The document bottleneck in logistics
Every logistics operation generates massive document volumes: supplier invoices, delivery receipts, dispatch guides, customs documents, purchase orders. For companies handling thousands of daily shipments, manual data entry becomes the main operational bottleneck.
The numbers speak for themselves:
- 72-hour average to manually process an invoice from receipt to ERP entry.
- 4.2% error rate in manual transcription of amounts, dates, and product codes.
- $15-25 USD average cost per manually processed invoice (according to IOFM).
Intelligent processing for logistics documents
Our engine handles the inherent variability of logistics documents:
Supported documents
- Supplier invoices: Extraction of company name, tax ID, line items, amounts, taxes, payment terms.
- Shipping receipts and dispatch guides: Receipt number, recipient, package details, weight, dimensions.
- Customs documents: Single customs document (DUA), certificates of origin, shipping permits.
- Purchase orders: PO number, requested items, quantities, unit prices.
Processing flow
Physical document / PDF
↓
Automatic classification (type + supplier)
↓
Field extraction → Structured JSON
↓
Business rule validation
↓
Direct integration → ERP / TMS / WMSMeasurable impact on operations
Before vs. After
| Metric | Manual process | With Cognis |
|---|---|---|
| Time per invoice | 72 hours | 3 minutes |
| Error rate | 4.2% | < 1% |
| Cost per document | $15-25 USD | < $0.50 USD |
| Daily capacity | 200 docs/operator | 175,000 docs/hour |
Case: logistics operator with 8,000 invoices/day
A regional logistics operator received 8,000 daily invoices from 200+ suppliers, each with a different format. Their 12-person data entry team couldn’t keep up within the day.
Result:
- 8,000 invoices processed in under 4 minutes.
- Validated accuracy: 99.3%.
- The data entry team was reassigned to control and exception handling tasks.
Integration with your logistics stack
We integrate directly with the systems you already use:
- ERPs: SAP, Oracle, TOTVS, Bejerman.
- TMS: Oracle Transportation, SAP TM.
- WMS: Manhattan, Blue Yonder.
- Output formats: JSON, CSV, XML, EDI.
Test with your real documents
Send us a sample of your most complex invoices — different suppliers, varied formats, customs documents. Receive structured data in 24 hours.