3PL and logistics business process automation
3PL and logistics business process automation means every inbound booking, movement, despatch and carrier handover in a third-party warehouse is recorded once in its warehouse system and becomes the client bill, the client stock report and the carrier invoice check without a re-key. You hold other people's stock and charge for every movement, so billing must come from recorded activity. FlyWei maps that chain in your warehouse system, from consumables and transport buying to client payments and carrier costs, then joins the links up so the same fact is never typed twice. Start with the Chain Map: half a day on site, one written map.
Half a day on site, a written two page map, the one link to fix first and a fixed pilot quote. The fee is credited in full against the pilot.
Billing from recorded activity: we map it in your warehouse system
In a typical UK 3PL the inbound shipping notice arrives as a PDF and is typed into the receiving screen, the month's storage and handling charges are worked out from a spreadsheet of movements, and carrier invoices are paid before anyone has matched them to consignments. A 3PL with 15 to 150 staff runs the same seven links as any goods business, relabelled for other people's stock, and each link is a place the same fact is typed twice.
You hold other people's stock and charge for every movement, so billing must come from recorded activity. We map that in your warehouse system.
- 7
- links in the chain, from consumables and transport buying to client payments and carrier costs
- Half a day
- on site for the Chain Map, with the people who run each link
- 2 pages
- the written map you leave with, plus a baseline from your own data
- 1
- link to fix first, with a fixed pilot quote credited in full against the pilot
The seven links, in 3pl and logistics words
Every goods business runs the same seven links. Here is what each link is called in a typical UK 3PL, and what keyed once looks like at each one. Our delivered track record is in wholesale; the 3pl and logistics chain follows the same method, mapped in your own warehouse system.
| # | Stage | In your words | Typed once |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Purchasing | Consumables and transport buying | Packaging, consumables and transport purchase orders raised once, approved by role, with carrier rates held against each contract |
| 02 | Goods in | Client inbound bookings | Inbound shipping notices read from email and PDF into the receiving screen, and stock booked in against the booking by scan |
| 03 | Stock | Stock by client and lot | One live quantity per client, product and lot, the same figure the warehouse floor and the client report read |
| 04 | Allocation | Orders released to pick | Client orders landing in the warehouse system from the client's own system and released to pick without re-keying |
| 05 | Goods out | Despatch and carrier handover | Despatch scanned on device, the carrier label and consignment record written from the order, tracking sent back to the client |
| 06 | Invoices | Activity-based client billing | Monthly storage, handling and transport charges calculated from recorded activity and raised as the client invoice |
| 07 | Accounts | Client payments and carrier costs | Carrier invoices matched to consignments before payment, and client payments chased from the ledger until paid |
What we would automate first
These are the four joins we would map first in a typical UK 3PL. Each one is the same fact, typed by a second person into a second screen, and each one is where a difference hides until the customer or the supplier finds it.
- 01
Monthly storage, handling and transport charges calculated from recorded activity
- 02
Carrier invoices matched to consignments before payment
- 03
Client stock reports drawn from the same live figures the warehouse uses
- 04
Inbound shipping notices read from email and PDF into the receiving screen
Map, design, build, run
- 01
Map
The Chain Map. One engineer spends half a day on site walking purchasing, goods in, stock, goods out, invoicing and accounts as they run today, and marks every point where a person re-keys or chases. You get a written two page map, a baseline taken from your own data and countersigned by both sides, the one link to fix first and a fixed pilot quote. One fixed fee, credited in full against the pilot.
Book a Chain Map - 02
Design
We decide which steps your ERP handles, which need a module, and which need a connection. Written down and agreed before anything is coded.
- 03
Build and connect
Modules, portals, device apps and integrations built and tested in staging, then released through a controlled route with rollback.
- 04
Run
Our AI specialist engineers stay on: users, changes, faults, documentation and the next stage of automation, under an agreed work plan.
Questions 3PL and logistics companies ask
What does 3PL and logistics business process automation cover?
The seven links a 3PL runs every day: consumables and transport buying, client inbound bookings, stock by client and lot, orders released to pick, despatch and carrier handover, activity-based client billing, and client payments and carrier costs. Each movement is recorded once on the floor and every bill, report and check is built from it inside the warehouse system you already run.
How is client billing calculated from recorded activity?
Every receipt, put-away, pick, despatch and pallet-day is already recorded in the warehouse system as the work happens. The join holds each client's rate card against the account and runs the month's storage, handling and transport charges from those records, raising the invoice with the activity listed. The spreadsheet of movements goes away.
Can carrier invoices be matched to consignments before payment?
Yes, by method. Each consignment carries the carrier, service and agreed rate from the despatch record. The carrier invoice is read in and matched line by line to consignments and rates, and only the differences reach a person. Nothing is paid for a consignment that was never sent or was charged at the wrong rate.
Can client stock reports come from the same live figures?
Yes. The client report is drawn from the same quantity per client, product and lot that the warehouse floor picks against, on a schedule or on demand, rather than exported and tidied by hand. Inbound bookings, picks and adjustments are on the report the day they happen.
Does this work with the warehouse system we already run?
Yes. We build inside the warehouse system through its API, its database or a scheduled import, and connect client systems, carriers and the accounts package around it. Where the platform lacks a step, such as activity-based billing or shipping notices read from PDF, we write the module. The Chain Map shows which case you are in.
Have you done this for a 3PL before?
Our delivered track record is in wholesale, where the chain we built and run books pallets in against the purchase order, picks and delivers on device and raises invoices from deliveries every day. In a 3PL the chain follows the same method, relabelled as clients, consignments and activity billing, inside the warehouse system you run. We map your version before we quote for any build.
Start with the Chain Map for your 3pl and logistics business
Half a day on site with the people who raise the orders, book the goods in and chase the invoices. You leave with a written map, a countersigned baseline and a fixed pilot quote. No fee is published; it is credited in full against the pilot.
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