Shipease

Logistics management is one of the fastest-growing and most lucrative business ventures today in Pakistan given its key strategic geographical location on the confluence of major sea trade routes between Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East as well a large untapped market to cater to its vast po

Project Title

Shipease

Project Area of Specialization

Software Engineering

Project Summary

Logistics management is one of the fastest-growing and most lucrative business ventures today in Pakistan given its key strategic geographical location on the confluence of major sea trade routes between Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East as well a large untapped market to cater to its vast population. Coordinating logistical operations is a highly complex and onerous task involving activities requiring well-defined routine systematic procedures and meticulous attention to detail with the success of logistics systems now being directly linked with the quality of the software systems designed to cater to the myriad processes involved.

Shipease is a hybrid mobile and web application-based courier and parcel delivery service mainly focused on catering for businesses and industries along the CPEC route as well as between the major cities of Pakistan with provisions for clients importing goods from neighboring countries through third-party shipping companies and then their distribution. It seeks to provide an economic alternative to cross-country shipping based on the use of mobile applications cloud-based data handling without any need for tedious paperwork or physical presence of the customer in any order posting step.

The Shipease system is divided into four main inter-linked modules, each geared towards a certain special purpose which include customer order booking/tracking, driver panel, administration panel and a parcel warehouse management system. Separate administrators will be responsible for overseeing registration, order booking and management alongside warehouse inventory management for parcels. Drivers would be responsible for both picking up and delivering parcels from and to destinations, facilitated through a driver panel interface where they can view details of new orders posted in their area and then choose whether or not to accept them. Drivers may be either ad-hoc (i.e. on a voluntary by-delivery basis) or directly employed by Shipease.

Customers can place delivery orders and then further track their own orders through their customer panel. A warehouse management system will be in place to manage parcel transfers into a warehouse for storage or packaging and out towards their intended destinations. Both customers and drivers require prior registration and approval from an administrator before they can use the system. Finally various algorithms will be implemented to create a "smart" system that can automatically calculate optimal
transportation routes, maximum freight capacity and minimum fuel consumption so as to make the whole process of parcel delivery as efficient as possible. Algorithms for optimized container loading and shortest route finding would be utilized for the purposes of facilitating drivers in planning, organizing and scheduling their parcel deliveries.

Project Objectives

The primary objectives of the Shipease logistics system are described below briefly as follows:

1. Freight Transportation Optimization
Shipease will change the traditional structure of organizing parcels in trucks by effective organization of parcel storage to optimize space utilization and minimize wastage of space. This will enable truck drivers to carry more parcels per trip, saving on fuel expenses while boosting profitable earnings for both the firm and ad-hoc drivers alike.

2. Economic Empowerment
With the increase in the number of logistics service providers such as Shipease, there will be increased competition in the local freight market and logistics vehicle unions will be forced to agree to lower standard freight rates instead of charging on their own whims, which will end up benefiting the economy as a whole in the long-term by driving up demand for logistics services and drivers for freight transportation.

3. Aesthetics and Usability
Shipease will develop the website and application in such a way that, keeping in mind usability metrics, any layman can use it without requiring advanced computer literacy or any other special knowledge to utilize them. Having a simple, user-friendly, easy-to-learn GUI layout, with correct color combinations, will also help Shipease in facilitating users to make their experience engaging and productive while helping to attract and retain their attention.

4. Shift towards Digitization and Technology
Shipease aims to revolutionize the local logistics process by integrating technology by way of “smart" tracking and notification features while also providing a platform for drivers and clients to interact, all at a cost-effective price. The common public is slowly gaining awareness of the benefits of automated software-based systems and Shipease hopes to capitalize on this untapped market by establishing itself as a prominent low-cost logistics service provider in the early run.

5. Facilitating Logistics along CPEC
Shipease also wishes to provide its services to small-medium scale industries and businesses along the CPEC region. This is a nascent market that has enormous potential for growth but does not yet have proper logistics and transportation infrastructure in place due to much of CPEC still being under construction. Much as with the general public market, Shipease wishes to cash in on the early bird benefits by providing an affordable means of freight so as to facilitate economic development as well as the growth of industrial and commercial infrastructure.

Project Implementation Method

Shipease will be delivered as a complete logistics software solution with separate web applications (for administrators and warehouse managers) and mobile applications (for drivers and customers). Setup procedures will be minimal; only the mobile application would need to be installed while the web component will be hosted on an online domain. Therefore the system shall be deployed directly as a whole instead of being phased into an existing system or implemented in separate stages. No additional specialized hardware components would be required for the normal operation of the system although a barcode scanner would be needed to scan parcel data into the warehouse management system.

Benefits of the Project

The main benefits as an outcome of the project’s successful implementation are each described below individually as follows:

1. Fuel Expenses and Vehicle Maintenance

A common problem in traditional logistics is balancing fuel and maintenance costs with the actual profit generated per trip; a time-intensive and difficult process that is hard to control or keep track of. Shipease aims to provide a hassle-free shipping experience by facilitating drivers in minimizing these expenses.

2 Efficient Container Loading

The traditional method of loading parcels onto containers is a haphazard and inefficient undertaking where improper storage leads to a lot of empty pockets of space where additional goods could be stored. With the use of dedicated container loading algorithms this issue may be mitigated so as to ensure that the maximum possible parcels are carried per trip within an available vehicle.

3. Route Optimization

Proper route selection is one of the primary considerations of any logistics operation and failure to properly plan out routes is the primary contributing factor towards ramped up shipping expenses and lapses in delivery schedules. Through the use of specialized route finding algorithms drivers can easily find the best possible route for their trips thereby saving their vehicle from unnecessary wear and tear as well as excess fuel charges and ensuring the timely delivery of parcels.

4. Satisfactory Management and Customer Complaint Redressal

In traditional logistics, customers are forced to schedule deliveries solely based on the reputation of logistics firms and may have limited knowledge of both the condition and current status of their shipments until they reach their destination. Shipease helps address this communication flaw by allowing customers to track their parcels in real-time, lodge complaints, coordinate with drivers and have better ease of mind regarding the safety of their shipments.

5. Proper Organization and Management

A primary concern of the system is ensuring the adequate management of both orders and parcel inventory alongside maintaining a proper system of checks and balances for registered drivers. This is in addition to resolving customer issues and queries through a well-supervised and efficiently-run management system.

6. Digitizing Manual Processes

Many small-medium scale firms still rely on third-party logistics providers that still use simple pen and paper processes that give rise to numerous problems and place unnecessary financial constraints on both drivers and customers. A digitized system such as Shipease will focus on improving the quality of service, cutting down on time and expenses while enabling highly detailed shipment management and tracking.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The frontend for this project (for the web application) is developed in core PHP with some room for further possible additions to be made by using the Laravel framework. For the backend MySQL is used as the database management system for both web and mobile applications while the mobile application is developed using React Native for handling inter-communication between both the web and mobile applications as well as all other mobile functionality. 

Two separate android applications will be available for customers and drivers while web-based applications for administrators and warehouse managers will be provided. The overall system shall consist of four main modules which include customer order booking/tracking, driver panel, administration panel and a parcel warehouse management system. Each of these individual systems are linked together in some way and work in tandem with each other. 

Final Deliverable of the Project

Software System

Core Industry

Transportation

Other Industries

Security

Core Technology

Cloud Infrastructure

Other Technologies

Shared Economy, Wearables and Implantables, Big Data

Sustainable Development Goals

Decent Work and Economic Growth

Required Resources

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