Delivery delays can be caused by many factors, including bad weather, technical issues, routing errors, or overloaded logistics services.

This case shows how configuring flexible delivery time slots in web and mobile applications helped our client speed up operations and reduce risks. The case we share in this article may be useful for companies looking to ease pressure on logistics and improve customer experience.

The Problem: Unbalanced Logistics Load

A large food supplier approached us with a challenge: most customer orders were concentrated in the morning and evening hours. This created uneven pressure on the logistics system and led to periodic service disruptions. As a result, customer satisfaction suffered and reputational risks increased.

Our goals were to:

• Reduce peak delivery load during morning and evening hours.
• Shift part of the demand to daytime slots.
• Maintain control over courier service capacity

After analyzing the client’s processes, our team proposed a more flexible approach to organizing deliveries.

A Flexible Logistics Solution

Traditional delivery models with fixed time slots (for example, two-hour windows) often fail under uneven demand. The client already used automatic slot closures when capacity limits were reached, but this approach lacked flexibility.

UPlineSoft introduced an adaptive delivery model:

• Configurable time slots: customers could select delivery times with smaller step adjustments, helping distribute orders more evenly within each interval.
• Flexible boundaries: users defined preferred start and end times within an allowed minimum window (two hours).
• Dynamic load distribution: overloaded morning and evening slots were closed dynamically, encouraging customers to choose daytime delivery.

This approach met the client’s requirements. Closing peak-hour slots redirected demand to daytime periods, while flexible slot duration and step settings allowed precise control over delivery capacity.

Key Technical Considerations

• Most changes were implemented on the backend due to dependencies on a legacy system.
• Support for older versions of mobile applications was preserved.
• A conversion mechanism was introduced to transform old delivery intervals into the new format to maintain API compatibility.

Implementation Approach

The user interface was built around a horizontal timeline, allowing customers to select delivery intervals using sliders. If a chosen slot was unavailable, the system automatically suggested the closest available alternative.

On the logistics side, the solution was integrated with regional delivery rules. A dedicated module was developed to calculate and control the number of orders assigned to each time interval.

The rollout was gradual: first launched on the website, then extended to mobile applications. This phased approach helped minimize risks and ensure stability.

Results

The implementation led to measurable improvements:

• More balanced logistics workload and reduced peak demand.
• Improved efficiency for logistics teams and customer support through detailed capacity control.

The solution proved to be universal and can be applied in other industries with similar challenges, such as managing food preparation times in restaurants or organizing hourly vehicle rentals.

Flexible time slots are an effective way to increase operational efficiency across a wide range of business domains.