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macroseam / Logistics and freight

Process optimisation for logistics and freight companies.

Logistics companies run on handoffs: from customer to dispatcher, dispatcher to driver, driver to back office, back office to invoice. macroseam develops and optimises these processes for mid-size and large freight, forwarding and warehousing companies while they keep moving.

Fig. 00 / A freight network. Dashed routes are seams.

Fig. 01 / The macro flow of a freight company

Solid lines: work moves on by itself. Dashed lines: a seam, where work waits to be carried across by a person.

Macro processes in logistics

Six flows carry a freight business.

M-01

Order to cash

The whole path from a transport order to a paid invoice.

M-02

Dispatch and planning

Matching loads, vehicles, drivers and subcontractors.

M-03

Warehouse flow

Receiving, storage, picking and loading.

M-04

Fleet and driver administration

Documents, working time, maintenance and compliance.

M-05

Cross-border documentation

Customs papers, consignment notes and posting declarations.

M-06

Claims and exceptions

Delays, damage and missing papers.

Fine processes in logistics

Small tasks, repeated all day.

Entering a transport orderAssigning a load to a vehicleCollecting and checking proof of deliveryBuilding an invoice from delivered ordersUpdating a customer about a delayOnboarding a subcontractor

The seams

Where logistics processes come apart.

SalesDispatch

The order is agreed in an email and typed again into the transport system.

DispatchDriver

Instructions go out by phone and message, and changes come back the same way.

DeliveryInvoicing

The invoice waits for a paper proof of delivery to arrive.

TelematicsPlanning

The vehicle positions exist, but the planner still calls the driver.

The signs

How to tell the processes have drifted.

Tick the ones you recognise

Sounds familiar? That is where we start.

Start a conversation

Questions

What logistics companies ask.

What is process optimisation in logistics?

It is shortening and simplifying the path from transport order to paid invoice: fewer handoffs, less retyping and fewer orders waiting on a missing document.

Which logistics process should be optimised first?

Usually the one with the longest wait between two steps. In many freight companies that is the gap between delivery and invoicing.

Do we need a new transport management system to improve our processes?

Not necessarily. The process should be clear before the tool is chosen. Often the existing system can do more once the steps around it are fixed.

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