For importers with recurring overseas purchases
Hyperintelligent PO Management. From placement to delivery.
Flowtor coordinates international purchase orders moving by air and sea, LCL and FCL. Each order becomes one record with its shipping orders, shipments, milestones and documents. Purchase orders can come in as PDF files: Flowtor structures them, and a person on your team approves each one before it goes live.
Works alongside your ERP, spreadsheets and email: the ERP owns the purchase order, Flowtor coordinates the operational work around it. You start with agreed tasks and decide which updates and actions need approval. What hyperintelligent means
- Order placed: PO 4500-0183 for 1,200 cartons in three lines.
- Supplier confirmed the quantities and a cargo ready date of 3 October, by email.
- A supplier email reports a revised cargo ready date of 10 October. Flowtor connects it to the order and proposes an update (in development).
- The packing list is identified as missing, due 9 October, and a follow-up to the supplier is prepared (in development).
- A person on your team approves the proposed date change, and the packing list is received.
- PO goods loaded into container SMPU 123456-7: 1,200 of 1,200 cartons, confirmed by the warehouse.
- The vessel departed Ningbo on 14 October, according to a forwarder update. The shipment is in transit.
- The vessel arrived in Hamburg on 18 November. Onward delivery is still pending.
- Delivery of 1,200 cartons is confirmed on 21 November and the order journey closes.
purchase order management noun
The coordination of a purchase order from placement with a supplier to delivery at the required destination: each order line and quantity, progress against agreed requirements, and the suppliers, logistics partners and teams involved.
What it involvesThe problem
Your systems hold the status. The real work happens in email.
Between placing an order and receiving the goods there are confirmations, production updates, cargo ready dates, bookings, documents and changes. Most of it is agreed in mail threads, calls and spreadsheets, and problems are often found when they are already expensive.
The purchase order at the centre
One journey, from placement to delivery, by air and sea
Flowtor is designed for air and sea freight, LCL and FCL. So far, the full order journey has been shown with sea freight, FCL; air freight and LCL are under validation. Shipping orders, shipments and documents link back to the purchase orders they belong to, so every update is read in the context of its order.
- Order placed PO and lines structured
- Supplier confirms Quantities, dates, changes
- Production and readiness Cargo ready dates tracked
- Booking Air or sea, LCL or FCL
- In transit Documents and milestones
- Arrival and delivery Closed with a clear history
Try it with a sample order: PO-4500182
Consolidation is one benefit, not the whole story. When orders from several suppliers can travel together, Flowtor shows the candidates and people decide. The bigger gain comes from coordinating the whole order flow well.
Hyperintelligent PO Management
Beyond visibility. Towards understanding.
Traditional systems show the status of an order. Flowtor connects the operational information around it, understands the context, and helps your team determine the next action. Hyperintelligent is our name for that way of working: four principles that guide what we build. The example shows which parts work today and which are in development.
Purchase orders are structured from PDF today. Linking the supplier's email and the forwarder's booking to the order is in development.
“Goods will be ready one week later, on 10 October.”
Matching a date in an email to the right milestone, with the email as evidence, is shown in internal demonstrations. Checking it against the booked sailing is in development.
Required documents are tracked per shipping order, so a missing packing list is visible in the order record. Deadline-based reminders are in development.
Nothing changes in the order and nothing is sent until a person on your team decides.
Intelligence where it matters. Human control where it counts.
Flowtor prepares information and proposals with the source behind them, and a person on your team decides. Rule-based automation within boundaries you set is in development.
Where AI is used
Operational work, not only visibility
Today, AI is used in one place: reading purchase order files. Everything it prepares goes to a person on your team first. Other parts of the order record are structured data, not AI.
AI reads purchase orders
AI reads purchase orders from PDF files and prepares draft orders with their lines and a confidence score. A person checks each draft and approves it before it becomes a live order.
Documents tracked, without AI
A structured record, not AI: required documents are listed per shipping order, so missing ones are visible in the order record. Checks against milestone deadlines are in development.
AI for emails and follow-ups, next
Linking supplier emails to orders, with proposed updates, and drafting follow-ups for a person to send are in development. Today, your team records updates and sends messages itself.
Illustrative workflow using sample data.
You decide what needs approval
Today, every purchase order created from a file is approved by a person before it goes live, and your team decides on consolidation proposals. As further workflows become available, you decide which updates and actions go to a person first, such as a message to a supplier.
Suppliers and partners
Supplier access, under validation
Invited suppliers are to see only their own purchase orders, confirmations and dates. We are verifying this end to end before we offer it. Taking part by email and through links without a login, and shared views for forwarders, are in development.
Gradual adoption
Start small, then hand over more
- Agree where to start. An agreed first step for a defined use case, or an Operations Scan when you first need a clear picture of how the order flow runs.
- Begin with agreed tasks. Flowtor runs alongside your existing systems for a defined scope.
- Hand over more as confidence grows. Review results, then extend to more orders, partners and tasks.
Built from operational reality
Flowtor exists because the work between placing an international purchase order and receiving the goods is still largely coordinated by hand.
Jens Ehne Founder. More than 15 years in international order management, freight forwarding and implementation across Europe and Asia.
Not an importer?
Freight forwarders
Turn operational expertise into new services
Organised shipment communication, an Operations Scan, or order management for your clients.
For forwardersConsultancies
Bring recommendations into daily operation
For purchasing and inbound logistics projects with a concrete scope.
For partnersSuppliers and exporters
Let your customers track their orders
Your customers enter the PO number and see status, milestones, ports and ship window, without an account.
PO trackingTalk about your order flow
Discuss a defined use case and an agreed first step, or see the product in a guided demonstration. If you first need a clear picture of how the order flow runs today, we recommend starting with an Operations Scan.