Development of a Logistics Management Portal in B2B Sphere

October 2018 — now

Client

FM Logistic is an international logistics company that provides warehousing, cargo handling and packaging solutions and supply chain services.

Objective

To develop a modern B2B portal, that would allow FM Logistic to offer its merchants, whatever their scope, the API integration instead of the file exchange.

Solution

Magento 2.3 as a centralized management system.
Integration with WMS systems.
Integration with LMS systems.
Development of a printing and stickering web service.
Development of the cash settlement functionality.
Development of software for the warehouse conveyor system and its integration with Magento.
Interface development for a mobile barcode scanner.

Warehouse management

For effective warehouse management, we implemented the integrations with WMS systems (Infolog, Reflex and Oxygen)

to manage acceptance, picking, shipment and other basic warehouse operations;
calculation of variants of shipping units and product packaging, with regard to their dimensions and transportation conditions;
automated documentation management;
getting exact information about the location of the products in the warehouse;
simplifying the work with refunds — the order status changes immediately in Magento.

The result is an increase in efficiency and the development of processes for simultaneous processing of goods in all the 27 company's warehouses.

Delivery Service

For the convenience of post tracking, we've implemented integrations with many LMS systems, including LMS Shiptor, LMS "Russian Post", LMS Lamoda and LMS DPD. This allowed:

sending parcels all over the world;
automatic sending of notifications about their location;
sending data on the exact weight of parcels and cargo in the context of the warehouse and merchant (for LMS "Russian Post").

To increase the efficiency of the delivery service, we have developed a universal web service for stickering and printing labels with data about parcels and orders, which controls routing and data delivery to the printer.

Development of Cash Settlement Functionality.

We have implemented the functionality of calculating fundsby four types of payment registers:

register of LMS services that is invoiced directly to FM Logistics so that it pays for LMS services;
register of invoicing the merchants for FM Logistics services;
cash & delivery register — courier fees are sent to a merchant for payment;
register of merchant services (upon merchant's request).

All functionality is processed in SAP ERP, and all registries are calculated in Magento.

For fast processing and transmission of data about parcels and orders, a separate exchange flows module was created.

We've implemented integration with EDI, in order to:

transmit order information;
set up OMS status triggers;
generate the order EDI.

A messaging interface and an SMS module were developed providing for the message templates ("Order collected", "Order sent", etc.) and sending SMS notifications as a separate service.

Electronic data exchange

Magento integration with a conveyor

The conveyor is a pilot project of FM Logistics aimed at improving the assembly process, increasing the speed and scope of order processing. The conveyor is built into a five-level warehouse mezzanine. The four upper floors of the mezzanine are occupied by the merchant sections where orders are collected and the conveyor brings them to the first floor.

A special platform weighs orders, measures their dimensions and transmits data to Magento, from where the information is sent on to LMS systems and to the mail office. In response, Magento prints out the main FM Logistic sticker and, if necessary, an additional delivery service sticker. After that, the conveyor distributes the parcels by targets — delivery services. The software ensuring the conveyor's operation and its integration with Magento are entirely developed by our company.

Mobile barcode scanner interface development

Also, we've developed an interface for a mobile barcode scanner that helps to manage shipments: stickers on the assembled pallets are scanned, the shipment documentation is filled out by weight, the operator gets the documents for this shipment and the pallets are finally loaded on a truck.