Custom ERP software for logistics that fits the operation you actually run.
We configure Odoo, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Sage 300 and ePROMIS for logistics operators, and build the parts a package cannot hold as a custom layer beside it.
Most of what an operator calls an exception turns out to be a habit nobody has revisited. We sort those from the real ones first, because configuring a habit costs a fraction of building it, and we will say so even when it means a smaller project.
- 120+Projects delivered across 12 countries since 2012
- 100+Senior in-house engineers, six countries
- 5.0Unified rating across 61 client reviews on Clutch
- 2 to 4 weeksTypical time from signature to start
- ISTQBCertified QA inside every sprint
- ISO 27001Certified security practice, audited by Quay Audit UK
01Overview
What a logistics ERP is, and where the package stops fitting
Custom ERP software for logistics means making a package (Odoo, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Sage 300 or ePROMIS) hold the whole operation, from purchasing and stock to shipments, invoicing and the ledger: configure it where it fits, and build only the exceptions that are really yours beside it. unicrew (founded 2012, formerly Artelogic) is a custom development and integration partner, not a reseller. Four published logistics case studies name their client: MiniMoves, Cloud Van Lines, Bitergo and Mover Technologies.
- Plan and buyThe upstream half. Most operators inherit this from the package unchanged, and should.
- Demand and replenishment
- Purchasing and supplier terms
- Landed cost and valuation
- Store and moveThe floor and the road. Where the package's assumptions meet your layout and your fleet.
- Warehouse and inventory
- Transportation and carriers
- Fleet and equipment
- Sell and settleOrder to cash. The layer that most often carries a rule the package has no field for.
- Order and fulfilment
- Rating and settlement
- Carrier invoice audit
- Record and proveThe part an auditor, a customs officer or a regulator asks about, months after the fact.
- Ledger and costing
- Customs and export documents
- Audit trail and retention
02Compare
Configure it or build beside it: five exceptions, and what each one really is
An ERP project in logistics is not really a platform decision. It is a list of exceptions, and a verdict on each one. Every operator arrives with a set of things the package supposedly cannot do; some of them are the business, and the rest are habits that outlived the system that caused them. The five below are the ones we meet most, what each usually turns out to be, and what we would actually do. The first one ends in advice not to build anything.
| The exception you are protecting | What it usually turns out to be | What we would do about it |
|---|---|---|
| “Our pick path is not the sequence the warehouse module wants.” | A habit, most of the time | Configure, and run the package flow through one peak season before paying to preserve yours. If the exception is real it will still be there, and you will finally be able to price it.Get a second opinion firstOr book a meeting |
| “Our rating and settlement rules are the business.” | Genuinely yours, nearly always | Build it beside the ERP. A rating service owns the rules and the exceptions; the ERP still holds the invoice, the ledger and the audit trail.How we build custom systemsOr book a meeting |
| “Every large customer wants documents in their own format.” | Half habit, half contract | Configure whatever the package templates, then build one document service for the rest, so the next customer is a configuration change and not a project.Process automation buildsOr book a meeting |
| “The warehouse, the storefront and the ERP each know a different stock number.” | Not an exception at all | One system owns stock and everything else subscribes to it, over REST, SOAP or scheduled file exchange, whichever the older system on the list actually speaks.Warehouse management buildsOr book a meeting |
| “Every carrier wants its own feed and none of it matches the ERP.” | Their exception, inherited by you | An integration layer in front of the ERP, where carrier APIs and EDI documents are normalized once, so adding a carrier is a mapping and not a release.Freight and carrier APIsOr book a meeting |
03Modules
The modules, and which one to start with
Six modules, and an ERP programme that tries to land all six at once is the programme that fails. Each card says what it covers and the signal that tells you to start there. In practice the first module is whichever one people are currently working around in a spreadsheet.
Warehouse and inventory
Receiving, putaway, picking, packing and cycle counts with barcode and scanner support, built as a module that can ship on its own and connect to the rest afterwards.
- Start here when
- Two systems disagree about stock
Transportation and fleet
Carrier selection, load building, route planning and shipment tracking, wired to carrier APIs and telematics over REST, SOAP and file-based exchange.
- Start here when
- Dispatch runs beside the ERP, not in it
Order and fulfilment
Order management that ties sales and fulfilment orders to inventory and shipments in one place, so an order moves once and every downstream system sees the same state.
- Start here when
- An order is re-keyed more than once
Rating, billing and settlement
Rating, invoicing, settlement and carrier invoice audit across customers and carriers, wired to your finance system rather than reconciled by hand at month end.
- Start here when
- Margin per load is a monthly guess
Purchasing and supplier terms
Demand, replenishment, purchasing and landed cost, usually the module that needs the least customization because it is the part of the operation that resembles everyone else's.
- Start here when
- Replenishment is somebody's habit
Integration and reporting
Connections to the systems you keep, EDI partners and customer portals, plus the reporting layer over one operational data store instead of five extracts.
- Start here when
- The weekly report is assembled by hand
04Stack
The ERPs we work inside, and what we build around them
The five platforms we configure, extend and connect, and the stack behind the logistics systems we have built beside them. We are not a reseller of any of these, which is why the recommendation can go either way. Running something not on this list, or an in-house system nobody wants to touch? Send the integration list with your enquiry and we will tell you what is realistic before you commit to anything.
React
Angular
iOS
Android
.NET- ASP.NET
- ASP.NET MVC
Java
PHP- REST API
AWS
Azure
Odoo- Microsoft Dynamics 365
- NetSuite
Sage 300- ePROMIS
An ERP rollout in logistics fails in the gap between what the package assumes and how the yard actually works. Odoo, Dynamics and NetSuite all model a warehouse; none of them models yours. So sort your exceptions: habit or real. Configure every habit. Build the real ones alongside the ERP, never inside it, so an upgrade cannot wipe them out.
Oleksandr TrofimovCTO & Co-Founder, unicrew05Delivery
How an ERP engagement runs, from exception list to cutover
Five stages, and the first two decide the cost of the other three. An ERP is the one system where the expensive mistake is made before any code exists, because the platform and the customization list are chosen together and both are hard to reverse. Most engagements start within two to four weeks of signature.
- Sort the exceptionsWe walk the operation with the people who run it and write down every deviation from a standard flow, then mark each one habit or real. Several will not survive the conversation with the person who invented them, which is the cheapest thing that can happen on an ERP project.You getEvery exception listed, each marked configure or build
- Pick the platform against that listNot against a demo. The list decides it: whichever of Odoo, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Sage 300 or ePROMIS leaves the fewest real exceptions uncovered, with the gaps it does leave named in writing rather than discovered in month four.You getA platform recommendation, with the gaps it leaves named
- Configure the core, build the edgeStandard modules get configured. Real exceptions get built as separate services against documented extension points, kept at the edge of the platform, so a vendor upgrade does not take out the part of the system you paid to have.You getA configured core, plus extensions that survive an upgrade
- Migrate, reconcile, pilot one siteStock, open orders, customers, carrier rates and history move with a reconciliation report you can actually check, then one site or one depot runs live on it while the rest of the operation carries on as it was.You getA reconciled data set and one site running on it
- Roll out, then hand the configuration backSite by site or module by module, never all at once, and we document as we go. The engagement ends with your own people able to change a rate table, a document template or a workflow rule without calling us.You getDocumentation, and staff who can configure it themselves
06Proof
What we can actually show you
Four logistics platforms with clients named on them, five ERP platforms we work inside without selling any of them, and the certifications a procurement questionnaire asks for. Every figure below is countable or is the client's own.
- Four logistics platforms with names on themMiniMoves in Chicago, Cloud Van Lines in Boston, Bitergo in Dortmund and Mover Technologies in Florida. Cloud Van Lines comes closest to a full ERP: lead to invoice, four payment providers, Twilio behind the call centre. MiniMoves' VP of IT writes in his Clutch review that order management enhancements "increased productivity and allowed us to maintain double digit growth without a substantial increase in staffing".4published logistics case studies
- Five ERP platforms, none of which we sellWe integrate and customize Odoo, ePROMIS, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Sage 300 and NetSuite, and connect them to the systems of record you keep. With no licence margin riding on the answer, the recommendation can honestly be to configure rather than build. Where a platform genuinely does not fit, the same team builds the layer beside it: see platform development and integration.5platforms we configure and extend
- Certified security and QA, in the teamunicrew holds ISO 27001:2022 and ISO 9001:2015, both renewed through a multi-stage audit with Quay Audit UK, and delivery runs with ISTQB-certified QA engineers inside the team. Contracts and NDAs are signed before anyone starts, and access is least-privilege, read-only wherever the work allows. On an ERP, retention, permissions and the audit trail are data-model decisions taken at discovery.ISO 27001audited by Quay Audit UK
07Case studies
Logistics systems we built and still support
Three builds, three different answers to the same question. One replaced a manual sales process, one runs a whole moving business from lead to invoice, and one is a warehouse app platform that scales across the range its own client publishes.
See all case studies
LogisticsCustom software for USA moving companyAn end-to-end SaaS platform for managing household moves and every business operation of a logistics company.Built from scratchAn end-to-end SaaS for household moves and the operations behind them
LogisticsMiniMoves Orders Management PlatformA custom-built moving order system that simplifies booking, boosts automation, and improves operational efficiency.Double digit growthMaintained without a substantial increase in staffing
LogisticsApp Store for warehouse managementOur client Bitergo offers a collection of business apps to optimize warehouse management, scalable from start-ups to 4PL companies. Given the business drivers, the client decided to upgrade the front-end of all their applications to the latest version of Angular.Rapid increaseOf test accounts ordered by potential customers after the site launched
08Questions
Logistics ERP: frequently asked questions
Both, and deciding which parts get which treatment is the work worth paying for. Configure the package for everything standard: purchasing, receiving, stock moves, order entry, the ledger. Build only for exceptions that are genuinely yours, which in logistics usually means rating and settlement, a customer-specific document pack, or a fulfilment sequence you compete on. We start by listing every deviation from the package's standard flow, each marked habit or real.
It depends on your stack, scale and exception list. Odoo for cost-conscious operators wanting modular ERP with warehouse and inventory. NetSuite for growing operators wanting a mature cloud suite, strong on financials and order management. Microsoft Dynamics 365 for operators already on Azure. Sage 300 and ePROMIS where the group already runs them. All need add-ons or custom modules for heavy logistics workflows, so the question is which leaves fewest of your exceptions uncovered. unicrew sells none of them.
Yes, and on most engagements it is the larger half of the work. We connect ERP to existing warehouse and transport systems, carrier APIs, EDI partners (X12 in North America, EDIFACT in Europe), telematics feeds and finance systems, over REST, SOAP or scheduled file exchange, whichever the older system actually speaks. One system owns each fact and everything else subscribes to it. Keeping the system you run is often the cheaper answer, and we will say so.
We work on three engagement models: time and materials billed hourly and quoted per project, fixed price quoted per project against an agreed outcome, and team extension billed monthly per team member. Which fits depends on how firm the scope is; we recommend one after discovery. We do not publish a project price band: configuring one module and replacing a five-module ERP across sites are too far apart for one number to help. We can tell you early which exceptions drive the cost.
Most engagements start within two to four weeks of signature. Duration depends on how many modules are in scope, how many integrations sit behind them, and how much of the exception list survives, so we scope against your operation rather than quote a generic timeline. The shape we commit to: one module first against your real data, in front of the people using it, then site by site or module by module. A programme planned as a single cutover is the one that slips.
You own them. Everything we build is yours, in your repositories, documented so a new engineer can build it on day one. The upgrade question decides how a customization is written: against documented extension points, at the edge of the platform and over its API, never by modifying core objects. Slower to write, cheaper to live with, because a vendor upgrade leaves it alone. Maintenance afterwards is team extension billed monthly per team member; otherwise the handover is the deliverable.
Contracts and NDAs are signed before anyone starts. We work from least-privilege access agreed with your technical contact, read-only wherever the work allows, and inside your cloud where customers or insurers require it. unicrew holds ISO 27001:2022 and ISO 9001:2015, audited by Quay Audit UK, and delivery runs with ISTQB-certified QA engineers in the team. We do not hold SOC 2, and we say so rather than let you assume it. GDPR and customs document retention are scoped at discovery.
Send us the exception list, get a straight answer on configure or build
A call with a senior engineer who has shipped logistics systems, not a sales qualifier. You leave with an opinion on which exceptions are real, which platform fits them, and what to start with.
What happens after you contact us
- We reply within one business dayA senior engineer reads your message, not a bot.
- A call about the operationWhat you run, what it will not do, and who works around it.
- Route and engagement model, in writingConfigure, build or both, priced as time and materials, fixed price, or team extension.
- NDA, then discoveryMost engagements start within two to four weeks of signature.