He is the 34th member among the world's most deserving logisticians. Schnellecke will be officially inducted on December 5 at the annual Logistics Hall of Fame Gala Reception in the Erich Klausener Hall of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in Berlin.

"Rolf Schnellecke broke completely new ground in the forwarding industry with value-added logistics and developed a successful business model with great foresight that has shaped an entire industry. It would be inconceivable for the automotive industry today to manage without these logistics services," says Anita Würmser, Executive Jury Chairwoman of the Logistics Hall of Fame, explaining the decision of the international jury of experts.

Schnellecke can claim to have significantly influenced and developed automotive logistics beyond the boundaries of his company. "His early approaches to enrich pure transportation and warehousing processes with additional added value and to offer services and production activities as an outsourcing partner are visionary and had a groundbreaking influence on automotive logistics," the jury's statement reads. The entrepreneur recognized the automotive industry's drive towards globalization and the reduction of vertical integration early on. He saw the future of modern freight forwarding in the associated need for outsourcing and systematically transformed his parents' company from a regional rail and furniture forwarding company with four trucks into a global player and outsourcing partner. In the early 1970s, he initially set up international scheduled services. Subsequently, he concentrated on highly specialized value-added partnerships with the automotive industry. In 1990, Schnellecke became the first logistics service provider to take over the then highly innovative assembly of door and side panels, breaking new ground in the freight forwarding industry. The project became the blueprint for modern value-added logistics and has been copied many times and is still the standard in automotive logistics today.

Schnellecke has always focused on a head start through innovation, not only in logistics, but also in the transportation sector. In the 1970s, he was one of the first freight forwarders to develop large-capacity vehicles for the ever lighter components of the automotive industry, in the 1980s he used the emerging computer technology and today he is driving forward digitalization and autonomization. This unconditional willingness to innovate and change gives his company a competitive edge and makes him a sought-after source of ideas and innovation partner.

Rolf Schnellecke was born in Wolfsburg in 1944. He grew up in the small haulage company run by his mother Margarete following the early death of his father. After graduating from high school in Wolfsburg, he studied law and economics and made a career in administration and state politics. Among other things, he spent 16 years as Lord Mayor of the City of Wolfsburg. At the same time, Schnellecke founded M. Schnellecke KG together with his mother in 1967 at the age of 22. As a shareholder and later Chairman of the Supervisory Board, he determines the strategic direction of the company and develops the Schnellecke Group into an international logistics service provider with almost 20,000 employees at over 60 locations. In addition to transport logistics with inter-plant transports, regional forwarding, milk runs, JIT and JIS transports, Schnellecke is active for numerous OEMs and suppliers in the packaging and supply logistics of plants, the sequencing of parts and assemblies and in module assembly. The supply logistics of automotive plants with supplier parts and modules ranges from warehouse management and material flow control to order picking and sequencing to the supply of materials to production lines.

The Logistics Hall of Fame honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the further development of logistics and supply chain management. Its aim is to highlight the performance of logistics and its social significance worldwide. So far, 34 logisticians have made it into the international hall of fame. The initiative is supported by the Federal Ministry of Transport and relevant industry associations, media and companies, including the Port of Duisburg, Chep, Gebrüder Weiss, Humbaur, PTV Group and Still. LT-manager has been a member of the jury, the circle of supporters and a media partner of the event since 2011.