Sector · logistics and wholesale
AI in logistics and wholesale: less retyping, more time for the customer
For wholesalers, transport companies and logistics service providers. AI reads orders from email and PDF and prepares them in your ERP or WMS, processes waybills and CMRs, prepares the reply to 'where is my delivery?' with the current status and checks order confirmations from suppliers. The order desk, the planner and the buyer decide.
- Connects to ERP, WMS and TMS
- The order desk approves
- Data stays in the EU
Order agent
livereads the order from the PDF attachment (34 lines)
looks up the customer, items and price agreements in the ERP
checks stock in the WMS
prepares the order in the ERP and sends the order confirmation to the order desk for review
Worked with us
01 / What it is
What does AI do in logistics and wholesale?
AI in logistics and wholesale takes over the work that sits between the inbox and the warehouse. Orders from email and PDF go into the ERP or WMS as drafts. Waybills and CMRs are read and processed. Status queries get a reply with the current status. Order confirmations from suppliers are checked against the purchase order. The order desk, the planner and the buyer decide.
That work lends itself well to AI. The volume is high, it comes back every day and the input is digital, but messy: every customer has its own format, every supplier a different order confirmation, every recipient a different scribble on the waybill. That's exactly where fixed rules get stuck, and where AI can often still read what was meant.
This page contains no client figures from logistics. Where we mention a case, it's about comparable work: processing requests, answering customer questions, enriching product information. The rest are indications and worked examples, and we say so each time.
01Order processing
Orders from email, PDF and Excel as drafts in the ERP or WMS.
02Waybills and CMRs
Read and processed, with remarks about damage or shortages set apart.
03Customer questions
'Where is my delivery?' with the current status attached.
04Purchasing and planning
Order confirmations checked, a planning proposal with an explanation.
02 / Sound familiar?
Every order comes in differently.
The trucks are on the road and the warehouse is running. But before and after that, there's an office that reads, searches and retypes. Six sentences you'll probably recognize.
The order desk
“At eight o'clock there are sixty orders in the inbox. PDF, Excel, a photo of an order form. By twelve I've entered twenty.”
Waybills
“The signed CMRs come back as photos. Someone retypes what was delivered, and whatever the recipient scribbled on them.”
Status queries
“Where is my delivery? Thirty times a day, and three screens open for every answer.”
Order confirmations
“The supplier confirms a different price and delivery a week later. Nobody notices, until the customer calls.”
The planner
“Which customer wants to unload before ten, and where can't a trailer get in? It isn't written down anywhere. It's in one person's head.”
New items
“New items only appear in the online store once someone has time to retype the supplier's specifications.”
03 / Applications
Where does AI take over work in logistics and wholesale?
Six places where AI gives time back. For each application: the systems we connect to, who approves and what it can deliver.
960 h
Worked example · orders
Orders from email and PDF into the ERP or WMS
AI reads orders from email, PDF, Excel and customer portals, recognizes the customer, items, quantities and delivery date, checks price agreements and stock and prepares the order as a draft. Anything that deviates is flagged.
- Systems: inbox, an ERP such as Exact, SAP or Microsoft Dynamics, WMS
- Who approves: the order desk, exceptions separately
- Delivers: a worked example of 960 hours a year at 240 orders a month and 20 minutes per order. For comparison: at Van Berkel Professionals it's about requests rather than orders, but the pattern is the same: 192 hours a month back
Waybills and CMRs
Processing waybills and CMRs
AI reads signed waybills and CMRs, including scans or photos: what was delivered, when, and what the recipient noted. The status goes into the TMS, and remarks about damage or shortages go straight to the right colleague.
- Systems: TMS, scans or photos from drivers, ERP for invoicing
- Who approves: the administration team, for illegible documents and remarks
- Delivers: invoicing sooner, and complaints about damage or shortages come to light earlier
80%
Comparable case · customer service
Customer questions about delivery status
For 'where is my delivery?', AI looks up the current status in the TMS, the ERP or the track and trace, and prepares the reply in the email or ticketing system. An employee checks and sends.
- Systems: inbox or ticketing system, TMS, ERP
- Who approves: an employee, for every reply
- Delivers: at one of our enterprise clients with 6,000 customer questions a month, the share of questions with a prepared answer went from 30% to 80%
Purchasing
Checking purchase orders and order confirmations
The supplier's order confirmation is checked against the purchase order: item, quantity, price and lead time. If something doesn't match, the buyer gets a heads-up with the difference, before the customer is affected.
- Systems: ERP, for example Exact, AFAS, SAP or Microsoft Dynamics, and the purchasing inbox
- Who approves: the buyer, only when something deviates
- Delivers: an indication of 300 hours a year at 150 purchase orders a month and 10 minutes per order
Planning
Planning proposals for transport and warehouse
Orders, time windows, agreements with customers and available trucks and staff side by side. AI makes a proposal for the trips or the warehouse day plan, with an explanation of where it gets tight. The planner adjusts and decides.
- Systems: TMS, WMS, ERP, Excel
- Who approves: the planner, always
- Delivers: an indication of 8 hours less planning work a week, and a schedule a colleague can take over
132 h
Comparable case · EasyToys
Enriching product information
Specifications from supplier PDFs, price lists and emails are read, completed and prepared as product copy in the ERP or PIM, in several languages too. A colleague checks.
- Systems: ERP or PIM, online store, supplier files
- Who approves: the product or category manager
- Delivers: at EasyToys, an online retailer, product copy in six languages and 132 hours and € 6,600 a month saved
04 / Before and after
A day at the order desk, before and after.
Six moments from an ordinary day. For the status queries and the product information there's a case from comparable work; the rest is an indication or worked example. What it delivers for you, we calculate with your own volumes.
- Worked example: 20 min per order
Orders at eight o'clock
Before
Open sixty emails, read the attachments, retype item numbers and quantities into the ERP.
With AI
The orders are ready as drafts, with deviating prices, unknown items and shortages set apart. The order desk approves.
- Indication: 3 to 5 min per waybill
Waybills back from the trip
Before
Go through photos of signed CMRs, update the status, retype the remarks.
With AI
Status updated in the TMS, remarks about damage or shortages straight to customer service. Anything illegible goes to a human.
- Customer service case: 30% to 80%
Where is my delivery?
Before
Open the TMS, call the carrier, email the customer back. Thirty times a day.
With AI
The reply is ready with the current status. The employee checks and sends.
- Indication: 10 min per order
The supplier's order confirmation
Before
Gets filed. Whether the price and lead time are right only becomes clear when the customer calls.
With AI
Checked against the purchase order straight away. If there's a difference, the buyer gets a heads-up.
- Indication: 4 hours a week
The deviation report
Before
Pull damage, shortages and late deliveries out of three systems and put them in a report.
With AI
A report per week or per customer, with what stands out and what keeps coming back. The team leader adds to it.
- EasyToys: 132 hours a month
New items online
Before
Retype the supplier's specifications, write copy, translate.
With AI
Product copy and specifications ready in the ERP or PIM, in the languages you need. A colleague checks.
05 / Worked example
What does AI deliver in order processing?
Take the order desk. Say 240 orders a month come in by email or PDF, and reading, looking up and retyping takes 20 minutes per order. That's 960 hours a year, just on entering orders. At € 45 per hour that's € 43,200 a year. This is a worked example, not a client figure.
If AI takes over the reading and filling in and the order desk approves, what's left per order is a check instead of twenty minutes of typing. Never everything: we calculate with at most 90 percent per step, and we advise on the expected scenario, not the best case.
In a wholesale or logistics business it rarely stops at orders. The same people answer status queries, process waybills and check order confirmations. Only when you add those processes up do you see what AI delivers. That's also the test for a partnership: we only start if it earns itself back at least twice in the first year. You can build a business case like this yourself with the AI savings calculator.
01240 orders a month
By email, PDF, Excel or portal.
0220 minutes per order
Reading, looking up, retyping, calling back.
03960 hours a year
€ 43,200 at € 45 per hour, just on entering orders.
04Expected scenario
The basis of every business case, never the best case.
06 / Work it out
Add up orders, waybills and status queries.
Slide the number of customer questions per month and switch on what applies to you: orders and waybills, purchase orders, planning and deviation reports. You see what AI can take over in twelve months, in hours and euros. The calculator uses € 60 per hour and 4 minutes saved per customer question, and the hours per process are illustrative. A worked example, not a quote.
AI drafts the answer, an employee checks it
Processes
€ 81,600saved per year
Above the € 80,000 threshold: this is where a partnership pays off.
€ 60 per hour · 4 min saved per question
07 / Integrations
Which logistics and wholesale systems do we connect to?
We build on the systems that are already there, usually with n8n in between and custom work where needed. No new software package, no migration. The names below are examples.
| What AI reads | What AI prepares | |
|---|---|---|
| ERP, such as Exact, AFAS, SAP or Microsoft Dynamics | Customers, items, price agreements, open orders | Draft orders, checked purchase orders |
| WMS | Stock, locations, order status | Orders ready for the warehouse, alerts for shortages |
| TMS | Trips, delivery status, proof of delivery | Status updates, planning proposal |
| Email and customer portals | Orders, questions, order confirmations | Draft replies, checked data in the system |
| Waybills and CMRs | Scans and photos: delivered, remarks, signature | Status and remarks in the right place |
| Supplier files | PDFs, price lists, specifications | Product information in the ERP or PIM |
Does your WMS or TMS run on its own server, or on a package that isn't listed here? If a system has an API, database access or an export, there's almost always a way to connect. If a feature in your own software already handles a step well, we use it.
08 / Cases
The same kind of work, in practice.
Three cases with the same pattern as at the order desk: something comes in, AI reads it and prepares it, a human approves. Requests at Van Berkel Professionals, customer questions at an enterprise customer service team and product information at EasyToys.
09 / Honest
What we don't do in logistics.
We don't replace your WMS or TMS. Route optimization, calculating the shortest route, we leave to software built for that. Robots in the warehouse and sensors in the truck are a field of their own, with their own specialists. That isn't us.
We focus on the work between the systems: what comes in by email, PDF and portal, what someone has to look up across three screens, and what someone then retypes. In planning, we add what now only lives in the planner's head: the agreements with customers and the exceptions.
And if a feature in your own software already solves the problem, we'll say so. A module you already have but nobody uses is faster and cheaper than building something new.
01We do
Orders, waybills, status queries, purchase checks, planning proposals, reports and product information.
02We don't
Replacing your WMS or TMS, route optimization, robotics and sensors.
03Always
A human decides. AI reads, looks up, prepares and flags.
10 / How to approach it
From first conversation to the first order nobody retypes.
We build within the AI Partnership. You start with the € 6,000 AI Quick Scan: one day shadowing the order desk, planning and purchasing, and within a week a business case per opportunity, a twelve-month roadmap and package advice.
- 01
Intro call
Fifteen minutes
Where does the work come in, which systems does it need to land in, and who retypes it now?
- 02
AI Quick Scan
One day plus a week
Shadowing the order desk, planning and purchasing. Three numbers per step, a baseline on seven dimensions, a business case per opportunity and a roadmap.
- 03
First process live
Quarter 1
For example, orders into the ERP or WMS. Tested on real orders from the past month, with an employee who approves everything.
- 04
Expand
After that
Waybills, status queries, purchase checks, planning. Process by process, and every month you see what it delivers in hours and euros.
11 / Questions
Frequently asked questions about AI in logistics and wholesale.
What can AI do in logistics and wholesale?
In logistics and wholesale, AI can read orders from email, PDF and Excel and put them into the ERP or WMS as drafts, process waybills and CMRs, prepare replies to status queries with the current status, check order confirmations from suppliers, make planning proposals, draw up deviation reports and enrich product information. The order desk, the planner and the buyer decide.
Can AI automatically put orders from email and PDF into our ERP or WMS?
Yes. AI reads the order from the email or attachment, recognizes the customer, items, quantities and delivery date, checks price agreements and stock and creates a draft in the ERP or WMS. Someone at the order desk approves. Orders that deviate, such as an unknown item, an unusual quantity or a shortage, go separately to a human, with the reason attached.
Can AI process waybills and CMRs?
Yes. AI reads signed waybills and CMRs, including scans or photos, and extracts what was delivered, when and with which remarks from the recipient. The status goes into the TMS and the waybill is ready for invoicing. Illegible documents and remarks about damage or shortages go to an employee.
Can AI answer customer questions about delivery status?
For a question like 'where is my delivery?', AI can look up the current status in the TMS, the ERP or the track and trace, and prepare the reply in the email or ticketing system. An employee checks and sends. For comparison: at an enterprise customer service operation NinA works for, with 6,000 customer questions a month, the share of questions with a prepared answer went from 30 to 80 percent.
Can AI do the transport planning?
AI can make a planning proposal based on orders, time windows, agreements with customers and available trucks and staff, with an explanation of where it gets tight. The planner adjusts and decides. We advise against fully automatic planning, and we leave calculating the shortest route to software built for that. What AI adds are the agreements and exceptions that now only live in the planner's head.
How does AI help with purchasing at a wholesaler?
AI checks the supplier's order confirmation against the purchase order: item, quantity, price and lead time. If there's a difference, the buyer gets a heads-up with the difference attached. AI can also prepare purchase orders from email or PDF and process product information from suppliers. The buyer decides on deviations and orders.
Which systems do you connect to, and is our data safe?
We build on the systems you already use: an ERP such as Exact, AFAS, SAP or Microsoft Dynamics, a WMS or TMS, email in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace and customer portals. The condition is an API, database access or an export with the right permissions. We usually build in n8n, with custom work where needed. Data stays in the EU, on your own server or on servers with a European provider, and we work to ISO 27001 and NEN 7510 (certification in preparation). Code, data and documentation remain yours, with no lock-in.
What does AI cost for a wholesale or logistics business?
You start with the € 6,000 AI Quick Scan: one day on site and within a week a business case per opportunity and a twelve-month roadmap. Building happens within the AI Partnership: package S costs € 4,500 per month (30 hours), M € 7,500 (50 hours) and L € 12,000 (80 hours), for a minimum of twelve months. What goes live is covered by a maintenance contract from € 245 per month, including AI usage. We only start if the partnership earns back at least twice the investment in the first year. All amounts excluding VAT.
Further reading
- AI by departmentFrom operations to customer service: what AI takes over in each team.
- Connecting AI to your systemsThree ways to connect AI to your ERP, and what to arrange per system.
- AI in e-commerce and retailOrders, returns and product content, with the EasyToys case.
- AI in construction and installationEstimating, job sheets, technician scheduling and tenders.
- The AI Quick ScanOne day on site, a business case per opportunity within a week.
- All sectorsAI by sector, from manufacturing to healthcare.
An order desk that no longer retypes?
Book a fifteen-minute intro call. Together we'll look at where orders, waybills and status queries take up the most time for you.
01
Intro call
Fifteen minutes, no strings. Where does work get stuck and what do you want to achieve?
02
AI Quick Scan
One day on site. Within a week, a business case and a roadmap.
03
AI Partnership
A dedicated team that builds, trains and shows what it delivers every month.
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