magazine - Dachser

EDITION 1/2015
magazine
THE WORLD OF INTELLIGENT LOGISTICS
ON COURSE
FOR THE FUTURE
STRATEGIES FOR BUSINESSES
IN THE PROCESS
OF TRANSFORMATION
NORTHEAST EUROPE
FRESH BREEZE FROM FINLAND
AND THE BALTIC
AIR & SEA
CONTRACT LOGISTICS
FOR EAST ASIA
NUMBERS THAT COUNT
DRUM BEAT,
WING BEAT,
HEARTBEAT
Information is everything, but not everything is information.
It depends on how and how fast it arrives.
101 years
water before it was fished out of the
8 characters
per minute
Baltic Sea in 2014. The bottle went
can be communicated by Native Americans through
into the water in Kiel and included a postcard and
smoke signals. Reach is up to 20 kilometers—provided
stamps so that the message could be returned to him.
the weather is good.
is how long a message in a bottle sent
by a man from Berlin was in the
100 km/h
is the speed that a well-trained
carrier pigeon can
achieve. If a USB stick
16 kilograms
is what the first documented car phone
weighed. It was installed in 1952 in a Bremen
taxi, was as large as a suitcase, and—at
DM 15,000—was three times more expensive
with a capacity of several giga-
than a VW Beetle. These days, the lightest
bytes is attached to its feet,
mobile phones weigh just 35 grams.
the carrier pigeon’s speed
is often faster than the Internet
across short distances.
7.2 terabits
per second
1,235 km/h
were transmitted in August 2014
is the speed of sound at low
between the USA and France.
humidity and a temperature of
The amount of data transmitted
20 degrees Celsius. Drums have been
by “Apollo South” across a distance of 6,500 kilometers
used to send urgent news for millennia, and the
beats the performance of conventional underwater cables
natives of Papua New Guinea still use them today.
by a factor of three.
by underwater fiber optics cables
618,725 tweets per minute
was the peak transmission rate on Twitter during the finale of the Argentina-Germany match
during the FIFA World Cup championship. A world record. During the final game, Facebook recorded
280 million interactions.
02
DACHSER magazine
CONTENTS
TITLE STORY
On course for the future:
Strategies that make enterprises
more agile and process-oriented
04
FORUM
People and Markets:
Outlook toward transport logistic 2015
and standards for safe and secure IT systems
Essay: Pretty darn convenient—
everything that makes life easier
10
14
04
EXPERTISE
A direct connection: warehousing
Careers in logistics: Incoming goods
management Food Logistics
Air & Sea: Contract logistics services
for Asia-Pacific
16
20
22
NETWORK
Network Expertise:
News from the Dachser World
Finland and the Baltic States:
momentum for Northern Europe
16
26
28
BUSINESS LOUNGE
Motivation: Bernhard Simon speaks
with the behavioral economics expert
Kishor H. Sridhar
32
GOOD NEWS
Off to Munich: From Sugarloaf Mountain
to the trade fair
20
35
F
Further information
can be found in our
DACHSER eLetter.
28
Publishing information
Published by: DACHSER SE, Thomas-Dachser-Str. 2, D – 87439 Kempten, Internet: www.dachser.com Overall responsibility: Dr. Andreas Froschmayer Editor-in-Chief:
Christian Auchter, tel.: +49 831 5916-1426, fax: +49 831 5916-8-1426, e-mail: christian.auchter@dachser.com, Martin Neft, tel.: +49 831 5916-1420, e-mail: martin.neft@dachser.com
Editors: Theresia Gläser, Christian Weber Editorial Assistant: Andrea Reiter, tel.: +49 831 5916-1424, e-mail: andrea.reiter@dachser.com Publisher: C3 Creative Code and Content GmbH,
Heiligegeistkirchplatz 1, D – 10178 Berlin, tel.: +49 30 44032-0, e-mail: info@c3.co, Burda Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, Offenburg, and KB Holding GmbH, Berlin, are shareholders of C3 Creative Code and Content GmbH, of which each company holds a 50% stake. Hubert Burda Media Holding Kommanditgesellschaft, Offenburg, is the sole shareholder
of Burda Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung. Lukas Kircher (Managing Director, Berlin) and Rainer Burkhardt (Managing Director, Berlin) are the shareholders of KB Holding GmbH,
each holding a 50% stake. Project Management C3: Marcus Schick Design: Ralph Zimmermann, Kerstin Spörer Photos: all photography Dachser except thinkstockfotos.de (pp. 1, 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 25, 27, 30, 31), Elbe&Flut (pp. 3, 20, 21), DNV GL (p. 13), AL-KO (p. 18), Arto Satuli/Port of Helsinki (pp. 28, 29), Fabio Barella/Kaka Pilat (p. 35) Illustration: Ralph
Zimmermann (pp. 32–34) Printer: Holzer Druck und Medien Druckerei und Zeitungsverlag GmbH, Fridolin-Holzer-Str. 22-24, D – 88171 Weiler im Allgäu Print run: 40,000/56th volume
Publication: 4x per year Languages: German, English, French, Spanish. DACHSER magazine is printed on NovaTech Paper certified in accordance with the FSC ® mix for sustainable forestry.
DACHSER magazine
03
TITLE STORY
04
DACHSER magazine
TITLE STORY
ON COURSE
FOR THE FUTURE
Forward-thinking management, openness to
change, and teams unwaveringly dedicated
to the company and its goals bring enterprises
closer to their objectives. Especially when seas are
rough. Dachser is pursuing strategies toward
transformation so that the company attains even
greater agility and process-oriented focus.
He had a knot in the pit of his stomach as the truck’s diesel engine started
up and the truck took off in the direction
of the Rhineland, its loading space full of
Allgäuer cheese. In December 1930, in the
middle of the global economic depression,
Thomas Dachser had the bold idea of establishing a haulage company! Dachser’s “business plan” was to transport cheese in one
direction and industrial goods on the way
back. He was focused on well utilized, efficient, and cross-industry transport of goods
for the customer’s benefit. Fundamentally,
this still applies today. Roughly 85 years
later, the small, regionally operating haulage
and shipping company that began with sales
revenue of a few thousand Reichsmarks has
become a global player with more than
25,000 employees in 42 countries and annual sales revenue of more than EUR 5 billion.
Considering some of the fundamental and
radical historic changes that have taken place,
such as reconstruction after the Second
World War, liberalization of the transport
market since the 1990s, and rapidly advanc-
h
Farsightedness
widens your horizons
ing globalization in the 21st century, such
growth was anything but a foregone conclusion. The way Dachser CEO Bernhard
Simon sees it, the logistics provider is still
committed to the entrepreneurial spirit of
its founder, with the added mission of dynamic corporate development: “We were not
only able to successfully meet the challenges
that each era has posed, but, at the same
time, we have been able to maintain our identity as a family company and strengthen our
corporate culture based on our unwavering
values, even as we embraced the internationalization process. Today, we combine all of
our business for our customers to create integrated and intermodal supply chain solutions,” says Thomas Dachser’s grandson.
In commerce, growth provides prospects for
success, but for Dachser, that is not an end in
and of itself, as Dr. Andreas Froschmayer,
Corporate Director Corporate Development,
Strategy & Public Relations, emphasizes.
“Four years ago at the Global Leadership Conference, a meeting of top management, we set ourselves to the task of ‡
DACHSER magazine
05
TITLE STORY
For the challenges to be mastered together …
Better for most of
us to start learning
now how to cope with
change, to develop
whatever leadership
potential we have,
and to help our organizations in the transformation process.
Better for most of us,
despite the risks, to
leap into the future.
And to do so sooner
rather than later.
John P. Kotter, economist
… all hands on deck
creating a new Dachser house together
and filling it with life. ‘Making Dachser ready
for generations to come,’ was our motto,”
Dr. Froschmayer explains. “We wanted to
ensure that Dachser and its unique networks
can continue to experience healthy growth
in the future that will benefit our customers
in tandem with our responsibilities that are
growing and becoming increasingly complex.” This is why the company sees strategy
as a “compass” that helps it stay on course
and arrive safely at its destination. Back in
Ancient Greece, Aristotle showed the strategists the way: “You can’t change the winds.
But you can move the sails.”
The seas are getting rougher
Internationalization and globalization makes
corporate management increasingly complex and challenging for those who want to
grow with the markets—to use Aristotle’s
idiom, the seas are getting rougher, the wind
is picking up, and it’s often stormy. For this
reason, Dachser has built a new management
organization over the past few years and has
gradually implemented it throughout 2014.
In the past year, Dachser definitively completed
its transformation to a global enterprise;
it is both strategically and structurally so well positioned that
we can achieve our ambitious goals
hh
Bernhard Simon,
Dachser CEO
06
DACHSER magazine
“This opens up new possibilities for decentralized management,” Bernhard Simon explains, “which is upheld and driven by people who have a strong focus on the region,
on one hand, and on the other, never lose
sight of the big picture of the company. This
is the only way that we can ensure maximum
customer proximity in the individual regions
and create future-oriented, innovative logistics solutions together with them.” The
common thread that binds this together is
“Dachser DNA”: the values of the family
company, empathetic collaboration, and
thriving entrepreneurship that is both success-oriented and directed toward sustainable growth. Our strong corporate culture,
the authentic values practiced worldwide by
all of us, and the loyalty of our employees create the very best foundation for these principles. If we want to shape the future, we need
a solid and stable structure as a ‘launch
pad.’ Only then will we be able to realize the
transformation into our ‘house of the future’
using new strategies,” states Simon.
For further “organic” growth, you need a
blueprint. “With the help of our new man-
TITLE STORY
agement organization, we want to advance
the internationalization of our logistics network and close ranks with our customers in
the individual regions,” Dachser CEO Bernhard Simon observes. “Defining elements
that are crucial for corporate success, such as
entrepreneurship and proximity to both employees and customers, need to be maintained
for the long term,” Simon continues. “It is
the responsibility of everyone, at every level, to
fill the Dachser house of the future with life.”
Staying flexible with a
decentralized organization
The “architecture” of a future-oriented,
transnational logistics company like this has
been based on Dachser’s very decentralized
organization model that has historically
evolved since the company’s founding. “Entrepreneurial thinking and the high degree
of responsibility of the branch managers
are integrated with strategic expertise found
at the head office,” says Dr. Andreas
COMMENTS
Shaping the future
What keeps companies flexible? Some thoughts by
Dr. Andreas Froschmayer, Corporate Director Corporate
Development, Strategy & Public Relations at Dachser.
Isn’t it a contradiction to be working on the resilience and
robustness of structures and, at the same time, to be in
the process of transformation? Yes, if you liken “robustness” to “rigidity”—that’s
dangerous. When times are unstable, it can be lethal to persist in a state of
rigid stability. And no, if you understand robustness as the ability to handle (and
prevail) under adverse circumstances.
This capability requires two attributes: a company must know its strengths very
well and nurture them, and it must be willing to respond nimbly to changes in
the market. This means that companies must remain flexible and must act and
react quickly to change those things that customers want changed.
Strong values and robust strategies result in new insights regarding management. Today, professional long-term thinking no longer means planning the
future, in other words continuing the present, but shaping the future. It means
perpetually pursuing new ideas and impulses and trying out fresh approaches.
You must recognize developments, launch innovations, and create change.
Froschmayer. This synergistic interplay underpins Dachser’s positioning as a family
company that is sustained by the loyalty of its
shareholders, follows a long-term economic
strategy, is committed to its employees, and
develops its financial clout to undertake
sustainable, forward-looking investments
and maintain job security. This flexibility of
Dachser’s, Dr. Froschmayer continues, also
enhances the flexibility of its customers.
Decentralized structures with flexible, values-based decision-making processes are
popular with economists. In order to thrive in
today’s increasingly volatile markets, John
P. Kotter, Professor of Leadership and Emeritus at Harvard Business School, advises
companies to employ the strategy of having
a high degree of flexibility. “Today, companies must constantly seek competitive advantage without disrupting daily operations,”
Kotter states in an article for the Harvard
Business Review. In the future, strategy
will have to be viewed as a dynamic force that
constantly seeks opportunities, identifies
initiatives that will capitalize on them, and
completes those initiatives swiftly and efficiently. An ongoing process of “searching,
doing, learning, and modifying” is needed
according to Kotter.
The economist encourages companies to
work on their “strategic fitness”: “The more
the organization exercises its strategy skills,
the more adept it becomes at dealing with a
hypercompetitive environment.” The crucial
point is to always involve employees and
teams: “A vividly formulated, high-stakes vision and strategy, promulgated by a guiding
coalition (GC) in ways that are both memorable and authentic, will prompt people to
discuss them,” Kotter emphasizes.
Trend, strategy, and change management provide the skills and tools to step
Conviction—from the inside out
forward vigorously.
What does this mean for management and
the development of convincing strategies?
“The existing structures need an additional
element,” Kotter postulates. When you have
to identify potential hazards or opportunities, nimbly formulate creative strategic
initiatives, and implement them quickly,
Kotter recommends that, in addition to the
“classic” hierarchical corporate organization
and management processes, a “second operating system” be created with an agile, network-like structure and a very different set
of processes that exist solely to develop
and implement new strategies. This is ‡
The bottom line is that we need to have an authentic picture of reality and then
we can sound out the possible courses of action and create the most desirable
future for this “house of the future.” And finally, the resources necessary for
change must be mobilized.
Trend management wants to discover the future, find new prospects, and
utilize opportunities. Strategy management wants to provide the direction, safeguard the competitive edge, and launch innovations. And change management
wants to facilitate change, create superteams, and mobilize participants’
commitment.
DACHSER magazine
07
TITLE STORY
The key to staying on course:
adjust the sails when
the wind changes
08
DACHSER magazine
TITLE STORY
supposed to be implemented by “strategic
working groups,” gathered from all corporate sectors and hierarchy levels. In this
way, strategy becomes a “team effort” within
the company, which can leverage everyone’s
knowledge and experience. “Done right,
with creativity,” Kotter is convinced, “such
communications can go viral, attracting employees who buy into the ambition of the
message and begin to share a commitment to
it.” Behind all this, the economist perceives
another aspect: “No strategic initiative, big
or small, is complete until it has been incorporated into day-to-day activities.”
Agile strategies, stable
structures
With its historically rooted decentralized
structure, Dachser CEO Bernhard Simon
sees the company in an excellent position,
though routinely facing challenges: “We have
lean, effective, and decisive structures. Today,
if individual branch offices have more than
500 employees instead of 100 or 200, we
need other management methods to create
emotional harmony from which new ideas
can emerge,” says Simon. “We are constantly
creating better processes and customer solutions. For this purpose, we have initiated a
strategic program that we have named
‘Idea2net,’ in order to nurture all of our
employees’ ideas for our networks.”
“As internationalization and globalization
grow, managing the company becomes increasingly complex,” states the Dachser
CEO. In response, the company formula
reads: “Together we are Dachser.” With this
commitment, the company’s future viability
is tied to its management organization while
the internationalization process continues
to evolve. An essential building block in this
process is a maximum of legal certainty.
Against this backdrop, since February
Dachser has been doing business as a Societas Europaea (SE). Under the umbrella of
a modern holding structure, the legal form
of an SE provides a family company with the
ideal framework to unify its structure under
corporate law with subsidiaries in Germany
and abroad. In Germany, Dachser’s operational presence on the market in the future
will be as Dachser SE. The company names
of the country organizations outside of
Germany will remain unchanged. “We have
adapted our company’s legal form to our
worldwide growth and have thus paved the
INTERVIEW
Future without borders
Since 2015, the family company Dachser is doing
business as Dachser SE. Bernhard Simon talks about
the company’s new legal form and what this means.
Mr. Simon, why has Dachser changed its legal form
to that of a Societas Europaea (SE)?
To be successful as an international company and to reach our growth targets
with a maximum of legal certainty, Dachser’s legal form must correspond to
the requirements of the markets and of our customers. The Societas Europaea
(SE) provides the legal form that is appropriate for today’s business. Dachser
has now become two different companies—Dachser Group SE & Co. KG,
a holding company, and Dachser SE, an operational company.
What benefits do you see in taking this step?
This unified legal framework gives management better possibilities to expand
the ties that have grown over the years within our organization and to open up
new and positive opportunities to shape the future. The legal form of the SE
is particularly attractive for Dachser because it enables us to remain indepen dent, keeping the shares in the hands of the owner families, while at the same
time simplifying the legal and administrative processes, such as integration of an
acquisition.
What does this mean for management and employees?
Last year, our new management organization already became an important
milestone in Dachser’s development as a company that operates globally.
This change in the company’s legal form is now the logical, consistent next step.
Viewed overall, we have completed the transition from the historical structure—
where the focus was on our core business (Road)—to an international and
forward-looking corporate management structure on the organizational, strategic, management, and process levels. This means that Dachser is taking on
the challenges that the future will bring.
The Societas Europaea (SE) is a product of harmonization efforts in corporate law by the
European Union. It acts as a corporation (legal entity) whose capital is divided into shares
that do not need to be traded on a stock exchange.
way for the future,” Simon says.
Dachser CEO Bernhard Simon has a clear
view of the family company’s path into the
future. “We have completed the transition
from the historical structure—where the focus was on our core business (Road)—to an
international and forward-looking corporate
management structure on the organizational,
strategic, management, and process levels.
Even as it has grown immensely, the com-
pany knows how to sustain the proximity to
its employees. This means that Dachser has
taken on the challenges that the future will
bring.” There is one thing associated with this
claim that has become a veritable certainty for
both employees and management: “Dachser
is ready for generations to come.” Thomas
Dachser would certainly have been delighted
with this continuation of the success story
he began so courageously.
M. Schick
DACHSER magazine
09
TRADE FAIRS & EVENTS
FORUM
10
DACHSER magazine
transport logistic 2015
INFORM,
DISCUSS,
NETWORK
Though there are many trade conventions every year, one leading
international trade show—transport logistic—merits particular note.
Dachser will be flying its colors there—in blue and yellow, of course!
It shows some impressive figures: 52,000
visitors from 110 nations are expected to
attend transport logistic, the trade show for
logistics, mobility, IT, and supply chain
management, from May 5 to 8. The entire
value creation chain in the transport and
logistics sector will come to life on the
Munich Messe fairgrounds, including all of
the major international market leaders.
Dachser will be featuring its new look, along
with several innovations for the trade fair
pertaining to supply chain management.
“For us, this trade show is the ideal opportunity to hold intensive talks with customers
and partners and to showcase our new services and logistics solutions in an exciting
way,” explains Birgit Kastner-Simon, Corporate Director Corporate Marketing.
Together with the customer
“Link your future to ours. Create new dimensions with Dachser.” This slogan flies
above Dachser’s trade show booth this year.
“The motto for this trade fair underscores
the partnership-oriented exchange and the
intensive collaboration that we foster with
our customers,” explains Birgit KastnerSimon. “This is the only way for us to
achieve flexible solutions together, optimize
our customers’ logistics, and open up entirely
new prospects.” The overall trade fair presence spotlights issues such as the interna-
tional network, expansion of the product
portfolio, custom-tailored multi-channel
solutions as well as innovative IT services
and new service offerings. “We are displaying the entire spectrum of our logistics
solutions at the trade fair booth,” explains
Kastner-Simon.
INFORMATION
Abundance of manpower
on 800 square meters
For the Dachser Events Team,
the preparation phase starts
eight months prior to the fair.
The Dachser booth in Hall B6
covers 800 square meters on
two levels.
The international fair crew is
made up of 92 Dachser employees from ten different countries.
A total 471 meters of crossbeams were installed for
the booth. The additional 1,292
meters of network cable will
deliver perfect connections.
FORUM
DATES
The 2015 Logistics Fairs Calendar
International logistics fairs, industry events, and conventions are where
the markets share information about trends and innovations. A selection of
events with Dachser participating:
April 21–24.
Transrussia, Moscow, Russia
April 28–30.
Multimodal, Birmingham, UK
May 05–08.
transport logistic, Munich, Germany
May 12–14.
LogisMed, Casablanca, Morocco
May 19–20.
PLMA, Amsterdam, Netherlands
May 26–29.
Ferroforma, Bilbao, Spain
June 11–12.
2015 Global DIY Summit, London, UK
5th Annual Dachser Career Day
ONE WORLD
“Acting globally: building successful international cooperation” is the
motto to the 5th Annual Career Day at Dachser. A tête-à-tête for promising
logisticians of tomorrow from German colleges and universities.
Dachser currently operates in 42 countries.
Of its total 25,000 employees, nearly 50 percent are deployed by the family company
outside of Germany. “In the logistics industry,
it is becoming increasingly important to
forge international teams,” says Dachser
CEO Bernhard Simon. “Logistics needs
bridge-builders who unite people into a team
and who can network intelligently.” The
Dachser Career Day at the end of 2014
provided one starting point for initiating
such networking. For the fifth year in a row,
the family-owned company invited interested future logisticians from colleges and
universities throughout Germany to a symposium with business professionals, where they
could share questions and ideas,
at its head office in Kempten.
Also in attendance at the Career Day symposium were Sami Charaf Eddine, Jan
Brinker, and Yves-Gunnar Lakpo. They
were all winners of the 2014 Logistics Masters, the student competition that Dachser
holds each year jointly with the trade periodical Verkehrs-Rundschau. At the awards
ceremony, Bernard Simon was clearly impressed by their achievement in the knowledge competition. One could only advance
in the logistics industry if one, “demonstrates
flexible thinking and has not only learned
the complex topics by rote, but has also
truly understood them,” Simon said.
Logistics masters: Sami Charaf
Eddine (RWTH Aachen);
Jan Brinker (RWTH Aachen; YvesGunnar Lapko (HTWK Leipzig).
DACHSER magazine
11
FORUM: PEOPLE AND MARKETS
Software development
CERTIFIED IT PROCESSES
Dachser renewed and enhanced the certification of its Corporate IT according to the
ISO/IEC 27001 standard. This way, customer data arrive and remain safe and secure.
Domino and Othello; Mikado and EDI.
And on top of these, Web-based eLogisitics
tools: proprietary software programs like
these have been a hallmark of Dachser’s
services for over 25 years. Around 100 of a
total 280 IT employees are working at the
Kempten head office for the benefit of the
branches and country organizations on the
development and provision of IT solutions
as well as weekly updates.
Dachser was one of the first logistics suppliers to have its Corporate IT certified
according to ISO 27001 back in December
2011. In the process, a whole host of information security aspects were examined,
such as protection from cyberattacks, the
security of Internet applications, IT risk
management, fail-safe performance, emergency planning, and confidentiality regulations. For annual audits, advancements, and
improvements from preceding audits are
integrated into the evaluation. In addition,
Dachser now has had all software development processes certified by TÜV Süd and
thereby enhanced the certification under
ISO 27001.
Ultramodern data centers
for secure IT
“Our core systems are highly-integrated,
can be flexibly adapted, and reflect the state
of the art everywhere; that is a unique selling
proposition in the logistics industry,” comments Christian von Rützen, head of the
IT Security Department at Dachser. “With
the ISO 27001 certification, we are issuing
a clear statement on efficiency, quality, and
professionalism in operating, security, and
software development processes.”
Today, 80 percent of all orders at Dachser
are already processed electronically; more
than 13,000 customers have linked their
systems to the Dachser EDI Center, and
more than 16,000 use the eLogistics tools.
“These companies know that their own
global supply chains depend on the constant
availability of their logistics supplier’s systems and therefore insist on commensurate
security infrastructure in tenders and audits,” von Rützen clarifies. “Considering this
environment, we are in a superb position
for the complete ISO 27001 certification
of our central IT.”
SECURITY REMAINS TOP ISSUE
12
There is 56 percent likeli-
Business School. As a preemptive defensive measure, ex-
hood
will
perts advise logistics companies to put a substantially
launch targeted attacks on
greater investment into the security of their operational
supply chains. And that risk
and IT processes.
that
hackers
will continue to increase further over the next 15 years.
Moreover, based on the results of the study, logisticians
The result is that logisticians will be paying more for
can expect longer transport timeframes due to stricter
security in the future. Representatives from industry,
safety precautions (64 percent probability) and possible
research, and the political realm expressed these con-
relocating of trade routes due to increasing risk in certain
cerns in the “Transportation & Logistics 2030” study series,
crisis regions (61 percent probability). However, the experts
which consulting firm PwC presented together with the
do rule out the possibility that risk assessments would lead
Supply Chain Management Institute of the European
businesses to turn away from worldwide supply chains.
DACHSER magazine
FORUM: PEOPLE AND MARKETS
CAPTAIN
COMPUTER
Imagine a ship alone on the open
seas—without a crew: For one Norwegian research project, the future of autonomous marine navigation has already
begun. “ReVolt” is an ambiguous name.
It sounds both like revolution and like a
step backwards in power consumption.
The researchers at DNV GL, the Norwegian classification company, are also
keeping all of this in mind. They want
to make navigation more efficient and
more environmentally friendly. To do so,
the ship’s crew was replaced with a
computer, and the engines powered by
a huge three-megawatt battery instead
of heavy oil or ship diesel. In the near
future, “Captain Computer” will navigate
by GPS, radar, LiDAR (a kind of laserguided radar), and cameras. “Such technologies are already being used in driverless cars,” says Hans Anton Tvete,
Senior Researcher Maritime Transports
at DNV GL. “Now we intend to bring
them together in order to give ships
a feel for their environment.” At just 60
IT Security
meters from stem to stern, ReVolt ships
DATA UNDER POWER
are relatively small-scale. They could
not carry more than 100 containers. And
Suddenly all the lights go out—it’s a blackout! What to some may
100 nautical miles, even the battery is
sound like the promise of an unexpected candle-lit romantic soiree is
better suited for short distances. That’s
to others no less than an absolute disaster.
where Tvete also sees the greatest
with an operating range of a maximum
potential: “Along the coast, automated
When isolated servers and interfaces
break down in extensively networked
business and process worlds, the entire
flow of data—and ultimately, the entire
supply chain—could potentially stall.
Throughout Europe, or even worldwide.
Against this background, Dachser has
been documenting the frequency and
the losses that come from power outages
over several years by compiling IT availability statistics from data collected at
regular intervals. Certain regions are on
the radar where the network quality is
typically low or declining, and power
supply leaves much to be desired. The
ways out of this dilemma are offered
by emergency generator systems. Several
years ago, Dachser executive management decided to install such power generators at all locations with productionrelevant servers (iSeries). The generators
have been ready for use since the end of
2013, and during a number of minor—
and a few major—power outages, have
led to a noticeable improvement in IT
availability.
ships could transport goods or convey
cars from one side of the fjord to
the other.”
DACHSER magazine
13
FORUM: ESSAY
PRETTY DARN
CONVENIENT
Three cheers for convenience: progress has always
meant getting rid of anything that complicates our everyday lives.
After all, the desire for comfort and convenience is part
of human nature and creates space for new perspectives and
business models.
In the late 19th century, Swiss physician
and factory inspector Fridolin Schuler
urgently warned of malnutrition among the
working class. The food they ate usually
contained few nutrients, their limited leisure
time allowed little time for cooking, and
often schnapps was their sole source of calories. Not exactly what you would call healthy.
Schuler’s remarks roused the ingenuity of
one of his friends who was a miller: Julius
Maggi hit upon the idea of making flour
from roasted legumes, such as peas and
beans. The entrepreneur added spices and,
starting in 1886, launched the powder, which
was a good source of protein, as an instant
vegetable soup—a successful model. The
next year, Maggi already had a range of 22
different soups.
The dry soup mixes took the market by
storm and represented the beginning of a
megatrend that has become part of our daily
life, where our shopping carts contain less
and less raw food. Instead, we purchase timesaving dishes in the form of canned ravioli,
frozen pizza, and other ready-to-eat dishes.
In retail lingo, such products are
subsumed under the buzzword
“convenience” and include far
more than food products.
Whether it’s 2-in-1 shower
gel, all-inclusive travel, or
music streaming—whatever
means less work for the
customer rules in the
consumer world.
h
“Perfection is finally
attained not when
there is no longer
anything to add, but
when there is no
longer anything to
take away.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,
French author, 1900 – 1944
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DACHSER magazine
Concentrating on core issues
Convenience is highly popular in B2B activities as well. More and more companies are
focusing on their core business and outsourcing processes that drain their resources. An
example is warehousing inventory and managing supply streams: while previously, companies had to employ dozens of different specialists along more and more complex supply
chains, today, they can get comprehensive
services using contract logistics in a one-stop
solution. Management and planning are simplified so dramatically that the efficiency of
the processes increases many times over.
Things that are uncomplicated are booming;
all we have to do is take a look at the list of
the most highly valued companies, headed
by Apple, an electronics company that has
never led the pack in developing technological innovations. When Steve Jobs presented
the iPhone in 2007, the real nerds reacted
with a weary shrug. Although this wasn’t a
revolutionary reinvention of individual components, it was a device design that had
never been seen before. The simple, selfexplanatory operation packed into the device
was what made it a blockbuster. Since then,
many competitors have imitated the iPhone,
and operating manuals that are several
hundred pages long have landed on the endangered species list.
Laziness that makes tracks
Eight years later, a life without smartphones
is unimaginable. Together with the Internet,
FORUM: ESSAY
they have now redefined convenience and
thus changed our expectations. If you’re used
to streaming a movie anytime you feel like
it, you’ll probably find your neighborhood
video store exceedingly inconvenient,
no matter how customer-friendly it
is. If you can shop online 24/7, you
are probably not too impressed by
longer store hours. And if you read the
news online on a regular basis, you don’t
need a daily newspaper. This demonstrates
once again that our penchant for convenience
has two sides to it. In the digital world, it
can quickly become an existential threat to
traditional retailers and service providers and
their local brick-and-mortar stores. However, it is also an opportunity for completely
new vendors and business models—in the
best sense of the old saying, “Laziness is the
engine of progress.”
S. Ermisch
Digital connections:
everything is
available—anywhere,
anytime
Whatever means
less work
for the customer rules in
the consumer world
hh
DACHSER magazine
15
EXPERTISE: WAREHOUSING
Inventory
in abundance:
the Dachser
Logistics Center
in Hall (Tyrol)
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DACHSER magazine
EXPERTISE: WAREHOUSING
A DIRECT
CONNECTION
Greater proximity to the customer through Warehousing. The AL-KO technology company and Dachser
Austria have been linking their core competencies
for more than ten years now. The recipe for success
reads: “Everyone does what they do best.”
Guesstimate: two million meters of
wire. Based on Helmut Pirker’s estimates, as of this date Dachser has been shipping this astonishing length of steel wire,
spooled on huge reels, for its customer ALKO. Every month, that is. With a wink, the
manager of the Dachser branch in the city
of Hall (in Austria’s state of Tyrol) demonstrates that, after ten years of collaboration,
this yields a length that could theoretically be
wrapped around the equator—several times
over. While the underlying logistics service
represents one kind of wire, there is also the
human connection that links the two business
partners. “Our customer relationship spans
many years and is the result of a fair and
truly amiable relationship that is shaped by
mutual trust and understanding,” Pirker asserts. To Werner Zimmerman—AL-KO’s
Head of Purchasing and Logistics in the
Zillertal Valley—being able to collaborate
h
with a partner on equal footing is an integral
success factor. “Our communications with
each other are very close, and we maintain
an ongoing dialogue on our experiences. If
there are problems, then we address and
solve them together,” explains Zimmermann.
“That’s why we have both grown tremendously together over the last ten years.”
AL-KO’s Zillertal branch is a part of the
AL-KO KOBER Group, headquartered in
Germany. A corporation with worldwide
operations, its workforce numbers more than
4,000 in the automotive engineering, garden
and hobby, and aviation technology sectors.
The Tyrolean subsidiary specializes in the
manufacture of fully and partially automated
automotive cable winches and additionally produces wheel brakes, clutches, trailer
control systems, winches, struts, and much
more at its Ramsau Engineering Center in
the Zillertal Valley.
‡
DACHSER magazine
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EXPERTISE: WAREHOUSING
The Tyrol Logistics Center against an impressive backdrop
Applying core competencies
Mikado—Dachser’s
proprietary warehouse
management software—supports and
controls all processes
at the warehouse
centers. In addition, it
effectively delivers all
order, transaction, and
inventory data to the
EDI Center (Electronic
Data Interchange).
There, they are both
converted and forwarded to Domino
(Dachser’s transport
management program)
and to the customer’s
data system.
The collaboration with Dachser Austria
started in 2005, a time when AL-KO no
longer possessed adequate space for its logistical or warehousing needs to accommodate
the burgeoning production at its plants in
Ramsau and Zell im Zillertal. “Managing
a logistics warehouse is not one of our core
competencies. We launched a warehouse
PROFILE
AL-KO Branch Zillertal
AL-KO Kober SE
The family-owned company
founded by Alois Kober in 1931,
headquartered in the Swabian town
of Kötz bei Günzburg, is an international manufacturer in the automotive engineering, garden tools,
and aviation technology segments.
The holding has around 4,200 employees at more than 50 locations
Mikado’s in play
worldwide. In 2012, its total
Technologically and qualitatively ultra-highend products for renowned automotive producers wind up here with the logistics
provider, where they are processed for further
distribution. All storage of AL-KO finished products is entered into and stored on
revenue equaled EUR 706 million.
F www.al-ko.de
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DACHSER magazine
outsourcing project and bid out these logistics services to reputable logistics providers
so that we could recover new production
space and substantially increase the overall
value added,” Zimmermann explains. When
the time came, Dachser was the choice:
on the one hand, because the logistics
provider is a corporation with global operations; on the other hand, because it was
an easy trip from AL-KO to the Dachser
Logistics Center in Hall.
Dachser Austria has operated a consignment
warehouse in Hall for several AL-KO suppliers since then. A majority of raw materials
and semi-finished materials—such as the
steel wire coiled around reels—is delivered
directly to Hall and stored there. A constituent part of Dachser’s services is the
provision and monitoring of the stipulated
safety stock.
In order to replenish supplies to the AL-KO
production lines from the Dachser warehouse, a shuttle connection was set up to
the AL-KO plants in the Zillertal Valley,
each equipped with two swap bodies for the
early morning and early afternoon. This way,
the customer is supplied with pinpoint
precision with the exact quantity of materials
requested for production. On the return trip,
the shuttle takes the finished goods back to
the warehouse.
EXPERTISE: WAREHOUSING
Helmut Pirker,
Branch Management,
Logistics Center Tyrol
Mikado, Dachser’s proprietary warehouse
management software, by scanning the ALKO barcodes on the packages. Dachser is
then linked to AL-KO for the order-picking
and outsourcing process by means of EDI
(electronic data interchange). The customer
enters the warehouse orders directly into
Mikado, thereby initiating the label printer
at Dachser.
This is how the fine-tuned, ultra-efficient,
and reliable processes came to fruition. And
this collaboration between both partners
once again achieved substantial gains in
development over the last few years. First
of all, the shuttle connection was increased
from once-a-day to twice-daily shipments.
Secondly, Dachser is also intensifying its
hh
It’s a win-win
for both partners
work with order-picking activities. For example, AL-KO manufactures plastic auto
parts for a German automotive customer,
which are delivered to Dachser in large
load carriers. Then, Dachser conducts the
order-picking, thus paring down the load
to small volumes loaded onto specialized
customer cargo carriers. “We use counting
scales that we have in Hall, which measure
out the quantities the customer requires
with pinpoint accuracy,” reports Pirker. “This
way, AL-KO can concentrate on its core
competency. And that’s a win-win for both
partners.”
AL-KO Logistics Manager Werner Zimmermann is certain that this continuously intensifying business relationship is an ace in
the hole. “We can learn certain things from
Dachser, just like they can from us. We have
achieved a substantial prerequisite that
will allow us to develop our collaborative
relationship even more, now that Dachser
had its quality management system certified
according to DIN EN ISO 9001:2008 standards.” The intensity of such togetherness
is expressed in more than day-to-day business operations. At least twice per year,
the staffs at both AL-KO and Dachser get
together in an informal, relaxed atmosphere.
These meetings bring the employees of
both companies—who share in running the
everyday business—closer together; it allows
them to discuss what they have achieved
together, and at the same time, gives free
rein to their ideas for the future.
And against this background, the number
of storage spaces at Dachser in Hall has
grown from the initial 200 to 2,000 spaces.
That elates Helmut Pirker: “I hope that this
unique collaboration lasts forever. Because
in the end, both partners have a “direct line”
to each other—figuratively and literally,
of course.
L. Becker
Fine-tuned warehouse management
processes ensure top-grade efficiency
DACHSER magazine
19
EXPERTISE: FOOD LOGISTICS
S
LOGISTICS
CAREER
YOUNG AND
FRESH
Team player:
Christoph Kellermann
is always available to talk
Christoph Kellermann loves fresh food. As Incoming Goods Manager Food Logistics
at the Logistics Center Hamburg, he is responsible for deliveries of fresh products
to retail and restaurants/hotels in the metropolitan area.
Fascination with
Food Logistics: the
customers are from
the food industry, food
retail, and hotels and
restaurants in Germany
and other European
countries. With its
European Food Network, Dachser Food
Logistics moves a
wide range of temperature-sensitive and
temperature-controlled
food products, including unprocessed and
processed meats,
dairy products, pastry
and confectionary, and
alcoholic beverages.
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DACHSER magazine
“At home, I love to cook!” Actually,
Christoph Kellermann wanted to become a professional cook, but his grandmother talked him out of it. Now, as Incoming Goods Manager Food Logistics at the
Dachser Logistics Center Hamburg, the 27year-old works with groceries every day, even
though it's mostly on paper and on the computer. And he likes that very much.
By midnight, Kellermann’s team of 17 employees knows which goods are expected to
come in the next day. By the time the Group
Manager comes into the office at 6:00 a.m.,
the dispatch schedule for the approximately
1,000 tons of foodstuffs has been completed.
The itineraries of the 80 vehicles have been
planned for optimum capacity utilization in
such a way that time constraints are taken
into account and overall itinerary is kept as
short as possible. “I do whatever still needs
to be done and take care of absent drivers,
defective vehicles, or last-minute requests by
our customers,” says Kellermann. By 2:00
p.m., 80 percent of deliveries must be delivered at retailers’ central warehouses and supermarkets, wine shops, and hotels and
h
restaurants. Then the pick-ups begin. “Except for this morning ritual, there’s no way
to plan my work day,” Kellermann says. “It’s
my job to make sure that we keep our promises to our customers every single day.”
Everything under control
Food products are sensitive goods. Therefore,
time and temperature play an important role
when you’re transporting perishable goods.
Reliable monitoring of the shipping process and documentation that is traceable
at all times using Dachser’s proprietary
shipping software are absolute essentials for
the Hamburg Food Logistics team. In the
afternoons, Christoph Kellermann has meetings with drivers and partner companies on
his calendar. Before he quits for the day,
he and his employees take a look at what’s
coming up. “In and around Hamburg, we
don’t notice seasonal business as much as
many other Food Logistics branch offices.”
Kellermann speaks from experience. “Things
quiet down for a little bit in January and
February, but only as long as consumers’
New Year’s resolutions last.” He knows that
EXPERTISE: FOOD LOGISTICS
during the summer vacation months supermarkets order less, but that is compensated
by hotels and restaurants on the North Sea
and Baltic Sea. Four-day weeks around
holidays are a particular challenge for
Kellermann’s team because then retail stores
tend to stock up.
FACE-TO-FACE
Rising to the challenge
Professional development of employees is at the
top of Dachser’s agenda. Dr. Elke Winkler, Department
Head Personnel Development, talks about development
Logistics is in his DNA
Dachser’s Logistics Center in Hamburg has
grown enormously since Kellermann finished his training in 2004—from around ten
to more than 200 employees. In 2003, he
completed an internship at Dachser. After
that, he was absolutely certain—this is my
dream job. An affinity for logistics is a family trait. His father had a warehousing business, where Christoph Kellermann often
helped unload trucks as a teenager. And
his sister is a shipping agent.
After his training as a freight forwarding
and logistics agent, he worked in dispatch.
Concurrently, Christoph Kellermann took
part in the Dachser “Placement Program,”
a specially developed training progamm,
where selected employees are prepared for
their first management position. From 2009
on, the 22-year-old took over a position as
Group Manager. “There were a number of
continuing education opportunities, and the
branch manager and freight forwarding
manager gave me a lot of support so that
I could gain important experience,” Kellermann explains. In the fall of 2012, concurrently with his job, he began a study
program at the Chamber of Industry and
Commerce to become a logistics specialist.
This gave him the qualifications for a management position, and he became the
Incoming Goods Manager Food Logistics
in Hamburg at the young age of 26.
Christoph Kellermann has lots of plans for
this year as well. In April, he will begin his
Versatility is in demand: in the warehouse …
opportunities within the company.
Dachser is banking on management
from its own ranks. Why?
Our employees have very specific knowledge and experience, which are
essential for Dachser's business success and further development. Specific
programs support committed employees and provide them with attractive
opportunities to advance their career within the company.
How does Dachser support personal career planning?
We pursue active talent management and succession planning. This enables
us to define interesting development opportunities with our colleagues.
As a company that operates globally, we have particularly interesting opportunities and fields of activity at our branch offices worldwide for employees who
are mobile.
Just what are the Placement Programs about?
The Placement Programs are directed toward various management levels and
prepare employees specifically for the position within the company they are
aiming for. Integrated into the program are an analysis of the employee’s
profile and specific modules such as leadership and change, decision-making,
powers of persuasion, and business/management issues.
studies for a master’s in Business Administration concurrently with his job. He is
looking forward to the birth of his first
child in May, and a new house is still under
construction. It looks like his hobbies of
bicycle racing, mountain bike tours, and
cooking will have to take a back seat in
the near future.
D. Kunde
... at team meetings ...
F
More about career opportunities
at Dachser on Facebook
www.facebook.com/
dachsercareers
or at www.dachser.com
... and in dispatch
DACHSER magazine
21
NETWORK: ASIA PACIFIC
VALUE ADDED
LOGISTICS
Dachser continues to grow its network in the Asia-Pacific region.
In addition to air and sea freight services, customers around the world
capitalize on tailor-made contract logistics solutions.
Contract Logistics
is as uniquely individual as the customers
it serves. They involve
tailor-made packages
of logistics services
like transport, cargo
handling, and warehousing as much
as targeted IT support.
It can help reduce
costs within supply
chain networks, on the
one hand. At the same
time, it can elevate
service and quality in
purchasing, warehousing, and distribution.
Signs in Asia once again point to
growth. Even if the euphoria among
market players in this economic region was
somewhat attenuated in recent months—
China, for instance, is projecting annual
growth this year of “only” 7.0 percent over
last year’s 7.3 percent gain—economists remain optimistic of the prospects for the
Asia-Pacific region (APAC). According to
one study by the World Bank, businesses
throughout the world consider Hong Kong,
for example, an exceedingly attractive location because of its favorable and competitive
corporate tax rates, its business-friendly
statutory/regulatory environment, reliable
public infrastructure, and dynamic economic
progress. The World Bank study puts Singapore in third place after the USA and
Switzerland as the most economically competitive countries in the world.
“Demand for comprehensive logistics services is pervasive in China, most especially in
the developed and booming economic regions, like the Bohai Rim Area and the
Yangtze and Pearl River Deltas,” explains
Edoardo Podestá, Managing Director Asia
Pacific at Dachser. “Based on need, we can
access a network of bonded warehouses and
conventional warehouses, and handle complete warehouse inbound and outbound
management as well as all inventory and
order processes based on Mikado, our warehouse management system,” the Dachser
manager explains.
h
Door opener to Asia
“As Dachser steadily expanded its portfolio of Air & Sea freight services to include
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DACHSER magazine
warehousing and distribution, value-added
services and consulting services have increasingly come into focus, especially for specialized freight services within Asia, and custom-tailored Contract Logistics projects,”
explains Karl-Heinz Krupp, General Manager Contract Logistics Far East. Right at
the beginning of their decision to enter the
Asian markets, SME customers sought close
assistance with the structuring of their
supply chains. “With our local experience
and our network solutions, we can show
them ways to reach their goals," Krupp says.
“In dialogue with customers, we acquaint
them with country-specific customs issues
as well as the opportunities that come from
the free trade treaties in the APAC region.
Information about required certifications
for imports or networked bonded/nonbonded warehouse and distribution solutions
mean another important value-added benefit to the customers,” Krupp adds.
“To establish even more efficient solutions
for customers, you have to integrate sophisticated distribution and industrial process
concepts with standardized IT systems and
value-added logistics services,” explains
Edoardo Podestá. It was especially the international customers on the Asia-Pacific
markets who increasingly appreciated these
services. “Asia hasn’t been merely the extended workbench of international industry for
some time now,” states Podestá. Indeed,
the demand for products from Europe and
other countries throughout the world keeps
growing. That also has an impact on the
flow of goods within Asia. “Thanks to its network and systems, Dachser holds a solid, ‡
NETWORK: ASIA PACIFIC
Shanghai, China:
cargo-handling in good hands
DACHSER magazine
23
NETWORK: ASIA PACIFIC
Value-added services in Shanghai
Gaining ground: warehousing in Asia
Thomas Reuter,
Dachser COO
Air & Sea Logistics
far-flung position that would adequately
suffice to meet the specific needs of the Asia
market,” Podestá says.
Under “Global,” its Air & Sea logistics strategy, the logistics provider consistently expanded its network of partners and branch
offices as well as its portfolio of services
over the past several years. “We want to support our customers in every market and are
therefore establishing new branch offices
in the region globally,” Thomas Reuter,
Dachser COO Air & Sea Logistics, summarizes the strategic goal. Under Edoardo
Podestá’s management, Dachser serves the
Asia-Pacific markets from its head office
in Hong Kong and has operations in China,
Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and Vietnam as well as Bangladesh, India, Indonesia,
Malaysia, and Thailand.
Facing challenges
International customers are increasingly asking for value-added services such as, everything related to production process planning,
packaging and labelling of goods as well
as putting together sales displays for pro-
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DACHSER magazine
Warehouse in Hong Kong
We want to support our customers in every market
and are therefore establishing new branch offices in the
region, in close proximity to our global customers
hh
motional campaigns in the retail sector.
“Through regular training programs, we
ensure that our employees are always upto-date on the latest and have full mastery
of the potential of our global network and
Dachser’s IT tools,” explains Karl-Heinz
Krupp. For instance, this includes the complete reporting and compilation of the associated data streams and statistics.
Against this backdrop, Edoardo Podestá considers Dachser to be superbly positioned in the
APAC region. “We have gained confidence
and trust throughout Asia thanks to customer
relationships that stretch back decades,” he
concludes. “We have to justify this trust anew
each day and continue down our path of
nurturing a close, global customer network
with innovative solutions. Customers appreciate this, but they also expect constant optimization.” In other words: intelligent logistics
has prospects; the “King’s Road” of Contract
Logistics has been paved.
M. Schick
PERSONAL FILE
Karl-Heinz Krupp comes from Bad Honnef near Bonn
und has been working for Dachser since 2006. After a
stint as Group Manager for international Contract Logistics projects at the Head Office in Kempten, he took over
management of Contract Logistics at the Cologne branch
office. In October 2010, he assumed responsibility for
all activities revolving around Contract Logistics services as General Manager Contract Logistics for Dachser Far East and is working in Shanghai.
NETWORK: ASIA PACIFIC
There are Dachser
warehouses currently
in China, Singapore,
and Taiwan. Dachser
serves the Asia-Pacific
markets from its
head office in Hong
Kong and in addition
to China, Singapore,
and Taiwan, it also operates in Bangladesh,
India, Indonesia,
Malaysia, South Korea,
Thailand, and Vietnam.
Tianjin
Kunshan
Shanghai
Wuhu
Taipei
Guangzhou
Shenzhen
Hong Kong
Singapore
DACHSER magazine
25
NETWORK
EXPERTISE
More transshipment capacity in Wrocław
Road Logistics
DACHSER EXPANDS
ITS WROCŁAW BRANCH
Wrocław is gradually becoming the third largest Dachser location in Poland.
That’s particularly beneficial to export-oriented customers.
Wrocław is home to one of eight branches
in Poland run by Dachser since 2011.
Another 3,000 square meters dedicated to
warehouse capacity expansion and 250
square meters of additional office space
are now being added to the existing 5,000
square meters of warehouse space and 500
square meters of office space. That will
make Wrocław the country’s third largest
Dachser location. “With this greater ware-
Dachser supplies many European
destinations out of Wrocław
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DACHSER magazine
house and transshipment capacity, we will
be able to support our increasingly exportfocused customers even more efficiently
and be right at their side on their path
to growth,” explains Michał Simkowski,
Branch Manager. Dachser supplies several
European destinations out of Wrocław,
Germany and France foremost among them,
but also the Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Spain, and Italy.
NETWORK
+++ GRAND GARDEN GALA +++
Dachser France is the official logistics
partner to “Le Cercle des Saisons.”
This spectacular garden trade show
takes place in the historic Hippodrome
of Chantilly (north of Paris) from May
19 to 21. +++
Majestic setting for the garden trade fair:
Château de Chantilly
+++ NEW FORMULA FOR THE UK +++ Dachser
UK became a member of the Chemical Business
Association (CBA). The association of the British
chemical industry represents the interests of manufacturers, refiners, and their logistics service
providers. “Through its membership, Dachser is
sending a clear signal of its commitment to the
chemical sector,” explained Nick Lowe, Managing
Director of Dachser UK. The CBA is the most important voice in Great Britain’s chemical supply
chain, Lowe added. Dachser brings its expertise
Shanghai is an important transshipment
point of global trade
+++ CUSTOMS WAREHOUSE RECEIVES OUTSTANDING RATING +++ The “customs-supervised warehouse”
of Dachser Shanghai Co. Ltd. at Shanghai’s Pudong
Airport has been listed as one of the Top 10 warehouses
located there. The logistics pros received this certificate soon after a thorough assessment of its logistics
in logistics for the chemical industry to the pool
of experience of this renowned organization.
Lowe sees exciting prospects for Dachser and
its customers connected to this: “The British
chemical sector has immense export potential.
Through its membership in CBA, we are strengthening Dachser’s market position in this vital
branch of the industry.” +++
services, the standards associated with it, and its IT
systems. Score for the customer! Through the comprehensive quality controls tied to this certification,
processing at the “customs-supervised warehouse” is
conducted with the highest priority. This advantage
facilitates and accelerates the import-export process
considerably. +++
+++ CAPACITY EXPANSION IN ÖHRINGEN +++ Three years after the opening of the Logistics Center, Dachser is
strengthening its presence at its site in Öhringen/Baden-Württemberg. A new Contract Logistics warehouse that holds
roughly 16,000 square meters (plus administration building) is on the rise at the Flürle industrial park. Two-thirds of the
new floor space is already reserved for a major customer as its central warehouse. The warehouse supplements the
already existing large transit terminal of 5,300 square meters. The first goods are scheduled to be stored at the new facility
starting November 2015. With the expansion comes an increase to the number of on-site employees, from 120 to 155. +++
DACHSER magazine
27
NETWORK: FINLAND AND THE BALTIC STATES
BREAKING NEW GROUND IN
NORTHERN
EUROPE
A vibrant economic zone is emerging in northeastern Europe between Helsinki
and Tallinn. Dachser entered the Finnish overland transport market and acquired the
majority shareholding in Oy Waco Logistics Finland, an air and sea freight corporation.
This was a powerful signal that points beyond Northeast Europe.
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DACHSER magazine
NETWORK: FINLAND AND THE BALTIC STATES
“Talsinki”: this creative, unofficial
moniker labels a new and dynamic economic region that is burgeoning in Northeast
Europe between Finland’s capital city of
Helsinki and the Estonian capital Tallinn.
Approximately 1.5 million people live along
the Gulf of Finland, separated by only 80
kilometers and a mere 100-minute ferry
ride. Ever since the former Soviet republic of
Estonia became an EU member state in 2004,
the two capitals have grown together. In the
process, they have brought their historic ties
back to life, developing and improving a
proven, reliable exchange.
These days, up to 400,000 people each month
make the commute across the Gulf of Finland. The passage is among most frequently
traveled routes in Europe, second only to the
line connecting Dover and Calais. Beyond
the cultural and day-to-day interpersonal exchange, this connection has resulted in bringing tremendous momentum to the entire
Baltic Sea region, first and foremost from an
economic standpoint.
h
Gate to the world of the North:
the Port of Helsinki
Strengthening network ties
“That is one of the reasons why we entered
the Finnish overland transport market in
2014,” explains Michael Schilling, COO
Road Logistics at Dachser. A joint venture
was established for this purpose with the
ACE Logistics Group, headquartered in
Tallinn. Dachser has already been collaborating with the company in the Baltic States
for the last 18 years or so. Working together,
the partners opened a location in Vantaa,
a bedroom community near the Finnish
capital. They now hold around 1200 square
meters of transit and warehouse space there.
Goods can be distributed from this site
within fixed time slots via the Eurohubs
throughout all of Europe. On the land route
from Germany, they primarily include consumer goods—like automotive parts, machinery, and chemical products. Conversely,
Finland ships mostly wood, paper, pulp,
oil, and electronics—such as premium quality heart rate monitors and sports watches—
to Germany.
Vantaa was the perfect choice for the site.
“A total of 85 percent of the Finnish overland
transport market takes place in the triangle
formed by Helsinki, Turku, and Tampere,”
highlights Tuomas Leimio, Managing Director of Dachser Finland Oy. The majority ‡
DACHSER magazine
29
NETWORK: FINLAND AND THE BALTIC STATES
Finland’s capital Helsinki
The cathedral of Tallinn
of the Finnish export and import customers
are situated within its immediate vicinity.
The Helsinki region in particular—where
a majority of the 5.5 million Finns live—
really serves as the backbone; approximately
one third of the gross domestic product is
generated here. The majority of Finnish and
international corporations are also domiciled
within the greater Helsinki region, not the
least because of the logistics network and the
The Gulf of Finland is
an approximately 390
kilometer-long bay in
the Baltic Sea that
stretches across an
area of 29,500 square
kilometers in a westeast direction. The
mouth of the Neva
River is located at its
eastern end. At its
deepest point, northeast of Tallinn, the
Gulf descends a
full 121 meters below
sea level.
pool of available labor. Such companies as
telecom servicer Elisa are among them, as
well as the Otava and Sanoma media groups,
and retailers like Kesko, HOK-Elanto, and
the Stockmann department store chain.
Logistics: key to success
All benefit from the nation’s logistics, running like a well-oiled machine. According
to the Logistics Performance Index of The
INFO
Finland, as an business location, benefited disproportionately over the past
ten years from globalization. So, logically, the losses from the global economic crisis were likewise very significant. According to the Finnish Ministry
of Finance, after two consecutive years of GDP decline, stagnation is anticipated for 2014. In 2015 and 2016, the economy is expected to experience a
slight recovery.
Economic development in Finland
Real gross domestic product (change in %)
-1,0
2012
0,2
1,0
1,1
2014
2015
2016
-1,4
2013
Source: Foreign Chamber of Commerce
Since 2011, the economic cycle in the Baltic States has progressed more
favorably than in other EU member states. In addition to shipping, logistics
and telecommunications, the processing industry belongs to the most important economic branches. In Estonia, its share of the gross domestic product
was 18 percent; in Latvia, 14 percent; and almost a quarter in Lithuania.
An important role in this regard is played primarily by the wood, paper, furniture and mechanical engineering industries; in addition, in Lithuania, the
chemical and textile industries also play a significant role.
30
DACHSER magazine
NETWORK: FINLAND AND THE BALTIC STATES
Finland is a market with
a future. We want to make
Dachser one of the leading logistics
brands in Northeastern Europe
IN BRIEF
hh
Tuomas Leimio, Managing Director, Dachser Finland Oy,
and Juha Isohanni, Managing Director, Dachser Finland Air & Sea Logistics Oy
World Bank, which studies the attractiveness
of locations in 155 nations, the “Land of a
Thousand Lakes” was among the top ten in
2012. Finland has admittedly slid further
down the ranks since then.
The Finnish government is planning on
expenditures of around EUR 4.8 billion by
2022 to expand and improve infrastructure.
Between 2012 and 2015, around EUR 445
million will be spent on railroads and EUR
710 million on roads.
Jens Lengefeld, Head of Partners, Hub, &
Traffic Organization at Dachser, and his team
are working with all horses running: they
want to ensure that a plethora of trucks and
containers with Dachser’s emblematic blueand-yellow branding will soon be covering
these routes. Because in a time when global
climate protection is paramount, an increase
in heavy oil taxation is being repeatedly discussed, and as a result, the logistics experts
anticipate a substantial shift in the near future from transport of goods by sea routes to
roads. One of the steps already implemented
is a precision-timed service by truck from
Poland via Tallinn to Helsinki, which has
Always on the move: ice-breakers
in the Gulf of Finland
improved the connection between the regions
by making it more direct and optimizing the
runtimes. And because one thing is clear:
if Finnish manufacturers seek competitive
advantages on the international markets, they
will achieve them first and foremost by optimizing delivery times. “Our customers seek
a service provider who has a Europe-wide
presence and can offer the same quality
everywhere,” Lengefeld stresses. “Currently,
Dachser is loading over 8,000 shipments to
Finland per month. That opens up a world
of possibilities.” There are daily connections
from Germany, Scandinavia, Poland, and
the Netherlands.
Finland
Area: 338,424 km2
Population: 5.439 million (2013)
Capital: Helsinki
GDP: EUR 265.49 billion (2013)
Estonia
Area: 45,226 km2
Population: 1.325 million (2013)
Capital: Tallinn
GDP: USD 24.48 billion (2013)
Latvia
Area: 64,589 km2
An exceedingly attractive market
Population: 2.013 million (2013)
In 2013, Finland’s foreign trade increased
by five percent to 104 million tons of transported goods. “That makes Finland an exceedingly attractive market for air and sea
freight,” explains Thomas Reuter, COO
Dachser Air & Sea Logistics. By last year,
Dachser had already stepped up its commitment here in a targeted manner and taken
over the majority share interest in the
Finnish air and sea freight company Oy
Waco Logistics Finland.
“Since October 2014, we have been working
as Dachser Finland Air & Sea Logistics Oy,”
explains Juha Isohanni, Managing Director
of Dachser Finland Air & Sea Logistics Oy.
Last year, the company generated revenues of
EUR 28 million with its 52 employees at four
locations in Vantaa and Lahti in the south,
Oulu in the north, and Tampere in southwest
Finland. “Since 2011, we have increased our
revenues by 50 percent, and earned a ‘AAA’
rating in 2013, 2014, and 2015,” Isohanni
reiterates. “A majority of our customers are
currently small and medium-sized companies from Finland. Establishing a good
balance between import and export orders
is critical to our growth strategy.” He added
that, generally speaking, future growth is
Capital: Riga
GDP: USD 30.96 billion (2013)
Lithuania
Area: 65,200 km2
Population: 2.956 million (2013)
Capital: Vilnius
GDP: USD 45.93 billion (2013)
Source: The World Bank
planned on four equal pillars: sea freight, air
freight, imports and exports.
Together with colleague Tuomas Leimio, he is
now working on making the Dachser name
even more recognized in the future among
Finland’s logistics managers. The conditions
are already there for that to happen: because
Dachser Finland Oy and Dachser Finland
Air & Sea Logistics stand for a global network that is supported by a comprehensive,
extremely capable IT system. For Finland’s
industry, there are good opportunities to optimize shipping times and Supply Chain Management. As the next step, another location for
Dachser Finland Air & Sea Logistics is being
planned for the west of the country. K. Fink
DACHSER magazine
31
BUSINESS LOUNGE: DACHSER FACE-TO-FACE
BERNHARD SIMON SPEAKS WITH...
KISHOR SRIDHAR
Is it possible to “inoculate” a company against crises?
Bernhard Simon speaks with Kishor H. Sridhar, behavioral economics
expert and best-selling author, about the future viability of robustly
positioned companies within a networked world.
Did you run into any unreasonable or irrational behavior today?
Kishor Sridhar: During my train trip here,
I shared a compartment with another passenger who had purchased the wrong ticket
and underpaid by 7.90 euros. When he wanted to upgrade his ticket at ticket inspection
time, the conductor treated him like a criminal. The matter was not resolved until,
after some back-and-forth, the conductor
finally calmed down. All of this commotion
was absolutely irrational. However, the passenger’s conclusion—never to travel with this
carrier again—seems quite rational to me.
Are reason and well-planned, systematic
action inextricably tied together?
Homo irrationalis
corresponds
to human nature far better
than the rational
homo oeconomicus
hh
Kishor H. Sridhar
32
DACHSER magazine
Bernhard Simon: Indeed, they go hand in
hand! But that is not to say that a certain
level of “irrationality” per se precludes the
ability to come up with a well-reasoned plan.
I can only talk about irrationality if I have
previously experienced its opposite—wellreasoned planning. You sometimes have to
break out of that corset that is constricting
you and rewrite the game rules—when it
comes to achieving progress, that can be the
deciding factor. For corporate management,
this means: once the handling of every issue
or concern is carved in stone and controlled
down to the last detail, then a company’s
progress lurches to a halt.
K. Sridhar: Homo irrationalis corresponds
to human nature far better than the rational
homo oeconomicus. And that’s a good thing.
Always doggedly following your plan closes
off opportunities to move freely if the environment changes and the sunk-cost effects
start being felt.
Which means?
K. Sridhar: Psychologists Hal Arkes and
Catherine Blumer discovered the sunk-cost
effects and proved them in numerous experiments. This means that the greater an investment is, the less willing people become
to break off a project initiated with that investment—even if the chances of success are
approaching zero. In other words, this is
about the human predisposition to throw
good money after bad—true to the motto:
“Now that we have put so much work into
the project already, we can’t just stop here.”
And this is precisely what leads to sinking
more and more money into the project. Past
mistakes do not justify making future mistakes that you are making with your eyes wide
open. Therefore, we have to ask ourselves
the question time and time again: would I
still do today what seemed like the right
thing yesterday?
B. Simon: This attitude has significant
effects on strategy. Classic strategy models
took a very deterministic approach, meaning
that all events—in particular future ones—
are clearly determined by their preconditions.
However, since markets, enterprises, and the
actors involved do not adhere to this theoretical concept, deterministic strategies proved
to be much too static to be successful in the
long term. Today, enterprises must be as
dynamic as the world around them and in
markets that are changing more rapidly than
ever. Success comes to those who are able to
react to ever-changing scenarios and difficult
and sometimes surprising situations and who
can provide new responses to the challenges.
K. Sridhar: Particularly in this era of globalization, we must constantly rethink things
BUSINESS LOUNGE: DACHSER FACE-TO-FACE
To achieve defined goals, sometimes
a detour is necessary to get the best
result—just like in nature
because everything is always in flux. To revert
to a strategy that was previously determined
and to stop pursuing new ideas means that
you are surrendering your responsibility and
letting go of the reins. I like to compare challenges with intelligent navigation systems.
If you want to drive according to traffic conditions and avoid traffic jams, it’s always necessary to make changes in order to find the
most efficient route, arrive reliably at your
destination, and remain relaxed while you’re
driving. Strategies should provide guidelines
but not erect walls that make it impossible
to correct your route.
What role do executives play in this process?
K. Sridhar: It is their responsibility to create a climate in which each employee can
continuously analyze himself/herself and
his/her actions in a critical and yet constructive way. And this must happen at all levels;
after all, significant innovations generally
come from the corporate base. Such analysis
and open, cross-divisional dialogue always
spawn new ideas.
B. Simon: In this process, employees need
dynamic objectives with which they can
identify emotionally. In order to release ener-
gy, develop new solutions, and explore new
horizons, you need appropriate communication arenas within the company.
What does this mean for communications
within the company?
B. Simon: In the course of Dachser’s history, it was always about inspiring enthusiasm for ideas so that the ideas themselves develop in an entrepreneurial way and to bring
your own fresh, new perspectives to the company. For example, this is how the Dachser
colors that characterize our image today
originated. Around 30 years ago, some Dutch
colleagues had the idea of presenting the
company at a local trade fair using the colors
yellow and blue, which they simply found
more modern and fresher. Of course, this
“wild” disobedience initially caused an indignant outcry at company headquarters, but
ultimately, everyone liked it so much that
it resulted in today’s Dachser color scheme.
Mr. Sridhar, you recommend that companies “inoculate” themselves against crises.
How is that supposed to work?
K. Sridhar: The “crisis inoculation” of a
company is similar to the inoculation of a liv-
ing creature. We cannot predict every illness
in our future, but we can give our immune
system the tools it needs to be able to react
flexibly and quickly to dangerous viruses and
germs. A vaccine consists of three components: external recognition, self-reflection,
and internal communication. In other words,
we must recognize and assess the symptoms
of a crisis and ensure that the steps we take
are comprehensible and transparent for
everyone involved. In particular, the crossdivisional networking of the company, which
is necessary for this process, demands that we
proceed with caution. After all, the individual departments are safe havens for the
employees who work there; this is where
things are familiar and where they know how
to navigate. However, curling up into a ball
is not a helpful strategy in a crisis. A body
does not battle an illness by having each unit
isolate itself from the rest of the organism.
B. Simon: At Dachser, our decentralized
organization is a significant factor of such
resilience. We are crisis-resistant because our
branch offices act as companies within the
company. Patriarchal, top-down decisions
would not get our management very far.
Every idea must blaze its way through ‡
DACHSER magazine
33
BUSINESS LOUNGE: DACHSER FACE-TO-FACE
the markets. I see this often in companies
managed by the owners, where the patriarch
pushes his ideas through by hook or by
crook, driven by the thought: “I made this
company what it is today, and I know best
what’s what. The difficulties cannot possibly
be my fault.”
B. Simon: Decisions need an idea to keep
them alive; it must be believable and the
actors must not only be committed to it,
they must internalize it. Otherwise, it has no
prospect of success. In this respect, family
companies have an advantage over exchangelisted corporations because they can follow
their path more consistently, without having to consider transitory short-term effects
that may impact the price of their shares.
In these cases, even outstanding managers
often don’t get an opportunity to lift the
company out of the crisis with a steady hand
in the spirit of a “crisis inoculation” and to
raise it to the next level in close communication with their staff.
PERSONAL FILE
company history, as committed
Bernhard Simon
Trying out new ideas and running the risk
of possible failure sounds good. But who
can really afford to do this?
the company before it can establish itself
on a broad basis. This also applies to the
ad-hoc decisions that are occasionally necessary. But because our internal communication structures are intact and effectively
support the opinion-building process at all
levels, we are able to rapidly communicate
with the entire company throughout all of
its subsidiaries, branches, and divisions with
their 25,000 employees so that the company
supports our decisions with positive sentiment.
K. Sridhar: Arbitrary and unilateral topdown decisions can generally no longer serve
as an adequate response to today’s ever
more complex challenges that are posed by
B. Simon: Logistics is an industry that is
always facing new challenges and, at the same
time, has very narrow margins and profits.
We receive hardly any support from the political arena because our services are complex
and often require explanations before they
are understood. There is not much room for
error here. Every single day, we must think
about how we can be more efficient and make
our customers even more successful. This
motivates us and helps us find the right
responses to the new challenges that we are
constantly encountering.
K. Sridhar: Constant pressure to change
actually has a positive effect on the resilience
and robustness of corporations—it’s like a
tree whose trunk may have to grow up around
a corner, but still manages to turn into a
large tree. The key to lasting success is always
having to adapt to new situations, learning
from mistakes, crises and your responses to
them, and continuing to grow.
B. Simon: And it’s crucial to always be forward-looking and to reject complaisance.
One of our mottos is: nothing is a bigger
risk for success than success itself. Ideas, energy, and empathetic collaboration is what
drives us at Dachser. And it is what makes
every day exciting and worth living.
Once the handling
of every issue or
concern is carved in stone and
controlled down to the
last detail, then a company’s
progress lurches to a halt
hh
34
DACHSER magazine
Kishor H. Sridhar
is a management consultant,
author, coach, and lecturer at
various German and international institutions of higher
learning. Based on behavioral
economics and behavioral psychology, he develops concepts
on how to address and remove
impediments to development
and solutions for restructuring
and corporate development. In
the “crisis inoculation” of companies, he sees “human irrationality as the key to success.”
Bernhard Simon
sees Dachser, with its 85-year
to ongoing change and adaptation to new market situations.
“It’s always the people who
shape innovations,” says
Simon. Their experience and the
continuous and open exchange
of ideas amongst themselves
and with customers always come
back to the company’s origin
and its mission and help them
to build bridges to the future.
GOOD NEWS
MUNIQUE –
MUNICH –
MÜNCHEN
“Logistics makes it happen.” This is the motto of the 15th
transport logistic trade fair that takes place May 5 to 8 in
Munich. The leading international logistics exhibition is also
a highlight for Bianca Barella from Dachser Brasil. The communications expert for Latin America is part of the Dachser
trade fair crew that consists of employees from various
company locations. “I’m particularly looking forward to the
many personal meetings with customers and colleagues
from around the world,” says Bianca Barella who works
for Dachser in Campinas, in the state of São Paulo, twelve
hours by plane from Munich. “The trade fair will certainly
be a unique and valuable experience. I’ll see you at the
Dachser booth in Hall B6!”
DACHSER magazine
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