The 4-Table Airtable Architecture That Runs a $2M Trucking Operation

The Problem: Enterprise TMS for a 12-Truck Operation

Beaver Pumice runs a specialized trucking operation — 12 trucks moving volcanic rock from quarries to construction sites across the Pacific Northwest. They were using a TMS (Transportation Management System) that was built for companies with 500+ trucks.

The software cost $4,200/month. It required 3 days of training just to create a load. And half the features — cross-docking, intermodal routing, LTL consolidation — were completely irrelevant to their business.

What they actually needed:

• Track which truck is carrying which load
• Know where drivers are and when they'll arrive
• Generate invoices when loads are delivered
• See everything on one screen

That's it. Four requirements. The $50K/year TMS was a sledgehammer for a finishing nail.

The Solution: 4 Tables That Do Everything

We built the entire system in Airtable with just 4 linked tables. Here's the architecture:

Table 1: Loads (The Heart of the System)

Every load gets a record. This is where all the action happens.

Table 2: Drivers

Simple roster of who's available and their current status.

Table 3: Trucks

Table 4: Customers

The 3 Automations That Make It Work

The tables are just data. The automations make it a system.

Automation 1: Load Assignment Notification

Trigger: When Load status changes to "Assigned"

Action: Send SMS to Driver with pickup details

New Load Assigned: {Load ID}
Pickup: {Pickup Location}
Time: {Pickup Time}
Customer: {Customer}
Delivery: {Delivery Location}

Reply CONFIRM when loaded.

Automation 2: Status Update Chain

Trigger: When Load status changes to "Delivered"

Actions:

• Set Driver status to "Available"
• Set Truck status to "Active" (not on a load)
• Log delivery timestamp
• Send delivery confirmation to Customer

Automation 3: Weekly Invoice Generation

Trigger: Every Monday at 8am

Action: For each Customer, generate PDF invoice of all "Delivered" loads from previous week, email to customer, mark loads as "Invoiced"

The Dashboard View

The owner wanted to see everything on one screen. We built a Kanban view grouped by Load Status:

• Pending: Loads that need to be assigned
• Assigned: Loads with a driver, waiting for pickup
• In Transit: Currently moving
• Delivered: Waiting for invoicing
• Invoiced: Done, awaiting payment

Drag a card from "Pending" to "Assigned" → assign a driver → automation sends SMS. That's it.

What We'd Build Next

After 6 months of running this system, here's what we'd add for a V2:

• GPS integration: Pull real-time truck locations into the Trucks table
• Driver mobile app: Let drivers update status from their phone instead of SMS
• Rate calculator: Auto-calculate rates based on distance + weight + fuel surcharge
• Maintenance tracking: Add service intervals and alerts to Trucks table

But here's the thing — the current 4-table system handles $2M in annual freight. Sometimes simple is enough.

When NOT to Use This Approach

This architecture works for small-to-medium trucking operations. It probably doesn't work if:

• You have 50+ trucks (need more robust scheduling)
• You do LTL or intermodal (complex routing)
• You need real-time ELD integration (compliance requirements)
• You have multiple dispatchers working simultaneously (concurrency issues)

For those cases, you probably do need a real TMS. But for a 12-truck operation moving one type of freight? Airtable is plenty.