Part-load carrier ML Transport builds a load plan in 2 minutes instead of 20 with Planlogi
ML Transport
Company profile
ML Transport has carried part loads between Estonia and Finland for over 35 years. Two people in the office handle orders and planning, and one accountant does the invoicing. A single truck carries eight or nine different consignments at a time, with several unloading points in Helsinki, and the pallets are often non-standard sizes.
Until recently, all of ML Transport’s transport management ran out of a notebook. The order was written in the notebook, the driver got a text message, and in the evening the day was pieced back together so that it would eventually turn into an invoice. Drivers filled in 40–50 paper CMRs by hand every day. Today, order intake, daily planning, driver work orders and e-consignment notes all run through Planlogi.
"I honestly can't imagine doing this job without Planlogi any more."
In this story, Urmas, dispatcher and supervisory board member at ML Transport, who enters and plans most of the orders personally, explains how the notebook was swapped for Planlogi, what changed in the first weeks, and how ML Transport manages its transport with Planlogi today.
Company size
2 office staff (orders and planning) + 1 accountant, 10 drivers
Service area
Estonia ↔ Finland, domestic transport within Estonia
Transport volume
Hundreds of orders a month, mostly part loads; 40–50 CMRs a day
Customers
Building materials and products (windows, doors, roofing materials, insulation), freight forwarders and logistics companies, manufacturing (plastics, metal, electronics), food and beverages, furniture and printed matter
Services
Part-load (LTL) transport on the Estonia–Finland lane, domestic transport within Estonia, refrigerated transport, own terminal in Tallinn
Before Planlogi: a notebook, text messages and 50 hand-filled CMRs a day
Orders reached ML Transport the same way they do now: by email and by phone. From there, though, everything went into a notebook. Urmas wrote the order in the notebook, copied the text from the email into the Windows SMS app and sent it to the driver. That alone didn't take much time, but everything still had to be written down once more so that it would eventually become an invoice.
In the evening, once the day was over, the same day's work had to be pieced together again. Go through the lines in the notebook, check that everything had been done, and gather the information the accountant would later need to make the invoice. ML Transport has hundreds of customers, and many of them have their own surcharges and agreements, so quite a few things had to be noted down for every order.
Loading was planned in the head or on graph paper. As a part-load carrier, ML Transport usually has eight or nine orders in one truck, pallets of non-standard sizes and several unloading points in Helsinki, so the goods must not block each other. One truck's load plan took 20 minutes on paper. To check the trucks' average daily revenue, the calculator had to come out and the sums done separately.
On top of that, paper CMRs were still in use. 40–50 CMRs went out every day, 99% of them filled in by hand by the drivers, and they cost thousands of euros a year. Drivers brought the consignment notes back to the office and scanned them in for the accountant by hand. The sheets were often creased, damaged and dirty, which in turn created awkward situations. And on top of everything, the accountants still had to print out the consignment notes separately for customers.
Before Planlogi, ML Transport's workflow looked like this:
The order came in by email or phone and was written in a notebook.
The order details were copied from the email into a text message and sent to the driver.
Loading was planned in the head or on graph paper, about 20 minutes per truck.
The driver filled in a paper CMR by hand and reported the completed job by phone.
In the evening, the notebook was gone through again and the day pieced together so it could be invoiced.
Drivers brought the consignment notes to the office, where they were scanned for the accountant, and the accountant finally printed the consignment notes out for customers.
"It used to be that the day ended and then you started putting the day together. With Planlogi, that doesn't need to be done any more."
The most painful risk: the hand-filled CMR
A hand-filled CMR is exactly as good as the information the driver has. There were cases where the driver didn't have the exact details and wrote a company name and an address on the CMR that may not have been the company or the place the goods were actually collected from.
The notebook had its own risks. When there are dozens of orders a day and some of them are only due in two weeks, something can slip through the cracks. And that's what happened: the occasional order was forgotten. A large share of attention went simply to reading through your own lines to check that everything had really been done.
Today the CMR carries the actual loading point and consignor straight from the order. And an order that has been entered in Planlogi is in the system, including one that happens two weeks from now.
"If the exact details were missing, the driver wrote a company name and some address. But it wasn't necessarily the company or the address they picked up from."
Why did ML Transport choose Planlogi?
ML Transport had been looking for years for a way to run transport management more simply and faster. Different providers were researched and tried, but the projects never went anywhere, because generic TMSs didn’t fit the logic of a carrier’s work. The solutions on the market were built for shippers and intermediaries, not for a carrier with its own trucks and its own fixed workflow, which often turns out to be non-standard.
"Those other solutions aren't built for the carrier, they're built for the intermediary. They simply didn't understand the logic of how this thing should work for a carrier."
Just before Planlogi, a demo version of yet another transport management software was tried. It was complicated, the driver app made no sense, and the matter was left there.
ML Transport came to Planlogi through Unilogi, whose manager Lauri has used Planlogi for a long time. The switch took about a week: the notebook and Planlogi ran in parallel until, at one point, the notebook was empty and the whole day was in Planlogi.
The first thing that was felt immediately was the end of the day. Once the jobs are assigned, the trucks are loaded and the board is empty, Urmas shuts the computer and goes home. The day no longer has to be pieced together in the evening.
"The simplicity lies in the logic. Planlogi's logic is right, and that makes it simple."
Planlogi features that fit a part-load carrier's daily work
The choice of Planlogi was confirmed by specific features that come up in ML Transport's work every day:
Recurring orders: for customers who order every day or on fixed weekdays, and have done so for ten years, the orders are created automatically the day before. Tomorrow is already planned by the evening.
Loading-metre filter by export and import: Urmas filters tomorrow's exports or imports and sees from the loading metres straight away whether more work can be taken on or a subcontractor needs to be found.
Non-standard dimensions: ML Transport has created its own extra dimensions (for example a 0.47 × 1.3 m pallet, i.e. 0.45 loading metres), and when filling in an order it goes in with a single selection.
Driver app: the driver sees, among the eight or nine loads on the truck, what goes where, and adjusts quantities in the app. Even the older drivers managed it, and a new driver was using the app in full within a week.
E-consignment note (eCMR): the customer's reference number is attached to the order and the eCMR is generated from the order data. For goods moving through the warehouse, Urmas prints the Planlogi CMR into a plastic sleeve and sends the same eCMR electronically to the Finnish partner.
Signature with time, location stamp and photo: when a customer asks whether the goods have arrived, Urmas sees the signature time in Planlogi and replies straight away, without calling the driver.
Statistics per truck: each truck's daily total is shown separately. Urmas has set a minimum average daily total that must not be undercut, and sees it directly in Planlogi.
How does ML Transport manage transport now with Planlogi?
Today Urmas’s working day starts and ends in Planlogi. An order goes in the moment it arrives, even when the transport is only due in two weeks. Recurring orders have created themselves by the evening, and when closing the day Urmas looks at tomorrow, which is already planned.
"I enter all the orders straight away, even if someone orders something for two weeks from now. Then it's done and I don't have to think about it any more."
Accepting work has become bolder. Urmas’s principle is that every job should be accepted and there is always a way to get it done. In Planlogi, tomorrow is laid out and the loading metres are recorded: the filter by export or import shows whether there’s still room for more work or whether a subcontractor is needed.
"I just filter the day's jobs, exports or imports, and I can see straight away whether I can take on more work or need to find a subcontractor."
The load plan that took 20 minutes on paper is ready in Planlogi in 2 minutes. Urmas lines up all the orders, assigns them to trucks, and once the plan is ready, sends the driver the work order. The driver sees in the app which goods go where, doesn’t have to sort through pallets, and adjusts quantities independently.
Urmas feels the difference most clearly when answering customer questions. When a customer asks whether the goods have been delivered, Urmas opens Planlogi, sees what time the signature was taken, and replies immediately without calling the driver.
"With Planlogi the working day is nowhere near as tiring as before. By the end of the day you feel a lot more confident and a lot better."
The location-stamped photo is an everyday safeguard for ML Transport. The recipients of many small consignments aren’t present when the goods arrive, and permission is given over the phone to leave the goods in an agreed place. The driver takes a photo at handover, Planlogi automatically adds the time and location, and that is proof that the goods were delivered.
"If we didn't have Planlogi's location-stamped proof, a dispute would probably mean bouncing dozens of emails back and forth. But with Planlogi everything is clearly visible and the guarantee is there."
On one occasion it also prevented a dispute. A consignment ML Transport took to Finland reached the customer with damaged packaging. After loading, the driver had photographed a completely different load in the truck, and that photo happened to show that the packaging on this pallet was already in the same condition. The next day, at handover without the customer present, the driver took a photo in Planlogi as proof that the goods had arrived, and the pallet looked exactly the same. ML Transport was asked no further questions.
"Before Planlogi, the working day ended and only then did you start putting the day together. Now when the working day ends, the jobs are assigned, the board is empty and the trucks are loaded. I shut the computer and go home."
With Planlogi, ML Transport’s workflow looks like this:
The order comes in by email or phone and goes straight into Planlogi. Recurring orders create themselves by the previous afternoon.
The driver receives the work order in the mobile app, sees all the goods, addresses and reference numbers, and adjusts quantities independently.
The load plan is made in Planlogi in 2 minutes: orders lined up, assigned to trucks, loading metres and non-standard dimensions included, then it "goes to work".
The e-consignment note is generated from the order, and at handover the signature stays in Planlogi with the time, location and, where needed, a photo.
At the end of the day the planning view is empty, tomorrow is planned and the computer goes off.
The next day, the accountant takes the jobs and eCMRs from Planlogi and makes the invoices in their own accounting software.
2 hours a day saved per dispatcher with Planlogi, and thousands of euros a year saved on paper CMRs
By Urmas's own estimate, ML Transport saves two hours a day per dispatcher with Planlogi, which adds up to a full week a month.
2 hours a day saved per dispatcher
There's no more piecing the day together in the evening, the load plan is ready in minutes, and Urmas answers customer questions without calling the driver. Over a year, that is more than 60 working days saved per dispatcher.
"With Planlogi we save 2 hours a day per dispatcher. That adds up to quite a few working days over a week and a year."
Thousands of euros a year saved on paper CMRs
Where ML Transport previously used only paper CMRs, they have now switched almost 100% to eCMR. The result: no more constant scanning of paperwork, no creased and dirty paper documents, no filling in CMRs by hand and no printing consignment notes for customers. Urmas confirms that on paper CMRs alone, ML Transport now saves thousands of euros a year.
"Purely on CMRs, we save thousands of euros a year."
Load plan in 2 minutes instead of 20
A part-load carrier's job is fitting eight or nine consignments into a truck so that the driver doesn't have to sort through pallets. On paper that took 20 minutes per truck, in Planlogi 2 minutes. The dimensions are in the order and the driver sees in the app what goes where.
"On paper the load plan took 20 minutes. In Planlogi it's done in 2."
Planlogi results in numbers
2 hours of working time saved per day per dispatcher, which adds up to a full week of a dispatcher's time every month
Thousands of euros a year saved purely on paper CMRs
10× faster load plan: 2 minutes instead of 20 per truck
Hundreds of orders entered and planned every month by two people
1 week for the full switch from notebook to Planlogi
Summary
ML Transport carried part loads between Estonia and Finland for 35 years on a notebook, text messages and paper CMRs. The system worked, but every day had to be pieced together again in the evening, the load plan was drawn on graph paper, and thousands of paper CMRs a year travelled from drivers' pockets to the office scanner.
The switch from the notebook to Planlogi took one week. Today Urmas enters the order the moment it arrives, recurring orders create themselves, the load plan is ready in 2 minutes, the driver sees in the app what goes where, and the e-consignment note lands in Planlogi with a signature, time and location. The accountant now sends out invoices the next day, with all the information available from Planlogi immediately, without waiting for paper CMRs to make their way back to the office.
The result: with Planlogi, ML Transport gains two hours of working time per dispatcher every day, which adds up to a full working week every month. Paper CMRs are no longer used, which in turn saves thousands of euros a year. A two-dispatcher office handles hundreds of part-load orders a month this way. The working day ends when the trucks are loaded and the jobs are assigned, not with piecing the day together in the evening.
If your office still runs part loads from a notebook, take the product tour to see the same planning view Urmas uses, or book a demo and bring your own orders.
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