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Tag: Setlog

Tackling Complexity with Transparency in Supply Chain

Posted on by Peter MacLeod

Transparency of the global supply chain is becoming the weapon of choice for smart logistics operations, as Peter MacLeod discovers in a conversation with Setlog’s Ralf Düster.

As the supply chain world hurtles toward a more interconnected and complex future, it is clear that end-to-end visibility is a necessity. Ralf Düster (pictured below), Managing Director of Setlog GmbH, advocates that managing global supply chains effectively means seeing the whole picture, from raw material readiness to last-mile delivery. And with the company’s digital platform, OSCA Global Logistics, Setlog is equipping its customers with the tools to navigate an increasingly unpredictable logistics landscape.

In a recent conversation following Setlog’s appearance at LogiMAT, Düster broke down how Setlog’s approach aligns with the top 10 supply chain management trends of 2025, as outlined in its latest industry report. From AI to cybersecurity, labour shortages to sustainability, he explained how Setlog is helping customers prepare for tomorrow’s challenges today.

End-to-End Visibility

At the core of Setlog’s value proposition is deep visibility across the entire supply chain. “Today, it’s not enough to know where a container is,” says Düster. “You need to know when production starts, what the quality control results are, and if your materials are available in time. That’s the level of granularity we offer.”

Setlog’s OSCA platform allows businesses to gain SKU-level visibility very early in the development cycle, all the way up to the packing stage. Here, an electronic packing list generated at the factory enables accurate, real-time insights long before goods are shipped. This means DCs can prioritise container unloading, prepare resources more effectively, and ultimately serve their customers faster and with greater accuracy.

Ralf Duester, Setlog

Responding to Disruption

In a world rocked by geopolitical tension, climate events, and port congestion, supply chain disruptions are inevitable. Düster isn’t in the business of predicting wars or volcanic eruptions – “I’m not a Trump advisor or a volcano specialist,” he jokes – but he is in the business of building resilience through data. “When production delays happen, our system alerts you early,” he explains. “You can then make decisions like adapting the production, upgrading from sea freight to air freight or arranging two-driver express trucks to reduce delays. You don’t wait until the goods are on the water, you act at the production stage.”

By integrating supplier, lab, and logistics data into one collaborative platform, OSCA empowers businesses to adapt quickly and communicate changes to stakeholders, from internal planners to end customers.

Sustainability & Carbon Reporting

One of the most critical priorities for modern supply chains is reducing carbon emissions. Setlog’s platform offers detailed CO₂ tracking not just by shipment, but by SKU. This enables brands to analyse the environmental impact of individual products or ranges, helping them make greener logistics choices and meet evolving reporting standards.

“Companies can use this information to optimise transport modes, maybe to send mission-critical parts by air, and everything else by sea,” says Düster. “We give them the data to reduce emissions and maintain service levels.” With cyberattacks on the rise, Düster emphasises that Setlog invests heavily in security. “We’re handling sensitive data such as pricing, designs, product images, so we’ve built robust systems with strict access controls,” he says.

The platform is designed with role-based permissions, ensuring that only authorised users can view or modify specific data. Setlog also works with certified European and American data processing partners to maintain the highest security standards. As the supply chain becomes more digital and connected, this kind of protection is essential.

Labour Shortages

Another looming challenge is the growing scarcity of skilled logistics personnel, particularly in customs, warehouse operations, and intralogistics. Setlog is tackling this by supporting the shift toward Fourth-Party Logistics (4PL) models, where a single provider manages and orchestrates the full logistics operation on behalf of the customer.

“Companies want to focus on their core business: making products and serving customers,” says Düster. “They don’t want to worry about customs clearance or warehouse management. That’s where 4PL comes in.” Setlog is currently supporting the development of such a model for its customer Rhenus, a major logistics provider. The goal is full orchestration of everything from carrier selection to distribution centre operations, allowing businesses to remain agile even with fewer in-house logistics professionals.

AI Where it Matters

While many companies claim to use AI, few apply it where it counts. At Setlog, artificial intelligence is being embedded directly into operational workflows. From automated document processing to AI chatbots that answer real-time supply chain questions, OSCA is learning from every user interaction.

“We’re using AI to read laboratory QC reports and automatically trigger workflows,” explains Düster. “We’re also launching chatbot support so users can ask questions like ‘Is this order on the vessel?’ and get instant, accurate answers.” This reduces the need for manual intervention and allows merchandisers and logistics coordinators to focus on exception handling, rather than chasing routine updates.

While Setlog is headquartered in Germany, its footprint and its competitive mindset is international. “The US market is ahead in some areas, especially in adopting digital-first logistics platforms,” says Düster. “But we’re learning fast, and building solutions for both European and American clients.”

He points to the company’s involvement in the Open Logistics Foundation, and its participation in recent hackathons focused on digital air waybills and delivery documents. These innovations are helping reduce manual work and increase speed, which are two major drivers of supply chain efficiency.

The supply chain of 2025 demands more than fragmented software and Excel spreadsheets. It requires an integrated, collaborative ecosystem, one that gives all stakeholders the data they need to act quickly and intelligently. The OSCA platform offers that ecosystem, combining real-time visibility, intelligent automation, and robust security in a single solution. “If you want to be ready for the unknowns, whatever form they take, you need transparency and collaboration,” says Düster.

In an industry defined by complexity and change, that kind of clarity may be the most valuable cargo of all.

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Nothing Burns in Char-Broil Supply Chain

Posted on by Keith McKinley

More and more BBQ enthusiasts are on fire for the products of the US company Char-Broil. To transport more than 450 containers of grills from suppliers to warehouses, the company manages its supply chain with Setlog’s OSCA software. Since then, e-mails and Excel lists for controlling the supply chain have been history.

“The prompt status updates from our suppliers in the digital, central solution are extremely valuable,” says Marco Peters, Head of Logistics Management, Europe, Char-Broil Europe.

Whether you’re a steak connoisseur or a vegetarian, no one turns down an invitation to a barbecue with family and friends on a warm summer evening. But barbecue fans know from experience that the mood is quickly dampened if the steak or eggplant is not evenly grilled or even burnt. Party professionals therefore leave nothing to chance and rely on professional equipment.

One of the leading suppliers of various grill systems and accessories for outdoor use is the US company Char-Broil. Its European subsidiary has been based in Hamburg for nine years. The company belongs to the consumer goods specialist W. C. Bradley. Today’s modern solutions have little to do with the first charcoal barbecue made of cast iron, which the Americans produced in 1948 in the tranquil town of Columbus, Georgia. Today, grill masters are turning to innovations such as digital smokers or hybrid grills from Char-Broil for special taste experiences, known in the trade as Maillard reactions.

The Americans are particularly proud of the patented TRU infrared grilling system. It offers a number of advantages, including 50 percent juicier food, 100 percent even heat distribution and up to 30 percent less gas consumption. The company’s slogan is “just grill”. The fact is that developing such solutions requires expertise in the fields of materials technology, gas combustion, die-casting design and software. The effort pays off: in 2020, the company was honored with the “Best Brands Award” as Germany’s strongest growth brand.

The products are no longer produced in the USA, but largely in Asia: 14 suppliers in Vietnam and China deliver around 100.000 barbecues to the European market and the UK every year. Transportation is managed by the logistics service provider DHL. There are also direct imports – from Amazon, for example. “The products arrive in around 450 containers and are distributed to three distribution centers,” reports Marco Peters, Head of Logistics Management Europe. The warehouses, which are all operated by 3PLs, are located in Birmingham, near Aarhus in Denmark and in Malsch near Karlsruhe. The latter is operated by the service provider Dachser. Customers throughout Germany and other Western European countries are supplied from the facility in Baden-Wuerttemberg.

More than 100,000 barbecues imported from Asia in total per year – this figure is enough to make any supply chain manager’s head spin. Until the beginning of 2023, it was a lot of work for the buyers and supply chain managers at Char-Broil. Each order was placed by email with the relevant supplier, confirmations had to be made manually, and the logistics service provider then commissioned. In addition, they often had stomach aches when it came to the arrival times of the goods. The supply chain was not transparent. The major disadvantage was that employees had to use several systems to manually adjust the correct arrival date in the event of a delay.

However, following the example of the TRU infrared grills, the supply chain management team also wanted to make sure that nothing was left to chance when it came to supply chain management and created an organizational IT blueprint to digitize their supply chain: at the same time as introducing SAP S4 HANA, the company implemented Setlog‘s OSCA SCM software in January 2023. The Bochum-based IT company won the tender against several competitors. “OSCA was the best fit for our requirements for a powerful system that could be implemented quickly,” reports Peters. The company uses the supply chain modules “OSCA Purchase Order Management” and “OSCA Global Logistics”. In addition to the Asian suppliers for Europe and the freight forwarder DHL, via the Forwarder API, Char-Broil in the USA was also connected in the fall of 2023.

Whether digital smoker or TRU infrared grill

Char-Broil controls several areas in OSCA on a daily basis:
• Delivery Planning including dialogs: This involves order confirmation from the supplier.
• Booking and shipment: In OSCA, this includes the supplier’s transport booking process with the freight forwarder, the shipment deposit by the logistics service provider via API and the uploading of mandatory documents.
• Report and analysis functions: The dashboard gives employees an overview of the status of all processes at the touch of a button.

To ensure that implementation does not become a time-consuming undertaking, Setlog relies on proven training processes with its customers. “Initially, you have to convince many suppliers to work with the new software in future. But after the training, they recognize the benefits. The good thing is that the suppliers can also measure their own performance in the system,” explains Peters. With the experience gained from the first wave of training, the SCM department is about to plan on the next: following the takeover of the supplier Dansons by W. C. Bradley, 18 new suppliers are due to be connected in the next few months.

On a day-to-day basis, SCM expert Peters is enthusiastic about working with OSCA – and no longer wants to do without the tool. The software offers a whole range of advantages:
• Procurement and transportation processes are managed transparently and centrally.
• The tool improves communication between W. C. Bradley and its partners. E-mail and Excel lists have been eliminated for managing the supply chain.
• Changes in the processes are immediately visible and can be communicated.
• Users benefit from updates in the event of delivery delays via the forwarder interface.
• Lead times are reduced.

“The prompt status updates from our suppliers in the digital, central solution are extremely valuable. We can see the status of the orders at any time. And after shipping, we receive tracking updates from DHL with updates on the estimated time of arrival, the ETA,” emphasizes Peters. The 43-year-old manager is very satisfied with the constructive cooperation with Setlog: “The very good and fast support is enormously helpful for us on a day-to-day basis.”

The journey with OSCA to control the supply chain continues for W. C. Bradley. After Char Broil Europe and USA, the Lamplight division, whose products provide the right lighting for the roasting magic, will also be connected in the coming weeks. W.C. Bradley is thus once again expanding the volume that is mapped in OSCA.

For Setlog Managing Director Ralf Duester, W. C. Bradley is a good example of how a company can successfully integrate its business units into an SCM software step by step and how management can control the supply chains centrally via a system: “Anyone who wants to be competitive in global purchasing today can no longer avoid modern IT and collaborative, digital solutions. And as with Char-Broil, you always need someone to drive the whole thing, coordinate it with the team, control it and introduce it.”

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Lampenwelt Brings Light into the Supply Chain

Posted on by Keith McKinley

When it comes to ordering lights online, many consumers make the final click at Lampenwelt. The e-commerce specialist, which is part of the LUQOM Group, recently started using the SCM software OSCA to bring transparency to the supply chain. As a result lead times and the workload for orders have been significantly.

“In addition to simple user guidance, Setlog convinces with its fast implementation,” says Patrick Keyser, Director Demand & Order Management, Global Forwarding, Lampenwelt GmbH. Anyone moving into a new home has a lot to do. Packing, moving, unpacking, assembling furniture and then lots of paperwork. Often there are only temporary light bulbs hanging from the ceiling in the new apartment. Replacing these is also on the to-do list. In the past, people would rush to large furniture stores and often spend half a Saturday in the lamp department to find a new lamp and the right light bulb for each room. But in the age of the Internet, many consumers do away with such time-consuming activities: Instead, they shop for their desired lamps online from the comfort of their new sofa.

For more than two decades, Lampenwelt from the Sauerland region of Germany has been one of the largest and most successful platforms for the sale of lamps of all price ranges. The company sells its products in 27 countries via various domains, including lights.co.uk in the UK and luminaire.fr in France. The online pure player, which is part of the Berlin-based LUQOM Group founded in 2017, offers a range of around 450 brands and more than 60,000 products. Lampenwelt is the nucleus of LUQOM. The LUQOM Group was extended by the strategic acquisition of Lampemesteren from Denmark in 2021 and the acquisition of the QLF Group in 2019, the online market leader in Benelux.

The associated sales growth also brought challenges – in all three of LUQOM’s business divisions: Services, brands including own brands and the e-commerce business. “Without a cutting-edge IT landscape, companies in the consumer goods sector can no longer be successful today,” emphasizes Patrick Keyser, Director Demand & Order Management, Global Forwarding at Lampenwelt. The retail expert has years of experience in digitalization in the fashion sector. Since 2022, he has been transferring his knowledge to the lighting and smart home products sector with the help of his team. His goal: to bring light into the darkness of the supply chain.

Darkness is an exaggeration, of course. Until now, the ordering process had been handled via email to the group’s branch in Asia, LUQOM Asia. The employees took care of purchasing from the Asian suppliers. “On one hand, the effort involved via Excel and email is huge. On the other hand, changes in production or delivery times pose challenges because the supply chain is not transparent,” reports Keyser.

He therefore tackled the project ‘introduction of SCM software’ quickly. From his previous position, he had fond memories of the cloud-based tool OSCA from the Bochum-based software company Setlog: “In addition to simple user guidance, the provider convinces with its quick implementation,” emphasizes Keyser. After consultations with Setlog Managing Director Ralf Duester and an analysis of other providers, the contract was signed in August 2022 and the project launched immediately. The first project milestone by December was to connect and train LUQOM Asia (30 employees) and all Chinese manufacturers of Lampenwelt’s own brands to OSCA SCM. The same applied for the two existing logistics partners. In a second step, the remaining suppliers from Europe and other countries – such as Turkey – will be integrated into the system so that OSCA SCM is used by more than 200 suppliers.

• OSCA SCM contains four service areas for LUQOM Group:
• Delivery Planning & Dialogues: This is where the purchase orders are confirmed by the suppliers.
• Booking & Shipment: This involves the suppliers’ transport booking process with the freight forwarders, the storage of shipment data (manually or via TMS connection) by the logistics service providers and the upload of mandatory documents.
• Delivery to DC: This is where the delivery process at the warehouse is controlled. The forwarder and warehouse employees coordinate the time of goods delivery.
• Reporting: Here, the system offers comprehensive reporting and analysis functions.

According to Keyser, the software was implemented quickly – just as planned. Training in German, English and Chinese also took just two weeks. Some employees and partners initially found it a little difficult to get used to the new workflows. “But anyone who recognizes the advantages also understands the change. OSCA brings transparency to the supply chain. There is now only one central system for communication and document exchange for everyone involved,” says Keyser. For him, there is no alternative to a ‘digital twin of the supply chain’.

Whether ‘Lindby’ ceiling lights or ‘Arcchio’ wall lights: Five employees in Keyser´s team can already manage 2.5 million orders per year via OSCA in the first stage of expansion. The products from Lampenwelt’s own brand are delivered via two logistics service providers to a multi-user warehouse with a total area of 45,000 square meters near Fulda, which is managed by a contract logistics provider, as well as to the company’s own distribution center, which is also located in Hesse.

Although OSCA has only been in operation since December 2022 and the connection of the remaining suppliers is yet to follow, SCM expert Keyser is already excited by two results: Lead times have been reduced by around 15 percent. The company has achieved even better results when it comes to reducing the amount of work involved in ordering lamps and the like: Keyser was able to measure around 20 percent. He anticipates a reduction of up to 50 percent – after the end of the second expansion phase. “The solution has also been well received by the retail specialists in Asia. Our Asian colleagues also benefit from the centralized solution in terms of data exchange and communication. A large number of emails are now a thing of the past,” says Ludger Tillmann, General Manager of LUQOM Asia.

Although the current project is not yet finished, Keyser is already working on others – the connection of other subsidiaries such as QLF and Lampemesteren to OSCA. The interfaces will be implemented shortly. Light should therefore soon be shed on the other supply chains.

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Supply Chain Resilience from Transparency and Collaboration

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Cost savings used to be at the top of supply chain managers’ agendas. However, in an increasingly volatile world, the design of robust value chains is increasingly becoming the focus of decision-makers. This is likely to remain the case for the future, writes Ralf Duester, Managing Director, Setlog GmbH.

Many ships are currently avoiding the Suez Canal because of the Houthi rebels. In 2023, extreme drought caused ships to jam at the Panama Canal. According to Setlog Managing Director Ralf Duester, companies need to establish robust and transparent supply chains due to supply chain problems like these so that they can react quickly.

A non-maneuverable container ship causes a bridge in Baltimore to collapse, Houthi rebels hijack ships in the Red Sea, storms flood the desert city of Dubai: reports like these give many supply chain managers sleepless nights. Supply chains are interrupted overnight, freight capacities and equipment are missing without warning. Supply chain managers need to find new transport routes, ports or suppliers, plan with longer lead times, produce earlier or faster or select more expensive modes of transportation. Geopolitical, economic, ecological and technical changes put global supply chains under pressure at short intervals – or even interrupt them.

As a result, the topic of supply chain resilience is at the top of the agenda for supply chain managers. Things were different a few years ago. Take Germany, for example: the “Trends in Logistics & SCM” study conducted by the German Logistics Association BVL in 2023 shows that cost pressure was the most important topic for decision-makers in 2016, but in 2023 it only ranks fourth. Cybersecurity is now the top priority, followed by digitalization and the shortage of skilled workers. Many measures in terms of cyber security and digitalization contribute to making supply chains more robust.

Resilience can basically be divided into two components: the operational, reactive component and the strategic, proactive component. The latter requires top managers in companies to fundamentally rethink their decisions. They need to find ways to strengthen the robustness of the supply chain through decisions in sourcing, product design, production, planning and logistics.

Basically, all companies need to think about supply chain resilience. Companies with global operations – such as automotive suppliers, semiconductor manufacturers or consumer goods specialists – are particularly affected by supply chain disruptions. To make matters worse, importers of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs), for example, have no choice but to purchase their products in Asia or countries outside Europe for cost reasons. If they were to produce in Germany, they would generally not be competitive.

Storms, disasters, war: although a large number of negative events occur every year, it is frightening to see how slowly companies can react to such disruptions to supply chains – even in highly industrialized countries. Current surveys show that in Germany, for example, on average only one in ten companies is able to respond to a serious disaster within 24 hours. Although there are exceptions – for example in the oil and gas industry – this average value shows the risks that many companies take on a daily basis.

One reason for long response times is the fact that companies still use Excel lists as the basis for managing their supply chains – and there are quite a few of them: More than a third of German companies rely solely on this program, supplemented by emails and frantic phone calls to obtain information, which is then re-entered into the existing Excel lists or merchandise management systems.

In general, statistics show that larger corporations in particular have strengthened their supply chains with the help of various instruments. Smaller companies and SMEs are lagging behind – or are still at the beginning of a transformation phase.

The good news for everyone is that there is a whole range of measures that companies can use to achieve success relatively quickly. Supply chain champions usually start with an analysis, looking at the areas in which risks are suspected and what impact these could have on the company’s performance. Those responsible then define the levers that best address the identified risks. They take a cross-functional approach: This is because the causes are generally not to be found where the consequences of supply chain weaknesses appear.

Companies are well advised to turn a whole series of screws in parallel in order to strengthen their resilience in the areas of supply chain and procurement. These include in the area of supply chain: Segmentation of the supply chain; Strengthening of integrated planning; Inventory management according to risk criteria; Diversification of freight forwarders; Re-evaluation of the network design.

The following applies to purchasing: Multi-sourcing strategies for critical components; Creation of supplier risk profiles; Development of regional suppliers; Closer cooperation with suppliers; Creating transparency in terms of actual supplier capacities.

To accomplish all this, the development and use of centralized, digital cross-company solutions and data exchange between different systems are an important step in enabling collaborative, partnership-based cooperation with business partners globally. Nowadays, this is easily possible with intelligent API interfaces, so that the silo of management or the ERP system can be broken down and easily linked with intelligent solutions and the data flow is optimized.

The issue of skilled labour shortage also shows that these methods are the only way to avoid redundancies in day-to-day work, make better use of skilled employees’ working time and make faster, higher quality decisions.

Incidentally, supply chain champions pay more attention to product design and production, because these areas in particular can lay the foundations for a more robust supply chain. They consistently tackle issues such as modular design, component standardization, raw material composition and supplier origin.

However, in order to make supply chains more robust in the long term, companies need to do more than just implement individual measures. In order to achieve cost efficiency, growth and resilience at the same time, SCM managers should rethink and redefine the decision drivers in the supply chain. As a rule, costs, quality and time or service level are regarded as decision drivers in supply chain management. The configuration of a supply chain takes a position on these drivers, which cannot be improved at the same time. Leading global players consider resilience to be a key decision driver – alongside sustainability and agility.

Some companies mistakenly assume that there is a conflict between the drivers of costs and resilience. The following aspects are important in this context: The aim of resilience is also to avoid costs in the medium and long term. However, this does not necessarily have to involve short-term costs and redundancies. Many initiatives to strengthen supply chains make it possible to increase cost efficiency at the same time, so that resilience levers can certainly be implemented, for example with the secondary condition of cost neutrality.

Many supply chain strategists segment supply chains. Sometimes very successfully. If, for example, higher stock ranges are to apply to critical parts, actual and target stock levels must be analyzed. This is a simple way for companies to achieve inventory savings for less critical parts. Other levers relating to visibility and supplier integration generally achieve more efficient processes, more precise planning and automation options.

Despite the change in many people’s minds, the fact remains that resilience and risk management with a focus on supply chains are still being neglected from an organizational perspective. Competent teams can ensure cross-functional coordination and establish communication channels for faster risk identification. In this context, the best of the best simulate various crises, also known as “war gaming”. Unfortunately, many companies lack the required knowledge of which future scenarios could occur due to negative geopolitical, economic and ecological events. However, knowing which scenarios could happen forms the basis for developing suitable countermeasures and thus strengthening the resilience of the supply chain.

Over the next few years, digitalization and artificial intelligence will make even more tools available that can strengthen the robustness of supply chains. Whatever these solutions look like, they are anything but superfluous. The topic of resilience is not just hype, it will be a constant concern.

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Top 10 SCM Trends for 2024

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Things are changing in supply chain management: while cost-cutting has been at the top of the agenda for many executives for years, in future they will be increasingly concerned with the shortage of skilled workers, sustainability and resilience. Ralf Duester, board member of the Bochum-based SCM software specialist Setlog, shows which trends will be important in 2024. His statements are based not only on discussions with experts from the industry and research, but also on data from Setlog customers who use the SCM tool OSCA. In the fashion and fast-moving consumer goods sectors alone, this includes around 100 brands, such as Tom Tailor, KiK, Karl Lagerfeld, Jack Wolfskin and Wenko.

At a glance: The top ten SCM trends in 2024
1. Skilled labour shortage forces action
2. Sustainability laws and the circular economy force better processes
3. Building resilience with concurrent cost pressure
4. Transparency is becoming increasingly important
5. Supply Chain as a Service becomes crucial to competition
6. ERP silos are being dismantled
7. Global and regional supply chains are mixed
8. Cyber security becomes a top priority
9. Automation projects are progressing
10. Open-source software is increasingly convincing

In detail: The ten most important SCM trends in 2024

1. The shortage of skilled labour is putting companies in industrialized nations in increasingly difficult situations. And it’s not getting any better: demographic change in countries such as Germany is putting even more pressure on management. Studies show that in some areas, around a third of companies that were unable to fill all vacancies did not receive a single application.
If you want to stand out from the crowd, you need to offer attractive conditions to existing and future employees. Leading companies are also stepping up their commitment to career guidance and catering to the needs of Generation Z. As studies show, young people place a high value on flat hierarchies and want modern IT systems in their day-to-day work. Many companies can and must become even more efficient or make workplaces more attractive. To ensure that more truck drivers are back home in the evening, for example, the forwarding association Elvis wants to set up a meeting network for full truck loads. The best of the best also differentiate their recruitment strategy – for example, according to generations or potential groups such as newcomers or foreign workers. They also offer different retention programs and show perspectives through flexible working hours, parental leave and training and further education campaigns.

2. Sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are not only top issues for large corporations, but also SMEs. Business partners, consumers and politicians are calling on companies to act quickly. The EU is pushing for a comprehensive supply chain law. In the United States, for example, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) is in effect, and individual states are also pushing ahead with new laws. In Germany, more and more companies have put the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and compliance with the Supply Chain Act at the top of their agenda. However, effective climate protection measures require a rethink in the minds of employees and a modification of current work processes. Executives are also increasingly investigating how they can implement strategies from the circular economy so that fewer goods are destroyed. Companies that cannot trace the path of their products from development through procurement and production to shipping will find it difficult to meet the new requirements of governments, consumer associations and customers. Small companies are still excluded from supply chain laws in many countries. However, they will still need to deal with them on a day-to-day basis, at the latest when the new Europe-wide “Supply Chain Directive” comes into effect (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, CSDDD for short). It is based on the French ‘loi de vigilance’ and the German Supply Chain Law and contains due diligence obligations that primarily address the issues of environmental protection and compliance with human rights. The following applies to SMEs: they can now only do business with corporations if they comply with all of the new regulations.

3. Extreme weather events, political crises, pandemics: As general conditions for the economy have changed in recent years, the priorities of supply chain managers have also shifted. For example, reducing costs in the supply chain used to be at the top of the agenda. At the latest since the Covid-19 pandemic, when certain products were temporarily unavailable on shelves even in highly developed countries, the topics of product availability and resilience have become increasingly important. As a general rule, resilient supply chain management enables the responsible managers to get the supply chain back into operation as quickly as possible after a disruption by external events. In addition, diversification within the supply chain generally leads to better resilience. To ensure robust supply chain management, leading companies therefore build up a broad portfolio of suppliers and various transportation routes for sensitive products, materials, and components. Nevertheless, they must not lose sight of the issue of cost reduction. The best of the best have already awakened cost awareness within the workforce. If you want to move in this direction, you should involve employees in revenue and cost development with open and transparent communication. Another important point is greater flexibility. Companies need to identify the biggest cost drivers and develop measures to reduce them.

4. Transparency is a prerequisite for resilient and diversified supply chains. If it exists, managers can recognize more quickly which part of the chain is affected by an external event. Due to the high volatility in the economy, many companies are reviewing existing contracts. Flexibility plays a central role in the realignment of contracts. In order to be able to plan better, trust-based collaboration between all partners along the supply chain is necessary, which often requires new communication platforms. Modern IT tools can be used to share data, pool resources, and make quick decisions in the event of dynamic fluctuations in demand. Companies that use IT tools and suitable algorithms to manage demand and supply globally will be a decisive step ahead of the competitors, who still work with emails or spreadsheets. Leading companies are no longer just writing the topic of collaboration on their to do lists but are implementing it in everyday life – both in internal teams and in the cross-company supply chain between all partners involved. Based on specific access rights groups, everyone has access to data and exchanges it on an ongoing basis – ideally in real time. With the help of platforms, companies improve the efficiency and responsiveness of the supply chain.

5. Software as a Service (SaaS) has been used as a service by companies for years. However, more and more businesses are moving towards outsourcing parts of their supply chain – for example, manufacturing, distribution, procurement, logistics or transportation management. The digital supply chain of the future will increase the need for companies to outsource, i.e. to use Supply Chain as a Service (SCaaS) or services from specialists in Fourth Party Logistics (4PL). According to studies, this trend is becoming increasingly important because many companies do not have the expertise, financial means or resources to use all the new technologies available. At best, large corporations will do this work internally in future – at least in part. The experts at Gartner are convinced that this trend will intensify. The benefits of the transition to a digital supply chain include end-to-end global electronic connectivity, higher productivity, lower costs, better service, and greater flexibility. If this development is not driven forward, it will lead to a lack of competitiveness and thus to financial problems.

6. Small companies rely on one or two in-house systems, while some large corporations rely on 20 or more. Even before the Covid-19 crisis, the inefficiencies of these silos came to light. Covid-19 acted as a booster. The parallel use of multiple systems artificially increased inventory buffers, slowed down the flow of information and resulted in high IT costs for interfaces, maintenance and upgrades. More and more companies are tearing down their silos because they can no longer afford the effort or the associated hassle. Industry leaders are moving their supply chain workflows to a collaborative network platform that transcends silos and enables both data sharing and true data transfer across departments and organizations. REST API connected solutions with intelligent IT architecture break down silos and enable collaborative, cross-company working with ideal data sharing.

7. Companies need a mix of global and regional value chains. After crises, companies can identify areas in which regional production makes sense, but the economy still benefits from globalization and networking. Depending on the industry, companies need to take individual approaches to procurement in order to get more resilient. After the Covid-19 pandemic, leading companies began to analyse the areas in which regional production makes sense. Investigations by car manufacturers revealed that re-shoring or near-shoring certain products or components makes sense. Although this may be more expensive, it stabilizes the supply chain. In the consumer goods industry, on the other hand, the enormous cost difference between Europe and the USA on one hand and Asia on the other means that it makes more sense to keep production largely in the Far East and the previous sourcing countries without looking for nearby factories or even building new ones. High energy costs, rising interest rates or the slow decline in inflation are arguments against the establishment or further expansion of nearshoring or reshoring in many industries. In addition, when it comes to profits, purchasing, procurement and supply chain management are becoming increasingly important. This is because the opportunities to push through higher prices in the lower and mid-range product segment have become rare. Prices are becoming increasingly transparent for customers thanks to purchasing platforms. Today, profits are generated through procurement – or more precisely – through process optimization.

8. As there have been more cyber-attacks with serious consequences for companies in the recent past, companies have taken additional measures to protect themselves against criminals. According to a survey by the digital association Bitkom, every other logistics company in Germany tightened its IT security measures in 2022. According to the survey, the management of IT security is given a correspondingly high priority in most companies: In almost nine out of ten companies, the area of IT security is anchored at board or management level. Leading companies also regularly train their employees on this topic and have security audits carried out. And this is time well spent: the tools for cyber security are available, but the greatest weakness is the human being. Cyber-attacks have shown that even large companies with expert IT specialists can be paralyzed and damaged for days. The issue is playing an increasingly important role, especially in logistics and supply chain management, because cyber criminals can gain access to sensitive data due to the ever-increasing networking and digitalization of companies. And this data usually originates not only from the company directly affected, but also from its network.

9. Due to global political conditions and current consumer behaviour, company coffers in some sectors are not as full as they were a few years ago. Nevertheless, many companies are pressing ahead with automation and digitalization projects that have already begun or are initiating new ones. Because the fact is: Only those that can keep up with high-performance logistics and the highest service levels will lead the market. Planning budgets for automation, robotics, digitalization, energy savings and personnel is capital well invested. In internal logistics, for example, manual processes need to be automated and digitalized. Robotics and machine learning play a major role in order to be fast on one hand and keep the error rate to a minimum on the other. IT experts are looking at digitalization along the entire supply chain and initiating new projects in several links of the chain at the same time – recently, for example, the use of the digital consignment note (eCMR) made its way into the papers.

10. The use of open-source software as operating systems for computers is nothing new. In supply chain management, however, many IT departments have resisted this trend. However, there are now very successful practical examples based on clear rules – such as those of the Open Logistics Foundation. Its members no longer invest dozens of hours in programming simple standard interfaces themselves, but instead use existing interfaces from their partners, with whom they are sometimes in fierce competition. However, anyone who engages in this kind of cooperative work needs a new mindset within the company. A rethink is also necessary in other areas – for example, when it comes to relying on new technologies such as artificial intelligence to make decisions. However, one thing is clear: the best of the best will automate processes even more and use the advantages of artificial intelligence in the area of prescriptive analytics and autonomous agents to achieve efficiency gains. With new tools and technologies, companies can speed up everything from planning to delivery, reduce buffers, manage processes efficiently and ultimately counteract the shortage of skilled workers. In all IT activities, it is more important than ever that companies protect themselves professionally against hacker attacks on their systems – as the serious consequences of the recent attacks on the IT landscapes of large logistics companies have shown.

Setlog and Rhenus Join Forces

Posted on by David Priestman

The software vendor Setlog has been part of the Rhenus Group since October 24th, 2023. Setlog was founded in 2001 by Guido Brackelsberg, Ralf Duester and Jakob Gielen and has since developed into one of the world’s leading software specialists for end-to-end supply chain management solutions.

The digitalization of the supply chain by Setlog is characterized by transparency, consistent data communication without media breaks and the replacement of manual processes. With the Setlog system OSCA, customers can network collaboratively with all partners along their supply chain. Integration via a central platform enables comprehensive communication and data exchange. Holistic control of the end-to-end supply chain is therefore guaranteed at anytime and anywhere.

Both companies already know each other through their collaboration within the non-profit organization Open Logistics Foundation. Setlog and Rhenus see the merger as an opportunity to further expand Setlog’s software solutions, market them worldwide and thus make them accessible to even more industries and customers. “We have always seen ourselves as a reliable partner in exploiting the full potential of our customers’ supply chain.

The merger with Rhenus immediately offers us another opportunity to respond to the constantly changing and increasingly complex requirements in logistics. The affinity of both companies and our complementary skills will therefore promote our growth in the long term,” says Ralf Duester, co-founder and board member of Setlog. He further describes the partnership as a strategic investment through which new solutions for customers can be developed and implemented together. There will be no change in day-to-day business for employees and customers, who primarily come from the Textile & Apparel and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods sectors. The software developer continues to operate independently under its own logo and with its own business. The neutrality of the company is fully maintained and is a prerequisite for further expansion of the business.

Through the partnership, both companies benefit from each other’s expertise. “As Rhenus, we can already look back on a long-standing and excellent partnership with Setlog. With Setlog, we as Rhenus add a missing component to our offering for our customers. The interlinking, complete transparency and control of the supply chain has become increasingly important in recent years, not least due to more volatile markets. We will continue to expand this together with Setlog. We rely on the neutrality of Setlog. This enables us to further develop the software in a flexible and agile manner, as well as to create additional added value for customer-oriented solutions,” says Tobias Koenig, Chief Commercial Officer at Rhenus. “By combining our know-how as a logistics service provider with Setlog’s expertise in state-of-the-art software technology, we can serve our customer bases even better, expand our range and offer new products.”

Setlog Holding is a provider of Supply Chain Management (SCM) solutions. The central product is the cloud-based software OSCA with the solutions Procurement, SRM, Global Logistics, CSR and Quality Control. OSCA, which stands for “Online Supply Chain Accelerator”, is used by more than 150 brands in the apparel, electronics, food, consumer goods and hardware sectors. With the help of OSCA, companies connect their supply chain partners, suppliers and service providers to optimally coordinate their supply chain and efficiently manage supply chains.
Setlog GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Setlog Holding AG. The company was founded in 2001 and is today one of the leading providers of SCM software with over 40,000 users in 92 countries. The software house employs 60 people at its locations in Bochum (headquarters), Cologne and New York.

Fashion Transparency: China to Germany

Posted on by David Priestman

When it comes to manufacturing high-quality fashion, Walbusch Group relies on Polymax Group, among others. The Chinese manufacturer under German management collaborates via the SCM software OSCA with the fashion specialist to bring transparency into the supply chain. At the same time, users of the tool save a lot of time because they are more effective without having to use tedious Excel lists, e-mail traffic and phone calls.

Three stories, large windows, white facade: From the outside, the Polymax Group factory in the Chinese coastal city of Ningbo could also be located somewhere in Germany. Only the company sign in Chinese characters indicates that the building is located in China.

Wolfram Geuting tries to spend at least two days a week in this factory. Fashion, or more precisely high-quality clothing, shoes, and accessories, are the passion of the CEO of Polymax Group. The German manager wants to be close to production, to the people who produce for him and his customers. That’s why the Asia expert, who pulls the strings for the company from his office in the business metropolis of Shanghai, likes to travel to Ningbo, which has a population of nine million. Ningbo is an ideal location for export-oriented fashion production: it is home to the most important Chinese port.

Geuting is well known in the industry: He has worked for Steilmann SE and NTS, among others. He feels at home in China. Since June 2022, the German has driven in another peg – as Managing Partner of Polymax Group, which was founded in the early 1980s by entrepreneur Ulrich Maeder. The now 73-year-old chairman is no stranger to the industry either. For more than 40 years, he has been regarded as a pioneer of German-Chinese economic relations and sustainable production in China: As early as 2001, the Zhejiang Province awarded him the “Golden Magnolia Prize” for the “most socially responsible factory.”

Fair payment, compliance with environmental and social standards: According to Geuting, the fact that the Polymax Group did everything in its power to meet the highest standards in human, environmental and occupational health and safety laws decades before the introduction of the Supply Chain Act in Germany is one of the company’s success factors. “Add to that the high-quality standards and on-time deliveries,” the manager said. Customers who knock on his door place the highest value on quality and sustainability seals. ISO 9001 in quality is standard. In addition, the company is listed with the Fair Wear Foundation and BSCI. The group also complies with the OEKO-TEX Standard 100.

Even though worker-friendly overtime regulations, modern production machinery and fair wages impact the profit margin, Geuting cannot think of any alternative. “We can report to our customers that 80 percent of our employees have been with the company for more than 18 years,” he explains. Some men and women have spent their entire working lives at Polymax – and 25 even live in a wing of the factory. They benefit not only from the fact that they have no commute to work, but also from the extremely inexpensive housing: they pay only the ancillary costs.

The success story in Ningbo has now been going on for almost three decades. 210 employees work in the factory. In addition, there are more than 30 in the various offices. Over the years, entrepreneur Ulrich Maeder has not only established offices in Macau and Shanghai, but also in Bangalore (India) and Dhaka (Bangladesh). In Ho Chi Ming City (Vietnam), two experts work in quality assurance. And in London and St. Augustin near Bonn, employees are active in customer acquisition.

Outdoor jackets, cashmere sweaters, silk shirts: the production of high-quality clothing has long since ceased to be the group’s only area of business. Experts also work in quality assurance, procurement services and executive consulting. In order to supply around 8.3 million garments per year to what are now 33 customers, the factory in Ningbo is no longer sufficient. Polymax cooperates with 18 other producers in Asia, the majority of which are located in China, three manufacturers in Bangladesh, two in Vietnam and one in India. Because the company has spun a large network and built up a lot of know-how and technology, it also acts as an agency for some customers. “For small customers, we offer a complete package – from fashion design to delivery. Then all they need is an office and a warehouse,” Geuting reports.
High sustainability standards, high quality, high delivery reliability: the Polymax strategy (“we don’t want to be the biggest, but we want to be the best”) is appreciated by brands of the Walbusch Group, the outdoor clothing specialist Schoeffel, the equestrian fashion supplier Ariat, the fashion label Carlo Collucci and the management of FC Bayern. For the latter, Polymax produces many items for the fan shop – from shoe bags with FCB logos to backpacks.

Polymax is regularly attested top performance – not in terms of quantity, but in terms of quality and reliability. Schöffel, for example, awarded the company “Supplier of the Year” in 2016 and 2018. “If you want to stay at a high level, you have to keep investing in technologies to stay at the cutting edge,” says Geuting. This applies to production equipment just as much as it does to the software landscape, for example.
There is news to report from the IT department: At the beginning of 2023, Polymax Group started working with the SCM software OSCA from the Bochum-based software house Setlog. Geuting was already familiar with the web-based tool when the IT experts at Walbusch Group in Solingen approached him about introducing the software.

The Walbusch Group has been using OSCA DC (Digital Core) from Setlog since the end of 2021 to gain transparency in the supply chain and improve management, collaboration, and communication. The special thing about this: Walbusch Group was the first Setlog customer to rely on the new standard version of OSCA. This means that the processes of the Walbusch, Avena and Mey&Edlich brands were adapted to best practice examples from OSCA – and not vice versa. In this way, the group bypassed costly, customer-specific adjustments in the OSCA SCM software. The advantage: In addition to avoiding costs, the company saved time above all. Less than six months elapsed from the initial contact to the start-up of the software.

“We definitely wanted to avoid customer-specific adaptations and were able to bring transparency into the supply chain within a few months with the new software generation. We can inform our most important suppliers of changes in real time via a single tool. E-mails, phone calls and Excel spreadsheets are now a thing of the past,” reports Ralf Seggering, Head of IT and member of the management team at the long-established company. With Polymax, Walbusch Group integrated one of its main suppliers into the system. Other suppliers and forwarders of the company also work on the software.

According to Geuting, connecting as a supplier to the cloud-based software OSCA was done “in no time.” He downloaded the app, received a link and a password. Then, step by step, the functions Walbusch Group needed were unlocked, he said. “The three people who were to work with OSCA were already looking forward to it because they knew that annoying Excel lists, emails and phone calls would be eliminated from now on. Thanks to OSCA, there will also be no more discussions about who is to blame for a delay, for example,” reports Geuting. Just four hours of online training were necessary and the employees were able to start using the tool.

Walbusch Group’s strategy is that only Polymax should be the central contact for OSCA. Polymax therefore acts as supplier and agency for the German customer. The employees in China also maintain the data of Polymax partners in the system – the information is extensive. The tool is used for the following purposes, among others:
– the placement purchase orders,
– monitoring, controlling, and tracking of purchase orders,
– as a network between customer, supplier, carrier, and warehouse locations,
– for digital, collaborative teamwork,
– to manage delivery parameters such as timing and mode of transport, and
– as a database for important documents such as customs-related records.

All data is clearly visualized on OSCA’s dashboard. Walbusch Group benefits from the transparency and real-time control of supply chain partners. Polymax appreciates that- and less working time, too. Geuting calculated at least 20 percent time savings by using the software for each employee. Users are already asking him whether new customers use OSCA – or still operate with less convenient, proprietary systems or even still rely on Excel and e-mail in SCM. Employees have a clear preference, and so does Geuting. “I can recommend OSCA to buyers.”

Podcast: Future of the Supply Chain – Listen Now

Posted on by David Priestman

Logistics Business magazine has launched a series of podcasts. ‘Logistics Business Conversations’ are monthly, topical and exclusive talks with key informative spokespeople from the supply chain industry. Available now for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Acast, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and all other podcast distribution platforms – just search for Logistics Business Conversations.

In our first episode, hosted by editor Peter MacLeod, he talks to Guido Brackelsberg and Niklas Kirwel, Directors of Setlog – a supply chain management software specialist. They discuss international supply chain challenges, how to mitigate them and whether globalisation as a trend will continue or not.

30 minutes of lively debate and good advice. Listen anytime on your preferred platform or by clicking here.

Wenko Focuses on IT Transformation

Posted on by David Priestman

Whether it’s a shower basket, ironing board or cutting board: when it comes to household goods, Wenko is the first place to go for many. To bring transparency into the supply chain and be more agile, the company introduced the SCM software OSCA. The family-owned business uses it to manage 145 suppliers and other supply chain partners.

Nothing is as constant as change. This proverb is the secret of success for many companies. This is also the case for the household goods specialist Wenko-Wenselaar GmbH & Co. KG, better known as the Wenko brand. In 1959, entrepreneur Wietze Wenselaar and his wife Maria Koellner founded a company which launched the first metallized ironing board cover in Germany.
However, achieving major growth was not possible with just ironing articles alone. The founder’s son, Hans-Joachim Koellner, therefore significantly expanded the product range after joining the family business in 1968. From then on, Wenko’s business no longer revolved mainly around laundry and ironing, but also included bathroom accessories, home storage solutions and other household helpers. Business boomed.

Today, the company from Hilden near Düsseldorf offers more than 5,000 articles from the areas of lingerie, bathroom, living, kitchen, and leisure – with patents or property rights for around 1,500 products. With Niklas Koellner and his brother Philip, the third generation joined the family business around two decades ago. The two are also pursuing new ideas. In 2020, they acquired the mail-order supplier Maximex from Lower Saxony, which supplemented the product range with its products.

To keep up in the tough price war, Wenko’s goods are manufactured all over the world in Eastern Europe, Spain, France, Germany, and Asia. More than 200 suppliers are listed with the company. Five freight forwarders deliver around 4,000 shipments to North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. Most of the deliveries are stored in two buffer warehouses, each with 20,000 pallet spaces. The hub for shipments to 81 countries – with the focus on Europe – is the Wenko central warehouse in Hückelhoven. It was opened in 1997. In 2017, the family-owned company invested in the semi-automation of the warehouse, which now covers more than 35,000 square meters. The high-bay warehouse comprises 34,000 pallet spaces. During peak season, up to 50,000 picks can now be carried out – per day.

Keeping track of all orders and shipments is not easy. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Excel lists and emails were the main communication aids with supply chain partners. But Covid threw supply chains into turmoil. Suppliers couldn’t deliver, ships couldn’t leave their ports. As with many companies, goods often flowed hesitantly, but emails were frantic. “The Covid-19 pandemic led to the realization that we needed to change in the supply chain space. Production and delivery delays were almost impossible to handle manually,” reports Wenko Managing Director Niklas Koellner. “In order to be able to control production and transport, we wanted to bring transparency into the supply chain with the help of a central tool. This should then inform all partners about changes at the same time.”

No sooner said than done. Koellner and the supply chain management team looked around for tools at the end of 2021. They found what they were looking for with the SCM software specialist Setlog. More than 150 brands worldwide now use the OSCA solution to manage their supply chains. “The decisive factor for the provider was that the best-practice version, which has been tried and tested at other companies, is easy to use and enables optimal control of logistics processes,” explains Koellner. The first meeting took place at the end of February 2022, and the system went live at the end of July.

Since then, Wenko has been transmitting orders from their ERP system to its suppliers via OSCA. 145 of a total of 200 partners are connected to the system, which accounts for more than 85 percent of the total volume. Four of the five forwarding agents also work with OSCA. The software acts as a central communication and control tool – from order confirmation and delivery planning to booking shipments and transports. In addition to costs, volumes, lead and transport times, post-carriage control, carton packing lists including label creation and delivery dates can also be controlled. The forwarders enter transport notifications and tracking data into OSCA.

At the headquarters in the Rhineland, a dashboard visualizes the most important key figures for the nine Wenko employees who are connected to the cloud-based system. When production or delivery data changes, all supply chain partners are notified simultaneously. “Monitoring has improved greatly. Production backlogs, for example, can be easily called up in the dashboard,” Koellner says. Even colleagues’ vacations no longer pose a challenge because everyone involved can track the processes in the system through central communication. Implementation and training took a few days. But the advantages of a transparent supply chain quickly made up for that for Wenko: “There are no more media disruptions – and changes in orders and shipments are immediately visible to everyone,” Koellner emphasizes.

And there are now more and more disruptions – due to political crises, strikes, environmental disasters or pandemics. “If a consumer goods manufacturer today cannot rely on a modern IT landscape – with SCM solution, ERP, CAD, WMS, PLM, payment system as well as production planning – it is quickly overwhelmed with the challenges of our time,” says Ralf Duester, board member of Setlog. According to him, the most important trends in the industry include increasing complexity in procurement and distribution, the shift from push to pull markets, the acceleration of ordering processes in companies, and the growing need for additional services. “Wenko shows how an innovative mid-sized company with 550 employees is embracing change and has prepared for the future with a modern IT infrastructure, dedicated IT experts and collaborative supply chain partners. And with the planned integration of Shippeo’s Visibility Tool into the running OSCA solution, Wenko will additionally be able to track its shipments in real time, adding further value to logistics,” explains Duester.

The lone warrior becomes lonely

Posted on by David Priestman

Until now, the use of open-source software has not played a major role in improving logistics processes. But that is changing. Ralf Duester, board member and SCM expert at Setlog, explains why IT service providers who jump on the bandwagon will be more successful than their competitors in the future.

It’s hard to believe that in the 21st century, the age of digitisation, you can still find medical facilities asking their colleagues or patients to send them a fax with the necessary information. However, the device first introduced by Xerox in 1966 does not only continue to play a role in the private everyday life. In logistics, as well, the “communication dinosaur” still spits out printed paper in some offices.

Admittedly, for most logistics companies, other systems have long replaced the fax. But the crux in supply chain management is still there. Each player usually works with his own system. Brands and retailer use their ERP systems, forwarders use proven transport management systems (TMS), logistics companies operate warehouse management systems (WMS), and the suppliers often stick to their Excel spreadsheets.

In everyday logistics, this means that data runs via Excel lists and e-mails – and when there is a problem, some people like to pick up the phone to find a solution. Recently, a few smart start-ups disrupted the logistics sector; they became the digital forwarding companies. With their platforms, they inserted themselves between the involved players and pushed the digitisation and automation of processes. With success. Data and good flows work better now in every aspect. The right use and control of good data is becoming the new recipe for success in transport and logistics.

This also applies to sourcing, buying and supply chain management. But even with the best data quality you are ill-advised if it lies dormant in spreadsheets or must be transferred manually between partners by email. One solution to these challenges is a modern SCM software. With OSCA (short for “Online Supply Chain Accelerator”), for example, Setlog enables the digital management of the supply chain in a cloud-based tool.

Providing customised extensions, all partners involved in the respective supply chain are integrated. More than 150 brands from the apparel, electronics, food, consumer goods and hardware sectors in more than 90 countries use the solution. It makes the supply chain transparent for everyone – for example, delivery delays and new deadlines can be communicated to all players in real time. Collaborative communication runs via a single tool.

What works easily with the help of a dashboard in terms of overviews and early warning functions such as “to do” messages, requires an intensive preparation. In the past, the integration of partners on platforms was costly due to the increased complexity in logistics, and the effort for the connection via interfaces. Setlog has often developed customised solutions for processes and data flows – which required a lot of time and money depending on the requirements. But the IT world is changing.

Customers want simple integrations to speed up data flows and coordination processes. The key to this is called open source. For the development of supply chain platforms on which all partners around the globe can work together, a quick and easy integration by API (API, short for Application Programming Interfaces) via open source, i.e. open source standard interfaces, is only advantageous.

When the keyword open source software is mentioned, some people in logistics are still surprised. Until now, it has hardly played a role in the optimisation of logistical processes. But that is changing right now. The experts’ belief is that IT service providers in logistics who use open source are successful more quickly. Yes, open source is even proving to be a sales support. Because many customers are now able to assess the added value. Especially when it comes to interfaces, open source can help the community not only to become faster and more efficient, but also to create standards. This means that no longer does everyone develop standards by themselves, but several providers fall back on the same basics – of course in compliance with all rules and regulations. This is a great lever for all partners involved in a platform.

Setlog recognised the advantages of this new IT world early on. The company is a founding member of Open Logistics e. V., the supporting association of the Open Logistics Foundation. It relies on the use of open source components for services in the platform economy of tomorrow, the Silicon Economy. According to Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Michael ten Hompel, head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML and co-initiator of the Open Logistics Foundation, standardised interfaces are not a sanctuary for anyone in logistics – neither for shippers and forwarders nor for IT service providers. Because the intelligence still lies in the software itself. The foundation has set itself the goal of supporting logistics on its path to standardisation – very specifically in the area of interfaces.

When it comes to data exchange, some logistics experts still raise their fingers in warning and point out that companies must not allow themselves to be deprived of data sovereignty and that security must be guaranteed during transfer. They often lack knowledge about the solutions to these challenges. But it is also a fact that trust in IT systems has increased significantly in recent years. Today, sensitive information is entrusted to platforms – not only bits & bytes about transports, but also, for example, sensitive IP such as technical sketches and samples of new releases. Each of the players must be able to rely on the processes being secure. As a founding member of the International Data Spaces Association IDSA, Setlog is also open to open source solutions that affect the infrastructure.

In conclusion, those who work in silos in logistics, compartmentalise systems and accept media disruptions will sooner or later lose touch. Collaboration is key to access the new logistics world. Open source software, especially standardised interfaces, can help IT service providers in logistics – especially medium-sized companies – to improve their own solutions. The lone warriors will become lonely.

Open Source

The term open source is used to describe software whose source code is public and can be viewed, modified and used by third parties. Open-source software can usually be used free of charge.

Individuals often make a software to an open-source software out of altruistic motives. Companies and organisations usually have other intentions for doing so: they want to save costs in development and increase market share. Users who are empowered to do so can adapt the software to their own challenges and needs. It is also possible to publish a fork. So-called pull requests contribute to the continuous improvement of the software.

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Setlog and Rhenus Join Forces

 

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