Logistics software that can prove what happened
Yards, cabs and warehouse aisles break software the same three ways. These are the production systems we built to survive them.
Logistics software fails at the edge, not in the office. Your driver has no signal. An agency worker turns up without a valid licence. Your third site runs a process nobody wrote down. Every build below started at one of those points.
What logistics engineering actually demands
4 things that decide this
- 01Offline field capture that keeps the device clock and the server clock as separate facts, so a record taken in a dead zone still holds up months later.
- 02Compliance gating at the moment of dispatch. Shift Link validates documents against the UK Right-to-Work API and only offers shifts to workers who pass.
- 03TankAware runs inspections, telemetry and deficiency-to-work-order flows across hundreds of sites, with five permission tiers and full audit trails.
- 04One operating record across scattered sites. WAIQ holds the same workflows and training across every site, department and role.
Systems built for work away from a desk
Three builds, three different failure points
Each one attacked a different place the operating record breaks, which is why they sit together.
| Build | What it does | The problem it solves | Where it runs |
|---|---|---|---|
| TankAware | Inspections and IoT telemetry across petroleum sites. | Field capture that has to hold when a site has no signal. | Oil and gas, Canada |
| Shift Link | Validates documents, then schedules only eligible workers. | Nobody gets dispatched without a current licence on file. | Recruitment, United Kingdom |
| WAIQ | One process across every site, department and role. | The third depot stops inventing its own paperwork. | Multi-site operations, multi-region |
- CaptureSignal drops in the yard.
- SyncTwo devices, two versions.
- GateNobody checked the licence.
- DispatchThe load leaves anyway.
- DisputeSix weeks later, no proof.
Every argument about a load traces back to a record that was never captured properly.
A clock-in from a dead zone looks like fraud
Offline capture is the part most vendors get wrong. Your app stores the entry, then uploads it two hours later with the current timestamp. Now your record says a driver was in two places at once.
We build the device clock and the server clock as separate facts, and we keep both. Shift Link clocks workers in with GPS and facial recognition for the same reason. A record that cannot be challenged is worth more than a fast one.
- Store what the device saw and what the server received. Never overwrite one with the other.
- Queue writes so a lost connection delays the sync, not the job.
- Decide the conflict rule before launch. Last write wins is a choice, not a default.
The layer your TMS was never built to cover
Your transport management system holds rates, tariffs and carrier integrations built up over years. It was never designed to prove what a driver did at a gate with no signal.
That is the layer we build, and we build it around what you already run. Field capture that survives a dead zone. Eligibility checks that fire before a shift rather than after an audit. One operating record across depots that were each doing their own thing.
- 01Offline-first capture with signed, timestamped records that hold up in a dispute.
- 02Document validation and expiry tracking wired directly into who can be dispatched.
- 03IoT telemetry with alerting tuned per site, so your team keeps trusting the alarm.
- 04Multi-tenant site operations with role-based access and full audit trails.
The stack behind this work
Mobile and field
Platform
Controls
“They will treat your vision like their own and build it that way.”
Ron Klabunde · Founder, SmartREI ↗
What carriers and 3PLs ask us
01What logistics work have you actually shipped?
Three production systems solving the problems a carrier has. TankAware runs inspections and sensor data across hundreds of sites. Shift Link gates dispatch on document validity through the UK Right-to-Work API. WAIQ holds one operating process across every site and role.
02Does an app for drivers work with no signal?
Yes, if it is built for that from the start. The entry is stored on the device with its own timestamp and queued, then reconciled when the connection returns. Bolting offline support onto an online-first app afterwards is where the timestamps start lying.
03Would you replace our transport management system?
No. We build around it, deliberately. Your TMS carries years of carrier rates, tariffs and integrations, and tearing that out to fix a proof-of-delivery problem is a bad trade. We connect to it and build the layer it never covered.
04How do you stop an uncleared driver being dispatched?
Make eligibility a condition of the schedule rather than a report you read later. Shift Link checks documents and right-to-work status, then only offers shifts to workers who pass. A dashboard that shows expired licences after dispatch has already failed.
05Our depots each work differently. Can one system hold that?
It can, and WAIQ is the build that proves it. One set of workflows and training runs across every site, department and role, with visibility into who has completed what. Allow your depots local variation inside a fixed frame. Forcing them all onto one script is how you get a system nobody uses.
