Case Study · 3PL / Contract Logistics
How Vitti Logistics Put Proof of Load at the Dock Door Before Any Customer Asked
A tech-forward Mexican 3PL replaced manual dock checks with Zimark Shipping Control and is rolling it out across ten sites. No RFQ required it and no claim forced it. Now each verified load leaves a photo and a short video behind.
At a glance
10
sites under contract
30
Zimark stations under contract
3
shifts running the system at the first site
2
weeks to install and tune the first site
“Everything we store belongs to our customers. The manufacturing plants plan their operations on the inventory our system shows. If they ask for 1,000 pieces because they see them in the system, and you have to tell them you only have 500, that’s a problem.”
Antonio Luna, Founder & CEO, Vitti Logistics
Background
Company facts
- Company: Vitti Logistics
- Founded: 2016, Saltillo, Coahuila
- Industry: 3PL: warehousing, distribution, value-added services, customs brokerage
- Footprint: 12 facilities, 2.1M sq ft, six Mexican states and Laredo, Texas
- Customers: Appliances, steel, automotive components, sequenced production
- Product deployed: Zimark Shipping Control, dock-door visual verification
- Systems: Oracle NetSuite (ERP and WMS)
A 3PL built on flexibility, and the risk that comes with it
Vitti Logistics has spent ten years building a 3PL around flexibility. Some customers need a 24/7 operation, 365 days a year. Others need a single shift. Some pallets leave exactly as they arrived, while others are broken down, picked and rebuilt. Vitti also builds its own software, with an in-house technology team. At the first site to run Zimark, ten loading docks serve fourteen customers across three shifts.
None of that inventory belongs to Vitti.
The challenge: manual checks at the dock
Before Zimark, verification was manual. Staff checked outbound freight against the packing list by eye, and forklift drivers were told which pallets went on which truck. Mistakes were occasional: a box too many, a box short, now and then a part on the wrong customer’s truck. Experienced staff caught many of them, and customers were understanding when they didn’t, but each one still meant a corrected packing list or a trip to swap the freight.
For Antonio, the search started with a different product, in another part of the network: steel coils. They’re heavy, valuable and easy to resell. A truck that leaves with two coils can arrive with one, and the proof of what was loaded used to be paper.
“It was important for us to be able to guarantee to ourselves, as a company, that nothing was leaking and nothing was going missing. That’s what got us moving. That was the trigger.”
Antonio Luna, Founder & CEO, Vitti Logistics
Why Vitti chose Zimark
Vitti tried RFID first, with tags and readers on site. Steel and radio tags don’t mix well, even with flag-style tags that keep the antenna clear of the metal. Another vendor then proposed ultra-wideband (UWB) tags, which would have cost roughly three to four times as much. Vitti’s question was simpler: are the numbers in our system right, and can we prove what we loaded?
Vitti had first seen Zimark at Manifest in Las Vegas. Once Zimark’s team walked them through how the system is built, the search was over.
“We said: there’s no need to keep looking. Let’s test it.”
Antonio Luna, Founder & CEO, Vitti Logistics
Losses didn’t drive the decision. So far, Vitti has had no cargo claims related to loading errors at the dock.
“Not having a claim doesn’t tell us, ‘So why invest?’ I don’t want to have that claim. We’re in preventive mode.” – Antonio Luna
Antonio Luna, Founder & CEO, Vitti Logistics
The solution: visual verification, no extra steps
Zimark’s cameras at the dock door check every labeled pallet as it goes into the trailer. Forklift drivers load as usual, with no scanning step, and the system confirms in real time that what’s moving matches what’s supposed to move. Each verified load leaves a photo and a short video behind.
Zimark’s team handled the installation, spending about two weeks on site to set camera heights, make sure forklifts could pass at normal speed, and test the pallet sizes Vitti handles. Vitti supplied power and internet at the docks. Label placement was tuned client by client, from pallet-in, pallet-out accounts to loads of three to six pallets per trip, and all three shifts took to the system. Loads where pallets are broken down and rebuilt are still being worked through.
Pallets are now labeled as they’re received. The black-and-white markers print on Vitti’s own labels, straight from Oracle NetSuite
“When you’re driving in and you can see you’ve got the right load, and you won’t have a problem later, the evidence is right there. And the crew has done really, really well with it.”
Jorge Bravo, Operations Manager, Vitti Logistics
Results: the inspection step disappeared
- No separate inspection. Verification happens while the truck is loaded. Forklift drivers no longer carry a packing list and write down what they load.
- Estimated faster shipment processing. Operations Manager Jorge Bravo and the team estimate loading is 15–20% faster. This is a team estimate, not a measured result.
- Problems surface at the dock. If a pallet doesn’t match, it shows up while the truck is still being loaded. Before, a mistake could surface days later, when a customer called.
- Evidence instead of paper. Each verified load has a photo and a short video Vitti can show the customer.
- A standard nobody required. Vitti already shows the system in customer conversations, in some cases on the floor with Jorge’s team.
“The most important thing is that now there’s solid evidence. With a photo and a short video, we can prove to the customer that the product was actually loaded.”
Antonio Luna, Founder & CEO, Vitti Logistics
What's next: the same label, more jobs
Vitti’s first contract with Zimark covers ten sites and 30 stations, and three sites are already live. With pallets labeled from receiving, Vitti sees the same label doing more work: cycle counts and inventory reviews inside the warehouse, and one day receiving control, including at the customer’s plant, where a pallet that arrives with proof it was loaded could be checked in the same way.
“Once this is in place at all our sites and we have the data to show the customer accuracy, OTIF and all these KPIs, I think we’ll be able to sell our service better.”
Antonio Luna, Founder & CEO, Vitti Logistics
“Our main goal is inventory reliability, and that translates into customer satisfaction.”
Antonio Luna, Founder & CEO, Vitti Logistics
Can you show your customers proof of every load?
Zimark checks every labeled pallet at the dock door and keeps a photo and video of each verified load, without adding a scanning step.
