How Unipart's proprietary transport management system is solving logistics challenges in China
15th October 2026 | 6 min read
The Challenge
Operating a high-volume manufacturing assembly plant requires perfect coordination, particularly in China’s demanding automotive industry, where timing on the factory floor is everything. For a leading global heavy vehicle manufacturer, managing the physical movement of parts was only half the battle, and their larger hurdle lay in having a clear view of where those parts actually were at any given moment.
The movement of materials was split into two distinct, complex journeys. Inbound parts were tracked through a planning system that organised collections from a wide network of suppliers. Meanwhile, returnable packaging, like wooden pallets and plastic boxes, was booked through a separate outbound system. On top of this, international container-level shipments were handled through the client’s central SAP system.
The existing processes represented the market norm, where transportation was outsourced to third-party carriers. This meant that without a central platform, team members had to log into up to three different carrier websites to track a shipment. However, Unipart knew that in order to future-proof operations, we needed to create a resilient alternative to the manual approach in place.
This fragmentation also brought real risks to both the daily assembly schedule and the budget. Without independent, verifiable data, it was incredibly difficult to guarantee the accuracy of transit updates or hold carriers to their timelines.
These challenges also meant that financial reconciliation had become an administrative chore. Carrier freight rates, waiting fees, cancellation fees, and expedited transit surcharges had to be manually sorted, cross-referenced, and validated through endless spreadsheets. This manual billing was slow, costly, and highly prone to simple human errors, creating a persistent bottleneck for the finance teams. Furthermore, there was no automated way to capture on-the-ground proof of delivery, report damaged freight, log empty container returns, or track environmental metrics like carbon emissions.
To support the client’s rapid growth, Unipart needed to replace this fragmented approach with a single, reliable, and connected digital system.
The Solution
Recognising the need for a unified approach, Unipart’s Cherry Cheng, Digital Developing Manager, and Nina Zhang, Senior Digital, Process, & Capability Manager, developed, designed, and built a highly flexible, proprietary Transport Management System from scratch. This platform acts as a secure digital bridge, seamlessly bringing the client’s internal scheduling platforms and global systems together into a single, intuitive interface. By integrating these systems directly through secure real-time connections, Unipart unified the entire supply chain journey, from inbound parts and outbound packaging returns to international container movements, under one digital tool.
To solve the daily logistics hurdles, Unipart built intelligent order consolidation and distribution tools directly into the platform. The system automatically gathers incoming transit notifications, giving the logistics team the flexibility to group bookings from the same suppliers or adapt shipments to match physical truck capacities. The platform also features automated bi-lingual translation tools (Chinese-English) which convert routing addresses to ensure drivers have clear, accurate local instructions before the truck ever leaves the yard.
To remove any uncertainty about where cargo is on the road, Unipart developed a dedicated mobile application for transport drivers. This simple, user-friendly tool connects the people on the road directly to the central platform, turning a previous tracking blind spot into a live journey map. Drivers can log milestones, share real-time GPS updates, and instantly upload photographic evidence of successful handovers and cargo conditions. This direct feed provides absolute proof of delivery, closing the loop and giving the operational team complete peace of mind.
Quality control and problem-solving have also been simplified. If a driver or transport specialist encounters an issue on the road, such as cargo damage or safety concerns, they can immediately log the details. This automatically alerts the central team, ensuring issues are resolved quickly and transparently.
This direct data flow from the road also supports financial reporting, replacing manual spreadsheet auditing. The system automatically calculates transport rates and surcharges against verified milestone data and digital proof of delivery. It then guides these details through a clear, multi-tiered verification process, ensuring carriers are paid accurately and billing discrepancies are resolved before invoices are generated.
Finally, all of this operational intelligence feeds into a simple, live dashboard. This gives the team a clear overview of daily transport patterns and on-time performance. It also includes integrated sustainability tools that calculate carbon emissions based on actual cargo weights and travel distances, making it easy to track and report on environmental targets.
The Impact
The introduction of this proprietary platform has turned a stressful operation into a smooth and reliable partnership. By replacing fragmented systems with a single, cohesive one, Unipart has delivered relief to daily operations, the finance team, and the customer relationship.
The system has established transparency and data accuracy. By eliminating third-party carrier portals, both Unipart and the client now share a reliable record that everyone can trust. Real-time mapping, exact progress updates, and instant photographic proof of delivery mean that shipment tracking is completely transparent, helping carrier partners work closely and honestly together while driving on-time delivery rates to nearly 100%.
The platform has also unlocked the ability to adapt and grow the system quickly as new needs pop up. Because the technology was designed flexibly, Unipart’s in-house developers have full control over future features. When the client asks for functional adjustments, the team can customise, test, and deploy improvements within an impressive two-week turnaround, allowing the technology to evolve naturally alongside the business.
Administratively, the relief has been substantial. Automating the financial reconciliation process has eliminated hundreds of hours of manual labour, freeing the finance team from spreadsheet bottlenecks. Carriers receive faster, more accurate payments, and the client benefits from a seamless, error-free auditing process.
At the same time, the embedded environmental dashboard has provided the client with the precise, verifiable data needed to measure and optimise their environmental impact, directly supporting carbon-reduction commitments in China.
Perhaps most importantly, the system has demonstrated remarkable scalability. As the client’s business has grown, monthly transport volumes have increased significantly. Because of the automated nature of the platform, the system has scaled effortlessly, successfully managing thousands of monthly orders without requiring additional administrative staff. By combining digital ingenuity with logistics expertise, Unipart has not solved immediate supply chain challenges and now provides a robust, flexible system that grows alongside our customer.
