
Presenting a consolidated view of all the service providers, levels, availability, as selected by the companies.
It was necessary so that we can squeeze the performance out of the existing platform by managing the demand. Hence we also decided to:
Build a client dashboard for managing, monitoring, and controlling each operational aspect of the transportation.
Focus on bringing all types of services on a single platform and enables monitoring over precision of rates, booking services and managing shipments.
Enabling the management of right shipping documentation for each service provider and tracking shipments at every step of movement.
We also integrated Machine Learning techniques to predict, forecast and recommend the prices, planning, listing, and shipping of materials based on the needs. It consisted of:
A system for recommending the division of load between two modes of transport according to the traffic and congestion to save costs and time.
A pricing intelligence system that enables monitoring the service availability, prices of these services, and performance of each service provider.
An optimized system for each segment to land with the information regarding market variable prices to make sure companies don’t get stuck with higher transportation costs and can avoid accessory charges too.
Further, we integrated a system for documenting all the shipments and generating customized receipts with all the details of goods, service provider and transportation costs. It mainly revolved around:
Automating and updating the documents on a real-time basis.
An operation management system with integrated third-party logistics service providers to manage inventory processes and handle inbound-outbound transport plans.
Implementing it with the service provider to exercise efficient control over the flow of inventory from the point of origin to the supply destination through different third party transporters.
Our approach for completing this project started from finding a way to convert the existing digital infrastructure into an optimized, automated, and integrated web application. We focused our efforts on:
Carrying out a Waterfall Methodology under which we executed our plan in step by step way, breaking it down into distinct linear stages.
Planning about the functions that are mainly required initially, and the added features that we can add in the later stages.
Managing the frontend, promoting the web app, enhancing the consumer experience, upgrading the software on a timely basis, among several others.
Developing an automated logistic infrastructure that would connect all the transporters through an app and join it with the network of transport.
Building a long-term solution that companies can utilize by storing all information and data in the cloud structure, once entered.
Streamlining the supply chain by analyzing the market prices to set accurate estimates for the vehicles and services related to them.
The whole process took a team of around four experts and experienced developers and engineers, who worked day and night for bringing out the best possible outcome in the shortest possible timeline. We laid the groundwork by:
Coding all the functions related to the frontend, backend, forecasting, accounting in leading programming languages like Lumen(PHP), JavaScript, Vue.js, MySQL.
Programming a database in MySQL technology that collects and analyzes legal complaints and requests for removal of online materials.
Integrating cloud compatibilities from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Docker to give an extra edge.
Since these languages are adaptable, customizable, and have easy coding capabilities, we find them best suitable for a solution like this software that needs experience and expertise on every stage.
Centralizing the logistics platform, our client massively benefitted the partner companies in having supervision over their inventory in various warehouse locations. They were able to:
Collect industry’s pre-dispatch planning on their buyers and suppliers, and implement a moving transport network.
Carry out mass movement of service providers that gave them various options in faster delivery of goods at cheaper rates and cutting down the transit line time.
Smartly select the services on a multimodal basis through algorithms that helped them in carefully analyzing the availability of different service options for all types of transport service providers.
Break down the entire process into multiple paths and assign every job individual third party transporter with intelligent algorithms.
See a significant jump of almost 35% in the monthly savings of transaction costs for the movement partners.
The customers involved with them were able to define the lowest possible price and select the transport service provider based on their service assurance. One of them recently left a significant remark on the client’s improved performance “It optimizes the performance of all the service providers involved in the supply and delivery chain, which ultimately helps in defining flexible payment options, easier documentation and invoice capabilities.” The aim behind bringing up these features aligned with the client requirements of improved customer service with existing infrastructure. Not only a technical tool, but we helped them in building an organization to bring consistency in the cost of transport services, and control over third party service standards, payment terms negotiations.