Quarry dispatch and TMS software: every load from order to delivery
Quarry management software for the transport side does one thing a generic TMS does not: it follows each load of aggregate, sand or stone from the customer order through dispatch, the truck (owned or subcontracted), the loading point, the weighbridge, the route and the delivery site, and reconciles the tonnes ordered, loaded and delivered as the day runs, not at invoicing. Mirage builds it on the dispatch, GPS, weighbridge and ERP or billing systems a quarry already uses.
The problem
Bulk-material logistics involve dispatch teams, quarry operations, trucks, subcontractors, loading points, customers, weighbridges and delivery sites. A lot can happen between an order being created and material reaching its destination, and most generic logistics software is not built around that physical flow.
The usual result is a dispatcher with a phone, a weighbridge operator with tickets, a subcontractor with his own count, and a billing clerk reconciling the three a month later, when the customer disputes the tonnage.
What we deploy
A transport management system adapted to quarry and bulk-material operations, connecting orders, dispatch, trucks, GPS, loading, weighing, unloading and delivery, and tracking each load end to end. It integrates the dispatch, GPS and ERP or billing systems already in place rather than asking the operation to switch to a new one.
Inputs, outputs, systems
| Reads | Produces | Connected through |
|---|---|---|
| Customer orders: product, tonnes, delivery site, window, price | Open orders with their remaining tonnage; orders at risk of missing their window | ERP, order desk tool, or the order read as a document (email, PDF) |
| Dispatch assignments: truck, driver, loading point, sequence | Live board of trucks and loads; subcontracted trucks treated like owned ones | Dispatch tool or the dispatcher's sheet, replaced by a form if there is none |
| GPS positions from owned and subcontracted trucks | Trip stages per load: to the quarry, queue, loading, haul, delivery, return; cycle and waiting times | Telematics providers, several at once for mixed fleets |
| Weighbridge tickets: tare, gross, net, product, truck | Tonnes loaded per load, matched to the order; over or under declared tonnage flagged | Weighbridge software or the Mirage weighbridge module |
| Delivery confirmation: signature, photo, geofence arrival | Tonnes delivered per load and per order; a load delivered to the wrong site flagged | Driver app, or arrival inside the delivery geofence |
| Rates, contracts, haulier agreements from the ERP | Invoicing lines and haulier payment lines, from reconciled loads, written back | ERP or billing connector (SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage and others) |
Every load carries its order, its ticket, its trip and its delivery. The invoice line is produced from that record, which is why the dispute does not happen at invoicing.
How it works
Each order is tracked as it moves through dispatch, assignment to a truck (owned or subcontracted), the loading point, the weighbridge, the route and the delivery site. GPS and weighbridge data reconcile the physical movement, the tonnes loaded and delivered, against the commercial order and the dispatch record, so a discrepancy between what was ordered, what was loaded and what arrived surfaces during execution instead of at invoicing time.
One load, worked through
An illustrative example with invented figures: one load on one order, as the system records it. Nothing here is a client's data.
| Stage | Record | Check |
|---|---|---|
| Order | Order 5120: 300 t of 0/31.5 crushed stone for site Route 14, delivery today, 4 loads assigned so far | Open: 300 t ordered, 0 t delivered |
| Dispatch | Load 3 of order 5120 assigned to subcontracted truck 42-B-7, loading at crusher stockpile B | Truck authorised for this customer |
| Loading and weighing | Ticket 20417: tare 15,200 kg, gross 44,900 kg, net 29,700 kg, product 0/31.5 | Within the 30 t truck limit; product matches the order |
| Haul | GPS: left the quarry 10:14, 38 km, arrived inside the Route 14 geofence 11:02 | Route and destination as planned |
| Delivery | Driver confirmation and photo at 11:09 | 29.7 t delivered against 29.7 t loaded |
| Order status | Load 3 closes; 89.1 t delivered of 300 t across three loads; one load still in transit | On track for today's window |
| Invoicing | One line to the customer for 29.7 t at the contract rate; one haulier line to the subcontractor for the same load | Produced from the reconciled record, no retyping |
Had the ticket said 29.7 t and the delivery site reported 27 t, or had the GPS placed the truck at a different site, the load would be held with its evidence for the dispatcher before any line was invoiced.
Operational interface
- Quarry → loading → truck → route → destination flow, per load
- Live fleet and active orders, owned and subcontracted trucks together
- Tonnage transported by order, product and customer
- Cycle times and waiting times by loading point
- Truck utilisation, daily targets vs actual, delivery status
- Exceptions: wrong site, tonnage mismatch, unassigned truck at the scale
How do you choose between a generic TMS, a haulier portal and a quarry TMS?
| Generic TMS | Haulier portal | Quarry TMS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built around | Shipments, loads, routes, freight spend | The haulier's own trucks and invoices | The physical flow of bulk material, per load |
| Weighbridge | Not usually connected | Not connected | Each ticket matched to its order and load |
| Subcontracted trucks | As carriers | Only the portal owner's | Tracked like owned trucks, paid from the reconciled load |
| Reconciliation | Freight invoice against rate | None | Ordered, loaded and delivered tonnes, during the day |
| Fits when | A shipper moves packaged freight | One haulier wants to show its deliveries | A quarry or bulk producer dispatches its own and others' trucks and bills by the tonne |
How it is deployed
Forward-deployed: engineers with your dispatchers, weighbridge operators and billing team. The proof of concept usually takes one month of orders, tickets and GPS from one quarry, so you see which loads would have been flagged before any commitment.
- First reply
- Within two business hours, from an engineer.
- Proof of concept
- On your own data (a telematics export, a transaction log, weighbridge tickets, dispatch records), one week after the first meeting.
- Pilot
- Fixed price, on one site or one fleet, with Mirage engineers deployed with your team. You can stop after it.
- Production
- The first workflow runs in 4 to 6 weeks. A system that spans several sites or a lot of field equipment is scoped at the first meeting and can take longer.
- After go-live
- Mirage operates, monitors and improves the system in production; your team keeps the decision on every exception. More than 200 systems have been connected so far.
- Price
- An annual subscription priced by volume after the pilot, from $10,000 to launch and $1,000 a month, quoted in the first conversation.
A single site with existing GPS and an accessible ERP connects fastest; several loading points, mixed fleets and several telematics providers are scoped at the first meeting. Mirage has not published a quarry deployment on its own; the quarry TMS shares its fleet, weighbridge and fuel modules with the mining and logistics systems in production at Transwin.
FAQ
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