Shipment Tracking Platform Using OCR for Early Booking Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Shippers often lack visibility into shipments due to incomplete or delayed booking data from suppliers, leading to inaccuracies and complications in supply chain tracking and visibility, which are not under their control.
Innovation Solution
An integrated platform and automated process that extracts data from documents like invoices to create shipment records, enabling early tracking and visibility, using OCR and AI/ML for data recognition and validation, and providing end-to-end tracking and visibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If suppliers make carriage bookings using pre-defined commercial terms, then the shipping process can be standardized and simplified, but the shipper loses visibility into the shipment details
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary system (the platform) that receives booking data from suppliers and presents it to shippers. This mediator enables standardization of the booking process while simultaneously providing visibility into shipment details through structured data presentation and tracking capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms by providing shippers with tracking information, status updates, and visibility into shipment details. This feedback loop allows shippers to monitor their shipments while suppliers continue using standardized commercial terms for booking.
2Device complexity
If suppliers do not provide booking data to shippers after making carriage bookings, then suppliers maintain operational simplicity, but shippers experience gaps and inaccuracies in supply chain visibility
Solution Approach 1:
The platform serves as an intermediary that collects booking data from suppliers and makes it available to shippers. This maintains supplier operational simplicity while eliminating information gaps through centralized data management and structured information flow.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-structuring and pre-processing booking data before it reaches the shipper. This ensures that visibility information is ready and accurate from the outset, eliminating gaps in supply chain visibility without complicating supplier operations.
3Reliability
If shippers manually process shipment tracking, then they maintain control over tracking accuracy, but productivity decreases and delays increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service tracking where the platform automatically collects, processes, and presents shipment information without requiring manual intervention from shippers. This maintains tracking accuracy through systematic data collection while dramatically improving productivity through automation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical processing of shipment tracking with automated electronic systems. This substitution maintains accuracy through structured data validation while eliminating time-consuming manual tasks and improving overall processing efficiency.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances shipment tracking and visibility, reduces delays, increases efficiency, and lowers costs by automating the creation and management of shipment records, ensuring accurate and timely data processing and visibility.
Implementation Method 1
The data is extracted via at least one of an optical character recognition algorithm, a neural network, an image processing algorithm, and a machine learning algorithm
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, methods, and non-transitory media are provided for supply chain management, tracking, and integration. An example method can include receiving, via one or more processors, a document associated with a booking of a shipment; extracting, via the one or more processors, data in the document associated with the booking of the shipment; based on the extracted data, generating a shipment record in a shipment management system; and based on the shipment record, tracking the shipment associated with the booking.