Logistics Proof of Concept

Prove a Faster, Traceable Internal Logistics Flow

Pick one flow — receiving to staging, staging to line, or line to loading — and make every movement in it confirmed, timed and traceable. The result is a measured before-and-after on request-to-delivery time and lost movements, not a diagram.

Map my logistics flow PoC Talk to a manufacturing engineer

Typical duration4–8 weeks

Pilot scopeOne inbound, internal or outbound flow with defined endpoints

Primary buyerLogistics Manager

Decision at the endFlow rollout proposal and hardware design

Is this the problem you need to solve?

Material is requested by radio and delivered when someone gets round to it.
Pallets sit in staging for hours because nobody owns the next step.
Movements go unconfirmed, so the last known location is a guess.
A line stops for material that was already in the building.

Primary buyer: Logistics Manager · Warehouse Manager · Production Manager · Supply Chain Manager

What this PoC will prove

How long does a material request actually take from raise to confirmed delivery today?

Where does dwell time accumulate in the flow, and which step causes it?

Can every movement in the flow be confirmed without slowing the operators down?

How many movements currently go unrecorded or land in the wrong place?

Does loading and dispatch accuracy improve when confirmation is enforced?

Recommended pilot scope

One flow with clearly defined origin and destination points.
Selected materials and packaging types that represent the real handling mix.
Barcode or RFID confirmation at each defined step.
The logistics users who run that flow, on the devices they will actually carry.
The ERP or WMS touchpoints the flow depends on, read-only where possible.

What will be live during the PoC

Digitised movement requests with priority and confirmed execution.

Event timeline per movement: requested, accepted, picked, delivered, confirmed.

Staging and dwell visibility across the flow.

Loading and dispatch confirmation against the expected list.

How this PoC runs

Week 1

Discovery and decision definitionWalk the flow end to end, define the endpoints and movement types, and agree the measures and the baseline method.Exit gate: Flow boundaries and measures agreed.

Week 1–2

Baseline measurementMeasure the flow as it runs today — request-to-delivery time, staging dwell, unconfirmed movements — by observation, since these numbers rarely exist as data.Exit gate: Baseline observed and accepted by the logistics owner.

Week 2–4

ConfigurationConfigure locations, movement types, priorities and devices; train the logistics users and run a dry pass through the whole flow.Exit gate: Users complete the flow unaided.

Week 4–7

Controlled live operationThe flow runs on the system across shifts, with times, exceptions and unconfirmed movements tracked continuously.Exit gate: A full production week completed on the system.

Week 7–8

Rollout decision and business casePresent the event map, the bottleneck report, the before-and-after comparison, the hardware and process design and the rollout proposal.Exit gate: Go, adjust or stop.

Durations are typical, not guaranteed. What extends a schedule: missing or incomplete data, security and network approvals, hardware lead times, sample collection, installation access, the production schedule, ERP test access, and the time your team needs to review results.

No unplanned shutdown is expected. Any installation window or controlled interruption is agreed with you in advance and scheduled around production.

How success will be measured

How success will be measured
Metric	How it is defined	Where the number comes from	Type
Request-to-delivery time	Time from a material request being raised to delivery being confirmed at the destination.	MSF platform data	Operational
Staging dwell	Time material spends in staging between two confirmed steps.	MSF platform data	Operational
Movement accuracy	Share of movements delivered to the correct destination on the first attempt.	MSF platform data	Operational
Lost or unconfirmed movements	Movements with no confirmation event, compared with the observed baseline.	Agreed baseline measurement	Technical
Line starvation contribution	Line stop minutes attributable to late internal supply during the period.	MSF platform data	Operational
Loading accuracy	Share of dispatches loaded exactly to the expected list, with discrepancies caught before departure.	MSF platform data	Operational
Scan compliance	Share of steps confirmed by scan rather than skipped or entered afterwards.	MSF platform data	Adoption

Before implementation, MSF and your team agree how each metric is calculated, where the baseline comes from, what data is excluded, and what result supports a rollout decision. This page lists what gets measured; the actual targets belong in the written PoC scope, not in a marketing claim.

What you need to provide

Layout, locations and the movement types actually used in the flow.
Material and packaging identifiers, plus any service-level rules that apply.
Shift calendars and the loading or staging process as it really runs.
Available devices, and the ERP or WMS touchpoints the flow depends on.

Who does what

Meta Smart Factory provides

Discovery workshop and scope facilitation
Solution configuration for the agreed scope
Integration and connection work inside that scope
MSF hardware listed in the proposal
Training for the pilot users
The KPI definitions and validation method
Issue tracking and support during the pilot
The final result report and rollout design
An observed baseline of the flow as it runs today, before anything is changed.
A bottleneck report that names the step causing the dwell, not just the total time.

You provide

A named business owner and a named technical owner
Timely access to users, the line, machines and approved systems
An accurate explanation of the process and the master data
Network, power, mounting and safety access
ERP, PLC and vendor documentation, plus the experts who know them
Representative samples or historical data
Validation that the baseline is fair
Feedback and the acceptance decision
Logistics operators for training and for the live period.
Permission to observe and time the flow honestly during the baseline week.

Defined in the written proposal

Panel PCs, tablets, servers and GPU servers
Cameras, lenses, lighting and enclosures
Scanners, printers, RFID readers, meters and sensors
Travel, installation, freight, import duty and local electrical work
Whether hardware is rented or purchased
Whether any PoC fee is credited against a rollout

Commercial terms, hardware ownership, travel, integration scope and any rollout credit are defined in the written PoC proposal. They are not the same for every product, and this page does not promise them.

What you receive at the end

The digitised pilot flow, running with your operators.
Event map of the flow as it actually happens.
Bottleneck report naming the step behind each delay.
Baseline versus after comparison on the agreed measures.
Hardware and process design for the flow.
Rollout proposal for the remaining flows.

Dependencies, exclusions and limits

This PoC depends on

An honest observed baseline — a flow measured only after the change has nothing to compare against.
Device coverage across the flow, including any radio dead spots found during readiness.

Not included in this PoC

AGV and conveyor control, and any automation of the physical movement itself.
Carrier, transport-management and freight-booking integration.

What this PoC does not claim

The measured result belongs to the piloted flow. Other flows in the same plant may behave very differently, which is why the rollout proposal treats each one as its own scope rather than extrapolating one number across the site.

Go, adjust or stop — the decision gate

GoGo: the flow is faster and traceable — extend to the next flows on the delivered proposal.

AdjustAdjust: confirmation works but device coverage, priorities or the staging process needs rework.

StopStop: the constraint is layout or resourcing, which the event map now proves rather than assumes.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from the WMS PoC?

WMS proves stock accuracy and location control inside a warehouse. Logistics proves the movement between points — how long it takes, where it stalls, and whether it is confirmed. They often run together, but the evidence each produces is different.

Why do you observe the baseline manually?

Because request-to-delivery time and staging dwell almost never exist as data before a system is installed. Measuring them by observation for a week is the only way to have something honest to compare against afterwards.

Do we need RFID?

Usually not. Barcode confirmation is enough for most internal flows. RFID becomes interesting where handling units pass fixed points at speed, and that is exactly what the RTLS and Smart Gate PoC exists to validate on your own site.

Can it cover inbound and outbound at once?

It can, but it is usually slower to conclude. One flow proven properly produces a defensible rollout proposal faster than three flows proven partially.

Request this Proof of Concept

Tell us the scope you have in mind and we will come back with a written PoC plan: what gets connected, what you provide, how success is measured and what the decision at the end looks like.