Every hour your team spends on manual shipment tracking is an hour your margins shrink
Logistics operations run on data that's spread across carrier portals, warehouse systems, and email threads. Your team coordinates it manually, which means delays get caught late, invoices get paid wrong, and customers call asking where their shipment is. We build logistics automation that connects your carriers, warehouse, and customer-facing systems so the data flows automatically — and your team handles exceptions instead of routine updates.
Shipment status updates sent to customers automatically when carrier data changes
Carrier rate shopping and booking handled in seconds, not minutes per shipment
Delivery exceptions flagged and routed to the right person before customers notice
Carrier invoices reconciled against booked rates automatically at period close
RaftLabs builds logistics automation covering shipment tracking and status notifications, multi-carrier rate shopping and booking, warehouse operations, proof of delivery workflows, delivery exception handling, customs documentation, driver dispatch, and carrier invoice reconciliation. Projects are scoped at a fixed cost and typically ship in 10 to 14 weeks.
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The logistics problem isn't visibility — it's manual coordination
Most logistics operations aren't short on data. Carriers produce tracking events. Warehouses produce pick-and-pack records. Customers produce orders. The problem is that someone has to manually pull all of it together, compare it, act on it, and communicate it.
That coordination work is where delays compound, errors hide, and your best operators spend their time on tasks that shouldn't require their judgment at all. We build the automation layer that handles routine coordination so your team focuses on decisions, not data entry.
Capabilities
What we build
Shipment tracking and status notifications
When a shipment status changes at the carrier, your customer and internal team should know within minutes -- not when someone logs into the portal. We connect to carrier tracking APIs and webhooks across your network (FedEx Track API, UPS Tracking API, DHL eCommerce API, USPS Tracking API, and regional carriers via EasyPost or Shippo multi-carrier aggregation), normalise the different carrier event codes into a single internal status taxonomy (confirmed, collected, in-transit, out-for-delivery, delivered, exception), and trigger outbound notifications at configurable milestones. Customer notifications delivered via email (SendGrid) and SMS (Twilio) with branded templates, real-time tracking link, and expected delivery window pulled from the carrier's latest ETA. Internal status updates pushed to your OMS, TMS, or ERP so the operations team sees the same picture without switching between carrier portals. Delivery confirmation webhooks sent to the warehouse to trigger post-delivery workflows (invoice release, customer review request, return window open). For operations currently running manual tracking checks, the first measurable outcome is a significant reduction in inbound "where is my order" contacts -- typically 40-60% within the first 30 days as customers receive proactive updates they were previously chasing manually.
Carrier rate shopping and booking
Getting the best rate on each shipment requires pulling live quotes from multiple carriers, comparing against service requirements and contracted rates, and booking the winner -- a process that takes 3-5 minutes per shipment at manual volume and becomes unsustainable at scale. Rate shopping automation connects to your contracted carrier rate sheets and live spot rate APIs simultaneously: FedEx Rate API, UPS Rating API, DHL Get Quote, plus any regional LTL carriers via their APIs or EDI X12 100 rate request transactions. Selection rules applied per shipment: cheapest service within the required transit time window, preferred carrier by origin-destination lane, weight and dimensional weight breaks that activate different rate tiers, and hazmat or temperature-controlled routing rules that override cost-based selection. Booking the selected carrier happens via API (FedEx Ship API, UPS Shipping API) or EDI X12 204 motor carrier load tender, with label generation and tracking number returned immediately. Your operations team reviews the exception queue: shipments where no carrier met the service window, shipments over dimensional limits, and lanes where contracted rates appear anomalous compared to spot market. Carrier selection audit log maintained for every shipment showing the rates retrieved, the selection logic applied, and the carrier chosen -- for contract renegotiation data and cost allocation reporting.
Delivery exception handling
Failed deliveries, damaged goods, address validation errors, and missed SLA windows need fast handling before they become customer complaints, redelivery costs, or chargeback disputes. Exception detection monitors shipment tracking events in real time for the conditions that require action: delivery attempt failed (customer not home or access denied), address insufficient or undeliverable, shipment damaged in transit, late departure scan indicating a transit time SLA risk, and customs hold for cross-border shipments. Each exception type classified with a severity level and routed to the appropriate team: customer service for failed delivery attempts (with the carrier's next attempt window and the customer contact information pre-filled), claims team for damage notifications (with the shipment value, carrier reference, and claims window deadline), and operations manager for SLA-breach-risk shipments above a configurable value threshold. The routing team member receives the exception in their workflow queue with the shipment history, carrier contact information, and a suggested resolution path -- not a raw carrier alert code in a shared inbox that requires manual investigation. Exception trend reporting surfaces patterns: recurring address failures by origin system (indicating a data quality problem), damage rates by carrier and lane (informing carrier selection), and late departure frequency by day of week (informing booking cut-off policies).
Proof of delivery workflows
Proof of delivery collection -- electronic signature, photo confirmation, geolocation timestamp, and recipient name -- needs to flow from the driver's device or the carrier's system into your WMS or OMS without manual upload steps or end-of-day batch processing. For own-fleet and contract carrier operations: driver mobile app with offline-capable signature capture (base64 encoded, synced on next connectivity), photo capture of the delivered goods at the doorstep or loading dock, and GPS coordinates and timestamp locked at the point of capture to create a tamper-evident delivery record. For parcel carrier shipments: automated retrieval of the carrier's POD image and signature data via FedEx POD API, UPS Delivery Information API, or DHL POD endpoint, mapped to the shipment record within minutes of the carrier recording it. Delivery confirmation event triggers downstream workflows automatically: invoice release from hold, customer portal status update to "delivered", return window open date calculated and stored, and post-delivery NPS or review request sent at a configurable delay. Dispute resolution: when a recipient claims non-delivery, the POD record (signature image, photo, GPS coordinates, timestamp) is retrieved and formatted as a carrier dispute response document in seconds rather than requiring someone to locate and compile the evidence manually. Storage and retrieval compliant with your contractual POD retention requirements (typically 2-5 years for commercial shipments).
Carrier invoice reconciliation
Carrier invoices routinely contain billing errors: incorrect billed weight versus actual or dimensional weight, wrong service level codes applied (express charged at ground rate or vice versa), contracted discount not applied, duplicate line items for the same shipment, and fuel surcharge or residential delivery surcharges applied incorrectly. Industry benchmarks suggest 3-8% of carrier invoice line items contain some form of billing error -- in operations paying significant monthly freight spend, the uncaptured recovery is material. Reconciliation automation ingests carrier invoices via EDI X12 210 (freight invoice), PDF parsing with Azure Document Intelligence or AWS Textract, or direct carrier billing API, and matches each line item against the original booking record: booked weight vs billed weight, booked service vs billed service, contracted rate table vs billed rate. Discrepancies above a configurable threshold flagged automatically in a dispute queue with the variance amount, the carrier reference, the original booking data, and a pre-populated dispute letter in the carrier's required format (FedEx Invoice Adjustment Request, UPS Billing Dispute). Dispute submissions tracked through to resolution with the outcome (credit issued, credit denied, partial credit) recorded against the original invoice line. Monthly carrier billing accuracy scorecard shows error rate and recovery amount per carrier, informing contract renegotiations and carrier selection decisions.
Customs documentation and driver dispatch
Cross-border shipments generate customs paperwork that follows rigid format requirements and must be accurate to avoid clearance delays that cost more than the freight itself. Customs document automation generates commercial invoices, packing lists, certificates of origin, and shipper's export declarations directly from your shipment and product master data -- eliminating the re-keying of data that already exists in your OMS or ERP. Harmonised System (HS) code assignment automated via product description lookup against the HTS/TARIC tariff database, with a confidence score and human review queue for ambiguous classifications where the wrong code results in duty miscalculation. Export compliance screening against OFAC SDN list and BIS Entity List for US exports, and equivalent screening lists for UK and EU exports, flagging shipments for compliance review before documents are filed. Document generation integrated with your freight forwarder's system or customs broker portal via API to eliminate email document transfer. For last-mile driver dispatch: routing and stop-sequence optimisation using Google OR-Tools or a commercial route optimisation engine (OptimoRoute, Route4Me), allocating delivery jobs based on driver location, vehicle load capacity, delivery window requirements, and traffic-adjusted travel time. Driver dispatch assignment pushed to the mobile app with turn-by-turn navigation and the ability to re-sequence mid-route when conditions change.
Where is your logistics team spending the most manual hours?
We scope logistics automation projects at a fixed cost. One conversation is enough to identify what's worth building first.
AI for Logistics -- demand forecasting, route optimisation, anomaly detection
Frequently asked questions
The highest-value targets are processes that are high-volume, rule-based, and currently handled manually. Shipment tracking is the most common starting point — manually logging into carrier portals to check status and then relaying updates to customers is the definition of automatable work. Carrier rate shopping is another: pulling live rates from multiple carriers, comparing against your contracted rates, and selecting the optimal carrier by cost or transit time can happen automatically at the point of order. Invoice reconciliation is a significant one — matching carrier invoices against booked rates, flagged discrepancies, and generating dispute documentation catches billing errors that otherwise get paid. Delivery exception handling (damaged goods, missed delivery windows, address failures) can be automatically flagged, categorized, and routed to the right team member rather than landing in a generic inbox. Proof of delivery collection and customs documentation generation are also strong automation candidates for cross-border operations.
We've built integrations with major carriers including FedEx, UPS, DHL, USPS, and regional carriers across Europe, as well as multi-carrier shipping APIs like EasyPost, ShipBob, and Shippo. On the warehouse side, we've connected to WMS platforms including Manhattan Associates, Blue Yonder, Fishbowl, and custom-built systems. We also integrate with TMS platforms, ERP systems like SAP and NetSuite, and e-commerce platforms including Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce. If a system has an API or produces data exports, we can connect to it. The integration map is defined in the first two weeks of the project and agreed before development starts. If you're running on a proprietary or legacy system, we've handled that too — the approach is different but the outcome is the same.
The core mechanic is a polling or webhook integration with your carrier APIs. When a shipment status changes — picked up, in transit, out for delivery, delivered, exception — the carrier pushes or we pull that event, map it to your internal status taxonomy, and trigger the appropriate downstream action. That might be a customer notification (email or SMS with tracking link), an internal status update in your OMS or TMS, a flag for the exceptions team, or a proof-of-delivery record written to your system. The customer never needs to check the carrier portal — status updates reach them proactively. For your team, the exception queue contains only shipments that actually need human attention, not everything in transit. Most operations see a significant reduction in inbound 'where is my order' contacts within the first month after launch.
Scope determines both. A focused automation — for example, multi-carrier rate shopping connected to your current OMS, or automated shipment status notifications — typically costs less and ships in 6 to 8 weeks. A broader project covering carrier integration, warehouse triggers, proof of delivery, invoice reconciliation, and exception routing is a 12 to 16 week build. We scope everything at a fixed cost before development starts. The scoping call takes 60 to 90 minutes, after which we produce a proposal with a defined scope, fixed price, and delivery timeline. If you've already tried to build something that stalled, we can also audit what exists and advise on whether it's faster to extend or rebuild.
Work with us
Tell us what you need. We'll tell you what it would take.
We scope Logistics Automation Software in 30 minutes. You walk away with a clear cost, timeline, and approach. No commitment required.
Scope and cost agreed before work starts. No surprises. No obligation.
Working prototype within 3 weeks of kickoff.
Pay by milestone. You see progress before each invoice.
60-day post-launch warranty. Bug fixes, UI tweaks, and deployment support. No retainer.
