Giving the automotive industry a helping hand
Schnellecke Transport AG & Co. KG uses transport management software WinSped to process orders
Cars can be very fast. Motor transports, on the other hand, have to be very fast. The two cases also differ in another respect: driving too fast causes fines, whereas fast deliveries save costs. Therefore, Schnellecke Transport AG & Co. KG has made it its business to carry out groupage and general cargo transports in the automotive sector. For this purpose, LIS Logistische Informationssysteme AG has developed and programmed a special module of the transport management software WinSped together with Schnellecke. This extension is the so-called “Automotive Center” for process-oriented notification and order processing.
The Schnellecke Group emerged from a railroad-authorized cartage company and a furniture transport company that was founded in Wolfsburg in 1939. The company then took on its first regional transports for Volkswagen starting in 1967. The steady growth of the following years also accelerated the addition of logistics services starting in 1985. A further increase in the services offered through expansion in the area of value-added logistics in 1992 was accompanied by the opening of the first European location in Brussels. Two years later, Schnellecke entered the production of body parts and assemblies through the acquisition of KWD Karosseriewerke Dresden. In the following years, the opening of subsidiaries in South Africa, Mexico, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and China marked the beginning of corporate globalization. As part of Schnellecke Logistics, the transport holding Schnellecke Transport AG brings together several companies such as Schnellecke Transportlogistik GmbH and Sachsentrans Spedition und Logistik GmbH and connects seven locations with more than 700 employees. These are the branches in Wolfsburg, Braunschweig, Zwickau, Ludwigsfelde, Lozorno, Garbsen, Cologne and Pamplona.
In addition to carrying out transports in the automotive sector for Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Porsche and Daimler, for example, the company deals with inter-plant transports, JIT and JIS transports and milk transports. To meet the challenges, Schnellecke has been using the WinSped forwarding software from Greven-based LIS AG since July 01, 2016. In its search for a system to map all logistics processes, Schnellecke found what it was looking for with WinSped. “It was important to us to also realize a roll-out to international locations and thus to strategically realign the transport division. The goal was to get a significantly more efficient support. A service provider and its system must be able to develop future projects and new business quickly and efficiently and implement them in the shortest possible time. This is the case with LIS AG with WinSped”, explains Thomas Lammer, member of the executive board of Schnellecke Transport AG & Co. KG. Previously, the implementation and handling of new processes was only possible with a great deal of effort and a long changeover time. In addition, there were hardly any cross-departmental, standardized process flows within the companies and the entire division.
Joint module development as starting point
During the selection process in 2014 and 2015 for a new system, Schnellecke’s corporate IT department placed particular emphasis on functional and global aspects, investment security and costs. Another argument in favor of LIS AG and its WinSped software was its many years of experience in the field of MTB billing as well as hall scheduling. “Since we only had a very short planning and implementation phase of eight months, we decided on LIS AG as a strong and project-experienced partner,” says Lammer. In close cooperation, the four-person project team of Schnellecke Transport AG & Co. KG and LIS AG redeveloped the Automotive Center module for WinSped. This module offers companies solutions for process-oriented notification and order processing in the VDA environment. “WinSped Automotive Center is aimed at automotive transports in full, empty and inter-plant transports and also supports the processes of area freight forwarders and cross docking. In addition, the system takes into account the VDA plant structures and guides the user through the entire process,” says Volker Lückemeier, LIS board member. This means that the Automotive Center enables virtually error-free order entry, including the determination of freight payers and a system-based check of the relationship between the customer, the shipper and the recipient. All documents are already filed when the order is received.
Planning and control on multiple levels
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In addition to the Automotive Center, Schnellecke uses other modules of the WinSped software such as the fleet management system, fleet management, vehicle deployment planning, driver pre-planning, the billing center, hall disposition or damage management. The interaction of the various modules creates a transparent presentation of costs and benefits at the vehicle level for the value-added logistics service provider. The standardization of all system-controlled processes across all locations also increases efficiency within the company. Schnellecke also tracks shipments in real time on an order-by-order basis, both internally and for customers. Around 190 employees at three locations of Sachsentrans Spedition und Logistik GmbH, Schnellecke Transportlogistik GmbH and Logtrans GmbH are already using the system. In addition, Schnellecke is planning to connect two more locations in 2017. In total, the software manages nearly 1,300 company-owned units and about 420 external vehicles.
On the road to digitalization 4.0
Keeping a permanent overview of ongoing processes and orders often presents companies with major challenges. The use of WinSped modules, especially the Automotive Center, helps to clearly display order information in every area. In connection with interfaces, for example to the telematics of the company Trimble, orders are transmitted digitally, making their status traceable and verifiable at any time. “Especially when processing 1,500 orders per day, WinSped supports us to a great extent. We have modules for each department that map the basic requirements on the system side. An error-free order entry with determination of freight payers and system-side checking of the relationship between ordering party, shipper and recipient was designed in the course of development with the Automotive Center,” summarizes David Hoffmann, project manager at Schnellecke. With the connection of external systems and the interaction of the WinSped modules, Schnellecke lays the foundation on the way to digitalization 4.0. “With the introduction of WinSped, it is now possible to enforce the necessary standardization of processes across departments and locations. Process flows and contribution margins can be analyzed in the system with WinSped without much effort,” Hoffmann sums up.