{"id":5673,"date":"2025-08-20T09:15:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T09:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.qargo.com\/?post_type=case&p=5673"},"modified":"2025-09-01T18:41:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:41:40","slug":"cs-ellis-logistics","status":"publish","type":"case","link":"https:\/\/www.qargo.com\/cases\/cs-ellis-logistics\/","title":{"rendered":"CS Ellis Logistics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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We turned on the AI order entry and within six jobs, two to three hours of daily admin just disappeared.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Steve Gray, Managing Director, CS Ellis<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About CS Ellis Logistics<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

CS Ellis is a fourth-generation, family-run 3PL based in the East Midlands. Founded in  1933, with over 90 years of experience, the business offers a full suite of warehousing and transport services, from ambient pallet storage to full-truck load UK distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CS Ellis were early adopters of Palletline, a long-standing Transport Association member, and are BRCGS-AA accredited. Their fleet of 60 vehicles is supported by 31,000 centrally located pallet spaces, a strong subcontractor network, and a hands-on, customer first focussed team of  170 employees<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the scale, CS Ellis remains proudly personal in its approach. \u201cWe\u2019re big enough to cope, small enough to care, keep our promises  and always in it for the long term,\u201d said Steve, Managing Director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"CS<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How they found Qargo<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CS Ellis had been long-time users of their previous TMS but the system hadn\u2019t evolved in over a decade & coupled with a frustrating customer service experience following its acquisition prompted the team to look elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were promised a lot, delivered very little, and then told the system would be shut off in 12 months,\u201d said Steve. \u201cWe knew we had to move, and we weren\u2019t going to be forced into a corner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team evaluated several systems  & while Qargo wasn\u2019t the only one they liked, it was the only one that felt like a true partnership. \u201cWe weren\u2019t just buying software. We were helping build something fit for real operations,\u201d said Steve. \u201cThat\u2019s what sold it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As one of Qargo\u2019s early adopters in the UK, CS Ellis played a hands-on role in shaping the platform, and brought valuable insight from their experience in both transport operations and overall network collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want transactional relationships. We want long-term partnerships, with our customers and our suppliers.\u201d <\/strong>\u2014 Steve, MD, CS Ellis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onboarding<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The business went live with Qargo in July 2024, rolling out across both its Rutland HQ and Leicester depot in parallel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working closely with Qargo\u2019s onboarding team, they took a \u201creplicate first, innovate later\u201d approach, matching their old workflows in Qargo before introducing new features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That approach paid off. \u201cIt was pretty seamless,\u201d said Steve. \u201cWe planned for a few teething issues, but we were up and running within a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key driver of the project was Richie, their IT Manager, who led onboarding not as an IT project, but as an operations one. \u201cHe spent time with planners, understood the day-to-day, and rolled things out with their input, not from a distance,\u201d said Steve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Like many traditional transport & logistics businesses, CS Ellis relied on a TMS that hadn\u2019t kept up with the pace of change in the industry. The interface hadn\u2019t moved beyond an Excel-style layout, and staff were spending hours each day entering orders and processing invoices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The business was also looking for smarter ways to collaborate across its networks, including Palletline and The Hazchem Network,<\/a> along with fellow members of the Transport Association, and preferred subcontractors with great and long-standing relationships like Anglia Freight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wanted to move away from a model where everything had to go through a central hub or involve endless admin. We wanted a smarter, more scalable way to work with trusted partners,\u201d said Steve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once up and running, CS Ellis began unlocking Qargo\u2019s<\/a> full capabilities, especially its AI-powered features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Order entry via PDF went from a two-hour daily task to near-instant processing. That time was quickly reinvested into more valuable work. \u201cCreating an order is no fun for anybody, is it?\u201d Steve added. \u201cPut that out as a job spec and I doubt you’ll get many people apply for it. So the mundane side of things is definitely something Qargo has helped with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Invoicing has also been transformed. Thanks to the Xero to Qargo integration<\/a>, what used to take a day and a half now takes just half a day. Giving a long-serving staff member the flexibility to move to part-time hours without adding pressure on the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team also use Qargo to allocate loads to their preferred subcontractors directly through  the platform,  eliminating manual calls, emails and order duplication. \u201cNow it\u2019s just click, assign, done,\u201d said Steve. Qargo\u2019s network functionality has opened the door to more collaboration between like-minded operators to share work without the added costs or overheads of a traditional pallet network. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Integrations<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To keep operations efficient and connected, CS Ellis has integrated Qargo with key systems across transport, finance and planning, with more functionality on the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n