Pilot Implementation
Pilot Implementation — Logistics
A four-week implementation package covering the logistics department of a manufacturing company, from mapping logistics processes to deploying the first tools into the team's daily work.
4 weeks of work. Logistics department. Staged payment with a decision point after the first week.
Who it's for
The department profile this variant fits
For the logistics department of a manufacturing company.
This variant is addressed to logistics departments in manufacturing companies with their own or outsourced warehousing, coordinating transport with multiple carriers and handling deliveries to B2B customers on the domestic or export market. The industry profile may vary, ranging from manufacturers of technical components, automation systems, machinery and equipment, through materials-processing plants, to manufacturers of steel structures, industrial installations, joinery, contract furniture, construction chemicals, or agri-food producers. The common denominator is a department operating in an environment where dozens of transport orders are coordinated daily amid variable carrier availability.
The work of the logistics department combines three layers of responsibility. Transport notifications and coordination, in which the agreement of time windows takes place mainly by phone and e-mail. Communication of delivery statuses to recipients, handling of delivery-time inquiries, and response to delays. Analysis, reporting, and handling of transport claims, where data is scattered across the ERP system, forwarder files, correspondence with carriers, and warehouse documentation. The Logistics variant addresses the consolidation of these layers into tools that learn the specifics of the company's particular logistics process, regardless of product profile.
Department Discovery
Typical problem areas
A catalog of typical areas addressed by the diagnosis in the first week of the package.
- 01
Transport notifications
Manual agreement of time windows with carriers and recipients by phone and e-mail. The sequence of contacts between the forwarder, the carrier, and the recipient consumes a significant portion of the department's time, particularly on days with high order volume.
- 02
Route planning for deliveries with multiple carriers
Calculating transport costs across carriers, consolidating orders into a single shipment, and optimizing loading in terms of volume and weight. Planning decisions are typically made based on the experience of specific individuals, without systematic comparison of alternatives.
- 03
Communication of delivery statuses to recipients
Proactive updates to recipients on delivery stages, handling of delivery-time inquiries, and response to delays. Part of the communication takes place ad hoc, in response to recipient inquiries, at the cost of the department's time.
- 04
Handling of transport claims
Documentation of claims handling, correspondence with carriers, and escalation to the insurer in cases of damage. Claims material is scattered across forwarder files, correspondence, and warehouse documentation, without consolidation in a historical database.
- 05
Analysis of inventory discrepancies against the ERP
Identifying the sources of discrepancies between physical stock and the ERP record, identifying areas requiring continuous inventory counting, and flagging material shortages or surpluses for the purchasing and production departments.
- 06
Logistics KPI reporting for the management board
On-time delivery rate, transport cost per unit, claims ratios, storage costs, inventory turnover. Reports are typically compiled manually in Excel from data across various systems, which lengthens the reporting cycle.
The catalog is a starting point, not a rigid list of package tasks. The Department Discovery phase in the first week of the package verifies which areas are actually relevant in the client's department, and identifies areas specific to the plant's profile. A client with a concrete idea of their own is not blocked by the catalog — the idea enters the scope as one of the priorities.
Course
How the package unfolds
The four weeks of work are divided into four stages, each with a defined function.
Week 1
Department Discovery
On-site work at the company with the logistics team. Conversations with the logistics manager, forwarders, planners, and warehouse staff; mapping the flow of information between forwarders, planners, drivers, and recipients; identification of recurring problems.
Week 2
Workshop with the team
Workshop sessions in which the logistics team, together with the consultant, identifies specific process problems and designs solutions. The workshop also involves people from the sales and production departments where logistics intersects with production planning or customer communication.
Week 3
Solution design and start of build
Development of priority tools begins, typically a transport-notification assistant, a route-planning tool, a status-communication system, or a KPI reporting dashboard. The selection follows from the workshop's conclusions.
Week 4
Deployment and presentation to the management board
Deployment of the solutions in the company's working environment, training of the logistics team, and support during the first days of use. The package concludes with a presentation to the management board covering the deployed solutions, the department's problem map, and a proposal for further cooperation.
The detailed mechanics of the package — the meeting schedule, workshop session parameters, the structure of the decision point after the first week — are provided in the offer proposal after the consultation. The mechanics are shared across all six variants of Pilot Implementation.
Results
What remains after four weeks
The Pilot Implementation in the Logistics variant concludes with five parallel results that remain with the company.
- 01
Working tools in the daily work of the logistics department
A transport-notification assistant, a route-planning tool for multiple carriers, a status-communication system for recipients, a KPI reporting dashboard, or a claims-handling assistant. Each solution comes with user documentation and training.
- 02
List of ideas submitted by the logistics team
Solution proposals formulated by the team itself during the workshop. The list reflects real problems in transport coordination, communication with recipients, and work with warehouse and transport systems.
- 03
Map of the department's everyday problems
A document organizing process problems: handling time for a single notification, quality of communication with recipients, frequency of claims, data inconsistency between systems, and the cost of manual KPI reporting.
- 04
Descriptions of further solutions for future implementation
Ready-made descriptions of solutions prepared for further work. Each includes the objective, the target user profile (forwarder, planner, logistics manager), the data required, and an assessment of technical complexity.
- 05
Plan for further cooperation
A proposal for the next step after the Pilot Implementation: scope, timeline, terms of cooperation. No obligation to continue. The decision remains with the company.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about AI implementation in the logistics department
Answers to the questions that most often come up before deciding on an implementation.
How does the Pilot Implementation differ from TMS and WMS tools?
Classic TMS platforms (SAP TM, Oracle Transportation Management, Soloplan, Comarch TMS) manage transport orders, while WMS platforms (SAP EWM, Comarch WMS) manage warehouse operations. The Pilot Implementation in the Logistics variant builds tools tailored to the plant's specific process: consolidation of notifications from various channels, a status-communication assistant, claims handling, and KPI reporting combining data from different systems. Both layers are complementary and typically integrate as an overlay layer.
How will the tool integrate with logistics systems and the ERP?
The scope of integration depends on the plant's architecture (SAP, Comarch ERP XL, Microsoft Dynamics, IFS). Two models are possible: reading data from the ERP, TMS, and WMS as context, and writing new notifications and reports back to the systems. In companies with a fragmented stack, point integrations are possible. The specific scope is established during the Department Discovery phase.
What about the security of logistics and customer data?
Logistics data includes the list of recipients with addresses, the list of carriers with contract terms, claims documentation, and cost reporting. Part of this data is commercially sensitive or subject to GDPR. The architecture addresses this directly: an on-premise deployment is possible, as are hybrid models with isolation of sensitive data layers.
Will the tool replace the work of a forwarder or planner?
No. The tool automates notification coordination, the calculation of planning alternatives, status communication, and report generation. Decisions requiring situational judgment (prioritization on high-volume days, escalation, negotiations with carriers) remain with the forwarder or planner. The result is that the team's time is freed up for high-value-added activities.
To what extent does the package cover cooperation between logistics and production and sales?
The package focuses on the logistics department. Points of contact with production (scheduling shipments around the production schedule) and sales (customer communication on delivery matters) are addressed in the week 2 workshop. Full cross-departmental cooperation goes beyond the scope of a single package; this is typically achieved through a sequence of Pilot Implementations spaced 1 to 3 months apart.
Does deploying artificial intelligence in the logistics department require an existing TMS or WMS?
No. The implementation starts from the actual state of the tool stack, not from an assumption that a TMS or WMS is in place. In companies working with Excel, e-mail, and an ERP without logistics modules, the first implementations often involve tools that consolidate scattered logistics data into a single operational resource. Deploying a full TMS or WMS is not a prerequisite.
Pierwszy krok
Decisions about the Logistics variant take one conversation
A thirty-minute online consultation is enough to assess whether the package matches your department's profile and which problem areas from the catalog are relevant to your team's daily work.
Direct contact: kontakt@artechconsult.com · +48 609 065 717
Other area-specific variants