Concrete e-ticketing: digital delivery tickets from order to invoice

Why producers are moving away from paper tickets

A paper ticket is printed at the plant, handed to the driver, signed on site, carried back in the cab and eventually typed into the invoicing system. Every step is a chance for it to get lost, become unreadable or arrive weeks late, and disputes about quantities, times or water added are hard to settle without it.

Public road agencies in the United States are pushing the same change. The Federal Highway Administration promoted e-Ticketing for construction materials, including portland cement concrete, asphalt and aggregates, through its Every Day Counts round six (EDC-6) programme, and several state DOTs have piloted or adopted it.

In Europe there is no single e-ticketing mandate for ready-mix, but customers, main contractors and auditors increasingly expect delivery notes in digital form that can be searched and matched to orders and invoices.

What goes on a concrete delivery ticket

The exact list depends on the standard and edition your contract cites, such as ASTM C94 in the United States or EN 206 and its national annexes in Europe. Typical information includes:

• Supplier and plant name, ticket serial number and date
• Truck number and driver
• Customer, project or job name and delivery address
• Concrete designation: strength class, exposure class, consistence and other specified properties
• Quantity delivered (m³ or yd³) and the order or specification reference
• Time of loading, and arrival and discharge times on site
• Water or admixtures added on site, with the name of the person who authorised it

Check the current edition of the standard and your contract for the binding list. Linkoper's product questions let you capture the properties your customers must specify, so they end up on the order and the delivery documents.

How e-ticketing works in Linkoper

1. 1. The order carries the details

   Customers or your team place the order with the product questions you configure, such as strength class, exposure class and consistence, plus site, quantity and delivery window.

2. 2. Each load becomes a delivery

   Approved orders are planned into truck-sized deliveries, each assigned to a truck and driver, so every load has its own record.

3. 3. The delivery note is generated

   Delivery notes are created from your own document template using the order and delivery data, as PDF, and linked to the delivery. The same applies to order confirmations, quotations and invoices.

4. 4. The driver updates the delivery

   In the mobile app the driver updates the status at each step, shares location and attaches delivery documents, so the office sees what was delivered and when.

5. 5. The customer has the documents

   Customers see delivery progress and their documents in the portal, and documents can also be sent by email.

6. 6. Invoicing and reconciliation use the same data

   Invoices are created from what was actually delivered, and the end-of-day reconciliation compares delivered and returned quantities.

What changes when tickets go digital

Moving from paper to digital tickets

Most producers switch in a few weeks without changing how drivers and customers work on day one.

1. 1

   Agree the ticket content

   List the fields your customers and the applicable standard require, and set up your delivery note template with your logo and layout. Configure the product questions so those properties are captured on every order.

2. 2

   Run digital and paper side by side

   For the first weeks drivers can still carry a printed copy while every delivery also gets its digital delivery note. This builds trust with customers and gives the office a fallback.

3. 3

   Invite customers to the portal

   Start with regular customers and their accounts teams. Once they find their delivery documents in the portal, they stop asking for copies by email or phone.

4. 4

   Invoice from delivery data

   When delivered quantities flow straight into invoices, retyping from returned tickets stops, and the end-of-day reconciliation shows any differences between delivered and returned quantities.

Questions about concrete e-ticketing

What is the difference between a delivery note and a delivery ticket?

In ready-mix they are usually the same document: the record that travels with a truckload and states what was delivered, where and when. In Linkoper it is the delivery note, generated from the order and delivery data.

Does Linkoper replace paper delivery tickets completely?

Linkoper generates the delivery note digitally, links it to the delivery and makes it available to the office, the driver and the customer. Whether you still print a copy for the site depends on your customers and contracts.

Can drivers add documents on site?

Yes. Drivers attach delivery documents in the mobile app, together with status updates and their location, so the office does not have to wait for paper to come back.

Can customers access their delivery tickets?

Yes. Customers see delivery progress and their order and delivery documents in the customer portal, and documents can be sent by email.

Can I use my own ticket layout?

Yes. Documents are generated from templates, so the delivery note can carry your logo, your fields and the properties your customers specify when ordering.

Does e-ticketing help with invoicing?

Yes. Invoices are created from the delivered quantities on each delivery instead of being retyped from paper tickets, and the end-of-day reconciliation shows delivered and returned quantities.

Is e-ticketing required by law?

It depends on the market and the customer. In the United States several state DOTs have piloted or adopted e-Ticketing for construction materials. In Europe digital delivery notes are mostly driven by customers, contractors and audits rather than one mandate.

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