Logistics & Supply Chain
The hard part of logistics software is that the people generating the most important data — drivers, field staff, warehouse workers — are frequently in locations with poor or no connectivity, and a system that assumes constant connectivity to capture a delivery confirmation or a stock movement will simply lose that data or force workarounds that undermine the whole system's reliability. We treat offline capture as a core architectural requirement for logistics platforms, not an edge case handled after the main build is done.
Real-time location tracking at scale
Fleet and delivery tracking needs to handle location updates from potentially hundreds of vehicles or delivery agents simultaneously, feeding into a dispatch view that stays current without lagging or overwhelming the system. We architect location tracking for the actual scale of your fleet, using efficient update intervals and appropriate database choices for high-frequency writes, rather than a naive implementation that performs fine with ten vehicles and falls over at a hundred.
Route optimisation and dispatch automation
Manual dispatch — a person deciding which driver goes where based on experience and a map — does not scale past a certain fleet size and rarely produces genuinely optimal routes. We build route optimisation that accounts for real constraints like time windows, vehicle capacity, and traffic patterns, automating dispatch decisions that a human dispatcher would otherwise spend hours making with less complete information.
Proof of delivery capture offline
A delivery confirmation — a signature, a photo, a barcode scan — often needs to be captured at a location with no connectivity, then synced once the device reconnects. We build this as offline-first from the data model up: the capture succeeds locally regardless of connectivity, queues for sync, and the dispatch system reflects the delivery once sync completes, with clear handling for what happens if a sync conflict arises.
Carrier and 3PL API integration
Logistics operations rarely run on a single system — they connect to carrier APIs for rate shopping and label generation, and to third-party logistics providers for fulfilment. We integrate with these APIs as a standard part of logistics builds, handling the inconsistencies between carriers' data formats so your team works from one consistent interface rather than switching between carrier portals.
Relevant services and solutions
Most logistics projects draw on custom software development for dispatch and fleet management systems, mobile app development for driver and field-staff apps built with offline capability as a core requirement, and API integration for carrier and 3PL connections.
Frequently asked questions
What Beacon has built in logistics
Our logistics work has included a dispatch and tracking platform for a UK-based logistics operator, focused on reducing manual coordination between dispatch staff and drivers — see our case studies for detail where available. That project's offline sync requirements for drivers working across variable-connectivity routes directly shaped how we now approach offline-first mobile architecture as a default, not an optional add-on, for any logistics build.