Logistics service providers
Versatile, professional and flexible for the customer
Successful contract logistics thrives on comprehensive trust in the professionalism of logistics service providers and their expertise in the development and implementation of customized logistics concepts as well as their precise and flexible implementation in day-to-day business. Our examples show how win-win situations can be created under these conditions in a wide range of industries.
The logistics service provider Fiege Logistik has ordered 30 more robots from the Munich-based robotics start-up Magazino. Fiege is already using three intelligent Toru picking robots in a shoe warehouse at its Ibbenbüren site. Due to the high savings and positive experiences, the decision has now been made to roll out an entire fleet of robots.
"We are convinced that robots will be of great importance for intralogistics in the future, especially for fulfillment service providers", says Jens Fiege, CEO of the family-owned company. This is why Fiege decided very early on to rely on this technology: "We see ourselves as pioneers in this field and continue to develop this flexible solution together with our partner Magazino. Further automating order picking in our warehouses is an important step towards digitalizing the logistics center", emphasizes Fiege.
In addition, the picking of individual items in the supply chain plays one of the most decisive roles, especially in the booming online retail sector.
Magazino's robots are used at a Fiege e-commerce site, among others, where the orders of a large German shoe mail order company are processed. Thanks to numerous sensors and safety technology, the robots are already working in parallel with the employees there, storing shoe boxes in and out of the shelving racks and taking them to the dispatch station.
Intelligent robots accelerate e-commerce
The robots receive their picking orders via WLAN from the merchandise management system and can pick individual objects with pinpoint accuracy using computer vision and artificial intelligence; they can temporarily store the picked objects in the internal storage area and thus process several orders in one run. With its safety lasers, the robot detects obstacles in the way and employees in its surroundings, enabling it to find its way around the warehouse. Physical changes in the warehouse or marking lines on the warehouse floor are therefore superfluous.
The networked robot can also share self-generated maps of its environment and experiences with certain objects or challenges with its robot colleagues. This allows the robots to learn from each other and thus constantly improve.
"The strategically favorable location of our Shared Logistics Center offers the advantage of late cut-off times."Marc Clausing DB Schenker
Photo: DB Schenker
DB Schenker has developed a customized logistics concept for Casper, which was founded in New York in 2014, and acts as the logistics partner for the successful start-up in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Casper produces and sells mattresses, pillows and comforter covers and works with a very lean and smart product philosophy: it offers a single type of mattress made from a foam combination that meets the quality requirements in all important categories at a high level. Casper sells its products primarily via e-commerce. Usually, mattresses have to be shipped as bulky goods, which is time-consuming, but since e-commerce customers are used to short delivery times, easy shipping with CEP services was integrated into the product development goals: Casper mattresses are "highly compressible without bending them out of shape," as Jeff Chapin, Chief Product Officer at Casper points out, "so we can ship them easily and quickly across the country, packed in a very compact box and at a fraction of the cost of shipping an uncompressed mattress."
Customized logistics for successful mattress startup
The combined product and sales concept is a success: Casper is growing rapidly and, after the USA and Canada, the company has also been establishing itself on the European markets since 2016. Production takes place in the sales region and products are sold via e-commerce.
Marc Clausing, Head of Business Development- Consumer at Schenker Germany, on the reasons for choosing DB Schenker as Casper's logistics partner for the DACH region: "When looking for a logistics partner, Casper focused on large established providers and innovative young logistics companies. What was needed was a high level of professionalism along the entire supply chain and highly dynamic fulfillment of the strongly fluctuating requirements in e-commerce. Ultimately, it was also strategically important for DB Schenker to be able to reliably offer the logistics capacities required for the growth planned for the coming years on a long-term basis.
DB Schenker turned a shared logistics center into the central transshipment point for the Casper business. Clausing: "The strategically favorable location offers the advantage of late cut-off times for various CEP service providers. Casper mattresses are recorded and stored in a reserved storage area. The customer's e-shop and merchandise management system were dynamically linked to DB Schenker's warehouse management system. The orders are executed on a daily basis and fed into the CEP networks. "When processing peak loads, we benefit from the central location of our Shared Logistics Center," says Clausing. "We cooperate with several of our logistics locations in the surrounding area and jointly ensure the flexible provision of employees."
Significant savings through optimal forklift utilization
Benway Solutions, the Bremen-based logistics outsourcing specialist, provides an interesting example of successful contract logistics. Benway Solutions handles goods receipt, dispatch, internal transportation and line feeding for a tier 1 supplier in the automotive sector. The use of industrial trucks is a significant cost factor. Non-optimal routes and inadequate forklift utilization generate costs that should not be underestimated.
By temporarily using a sensor-based system on each industrial truck, all movements and load journeys were recorded over a period of four weeks. Of particular interest was the number of empty runs and the resulting unused capacity.
The ultrasound-based sensors offer the advantage that they are particularly suitable for halls and do not require WLAN. As they work independently of the manufacturer and are easy to install, optimization potential can be identified without much effort. Björn Svanström, Managing Director of Benway Solutions, comments: "After evaluating the results, such as empty and loaded trips and downtimes, we were already able to save more than ten percent for the customer in the first year.
Precise food logistics
Dachser has been working for the Westphalian baked goods manufacturer Kuchenmeister since 1998, including in the new 10,100 square meter temperature-controlled food warehouse in Soest. The demands on the logistics of baked goods are high: short-term incoming orders, best-before dates, the seasonality of many products or the dependence on consumer habits, as Hans-Günter Trockels, Managing Director of Kuchenmeister GmbH, explains. The new warehouse in Soest, which replaces several external warehouses, enables the company to respond better to these requirements. In addition, Kuchenmeister only manufactures to order and only has four to five working days between receipt and delivery. Kuchenmeister manages most of the space in the new warehouse itself. Dachser has rented its own space of around 2000 square meters, manages incoming and outgoing goods as a logistics service provider with its own staff and IT, and controls loading.
Kuchenmeister's own fleet of vehicles is also used as part of this warehouse partnership. As Trockels emphasizes, "it is only thanks to the cooperation with Dachser that we are able to fully utilize 23 trucks at all times and ensure daily deliveries, which requires many small batches.
Reinhard Irrgang
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