Inbound Logistics

Inbound logistics encompasses everything involved in getting products to your facility – from purchase order issuance through supplier shipment, freight transportation, dock appointment scheduling, receiving, and putaway. While outbound logistics gets more attention because it faces the customer, inbound execution directly affects production schedules, inventory availability, and warehouse labor planning. A late inbound shipment doesn't just delay receiving – it cascades into stockouts, expedited outbound freight, and missed delivery windows.

Managing inbound logistics requires coordination across multiple parties: suppliers who ship the goods, carriers who transport them, and warehouse teams who receive them. The shipper needs visibility into when suppliers ship, which carrier is hauling the load, when the truck will arrive, whether the right dock appointment is booked, and whether the delivered quantities match the purchase order. Each handoff is a potential failure point – and without a system connecting these steps, the logistics team relies on emails, phone calls, and spreadsheets to stitch the picture together manually.

The biggest inbound challenge for most mid-market shippers is that they don't control the supplier's shipping process. Suppliers may use their own carriers, ship at unpredictable times, or fail to send advance ship notices. This makes inbound visibility harder to achieve than outbound – and makes tools like ASNs, appointment scheduling, and carrier tracking integration even more valuable for catching problems before they reach the dock.

Shippers who bring inbound freight under the same TMS as their outbound operations gain the ability to track all freight in one place, enforce dock appointment discipline on incoming loads, and reconcile what was ordered against what was actually received.