For manufacturing and distribution companies that handle their own delivery scheduling:
Excel is rarely the biggest problem. It’s everything that happens around Excel.
Especially if you have:
- 5+ company-owned or external vehicles.
- 10+ stops per route.
- Daily changes.
- Deliveries to construction sites,
- B2B customers
- or regular routes from the warehouse/factory.
So maybe you’re familiar with this:
- The route will be changed.
- The driver is calling.
- The POD is in an email.
- The customer asks, “Where is my order?”
- The documentation is missing.
- The ERP system has not been updated.
- And the invoice is on hold because someone has to manually tie everything together.
It doesn’t always look expensive.
- 5 minutes here.
- 12 minutes there.
- An email.
- A call.
- A correction.
- A missing signature.
But in companies with many daily deliveries, small manual steps quickly add up to many hours.
Not necessarily during the actual transport.
But between:
- order
- planning
- driver
- POD
- ERP
- invoice
We’ll show you the 6 places where manufacturing and distribution companies lose time between delivery and invoicing
It shows where manual workflows are typically hidden.
And where it makes the most sense to automate first.
Supporting Science
1. “Excel is rarely the problem” — but the error rate in manually maintained spreadsheets is well documented
2. Digitization of transportation/delivery processes (order → planning → proof of delivery → invoice) and efficiency
3. Coordination costs between systems/stages (orders, drivers, ERP, and invoices as separate “islands”)
Get leaner, go greener!
STRA.com’s goal is to motivate and support companies in their efforts to reduce their environmental footprint while optimizing their operations. We believe that it is possible to achieve economic growth while taking care of the planet, and we are dedicated to supporting companies in this important journey towards a more sustainable future.