Case studies / Logistics, Transport and Warehousing
Case studyProof-of-delivery billing for a West African haulier
A Nigerian haulage and warehousing company captured proof of delivery electronically, invoiced within days instead of weeks, costed every trip and re-priced unprofitable routes.
Overview
A privately owned haulage, warehousing and distribution company based in Lagos, moving packaged food, beverages and building materials for manufacturers across Nigeria and into neighbouring Ghana and Benin.
Scale. A fleet of around 450 trucks plus subcontracted vehicles, 6 warehouses, roughly 7,000 trips a month on routes from short urban drops to journeys of more than 1,000 kilometres, delivered as a phased, multi-location programme.
The challenge
Invoices waited for paperwork. Customers would pay only against a waybill signed and stamped by the receiving warehouse or distributor. Drivers carried the paper copies back at the end of a trip, which on a long route could take a week or more, and some were lost, damaged or returned unsigned. Finance could not invoice until the paper arrived, and customers disputed anything without a clear stamp.
Trip costing was guesswork. Fuel was issued by depot, tolls and police checkpoint costs were paid in cash by drivers, and driver allowances varied by route and supervisor. Route prices had been set years earlier and adjusted for fuel prices across the board. Nobody knew which routes made money once waiting time, empty return legs and maintenance were counted.
Warehouse accuracy was patchy. Each of the six warehouses counted stock its own way, and customers regularly found that quantities in their stock reports did not match what was on the shelves. Discrepancies fed straight into billing disputes for storage and handling.
With fuel prices and the exchange rate both moving sharply, the gap between cost and price on some routes widened month by month without anyone seeing it.
The solution
At each drop, the driver records the delivery on a phone: quantities received, any shortages or damage, the receiver's name and signature, and photographs of the stamped waybill and the goods. The record is uploaded as soon as the phone has signal, attached to the trip and visible to the customer. Finance invoices from it directly.
Every trip now carries its own cost: fuel issued against the vehicle, tolls and checkpoint payments recorded by the driver with receipts where available, allowances by agreed route rates, and maintenance and tyre costs allocated by distance. Trip cost and revenue sit side by side by route, customer and vehicle.
Warehouses count stock on a rolling cycle, prioritising fast-moving and high-value lines, and investigate differences while they are fresh. Customers see the same stock figures the warehouse does through their portal. Disputed invoices are logged with a reason and linked to the trip or stock record concerned, so the evidence is at hand. Shared master data for customers, routes, vehicles and locations feeds management dashboards.
The engagement
- Seven months
- Five specialists, with transport, warehouse, finance and customer service leads
- Process mapping, electronic proof of delivery, trip costing, warehouse stock accuracy, billing disputes, shared master data, pilot and phased rollout.
Integrations
- Waybill and document systems
- Banks, fuel cards and payment services
- Driver and warehouse mobile applications
- Management dashboards
How we delivered it
- 01
Map the work with the people who do it
Five weeks
We travelled with drivers on short and long routes, spent time with dispatchers, fuel clerks, warehouse supervisors and the billing team, and met customers' receiving staff. With the managing director we agreed the scope: proof of delivery, trip costing, warehouse accuracy and disputes.
- 02
Design common processes and integrations
Ten weeks
Transport and customers agreed what an electronic proof of delivery must contain: receiver name, signature, photograph of the stamped waybill and goods, time and location. Finance designed a trip cost record built from fuel issued, tolls, allowances, tyres and maintenance. Warehouses agreed one cycle-count process.
- 03
Pilot on one customer and depot
Six weeks
The Lagos depot and its largest beverage customer piloted the processes. The pilot found receivers who would not sign on a phone without a paper copy, and drivers who shared phones. Receivers were given a printed copy as well, and each driver was issued a device. Both fixes were cheap at that stage.
- 04
Roll out in waves and track results
Nine weeks
The other depots and customers followed in two waves. Leadership reviewed days to invoice, disputes, trip margin and stock accuracy monthly.
Results
- Invoicing sped up
- Proof of delivery captured at the drop
- Cost known for every trip and routes re-priced
- Teams worked from the same data across six warehouses
Invoicing sped up. Most deliveries are now invoiced within days of the drop instead of waiting for paper to return, and customers can see the proof themselves before they query an invoice. Billing disputes have fallen and are settled faster.
With cost per trip visible, the company found that several long routes, especially those with long waits to offload and empty return legs, were losing money. It re-priced those routes, introduced waiting-time charges and worked with two customers to arrange return loads.
Stock figures match the shelves more closely, removing a common source of storage disputes. Teams at every depot work from the same data, and leadership reviews results monthly.
We were sure our long routes were our best business. Once we costed every trip, we found some of them were paying for the customer's waiting time.
What made the difference
The fleet saw cost per trip and re-priced routes. A small pilot exposed problems, such as drivers sharing phones, while they were cheap to fix.
