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Tag: 4PL

Partnership to Strengthen Global Supply Chain

Posted on by David Priestman

Zencargo, a global digital freight forwarder, empowering businesses to make their supply chain a competitive advantage, is proud to announce the renewal of its partnership with Denkavit with a new two-year contract focused on scaling global exports from the Netherlands to markets worldwide.

For over three years, Denkavit has partnered with Zencargo to manage its outbound ocean freight. Known for its young animal nutrition feed, Denkavit exports from the Netherlands to customers across the globe. The renewed two-year partnership reflects the value Zencargo delivers in enabling supply chain visibility and control.

As Denkavit’s control tower partner, Zencargo oversees all ocean freight bookings and coordinates with carriers and logistics providers to ensure timely, efficient global shipments. The Zencargo platform offers centralised booking management, milestone tracking, and performance insights.

Beyond execution, Zencargo supports Denkavit in optimising carrier performance. This includes providing detailed operational feedback, performance data, and managing escalations. These efforts strengthen partner collaboration and reduce risk across trade lanes.

supply chain visibility

“Zencargo has become an extension of our team,” said Gerard Van Beek, Logistics Sourcing Manager at Denkavit. “We work together closely on a daily basis to manage bookings, solve issues, and improve carrier performance. Their platform gives us the visibility we need, but it’s the ongoing collaboration and strategic input that drive better outcomes across our operations.”

“Denkavit has a clear vision for quality and reliability across their supply chain,” said Kyle Ingerman, VP Customer Success. “We’re proud to help them deliver on that vision by combining real-time visibility, agile execution, and strategic insights that improve performance year after year.”

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Transforming Logistics with Predictive Analytics

Posted on by David Priestman

Predictive analytics is one of the most powerful tools logistics companies have at their fingertips, according to 4PL Sheer Logistics. More accessible than ever, this type of technology empowers companies to make better decisions to grow their organization from the ground up and does so with real-time efficiency.

For companies that apply predictive analytics to their logistics operation, there is a real competitive advantage. It can offer numerous benefits across all areas of the supply chain, including improving visibility, allowing for better resource allocation, streamlining inventory management, and reducing safety risks.

Predictive analytics, which is noted by Harvard Business School as the method of using data to identify trends, extract insights, and answer questions, enables better strategizing and improved business decision making. There are numerous types of data analytics, with predictive analytics focusing specifically on what might happen in the future.

The Role of Data in Modern Supply Chains

Modern supply chains have more data available to them than ever. That data, along with advanced analytics, can help pinpoint specific patterns that can help make better decisions. In many ways, data can help logistics companies in all facets of their operation. Some examples include:
● Improving route decisions: Designed to optimize routes, this has a direct impact on schedules, customer satisfaction, and profits.
● Performance data: With real-time tracking and monitoring throughout the logistics company, it is possible to pinpoint potential areas of weakness and create plans for improvement.
● Risk mitigation and management: Predictive analytics is highly effective in helping to transform logistics by pinpointing the most likely risks and allowing for better overall management of resources to minimize such risks.
● Supply chain visibility and transparency: Data can also be used to support supply chain visibility in real-time, opening the door for new opportunities to capture data and to make better decisions as opportunities occur.
● Supply chain agility and responsiveness: Data can also be used to improve the overall ability of a supply chain, or more specifically the logistics company, to respond to changing conditions and better meet customer demand.
● Sustainability: Data can also provide for improved sustainability efforts, reducing fuel costs and improving overall longevity of fleets and equipment.

How Predictive Analytics Enhances Supply Chain Visibility

Consider the specific area of supply chain visibility. Oracle shares that supply chain visibility is rather a simple premise in that it is the ability of a company to have a detailed, accurate, and real-time view of its products as they move from the original supplier to the customer. When you apply data analytics to this process, you gain several key benefits:
● Optimized transportation routing: One of the best benefits for logistics companies is optimizing routing. With data, it is possible to make decisions that improve efficiency, including both time-efficient and cost-efficient routes. This data comes from numerous sources, such as weather patterns, GPS logging devices, and traffic patterns.
● Improved supplier monitoring and selection: Also notable is that logistics companies can make better supplier selections based on factors such as sustainability efforts, reliability, and that partner’s overall performance.
● Real-time decision making: The use of predictive analytics in logistics is empowering because it enables companies to make real-time decisions based on fast-changing information. This can include identifying opportunities or mitigating risks.

With the help of a 4PL provider, it is possible to gain oversight of all of these areas and numerous more to improve the overall success of any logistics operation.

Enhancing Forecasting Accuracy with Predictive Models

Another way logistics companies can benefit from predictive analytics is in forecasting. How much product needs to be available in one area compared to another? When will spikes in seasonality make a difference in resource planning? These are basic questions, but with predictive models, it is possible to get highly enhanced and very accurate insights into how to better manage your logistics company.

For example, one of the most effective ways to use these tools is to optimize inventory levels in warehouses or even in resource planning. Companies can use historical sales data to provide some insight, but this is not new. Companies have been doing that for years. What is new is that predictive analytics can offer more insight and allow for consideration of various influencing factors, such as inflationary pressures, delays in products, or trends in the market.

The direct result of this is that companies can make better decisions about their product needs and resource planning. Within the logistics industry alone, this can help with:
● Reducing capital tied up in too many vehicles
● Overstocking situations in warehouses
● Lack of product in the right locations
● Reducing carrying costs overall
● Improving overall resource planning decision-making

Utilization of predictive models can create multiple scenarios, enabling logistics companies to plan for the worst and be ready for the best outcomes. That can ensure better growth and customer satisfaction.

Overcoming Challenges in Implementing Predictive Analytics

The application of predictive analytics in logistics offers numerous advantages at any scale, but some noted challenges can occur. Some critical factors include:
● Ensuring the accuracy of data collected and basing that information on the latest available data. The frequency of data collection, how it is being evaluated, and the overall accuracy of collection methods can make a big difference. Focus on data quality.
● Manage data volume and time demands: Organizations will have access to incredible amounts of data, and that can be a very good thing. However, some predictive analytics tools offer too much of the wrong information, slowing down the decision-making process without reward. It is critical, then, to pick and choose core elements that are most meaningful to the company’s objectives.
● Navigating security and data privacy: This is another area of potential concern, depending on the scenario. Companies must be able to invest in the highest level of security and work to mitigate risks in any data invasion.

With the utilization of predictive analytics, logistics companies can see remarkable change, growth, and profit margin improvement. Applying the right tools at the right time can significantly help companies achieve better results. With the help of a 4PL provider, it is possible to gain oversight of all these areas and numerous more to improve the overall success of any logistics operation.

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Digital Control Tower Manages Logistics

Posted on by David Priestman

NOKERA, a German green-tech firm for serial production using timber, has placed an order with 4PL Central Station AG (4PLCS) to centrally manage its road transport logistics operations. NOKERA uses its fully integrated technology-based platform to combine the planning and production work for building components manufactured using serial timber construction techniques as well assembling them and providing services at the destination within a standard system. The long-term order involves coordinating the procurement logistics for all the raw materials for NOKERA’s production sites and even includes supplying the system components to the relevant assembly site.

With the help of 4PLCS as a neutral fourth-party logistics provider (4PL), NOKERA will in future control all its supply chain partners such as factories, warehouse keepers, suppliers and all the external logistics and transport partners via just one central interface. The core element in the management process is a so-called Digital Control Tower, in which 4PLCS standardises all the administrative processes and models them in automated form. These include, for example, tender procedures for transport services, checks on freight costs and damage management. NOKERA will integrate the Control Tower within its own management systems by the second quarter of 2024 and will completely control it from then on. It will then provide NOKERA managers with status reports that are always up-to-date and will enable them to measure quality and assign costs. The transport management system (TMS), which 4PLCS has developed in-house, is an integral part of the Control Tower and it calculates the CO2 emissions generated by the supply chain and allows predictions to be made about the volume of goods and the transport equipment required by means of artificial intelligence. This will ensure that both NOKERA’s production and assembly sites will obtain the raw materials and finished building components at the right time and fully utilise the capacity of the vehicles in the best possible way to prevent damage being done to the environment.

“As an independent, neutral fourth-party logistics provider, we’re raising transport logistics in the construction industry to a new level. NOKERA will benefit from digitalised, automated processes, permanent transparency and performance measurement using key performance indicators. Thanks to constant checks on each partial stage in the supply chain, NOKERA can adopt countermeasures at an early stage and in a flexible manner to prevent scenarios from developing – and respond quickly to any fluctuations in volumes,” says Alexander Bauer, the Group Chairman, Owner and Founder of 4PLCS, explaining the system.

“Thanks to the support from 4PLCS, NOKERA can reduce the normal discrepancy rates and disruption factors encountered in the construction industry to a minimum. The connection to the Control Tower provided by 4PLCS offers NOKERA a one-stop solution and it will make a major contribution to its market success in the construction sector,” says Olivier Bauer, the Group CEO, Owner and Founder of 4PLCS, adding his comments.

“Our mission at NOKERA is to transform the construction industry and decarbonise the building sector. To achieve this, we’re relying on economies of scale and renewable raw materials. Digitally controlling all the processes and intelligent efficiency management are a fundamental part of the NOKERA system. Given that we have an in-house production ratio of more than 80 percent, logistics plays a crucial role in this process. We’re therefore delighted to have found a partner in 4PLCS, because it can support us here with its state-of-the-art expertise and tools,” says David Stampfli, the Chief Supply Chain Officer at NOKERA.

Partnership for Europe-wide Additional Transport

Posted on by David Priestman

DPD Germany and Berlin-based LogTech company InstaFreight are entering into a strategic transport partnership. The aim is to further digitalise and optimize the purchasing and management of additional capacity in the DPD full truckload network. By using the platform, the transport process becomes more transparent and efficient, enabling DPD customers to use transport capacities in the DPD network even more quickly and flexibly.

The InstaFreight platform bundles freight space from a total of over 25,000 qualified carriers. In partnership with DPD InstaFreight acts as a cost-neutral Fourth Party Logistics Provider (4PL). In doing so, the company makes its platform and operational know-how available to DPD for the purchase and management of additional transport in the full load network. In a pilot project lasting around a year in northern Germany DPD has already multiplied its carrier base with InstaFreight, further increasing both the reliability and flexibility of the DPD network. During the freight space search, the best offer for the desired route is now selected and the transport order is transferred directly to the respective carrier via the platform. In the pilot phase alone several thousand full load transports were awarded in this way. In the meantime, all DPD’s national and Europe-wide additional transports are orchestrated via the platform.

InstaFreight is the leading digital logistics company for land transportation in Europe, operating on a single platform as both a 3PL (Third Party logistics provider) and as a cost-neutral 4PL operator through its Transport Management service. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Berlin, the company handles several thousand Full Truckload (FTL), Less Than Truckload (LTL), and Less Than Container load (LCL) shipments on a weekly basis. InstaFreight’s business model grants shippers access to freight capacity that would otherwise be challenging to secure at this scale. The technology employed by InstaFreight digitizes and automates the execution of transportation, resulting in efficiency and transparency advantages throughout the transportation process.

Besides noticeable cost reduction, InstaFreight and DPD have jointly digitized the process steps related to partner management. The digital coordination of the haulage companies also simplifies daily work processes and supports resource-saving road freight transport by avoiding empty runs.

“After the successful pilot phase and the Germany-wide rollout we are looking forward to the long-term cooperation with InstaFreight. This will enable us to handle our purchasing and the provision of additional capacity even faster, more transparently and more efficiently in these difficult global economic times,” explains Simon Nissen, Director Network Planning & Optimisation at DPD Germany.

“Being able to offer an experienced organization like DPD a variety of benefits in the purchasing and management of transport capacities fills us with pride. DPD Germany is an important anchor customer for us, with whom we have jointly developed and piloted our solution for spot FTL shipments. This freight cost-neutral 4PL solution will also be available to other shippers in the future,” says Maximilian Schaefer, Managing Director and Co-Founder of InstaFreight.

GEFCO tests biodiesel fuel in car transporters

Posted on by David Priestman

In November 2021, GEFCO France and Gardien Transports started testing synthetic biodiesel made from waste oil and fat as an alternative fuel for two car transporters distributing new vehicles in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. This one-year project supports GEFCO France’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions from its finished vehicles logistics (FVL) operations.

For these tests, GEFCO France and Gardien Transports have selected Altens PUR-XTL synthetic biodiesel. This alternative fuel is produced exclusively from waste materials, and can be used in regular diesel vehicles without any technical modifications. Compared to standard diesel, PUR-XTL promises to cut CO2 emissions by 85-90% and fine/ultrafine particles by up to 65% on short journeys with 500km of autonomy.

After committing to the EVcom voluntary carbon reduction program in 2019 and Objectif CO2 standards in early 2021, GEFCO France is now testing alternative fuels (natural gas and biogas) and rolling out a programme for its proprietary finished vehicles logistics business focused on four priorities:

Flow optimisation. Transport schedules, plans and loads are regularly revised and optimised to reduce the flow of trucks and avoid empty return journeys whenever possible.

Vehicles. GEFCO France is aiming to upgrade 100% of its FVL fleet to Euro 6 vehicle emissions standards by the end of 2021. Through these upgrades, the fleet’s fuel consumption at 100km already dropped by 10% between 2015 and 2020. GEFCO France is also asking its partners to make similar upgrades.

Drivers. Since 2015, GEFCO France drivers have followed an eco-driving training programme, renewable every two years. At the end of 2020, 80% had completed this training.

Fuel. To monitor equipment performance and optimise maintenance, GEFCO France tractors are equipped with integrated telematic systems to adapt fuel consumption to loads and road conditions.

This partnership further demonstrates its commitment to a more sustainable logistics sector in France.

“Like GEFCO France, Gardien Transports has signed the Objectif CO2 charter to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Frédéric Briand, COO Finished Vehicle Logistics at GEFCO France. “Our partner is committed to moving the transportation and logistics business forward. Gardien Transports’ values reflect our own, providing all the more reason to support its efforts.”

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