Optimizing Logistics Through Digital Innovation

Since 2019, j‑labs has been a trusted partner, providing highly skilled engineers and consistently delivering top-quality solutions. The Digital Logistics Platform projects are developed exclusively by j‑labs engineers, with a team consisting of eight members, including:

• 2x Frontend Engineers,
• 1x Team Leader,
• 4x Backend Engineers,
• 1x Fullstack Engineer.

Freight Exchange Module

Project

The Freight Exchange Module enables dispatchers to efficiently publish load offers across multiple freight exchange platforms. Users can either transfer trip data from the planning system or input it manually, then swiftly publish the offer by setting a price within the module.

The Digital Logistics Platform automatically distributes the load offer, along with the dispatcher’s contact details, to all assigned freight exchange platforms based on the branch’s active licenses. Negotiations between dispatchers and carriers for listed offers take place externally via email or phone, ensuring a direct and flexible communication process.

Tech stack

Kotlin 2, Spring Boot 3, JUnit, ArchUnit, MockK, TestContainers, Maven, Flyway, TypeScript, Angular 17, AWS EC2, AWS RDS – PostgreSQL 16, Docker, Kubernetes, Kafka, Gatling, Micrometer, Grafana, Sentry, OpenSearch, AppDynamics

Task

• Publish load offers and capacities on Freight Exchange platforms, supporting integration with multiple providers.
• Enable the transfer of trip data from the planning system for seamless offer creation.
• Allow manual entry of trip planning data, ensuring flexibility in freight management.

Realization

• Implemented integration with multiple freight exchange platforms, introducing unified structures to simplify future market connections.
• Developed a dynamic licensing system to manage available integrations for the platform.
• Implemented core features such as posting freight offers within the Freight Exchange Module.
• Developed options for manual trip data entry or importing data from transport planning systems.

Trusted Carrier Marketplace

Project

The Trusted Carrier Marketplace enables dispatchers to publish load offers to selected carriers on an invite-only basis, ensuring a controlled and efficient bidding process. Instead of using Freight Exchange platforms, dispatchers select a carrier group, which they maintain based on specific criteria such as trade lanes. Additionally, the platform enhances decision-making by recommending carriers based on historical data and suggesting competitive pricing based on past trips with similar weight, volume, and destinations.

Invited carriers receive a direct email link to access the load offer without requiring an account login. On the bidding page, they can place bids and negotiate prices, while dispatchers can view all offers in a centralized dashboard, enabling them to make counter-offers or accept the best bid. Once a carrier is selected, the auction is closed, and the confirmed carrier and agreed price are automatically updated in the planning system, ensuring seamless integration and execution.

Tech stack

Kotlin 2, Spring Boot 3, JUnit, ArchUnit, MockK, TestContainers, Maven, Flyway, TypeScript, Angular 17, AWS EC2, AWS RDS – PostgreSQL 16, Docker, Kubernetes, Kafka, Gatling, Micrometer, Grafana, Sentry, OpenSearch, AppDynamics

Task

• Allow dispatchers to send load offers and capacities exclusively to preferred carriers, enabling them to bid on pricing.
• Provide a web page for invited carriers with direct access to the load offer.
• Integrate with the planning system to ensure seamless execution of accepted offers.

Realization

• Implemented an auction portal, enabling carriers to negotiate prices for published load offers in real time.
• Introduced carrier invitation mechanisms, including carrier recommendations based on historical data.
• Developed price recommendation functionality, suggesting competitive pricing based on previous similar trips.
• Created a centralized panel for dispatchers to view all offers and take actions such as making counteroffers or accepting bids.
• Integrated with transport planning systems, ensuring smooth load offer processing and execution.

Internal Freight Board

Project

The Internal Freight Board transforms how branches collaborate by enabling seamless order sharing. Previously, in the earlier version, only manually published orders were visible to other branches. Now, all available orders are automatically transferred to the platform as soon as they appear in the planning system, significantly increasing order availability and fostering cross-branch collaboration.

To ensure confidentiality and compliance with customer or transport-specific requirements, branch managers can define pre-filters with business rules to restrict the visibility of non-tradable orders. This enhancement streamlines operations, optimizes capacity utilization, and improves efficiency within the network.

An AI-powered consolidation engine suggests optimal trips based on available orders, initially within the dispatcher’s branch. It analyzes order combinations to maximize profitability, generating trip proposals that can be reviewed, filtered, and created directly in the planning system. Future expansions will enable cross-branch and country-wide optimization, further enhancing efficiency and network-wide collaboration.

Tech stack

Kotlin 2, Spring Boot 3, JUnit, ArchUnit, MockK, TestContainers, Maven, Flyway, TypeScript, Angular 17, AWS EC2, AWS S3, AWS RDS – PostgreSQL 16, Docker, Kubernetes, Kafka, Gatling, Micrometer, Grafana, Sentry, OpenSearch, AppDynamics

Task

• Facilitate the request, negotiation, and transfer of orders between branches, ensuring seamless transactions.
• Update the planning system to reflect the new branch assignment once a price is agreed upon.
• Automatically allocate the revenue split within the Transport Management System.
• Use a consolidation engine to analyze and suggest optimal trip combinations within a branch.
• Suggest automated trip proposals to dispatchers based on available orders.
• Enable filters to help dispatchers identify the most efficient trip combinations to maximize profitability.
• Provide access to trip proposals that include orders from other branches through transaction functionality.
• Match orders with available transport capacities automatically.
• Leverage manually posted capacities, auto-published orders, and schedule-based matching to improve efficiency.

Realization

• Developed a platform that allows browsing orders and requesting order transfers between branches, including a price negotiation process.
• Introduced communication queues with the planning system to process order data and enable the creation of trips from selected orders.
• Implemented order filtering mechanisms that can be managed by dispatchers to ensure requirements are met for selected orders.
• Integrated an AI-powered trip suggestion engine, leveraging historical order data and scalability enhancements to optimize dispatching decisions.

Execution Component

Project

The execution component streamlines real-time collection and delivery status updates for carriers while enabling seamless Proof of Delivery (POD) document uploads for direct freight shipments. Dispatchers and Business Services can review, approve, or reject uploaded PODs, ensuring accurate shipment tracking for customers.

Each Transport Contract sent to carriers includes a unique access link and QR code, allowing quick entry to the document submission platform for status updates and POD uploads. The POD-Check function ensures efficient verification, storing approved PODs in the document management system. If a document is rejected, the carrier is immediately notified and prompted to upload a valid POD, maintaining data accuracy and transparency in the tracking system.

Tech stack

Java 21, Kotlin 2, Spring Boot 3, Groovy, Spock, JUnit, ArchUnit, MockK, TestContainers, Maven, Flyway, TypeScript, Angular 17, AWS EC2, AWS S3, AWS RDS – PostgreSQL 16, Docker, Kubernetes, Kafka, Gatling, Micrometer, Grafana, Sentry, OpenSearch, AppDynamic

Task

• Generate an access link by assigning a carrier to a trip, generating the Transport Contract, and sending it via email from the planning system. Ensure the system transmits trip details to the document submission platform, which returns an access link and QR code for mobile users.
• Provide status updates and upload Proof of Delivery (POD) by using the access link to enter the submission platform, setting collection and delivery times, and uploading the POD document. Ensure updates automatically send Collection and Delivery events to the planning and tracking systems.
• Review PODs by filtering and identifying documents for verification. Accept and archive valid PODs in the document management system, ensuring that rejected PODs trigger an email requesting corrections.
• Perform an OCR check to verify that uploaded POD documents do not contain the Transport Contract. Flag suspicious documents to prevent transport price details from being visible to customers.
• Send reminders to carriers about missing events or POD uploads. Automate daily summaries for all pending trips and trigger specific trip reminders five days before the access token expires.
• Integrate with mobile applications, allowing carriers to use a logistics app to set Collection and Delivery events and upload PODs, ensuring seamless synchronization between the app and the document submission system.

Realization

• Established communication queues with the transport management system to collect trip and shipment information, essential for document submission processes.
• Developed functionalities to collect carrier data such as collection or delivery dates and POD documents without requiring prior authorization.
• Integrated with document management systems to support document uploads and long-term storage.
• Connected with time zone services to ensure shipment stops reflect accurate local times for carriers.
• Created OCR services to verify that uploaded documents do not contain Transport Contract details.
• Implemented external APIs to integrate with other teams, allowing them to leverage document verification and review processes.
• Ensured scalability, allowing the system to handle thousands of document uploads daily alongside all correlated shipment data.