- Volume-based mode selection
- Real-time monitoring of all orders
- ETA for multimodal transports
Production planning
across all modes of transport
Manage and monitor transport capacity online
Hellmann successfully plans its production activities using a just-in-sequence approach with the EIKONA Logistics Cloud.
What was the challenge Hellmann Worldwide Logistics faced when planning shipments?
As a freight forwarder for a well-known automobile manufacturer, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics has to monitor and manage a number of intricately interlinked parameters when carrying out transport orders. To manage its logistics processes, the customer expects a constant stream of real-time information about its multi-shipment orders until they arrive at the plant: the current status, the GPS position and the estimated time of arrival (ETA) at the destination. The plant needs the updates on an item-by-item basis in order to manage its production operations effectively. Since production is supplied just-in-sequence, the production process will only work if all deadlines are strictly met. To provide the information needed for sequencing, the logistics service provider must, among other things, monitor combined transports where goods are delivered by rail shuttles in real time.
Solution: online portal with supply chain event management functionality
We implemented a customer order management portal at Hellmann Worldwide Logistics as a central management solution for production planning. It is already helping dispatchers select the most cost-effective production routes and monitoring whether transports are on schedule at each individual stage. If there are process disruptions, such as unforeseeable traffic hold-ups that put a planned arrival time out of reach, supply chain event management will automatically notify a predefined group of consignees in and outside the dispatching department. This gives Hellmann Worldwide Logistics a suitable basis for deciding whether to initiate a new delivery on another mode of transport or from another warehouse in order to get the customer the goods its needs. If this cannot be done, real-time information gives the automobile manufacturer plenty of advance warning so it can modify its production sequencing.
We are part of our customers' value chain and drive precise production planning with the Customer Order Management module. The wide array of proactive management options give us tremendous control over our earnings.
Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Germany at Hellmann Worldwide Logistics
Result: sensors and automated status management improve planning
The Customer Order Management platform is a tool that enables effortless processes for Hellmann Worldwide Logistics and its automotive industry customer. The portal allows optimisation of planning and management activities through extensive automation. We employ special technologies for monitoring the transports: We use solar GPS trackers to locate load carriers in rail shuttles and can thus update ETA calculations on the fly. In addition, our system updates shipment status when certain waypoints are reached using geofencing functions. Using this technology, we monitor compliance with just-in-sequence shipment deadlines as closely and automatically as possible.
Logistics benefits
- Software-supported production planning with stored transport capacities
- Automatic order monitoring through geofencing functions
- Automatic monitoring of customer orders across all modes of transport
About the company
Hellmann Worldwide Logistics
Since its foundation in 1871, Hellmann has developed into one of the largest international logistics providers. With its high-performance products Airfreight, Seafreight, Road & Rail, and Contract Logistics, it always offers the right solution for the complex logistics requirements of its customers and rely on future-oriented digital services for maximum transparency and more efficient supply chains. Today, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics has a global network of 489 offices in 173 countries with more than 19,500 employees. In 2019, the Hellmann Group generated revenues of around EUR 2.42 billion with 10,743 employees.
What tasks does a freight forwarder perform in production planning?
Reserving capacity, balancing quantities, modes of transport and destinations, coordinating transport times with customers' material requirements planning: in logistics, production planning is almost necessarily a wide-ranging task. That is why employees benefit from IT-supported processes, automatic notifications and real-time communication. Multimodal approaches in particular require tight coordination between all participating departments and companies. One of the basic, but most important, aspects of planning and management is to properly factor in the freight forwarder's resources, from pickup to cross-docking points to delivery.
