The Three Steps Between Packing and Departure

A packed and labelled carton sitting at the end of the packing station is ready for shipment in the operational sense, but three important steps remain before the truck can be sealed and dispatched:

1. Weighing — capture actual carton weight for freight billing accuracy
2. Manifesting — formally close the shipment and generate the carrier handover document
3. Loading — scan cartons onto the correct truck at the correct dock door, then generate the Bill of Lading

Each step creates records that travel with the shipment and form the basis for freight billing, compliance documentation, and proof of dispatch. Each step also has a clear owner: weighing is often done at or immediately after the packing station; manifesting is managed by the supervisor or Back Office; loading is executed by the loading team under dock supervision.

Step 1: Weighing

Weighing in eWAVE is optional but commercially significant. When a carton is weighed before manifesting, the actual weight is recorded against the carton record and fed into the freight cost calculation. For carriers that charge based on actual weight — rather than dimensional weight or a declared default — capturing accurate weights prevents the costly weight adjustments that carriers apply when shipments are heavier than declared.

1. Navigate to Weighing on the mobile device or desktop The weighing screen is accessible from the Outbound menu. It displays all cartons in the current wave that have reached Packed status and are awaiting weighing.
2. Scan the carton barcode The operator places the carton on the scale and scans its barcode. The system identifies the carton and its associated order.
3. Enter the scale reading Type the weight displayed on the scale into the weight field on screen. Some operations integrate digital scales directly via USB or serial — in this mode, tapping "Read Scale" pulls the weight automatically without manual entry. The actual weight field is populated and cannot be changed after confirmation (to maintain weight audit integrity).
4. Confirm — carton advances to Weighed status The system records the weight, updates the freight cost calculation if rating is configured, and advances the carton status. The carton is now ready for manifesting.

Step 2: Manifesting

Manifesting is the process of formally closing the shipment and generating the carrier's collection document. In eWAVE, the Ship and Manifest wizard performs this as a single operation:

1. Open the Manifest wizard Navigate to Outbound → Manifests → New Manifest, or use the "Manifest" action from the wave record. The wizard groups Weighed cartons by their assigned Ship Via (carrier and service level).
2. Select the carrier and cartons for this manifest session Choose the Ship Via for this manifest session (e.g., "FedEx Priority Overnight"). The wizard displays all cartons assigned to this carrier that are ready to be manifested — their packed and weighed status is confirmed before they appear here.
3. Run the manifest Click "Generate Manifest." The system closes the shipment records for all selected cartons, generates the manifest document (the carrier's end-of-day handover list), and prints any remaining labels that need to be added at manifest time (such as carrier-specific additional barcodes or tracking labels).
4. Hand the manifest to the carrier driver The manifest document lists all packages collected during the session, including tracking numbers and declared weights. The driver signs the manifest as proof of collection. eWAVE records the signature timestamp and the manifest is sealed — no further changes can be made to manifested cartons.

The Three-Level Transport Hierarchy

eWAVE organises outbound shipments into a three-level hierarchy that manages the complexity of multi-carrier, multi-truck operations at a single facility:

Step 3: Loading and Bill of Lading

The Load in eWAVE represents a physical truck or trailer assigned to a specific dock door. Loading is the process of scanning each carton onto the correct load as it is physically placed on the truck.

1. Create or open a Load record Navigate to Transportation → Loads → New Load. Assign the load to a dock door, a truck or trailer number, and an expected departure time. The load can be created earlier in the day in preparation for the afternoon truck arrival.
2. Assign manifests to the load Link one or more manifests to the load. Each manifest represents a carrier's collection for this truck. A load can carry multiple carriers' freight simultaneously (common for LTL consolidation trucks that collect from multiple shippers).
3. Advance the load to "At Dock" status When the truck physically arrives at the dock door, the supervisor advances the load to At Dock status. This signals to the loading team that they can begin scanning cartons.
4. Scan cartons onto the load from the mobile device The loading operator opens the load on their mobile screen. For each carton placed on the truck, they scan the carton barcode. The system confirms: "Carton CTN-00847 — Shipment S-00312 — FedEx Priority — OK." If a carton is scanned that belongs to a different load or is not yet manifested, the system immediately alerts the operator — preventing a wrong-carrier error before the truck departs.
5. Complete and close the load When all expected cartons have been scanned onto the load, the supervisor advances it to Complete status and then Closes it. Load closure triggers automatic Bill of Lading generation, advances all contained orders to Shipped status, and transmits the EDI advance shipment notice to the carrier's systems.

The Bill of Lading

The Bill of Lading (BOL) is the official freight document that accompanies the driver. It is generated automatically when the load is closed and contains:

Load Lifecycle

EDI Transmission and Carrier Notification

When the load is closed and the BOL is generated, eWAVE transmits the electronic advance shipment notice (EDI 856 or carrier-specific API call) to the carrier's systems. This transmission:

• Activates tracking on the carrier's side — the customer can receive tracking numbers and live delivery estimates immediately
• Initiates the carrier's billing process — the declared weights and carton counts are pre-lodged with the carrier before the driver reaches their first depot
• Creates a manifest reconciliation record for the carrier's end-of-day processing — reducing the chance of billing disputes caused by missing manifests

Invoicing and Financial Close

After the load departs, the invoicing cycle begins. For operations integrated with Odoo's accounting module, the shipment event automatically triggers invoice creation — linking the physical act of dispatch directly to the financial obligation:

1. The order status advances from Shipped to Invoiced as the accounting module processes the shipment record.
2. An Odoo invoice is generated using the order's pricing, quantity, and shipping charge data. No manual re-entry of order lines is required.
3. The freight charge (calculated during the routing step from the carrier's rate table) can be added to the invoice as a separate line item or included in the product pricing depending on your commercial terms.
4. The invoice is sent to the customer via email or posted to their customer portal — all within the same Odoo platform.

The Audit Trail — Your Competitive Advantage

Every step described in this episode — and every step in the previous ten — creates a record in eWAVE's transaction log. This auditability is one of the system's most operationally valuable features:

That level of transparency is what transforms a warehouse from a cost centre into a competitive advantage. The ability to answer these questions instantly — without spreadsheet searches, phone calls, or paper document retrieval — is the operational dividend that the entire eWAVE system delivers, one transaction at a time.