Excellent 2013

Excellent – that‘s how 2013 can be summed up for VTL. A positive year, in which we were particularly delighted by our success in the SME Awards which we are nominated for again in 2014. The response to our trainee exchange programme was also very pleasing. Both events gained great interest within the CargoFamily from trainees and partners and was also reported on in detail several times by the press.

Further excellent work was also done by the partners that received the Partner Awards for the most innovative idea, strongest growth, highest quality communications and highest quality. Equally pleasing were the trading results in 2013, during which VTL again recorded a small increase in the number of depots, consignments and turnover – only the tonnage fell back slightly.

For 2014, VTL anticipates further growth. We shall be involved during the year in areas including the collaboration of general cargo networks and the planned European Hub in Fulda. We also want to introduce the offer of an overhead centralisation service for certain areas. The plan, for example, is to have one hazardous goods risk prevention officer in the head office responsible for all depots and thus to ease the burden on the partners.

Other benefits for the network are created by the recently installed powerful servers and the planned scanners for damage documentation. These photograph and relay the photos straight into the system.

Additionally, preparations are ongoing on several sustainable projects. The one we see as the biggest and most important this year is the CO2 tool, aimed at enabling emissions for individual consignments to be ascertained on an automated basis.

VTL wishes the entire CargoFamily great success!

Andreas Jäschke,
Managing Director VTL Vernetzte-Transport-Logistik GmbH

Collection on delivery

This new product will increase efficiency and can reduce the cost of the procurement tariff by 40 %. Initially only in Germany, since 1st April, when each delivery is made, one or more orders can be collected. That saves time and money and is good for the environment.

OV 9 supplements OV 10 and 12

In response to partner requests and customers‘ wishes, VTL is adding to the existing OV 10 and OV 12 services from 1st May. The new OV 9 service will from that date be generally available for deliveries in B1 tariff zones and if the distance from the HUB/RHUB to the depot is no more than 350km. The maximum weight of a consignment is 2.5 tons and a surcharge of € 100 applies.

VTL delivers to domestic customers

On 1st January, VTL launched its automated B2C product ‚VTL private‘ for delivering to domestic customers, who can now pick a preferred date and time for the delivery of their goods.

“The close-knit network of VTL partners means that we‘re never far from the end customer and are able to provide this service without any great additional complexity – we already created the necessary technical infrastructure for this two years ago,“ says VTL managing director Andreas Jäschke, describing the extension to the service.

The modern myVTL communications platform implemented in 2012 facilitates this automated information handling and processing, which promises adherence to deadlines and reliable delivery. Be it a washing machine, bicycle or garden fence – once the partner depots or dealers have registered the pallets and weighty goods via myVTL, the end customer receives an automated e-mail containing a link for managing the delivery on the myVTL platform. At a convenient time the customer can then pick via PC, mobile or smart phone when the package is to be delivered – any morning or afternoon over the next three days – or opt to pick it up himself from the depot. The relevant VTL depot receives, also automatically via myVTL, details of the delivery slot chosen by the customer. There is thus no need for any tedious arrangement of delivery times by telephone – the automated dispatch and receipt processing makes things appreciably easier and more reliable for both dispatcher and recipient. And myVTL naturally also includes ‘Track and Trace‘ consignment tracking.

New exchange programme

International experience is becoming increasingly important to working life. Two VTL trainees gained a first step towards greater intercultural competence, completing a four-week work placement abroad. The unique aspect of this is that thanks to a new pan-European exchange programme within the general cargo network the apprentices are already able to get a taste of international work even during their training years.

That cannot be taken for granted. For what has long been the rule in academic careers, has not been found in many areas of training until now: experience of working abroad is something that young people in this country generally only get – if at all – upon completion of their training course or apprenticeship. The picture is very different at VTL! The new training model, coupled with the wide partner network, creates an optimum basis for international exchange and offers VTL‘s next generation a special, comprehensive start to life working in logistics.

“On such exchanges our trainees do not only improve their foreign language skills, but their social skills as well and significantly expand their industry knowledge,“ explains managing director Andreas Jäschke. At the same time the participants become familiar with other business cultures and are able to strike up international contacts. The VTL trainees fond of travelling benefit here from the Europe-wide network of the group‘s collaborative operation.

Something that Philipp Bausewein can only confirm. “It was a great feeling to experience that I‘m able to cope with a different country and an unfamiliar culture. However, my work placement business, Lentz Multimodal in Luxembourg, made it easy for me to fit in,“ reports the prospective freight forwarding specialist. What he is especially pleased about is that during his foreign work placement he learned a great deal – including about himself. “I‘m looking forward to seeing how I can apply my new knowledge here in Fulda,“ he says. Very similar comments were made by Philomena Grosch, who did her work placement at Transfreight in Switzerland.

A year previously, trainees Mareike Grösch and Theresa Füller were already able to undertake a four-week internship in Wroclaw, Poland, at a German logistics company. They also both describe the placement as a valuable life experience, which has made them stronger people, and they could consequently imagine working abroad again.

Another trainee who feels that her work placement was really worthwhile is Anna-Maria Bösel, who didn‘t go abroad, but instead did her placement at German VTL partner Richard Müller GmbH & Co. KG. Grosch and Bausewein would happily go abroad again. And Andreas Jäschke is already intrigued to see how his trainees now develop. “The work placement did not only enable them to get an exciting glimpse of the unknown, but also guarantees their self-confidence and awareness in relation to their own strengths,“ says Jäschke.

Turning things around, trainees Thomas Lüttig from system partner Rottbeck in Bottrop and Sven Wirths from system partner Loxx in Gelsenkirchen took advantage of the exchange programme to get to know the VTL head office. Here they experienced lots about the VTL quality management process and scheduling and coordination in the VTL cargo transfer operation.

Interest in the exchange programme is high – both in the partner businesses and among the trainees and thus there are already several applications for 2014.

In Werte, the home of Krone, VTL managing director Andreas Jäschke took official delivery of the first vehicle equipped with a special aerodynamic design. 40 further vehicles were replaced over the course of the following month at VTL‘s headquarters in Fulda. The vehicles all come from the Krone ‚Dry Liner‘ range and impress through their outstanding stability and exemplary load-securing options.

The first trailer‘s FuelSaver kit, i.e. the aerodynamic side panels and the sloped cowl, produces less air resistance, thus noticeably lowering fuel consumption. Andreas Jäschke, VTL managing director, comments: “We take our responsibility for preserving the natural environment seriously. In the procurement of new vehicles we therefore look at how we are able to reduce CO2 emissions through the use of innovative technology.“

At the annual VTL system partners meeting, which took place in autumn 2013 in Düsseldorf, the VTL Partner Awards were given out in four categories. Kraftverkehr Emsland deservedly won the award for the ‚Most Innovative Idea‘ with its novel concept of replacing delivery scanners with smart phones.

With increasing pressures of time and cost and growing competition, innovative solutions that lower costs are more in demand than ever in the logistics industry. “Given increased customer demands pricing is getting more and more difficult, especially as forwarders are often not prepared to carry part of the increasing costs,“ explains Arno Boll, freight forwarding manager at Kraftverkehr Emsland GmbH (KVE). Therefore in the KVE smart phones four functions required for the delivery of consignments are simultaneously combined: delivery scanner, driver‘s mobile phone, navigation system and a camera to document, for example, any damage in transit. Purchasing normal drivers‘ mobiles, standard sat nav systems and digital cameras thus becomes superfluous. “Delivery personnel rate the phones as much easier and quicker to use,“ says project manager Eugen Siebert of KVE. There is also a major cost benefit in purchasing the smart phones, as six of these devices cost the same as one scanner.

Furthermore, the status gets relayed in real time into KVE‘s internal freight forwarding system and onto the VTL platform and through access via an Internet portal it is possible to track where the vehicle is located. Thus the system saves not only money, but time as well.

Five depots won a VTL PartnerAWARD in 2013:

CTS GROUP

The CTS GROUP from Nieuw-Vennep is proud to have been crowned ‘Best Business‘ at this year‘s Schiphol Amsterdam region‘s ‘Haarlemmermeer‘ Annual Business Awards.

In making the award the judges emphasised in particular the CTS GROUP‘s innovations in the area of distribution and e-commerce, the importance of the business to the region and the logistics company‘s training and advanced training programme.

Based in Nieuw-Vennep in the immediate proximity of Schiphol/Amsterdam Airport, CTS was founded in 1995 and is today the employer for over 150 staff in dispatch scheduling, sales and marketing and warehousing.

The company provides logistics services including storage, picking and job management, plus distribution all over Europe. 10,000 pallets can be stored in the CTS building. There is 20,000 m² of storage space available.

Janina Rosit, 31: ‘I‘ve been working at VTL in the International Dispatch Scheduling support team since 15th October 2012.

My area of work involves the dispatch and scheduling of overland transports to our partners in Eastern Europe and processing support requests from domestic and European partners.

Away from work I spend a lot of time in the countryside with my dog and when the weather‘s fine I like to go in-line skating.’

Mareike Grösch, 22: ‘Since I finished my training in June 2013, I‘ve been working in the International Dispatch Scheduling support team.

My daily duties include communication between the international and domestic partners and also monitoring the Baltic states‘ procurement logistics, both import and export.

In my free time I enjoy meeting up with my friends. In the winter I go snowboarding and if time allows in the summer, I also play tennis now and then.’

Depot 04371
Member since 14/02/2014
Siebert & Wehr Logistik GbR
Aue 28
D-37351 Helmsdorf
www.swlogistik.de