This article analyzes the key systemic challenges of transportation management in mid-sized logistics companies engaged in international freight operations. Based on the practical experience of Jetruck Logistics, the paper identifies five critical pain points that led to the development of an in house Transportation Management System (TMS). The study applies a business oriented analytical approach with elements of academic reasoning and compares the author’s TMS with established market solutions. Special attention is given to the scalability of the system and its potential for future commercialization.
Introduction
For decades, logistics has remained one of the most operationally complex yet structurally conservative sectors of the global economy. Despite the high cost of inefficiencies, heavy reliance on human decision making, and increasing complexity of international supply chains, many logistics companies continue to manage transportation using spreadsheets, messaging apps, and fragmented software tools. At a certain scale, this approach shifts from being inefficient to becoming a direct risk to business sustainability.
This article is not a promotional description of a software product. It is a reflection grounded in operational reality and managerial necessity. The author draws on firsthand experience as the founder of Jetruck Logistics, a company registered in Uzbekistan and operating international transportation routes between Central Asia and the United States.
The decision to develop a proprietary TMS was driven not by technological ambition, but by the accumulation of unresolved systemic problems that could no longer be mitigated through manual processes.
Transportation Management Systems in a Business Context
A Transportation Management System is a class of software designed to automate, plan, and optimize transportation processes. In practical terms, a TMS addresses three core functional domains.
First, planning. A TMS consolidates orders, accounts for delivery time windows, vehicle capacity, cargo characteristics, and route constraints, and generates optimized transportation plans.
Second, execution and dispatching. The system connects planners, dispatchers, and drivers within a single digital environment, enabling real time visibility into shipment execution.
Third, control and analytics. A TMS captures actual performance data, compares it against planned indicators, and produces actionable insights for managerial decision making.
Enterprise solutions such as SAP Transportation Management, Oracle Transportation Management, 1C TMS, and 4Logist have proven their effectiveness in large scale organizations. However, these systems are often costly, complex to implement, and poorly adapted to the needs of mid sized logistics companies operating across multiple jurisdictions.
Business Context of Jetruck Logistics
Jetruck Logistics operates international transportation services between Uzbekistan and the United States, a corridor characterized by regulatory diversity, long delivery cycles, and high operational risk. Differences in legal frameworks, time zones, documentation standards, and cost structures significantly increase the complexity of management.
In the early stages of the company’s development, transportation processes were managed using conventional tools such as spreadsheets, messaging platforms, and standalone accounting systems. While sufficient at low volumes, this approach quickly revealed its limitations as shipment volumes and partner networks expanded.
The company’s growth was no longer constrained by market demand, but by the ability to maintain operational control. This realization marked the starting point for the development of an internal TMS tailored to Jetruck Logistics’ specific business environment.
Pain Point One. Lack of a Single Source of Truth
One of the most critical challenges in logistics management is data fragmentation. Information related to orders, carriers, drivers, costs, and delivery status often resides in separate systems or informal communication channels.
In such conditions, transparency becomes illusory. Management reports are reconstructed after the fact rather than derived from real time data.
The proprietary TMS was designed around the principle of a single source of truth. Each shipment is represented by a unified data object accessible to all stakeholders. This concept mirrors the data architecture of enterprise systems such as SAP TM, while remaining flexible and lightweight enough for a mid sized business.
Pain Point Two. Unpredictable Planning
Manual route planning inevitably becomes ineffective as the number of delivery points increases. Human decision making struggles to optimize multiple constraints simultaneously.
A typical example can be observed in food distribution, where a manager may need to plan routes for 200 delivery locations. Without automation, this process requires significant time and remains prone to errors.
The Jetruck TMS incorporates automated planning logic similar to that used in systems such as Oracle Transportation Management and 4Logist. It accounts for delivery windows, vehicle capacity, and geographic constraints, generating an optimized number of routes and improving vehicle utilization.
Pain Point Three. Loss of Control During Execution
Even the most carefully planned route loses value without execution transparency. Questions regarding vehicle location, delivery delays, and task completion often remain unanswered in real time.
Many logistics companies still rely on phone calls and messaging to monitor execution, creating an illusion of control without reliable data.
The Jetruck TMS includes a dispatching module supported by a mobile application for drivers. Dispatchers monitor vehicle movements in real time, while drivers receive structured task assignments within the application. This approach reflects best practices found in SAP TM and Oracle solutions, adapted to practical working conditions.
Pain Point Four. Documentation as a Bottleneck
Logistics is not only the movement of goods, but also the movement of documents. In international transportation, documentation errors can lead to significant financial and legal consequences.
Automated documentation was therefore a core objective of the TMS. Drivers submit photo confirmations of delivery directly through the mobile application, while the system records arrival times and completion status.
This functionality, common in advanced TMS platforms, significantly reduces disputes and accelerates shipment closure cycles.
Pain Point Five. Absence of Management Analytics
Without structured data, logistics remains a craft rather than a managed process. Decisions are based on intuition instead of performance indicators.
The Jetruck TMS was designed with analytics at its core. The system automatically calculates actual transportation costs, compares them to planned values, and highlights deviations.
This shifts logistics management closer to financial management, enabling data driven optimization rather than reactive problem solving.
Comparison with Market Solutions
From a functional perspective, the Jetruck TMS aligns with the fundamental principles of established platforms such as SAP TM, Oracle Transportation Management, and 1C TMS.
Its distinguishing feature lies in its focus on a specific operational context: international transportation between Uzbekistan and the United States, mid scale business requirements, and the need for flexibility and rapid adaptation.
Unlike enterprise systems that may require years to implement, the Jetruck TMS evolved iteratively alongside the business itself.
Development Outlook and Commercialization Potential
Although the TMS was developed as an internal management tool, its architecture was designed with scalability in mind. Modular design, standardized data structures, and KPI oriented logic allow the system to be adapted for other logistics companies with similar operational profiles.
Industry practice demonstrates that many successful logistics software solutions originated as internal systems before evolving into commercial products. Several components of SAP TM and Oracle Transportation Management followed this trajectory.
For Jetruck Logistics, potential commercialization of the TMS represents a long term strategic option rather than an immediate objective. The primary focus remains operational resilience and managerial control.
The development of a proprietary TMS was not an end in itself, but a response to fundamental limitations in traditional logistics management.
These limitations include the absence of a single source of data, unreliable planning, loss of control during execution, documentation complexity, and insufficient management analytics.
The experience of Jetruck Logistics demonstrates that logistics digitalization begins not with software selection, but with an understanding of managerial constraints. In this context, a TMS functions not merely as an IT solution, but as a management philosophy that enables scalable growth without loss of control.
Sanzhar Muradov
Founder and CEO, Jetruck Logistics LLC (Uzbekistan)
