Our Client

The client is a leading German sportswear brand and one of the world's largest athletic apparel and footwear companies. Its global operations depend on the timely movement of products across international markets. As shipment volumes and international complexity grew, customs operations leaders needed greater control over filing accuracy, shipment visibility, and timely intervention to protect operational efficiency and delivery reliability.

Challenges

The shipment process depended heavily on manual customs filing and fragmented visibility across carriers. This created persistent challenges for logistics and customs teams, such as: 

• Error-prone customs filing: Manual preparation of Importer Security Filing (ISF) and broker packets resulted in misfiling and late submissions.
• Limited shipment visibility: Teams lacked an end-to-end view, making it difficult to identify risks before shipments reached critical deadlines.
• Reactive operations: Without early notifications, logistics teams were forced to manage exceptions at the last minute.
• Shipment delays: Issues at ports of entry and exit increased costs and disrupted shipment flows.
• Financial leakage: Late or missed filings resulted in penalties and avoidable monetary losses.
• High manual dependency: Repetitive monitoring consumed resources that could otherwise support higher-value logistics activities.

These constraints made customs operations increasingly reactive and made it harder to maintain predictable shipment flows at scale.

LTM Solution

LTM transformed the customs process through a cloud-based Shipment Automation Process, connecting carriers, customs workflows, and logistics teams through a centralized, scalable architecture. The solution modernized the underlying process with Clearance Engine 2.0, a microservices-based application hosted on AWS Cloud. Customs clearance automation streamlined key customs workflows while creating a common view of shipment status and exceptions.

• Automated customs processing: Automated ISF generation and broker packet workflows, achieving near-100% filing accuracy.
• Real-time shipment visibility: Connected carriers and logistics teams to provide earlier visibility into incoming shipments and potential issues.
• Proactive monitoring: Automated monitoring and notifications alerted teams to exceptions before they escalated into delays.
• Intelligent exception handling: Automated error identification and resolution workflows reduced manual intervention and operational firefighting.
• Scalable architecture: The extensible design supports onboarding of additional countries and transportation modes as the business expands.

This automated shipment processing model shifted customs operations from manual filing and reactive intervention to proactive, exception-based management. Logistics teams gained earlier visibility and greater control, while the business reduced the cost and disruption associated with shipment errors.

Business Outcomes

The transformation improved both operational control and shipment reliability.

• 80% lower manual monitoring effort: Freed logistics resources from repetitive shipment tracking and intervention.
• 95% on-time filing: Improved from 35%, reducing missed deadlines and shipment disruptions.
• Near-100% ISF generation accuracy: Reduced customs filing errors through automated processing.
• Up to $5,000 saved per incident: Eliminated penalties associated with late or missed filings.
• Early issue resolution: Proactive monitoring enabled teams to address exceptions before they escalated.
• Greater shipment visibility: Clear ownership and real-time status improved control across the shipment lifecycle.
• Scalable operations: The cloud-native architecture supports expansion across countries and transportation modes.
• Improved delivery reliability: Fewer filing errors and delays helped create a more predictable flow of products through the logistics network.

Conclusion

LTM helped the client move customs operations from reactive exception management to a proactive, automated capability. The AWS-based foundation gives logistics teams greater control over increasingly complex shipment flows while reducing dependence on manual intervention. As the business expands across markets and transportation modes, the architecture provides a foundation to automate more customs processes, strengthen shipment intelligence, and support increasingly connected supply chain operations.