Problem

Logistics back office is very expensive to run & scale - Order intake, Customer Onboarding, Customer Service, Dispatch - everything is repetitive manual data entry.

As a result, there are a lot of costly errors and work-speed is slow.

Errors causes delay in cargo, poor customer experience and escalating shipping costs. For example: Customer Service enters delivery address incorrectly → missed delivery time → upset customer → more miles traveled → higher cost for LogisticsCo

Example workflows (from my visit to Dependable Supply Co’s Warehouse)

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  1. Scheduling cargo drop off

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  1. Order entry into database are received via hand-written or typed PDFs. Every PDF can have different layouts. This is entered into a Database (e.g. warehouse management system). Data is: addresses, descriptions, account numbers etc

Reading bad handwriting and entering this Order data into database

Reading bad handwriting and entering this Order data into database

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  1. Some orders arrive vial excel. They have to be re-mapping to the format of LogisticsCo’s Warehouse system.

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  1. Preparing dispatch documents (e.g bill of lading, customs documents, compliance documents) - these are manually created by filling out forms from the data provided by the customer (via email or XLS or PDF).

  2. Manual data entry of customer claims related to damaged cargo into Database

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  3. Manually answer customer email to help customers track cargo - Customer service looks up the status of an order in their system, and emails the customer with a screenshot of the order status

But these are solved problems. Why is this the state of supply chain?