TDM Transport Digital Transformation Platform for a Waikato Logistics Leader
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- TDM Transport, road freight & heavy haulage, Waikato, New Zealand
- Industry
- Transport & Logistics
- Challenge
- TDM Transport had grown into a leading Waikato transport and logistics operator, but wanted to get ahead of the challenges that come with scale instead of waiting for them to bite. Owner and director Trent Montgomery brought in Longcloud to build a single digital platform connecting people, vehicles, customers and data in real time, and to lay a technology foundation for the business's next phase of growth.
- Solution
- A fully integrated, cloud-based operations platform: an office management portal and a mobile driver app, both running on one real-time shared database, covering fleet dispatch and scheduling, job management, customer CRM, employee HRIS, fleet maintenance and compliance, fuel management, driver communications, and reporting.
- A single, real-time view of business operations connecting fleet, drivers, customers and jobs.
- Automated compliance and maintenance tracking reduces risk across the fleet.
- Faster access to operational and management reporting.
- One integrated, scalable platform built to support TDM's ongoing growth.
The Challenge
TDM Transport is a leading Waikato transport and logistics business, moving freight across New Zealand with a fleet built for specialised jobs. As the company continued to grow, owner and director Trent Montgomery saw an opportunity to strengthen the business further, not by fixing something that was broken, but by investing proactively in a platform that could keep pace with that growth and keep TDM ahead in an increasingly competitive market. The business wanted to:
One operational view
Fleet activity, jobs, customers and staff were tracked in separate places, with no single view of the business as a whole.
Fleet and job visibility
Getting a clear, up-to-date read on fleet activity and customer jobs meant pulling information together rather than seeing it live.
Driver-to-office communication
Coordinating between drivers in the field and staff in the office needed a faster, more direct channel than ad hoc calls and messages.
Compliance and fleet management
Keeping on top of vehicle compliance and maintenance needed a stronger, more structured process as the fleet grew.
Business insight and reporting
Getting a fast read on how the business was performing meant assembling information by hand rather than seeing it on demand.
A foundation for future innovation
TDM wanted a technology foundation that could support what comes next, not just solve today's problems.
The Solution
Longcloud designed and built a fully integrated, cloud-based operations platform, consisting of an office management portal and a mobile driver app, both connected through a single real-time shared database:
Fully integrated office portal
A real-time dispatch calendar (a vehicle-by-date grid with day, week, month and scrollable views), plus dedicated modules for jobs, CRM, employee HRIS, fleet, maintenance, fuel, reporting and driver-to-office messaging. Office staff sign in with their existing Microsoft 365 accounts (single sign-on), with access restricted to the company domain.
Mobile driver app
A mobile-first portal where each driver sees only their assigned jobs, with day, week and month views so they know what's coming. They submit photo proof of pickup and delivery and chat live with the office, so every conversation stays attached to the job for full traceability later. Drivers sign in with their own email/mobile and password, separate from the Microsoft single sign-on used by the office.
Because every module runs on the same real-time database, information is instantly available throughout the business: an assignment made in the office appears on the driver's phone, and a completed delivery appears back in the office, without anyone refreshing or making a phone call.
How It Works
Stack: Next.js 16 (React, App Router) on the front end, a Supabase PostgreSQL database on the back end, file storage in Supabase Storage, and hosting on Vercel's edge network.
Real-time multi-user sync
The platform subscribes to Supabase Realtime, which streams PostgreSQL change events over WebSockets. When any dispatcher edits the schedule, every other connected client updates instantly, with no polling and no stale screens. The UI also applies optimistic updates (it shows the change immediately and rolls back if the server rejects it), so the interface feels instant even on a slow depot connection.
Two independent sign-in systems, by design
Office staff and drivers sign in through two separate, fit-for-purpose paths. Office staff use their existing Microsoft single sign-on, locked to company accounts, while drivers (who don't have Microsoft accounts) get their own purpose-built login. Both use modern, industry-standard protection for passwords and sessions, with sensible hardening against common login attacks. We keep the finer details private by design.
Photo proof of delivery, done properly
Driver photos are stored securely and kept out of the database, so large files don't bloat it. Every photo stays linked to its job and fully accessible afterwards, both in the portal and in the downloadable evidence export. The app enforces a business rule in code: a job cannot be marked complete until both pickup and drop-off photos exist.
Automated compliance tracking
The system continuously evaluates each vehicle's COF, registration and service-due dates, auto-flags anything overdue, and surfaces it as alerts and badges, turning a manual, error-prone checklist into an automatic safeguard.
Reporting and data portability
A reporting dashboard computes revenue, sales pipeline, fleet utilisation and per-customer breakdowns over any date range. Staff can export any dataset to Excel (via SheetJS) and download photo evidence as a ZIP archive (via JSZip).
Built for the real world
Standard security and abuse protections, plus a graceful offline/seed fallback (the app stays usable if the database is briefly unreachable), make it dependable for daily operational use.
What's next: With operational data now captured across every part of the business, TDM has a strong foundation for the next phase of its digital journey: AI-assisted scheduling, route and utilisation optimisation, predictive maintenance, and advanced business intelligence and analytics.
Results & Impact
- A connected, real-time view of business operations across fleet, drivers, customers and jobs.
- Improved communication between field and office teams.
- Automated compliance monitoring and maintenance tracking.
- Faster access to operational and management reporting.
- One integrated, scalable platform built to support TDM's ongoing growth, in place of a collection of separate systems.
Technology
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