The next generation has arrived: A new Executive Board team for the new year
On January 1, Burkhard Eling became Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Spokesperson of the Executive Board of logistics provider DACHSER. He heads the Corporate Strategy, Human Resources, Marketing executive unit, which also includes Corporate Key Account Management and the Corporate Governance & Compliance division. Eling succeeds Bernhard Simon, who will take over as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the family-owned company in mid-2021.
On January 1, Burkhard Eling became Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Spokesperson of the Executive Board of logistics provider DACHSER.
Also moving to the Supervisory Board with Simon is the former Chief Operations Officer (COO) Road Logistics, Michael Schilling. In response, DACHSER has made further changes to the Executive Board as of January 1, 2021. Two DACHSER managers of many years’ standing have been promoted to the logistics provider’s operational management body: Stefan Hohm as Chief Development Officer (CDO) and Alexander Tonn as COO Road Logistics. They are joined on the Executive Board by Robert Erni, who left DSV Panalpina to join DACHSER on September 1, 2020 and has taken up the role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The five-man Executive Board team is completed by Edoardo Podestà, who has been COO Air & Sea Logistics since October 2019.
Eling, 49, joined DACHSER in 2012 as deputy head of the Finance, Legal and Tax executive unit. He joined the Executive Board as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) the following year, since when he has been responsible for the logistics provider’s group-wide strategic idea and innovation management program. With a degree in industrial engineering, Eling joined DACHSER from the engineering and service group Bilfinger SE, where he was Head of the controlling and internal audit departments, CFO of a US subsidiary and of an international facility management service provider. Eling started his career with the construction companies Hochtief AG and Philipp Holzmann AG.
My fellow board members and I are taking over an extremely robust and fast-growing company that even the challenges of the coronavirus crisis haven’t managed to throw off course. With their tremendous know-how and commitment, the people at DACHSER have succeeded in maintaining the supply chains of our global customers even under adverse conditions.
Burkhard Eling, CEO of DACHSER
“With the trust and support of the founding family, we as an Executive Board team, will preserve the unique, people-oriented culture of DACHSER as a family-owned company. At the same time, we will continue to develop the company with sound judgment and agility on its way to becoming the world’s most integrated logistics provider,” Eling continues.
New Executive Board team with a wealth of experience
Alexander Tonn is a new member of DACHSER's Executive Board as of January 1, 2021. As COO Road Logistics, he will be responsible for the European overland transport networks for industrial goods and food. In addition, he will continue to lead the European Logistics Germany business unit. Tonn, 47, has been with the company for over 20 years, having held managerial positions including at DACHSER’s Allgäu logistics center in Memmingen and at company headquarters, where he was responsible for the logistics provider's global contract logistics business for several years.
Stefan Hohm, 48, will head the newly created IT & Development executive unit as Chief Development Officer (CDO). Hohm has been working for DACHSER for 27 years, during which time he has managed, among other things, the branches in Erfurt (Thuringia) and Hof (Upper Franconia). Most recently, he was Corporate Director for the logistics provider’s research and development work as well as its Corporate Solutions business. Besides the further development of IT, he is now also responsible for worldwide contract logistics.
Burkhard Eling’s successor as CFO is Robert Erni, an internationally experienced logistics finance manager, who took over as CFO on January 1, 2021 after a four-month induction and transition phase. Before joining DACHSER, the 54-year-old Swiss national was Group CFO at logistics provider Panalpina for nearly seven years.
There are no changes to DACHSER's air and sea freight business, which has been led by Edoardo Podestà, COO Air & Sea Logistics, since October 2019. The 58-year-old Italian, based in Hong Kong, became Managing Director of DACHSER’s air and sea freight business in the Asia Pacific business unit in 2014. Podestà is also a highly experienced DACHSER manager. He joined the company in 2003 when it acquired the joint venture Züst Ambrosetti Far East Ltd.
DACHSER South Africa perfects the art of picking and packing
As a fundamental part of the supply chain, picking and packing is fast growing into a sophisticated, intelligent process. This is due to client demands that necessitate logistics companies in having detailed understanding of complex product specificities and requirements when storing and moving these goods across geographical distances.
Camso specializes in off-road tires, wheels, rubber tracks, and track systems for commercial and powersport vehicles. To reach its customers in Europe as quickly and efficiently as possible, the company entrusted its logistics management to DACHSER as Lead Logistics Provider—a solution with a future.
Camso supplies tires for massive jobs.
When things get really slippery, muddy, gravelly, or slick, that’s when thick pneumatic rollers, rubber tracks, and hard rubber tires prove their mettle. They’re indispensable for the high-performance equipment used in material handling, on construction sites, in agriculture and quarries, and even in outdoor powersports. The message is very clear: the more demanding the terrain, the better.
And that’s precisely what Camso, a Michelin Group brand, specializes in. A global leader in the development, manufacture, and distribution of industrial tires, wheels, and rubber tracks, Camso has more than 8,000 employees in 26 countries across the globe, primarily in Asia, Europe, and North America. It also operates four research and development centers, 23 manufacturing facilities, and an international distribution network in more than 100 countries.
This setup puts as many demands on Camso’s logistics operations as the areas of application put on its products. To keep the company on track for growth and to tap the full potential of digitalization, Camso began reviewing its global and European logistics network some time ago. “Having ten local distribution centers in Europe, each of them independently managed, was no longer in keeping with the times,” says Pierrick Bouf, Supply Chain and Logistics Director EMEA at Camso. “As a result, we reorganized our network around three main distribution centers: one in the UK, one in Germany to cover northern Europe, and one in France to serve southern Europe.”
A reliable partner
The French distribution center in Grans, located near the Mediterranean port of Fos-sur-Mer northwest of Marseille, is operated by DACHSER. “Its location, logistics capacities, and groupage network made it a good fit with our plans to be able to deliver goods to the French market within 24 or 48 hours,” Bouf says. This cooperation would prove successful and resulted in DACHSER being included in the discussion about handing over responsibility for all logistics services to a Lead Logistics Provider (LLP).
"The close collaboration with DACHSER as LLP has made our processes significantly easier and increased our responsiveness in extremely turbulent times", says Pierrick Bouf, Supply Chain and Logistics Director EMEA at Camso.
The LLP would be tasked with orchestrating twelve different transport service providers and ensuring that they deliver an average of 170 shipments per day from the three central shipping warehouses to the target customers in Europe with maximum efficiency and transparency. “In parallel with this new logistics organization, we wanted to improve our services by centralizing and standardizing them and having a knowledgeable point of contact for all logistics-related questions,” Bouf says.
But first, an explanation of the term and the underlying concept is in order: a Lead Logistics Provider is a logistics company that acts as a neutral party in organizing all or at least the essential logistics processes for its customers, regardless of which service provider carries out the operational activity. LLPs are deeply integrated in their customers’ (logistics) processes. After all, this comprehensive service approach isn’t restricted to conducting transports or performing terminal handling or warehousing services; it also involves designing, implementing, and organizing supply chains, optimizing transport and warehouse planning, coordinating suppliers, and integrating the latest (communication) technologies. Customer-specific services such as customs clearance, packaging management, and value-added services also fall under the range of LLP responsibilities.
Delivering tires to customers throughout Europe.
The “premiere league of logistics”
That’s why Stefan Hohm, Chief Development Officer (CDO) at DACHSER, considers LLPs to represent the “premiere league of logistics”: “The LLP concept requires a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the customer’s supply chain and all associated processes. Using the network and IT expertise that we have acquired and grown over the years, we continue to develop and refine this system to create sustainable complete solutions that our customers need for their business model. In addition to the shipments transported by DACHSER, our portfolio will also incorporate the transparency and management of other logistics providers.”
This made Dachser an obvious choice as Camso’s LLP. “In our collaboration to date, Dachser has proven that it’s capable of organizing and allocating transports exactly the way we want. Following our shared experience with the Dachser-operated Camso distribution center in France, we then began working to expand the LLP solution to the other two distribution centers in the UK and Germany,” Bouf says. “Dachser is very familiar with our products and how we work, and it understands our special service-level requirements when shipping to another country.”
On the DACHSER end, the various strands of the Camso LLP project all converge in the hands of Martin Poost, Department Head Lead Logistics Provider. “All supply chain information flows into the DACHSER LLP Control Tower,” Poost says. “That’s the center where all data, independent of company and location, is pooled and monitored. To do this, we transform the physical supply chain processes and the specific customer requirements into an appropriate IT logic. We then display all relevant data in a transparent and traceable format on the DACHSER Supply Chain Visibility platform, where it can be accessed at any time.”
For this to work, the Camso and DACHSER systems have to be able to “talk” to each other and allow data to be shared in real time without losing information. According to Poost, this is a demanding challenge that, together with Camso, DACHSERsucceeded in transforming into a practical solution. Paving the way for this success was a working group with IT teams from Camso, DACHSER, and technology partner Siemens. “Working closely together, we were able to design the interfaces and the data structure in a way that ensures that communication between our ERP system and the DACHSER Supply Chain Visibility platform functions securely,” Bouf says.
An integrated overall concept
Camso had formulated clear expectations for DACHSER as LLP. It wanted an integrated concept for warehousing, distribution, and management of the various transport providers handling the groupage shipments, partial and full loads, and package deliveries. To this end, DACHSER was tasked with managing and controlling all transports and service providers, including transmitting shipment data to everyone involved, printing barcode labels, and managing proofs of delivery. And last but not least, the LLP is responsible for validating invoices. In other words, it was entrusted with the entire portfolio of highly developed and practical supply chain management processes.
For the Dachser LLP team led by Martin Poost, and for their partners at Camso, working together to draw up the detailed requirements and specifications once again showed very clearly that DACHSER could provide the orchestration of all required logistics services far more efficiently and reliably than if Camso had to create a suitable structure itself.
A glance at the Control Tower and the functionalities of DACHSER’s Supply Chain Visibility platform shows just why that is: “Here, all transport-related data, independent of company and location, is pooled together in one system and presented graphically, making it practical for use in different media,” Poost says. “This enables us and customers, regardless of location, to see where any shipment is at any given time and to intervene if necessary.” Thanks to DACHSER’s proprietary Supply Chain Visibility platform, everyone involved in the transport has access to the latest information and can contact other parties directly if desired, regardless of which type of transport is used. “We cover full and partial loads as well as groupage and parcel services. And it’s all part of a single solution for procurement and distribution logistics,” Poost says.
Easy to use
As the logistics experts know, digitalized and automated processes are only as good and worthwhile as their level of acceptance in day-to-day operations. “That’s why we pay particular attention to user acceptance of all the tools we use,” Poost says. It’s crucial that solutions be easy to use, for example via smartphone, app, and special web services.
If, for example, a rubber track needs to be sent from Germany to France, the Camso systems transmit the shipment data via an EDI to the Supply Chain Visibility platform, which Camso uses to control and release the shipment. The platform then transmits the data to the selected transport provider, who ultimately accepts the shipment. This system is used in transport scheduling, in the transit terminal, and by the drivers. “This means everyone can always see where the track is on its journey through Europe,” Poost says. That’s more than conventional tracking and tracing. “The major advantage of consolidating all shipment data in a single system is that it enables us to work for and with customers from an early stage to plan all transport services. For example, to arrange delivery in accordance with the recipient’s available time slots.” After the rubber track is delivered in France, the proof of delivery is transmitted, enabling the immediate final review of the transport costs indicated on the transport provider’s EDI invoice. “This carrier management,” Poost says, “is a well-oiled process and everyone has their part to play in it.”
The Control Tower and the DACHSER Supply Chain Visibility platform also provide tangible benefits when it comes to analysis, for instance when creating reports or Excel tables and forecasts for such things as order planning and timely provision of container and transport capacities. And last but not least, Poost says, another key aspect of the Control Tower is quality assurance. “When evaluating the services agreed with suppliers and transport providers, an appropriately qualified LLP partner has the professional and technological edge over customers when this evaluation can be explicitly ‘based on daily practice, for daily practice’.”
Poost’s and Bouf’s preliminary verdict on the Camso-DACHSER LLP partnership is thus a positive one. “Especially during the pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, the close collaboration with DACHSER made our processes significantly easier and increased our responsiveness in these extremely turbulent times,” Bouf notes with satisfaction. This also includes the parties having long since established a trusting and mutually appreciative connection on a personal level. “Since the start of our collaboration more than five years ago, we have had weekly operations meetings where we can discuss the events of the previous week and plans for the coming week, and where many potential problems can be anticipated and addressed proactively,” Poost says. “For all the technology it uses and all the progress it is making toward digitalization, logistics is still and will remain a ‘people business’—even, and especially, for a Lead Logistics Provider.”
In the recent past, supply chains have proven increasingly fragile and at risk. The reasons are manifold. To counteract this, companies are taking far-reaching measures. What these look like and how DACHSER can manage complex supply chains against this backdrop are the thoughts of CEO Burkhard Eling.
Burkhard Eling, CEO of DACHSER
The past 18 months have laid bare some of the weak points in the global economic system: just-in-time with lean warehousing, the focus on individual manufacturing sites in Asia, and the one-sided concern with efficiency and costs—all relied on structures that proved too fragile and too susceptible to disruption.
Companies have now analyzed their supply chains and are taking concrete action, such as expanding their warehouse capacity in Europe and the US, decentralizing production, and obtaining raw materials and intermediate products from multiple suppliers. In short, they are striving for security of supply. But that does not imply a shift to de-globalization. Supply chains will remain global, but they will become more complex.
Finding solutions even under difficult conditions
At DACHSER, we have no trouble managing complex supply chains; in fact, it’s our core expertise. We’re able to offer solutions that work even under difficult circumstances, which explains our continued success in the first six months of 2022. But prospects are dim: enormous cost increases in almost all areas will stifle demand and, as a consequence, significantly slow the current growth momentum.
We are already hard at work preparing for this scenario. For instance, we’re investing in digitalization and automation to make supply chains more efficient and more transparent. But we’re also investing in the people at DACHSER. After all, digital skills at all levels of the company will decide our success in the future.
Efficient management of global supply chains by DACHSER Air & Sea Logistics
In air and sea freight, operational procedures are characterized by a high degree of manual effort and require coordination with numerous contacts. With DACHSER as a logistics partner, customers benefit from digital solutions for more efficient management of their international supply chains. A single point of contact at DACHSER supports and coordinates their simple and fast implementation.
DACHSER's experience does show that more and more companies are taking advantage of digital applications for managing their air and sea freight. In order to provide customers with a suitable digital solution according to their requirements, DACHSER provides a diverse product portfolio. The offer is based on personalized customer solutions such as eLogistics, the central customer platform of DACHSER or standardized EDI applications and web based APIs. Analog processes can thus be replaced, optimized, or direct connections to the IT infrastructure of DACHSER can be created. The global project management by the experts of DACHSER Air & Sea Logistics does not only cover isolated parts but the entire processes and customer requirements along the supply chain are considered. This holistic approach also takes into account the overarching connection to the DACHSER Road Logistics network. For a smooth implementation, the products are tested by simulating use cases before going into operation.
Advantages at a glance:
Nationwide project management and professional consulting by a competent, single point of contact at DACHSER
Transparency and communication throughout the entire project process
Digital, paperless exchange without e-mails: direct transmission of forwarding orders to DACHSER’s transport management system for air and sea freight (Othello)
Sending status and invoice data to the customer's ERP system
Fully automated, time saving and low-disruption processes
Fast and detailed shipment information in real time
Seamless integration via a single, secure source of data, thus avoiding data silos
