GovTech infrastructure
A joint national initiative between the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu RI), the Indonesian Container Depot Association (ASDEKI), and Lacak.io. Tasked under Presidential Instruction (Inpres No. 5/2020) to cut Indonesia's 23.5% GDP logistics overhead, this project targeted the single largest operational bottleneck: unlocking $98M+ (IDR 1.46T) in trapped capital by eliminating 30-minute manual gate queues at port container depots.
CONTEXT & SCOPE
Unlocking $98M+ in trapped working capital
At 23.5% of GDP, logistics friction was a massive national capital drag. Commissioned by the Ministry of Finance to reclaim supply chain waste, we zeroed in on physical gate and cashier bottlenecks choking working capital across primary transport corridors.
Gate-in bottleneck: 20 mins / truck ($65M annual loss)
Drivers parked on active terminal shoulders, exited high cabins into moving traffic, and queued at physical windows to settle terminal handling charges (THC) and manually verify paper Delivery Orders (SP2). This alone drained $65M (IDR 975B) annually.
FIELD AUDIT: JAKARTA INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER TERMINAL
Time-motion documentation of physical driver queues and highway gridlock
Gate-out latency: 10 mins
Drivers queued a second time at exit counters for cashier receipt audits and stamped Equipment Interchange Receipts (EIR Out), burning $27M (IDR 402B) in lost throughput.
Inspection disputes: $5.7M
Unverified box conditions triggered costly damage disputes between cargo owners and port depots, adding $5.7M (IDR 85B) in annual operational friction.
BEHAVIORAL DYNAMICS
Dual-layer personas: field surveyors vs. fleet truck drivers
Logistics software fails when built for air-conditioned offices. We designed for the physical reality of depot yard conditions.
Primary user — field surveyors (gate tally officers)
• Environment: Stands on hot asphalt under blinding tropical sun, amidst tire dust and non-stop diesel roar.
• Mental Model: Under intense pressure to clear long truck queues. Rejects nested menus and long forms.
• Behavioral Vulnerability: Prone to transcription errors when typing 11-digit ISO container codes under heavy screen glare.
Core Need: 3-second camera OCR, high-contrast outdoor inputs, single-thumb tapping.
Beneficiary — fleet truck drivers (depot logistics)
• Environment: Heavy container trailer cabin, navigating narrow port access roads.
• Mental Model: Driven entirely by turnaround speed and route safety.
• Behavioral Vulnerability: Faces severe fall hazards when jumping down from 2-meter cabins into moving terminal traffic.
Core Need: 100% in-cab stay, instant digital gate-in, and Bluetooth thermal pass handoff.
KEY DECISIONS
Fixed infrastructure kiosks vs. Android field mobility
Deploying physical kiosk pillars across container depot lanes was proposed, but rejected due to heavy operational constraints.
Direction rejected: specialized in-gate kiosks
Installing physical touchscreen pillars at every lane required multi-billion Rupiah civil construction, tender delays exceeding 8 months, and constant sensor breakdown caused by heavy trailer vibration and port dust.
Drawbacks: 8+ Months Procurement • High Maintenance Costs • Fragile Touch Sensors
Direction selected: native Android field mobility
Equipped field surveyors with handheld Android apps leveraging default system ergonomics. Officers inspect trucks directly at the cab window while traffic moves, eliminating physical infrastructure bottlenecks entirely.
Benefits: Rapid National Rollout • Zero Civil Construction • Intuitive for Field Workers
WHAT WE GOT WRONG
The sunlight glare & 11-digit input breakdown
Our initial prototype relied on manual digital forms with virtual numpads. Field testing revealed immediate operational breakdown.
Initial assumption vs. harsh field reality
We assumed field officers could quickly type the 11-character container number using an on-screen numpad. We were wrong.
In full tropical glare, field officers had to squint and shade their screens. Heavy yard vibration and sweaty, dusty fingers led to an error rate over 25% on 11-digit inputs. Gate queues backed up as officers repeatedly re-typed rejected serials.
The Iterative Fix: We eliminated manual typing. We implemented ISO 6346 Computer Vision OCR. The officer simply points the camera at the container's rear text for 3 seconds. The bounding box locks onto the serial number and automatically populates manifest data from the central server.
FIGMA: CAMERA OCR SCAN (ISO 6346 BOUNDING BOX)
3-second viewfinder locking onto container rear code with quick manual correction modal
ACTION • PROCESS TRANSFORMATION
Collapsing the 30-minute gate bottleneck: before vs. after
Field observation across Tanjung Priok terminal hubs mapped two distinct bottlenecks, collapsing a 30-minute ordeal into an in-cab handheld workflow.
Old experience
Legacy Flow: 30 Mins / Truck (Heavy Manual Drop-Off • Severe Safety Hazard)
Start
→
Safety Hazard
Driver Exits Cab
Climbs into busy traffic
→
20m Delay
Gate-In Queues
Paper SP2 check ($65M loss)
→
Yard Ops
Crane Load / Drop
Containers stacked in yard
→
10m Delay
Gate-Out Counters
Carbon EIR stamp ($26.8M)
→
30 Mins Total
Swipe or scroll horizontally to follow the flow.
New experience
NLE Connect Flow: 2.5 Mins Total (100% In-Cab Stay • < 3 Mins Target)
Start
→
Safe
100% In-Cab Stay
Block slot given in-cab
→
< 1.5m
Gate-In OCR
3s scan & autofill
→
Yard Sync
Crane Load / Drop
Digital manifest sync
→
< 1m
Gate-Out e-TID
Instant thermal print
→
2.5 Mins Total
Swipe or scroll horizontally to follow the flow.
ACTION • DEEP ARCHITECTURE
Core mobile interfaces & field ergonomics
Engineered for non-tech-savvy personnel: leveraging 3-second camera OCR, outdoor-readable Android patterns, and offline yard caching to eliminate operational failure.
Camera OCR scan (ISO 6346 detection)
The officer points the camera at the container's rear text. In 3 seconds, the bounding box locks onto the ISO number with an on-screen modal for quick manual corrections using thumb touch controls.
FIGMA: ANDROID NATIVE OCR VIEWFINDER
ISO 6346 text capture with tap-to-focus and manual correction prompt
Detail form & manifest autofill
Once captured, the system pulls manifest data from the central database, automatically populating trucker plate, shipping company (e.g. PT Asianagro), consignee (e.g. Indomaret), and container dimensions.
FIGMA: MANIFEST AUTOFILL ENGINE
Auto-populated field form removing manual typing entirely
Fast-path inspection vs. damage photo proof
Clean containers pass with a single tap on "Clean: Yes". If dents, tears, or broken seals are detected, the app activates the camera to capture timestamped photo evidence, eliminating multi-million Rupiah damage disputes.
FIGMA: DAMAGE PHOTO TIMESTAMP PROTOCOL
In-app camera evidence mode with legal metadata timestamp lock
Offline draft resilience & thermal e-TID
Depot yard zones often lose cellular reception between stacked steel containers. Personnel can tap "Draft" to save locally, syncing once back online. Instant Bluetooth connectivity to belt-worn thermal printers hands the driver their e-TID receipt.
FIGMA: BLUETOOTH THERMAL e-TID PRINT PASS
Success submit confirmation and immediate thermal receipt print modal
ACTION • DEFENSIVE DESIGN
Defensive design for depot realities
Field operations demand defensive state handling to ensure truck lanes never stall during network or physical edge cases.
If signal drops inside container stacks
Local Draft Caching: Officers tap "Draft" to store complete inspections in offline device storage, resuming inspections without blocking lanes or losing progress.
If container numbers are faded / muddy
Tap-to-Select OCR Focus: Officers can use finger gestures directly over the camera feed to isolate readable character clusters, backed by rapid manual keyboard override.
If cargo carriers dispute box damage
Cryptographic Timestamp Watermarks: In-app camera evidence embeds non-editable time, location, and inspector ID directly onto photos, resolving claims legally.
If driver requires physical paper proof
Belt-Worn Thermal Pairing: Immediate Bluetooth print trigger generates the e-TID slip at the truck window without the driver leaving the cab.
RESULTS
Verified national outcomes
Official government audit documented an immediate 33.48% reduction in storage and inspection costs, delivering verified direct economic value back to port operators, trucking fleets, and cargo owners.
$12.75M
Direct cost savings
Rp 191.32B saved across port users (March 2023 Audit).
-92%
Gate latency cut
Slashed from 30 mins down to 2.4 mins per truck.
-33.48%
Storage & inspection
Direct cost reduction across port depot users.
7.2M+
Annual TEUs scale
National annual container throughput capacity.
National macro mandate achieved
Helped fulfill the presidential directive (Inpres No. 5/2020) by digitizing depot gate transactions, reclaiming millions in supply chain waste across primary transport corridors.
Field ergonomics at national scale
Proved ability to design mission-critical infrastructure for non-tech-savvy personnel—leveraging 3-second camera OCR, outdoor-readable Android patterns, and offline yard caching to eliminate operational failure.
REFLECTION
The principle I took from this project
"Designing for heavy field logistics is not about clean white space or delicate gestures; it is about respecting the physical fatigue of field officers under the sun and the safety of truckers in the lane. When a design saves 27 minutes per truck and removes the need to step into heavy traffic, usability becomes an operational safety shield."
