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Schenker driving logistics solutions for industry

Schenker is strengthening its presence in the auto industry through investment in supplier parks, says Detlef Trefzger, who has joined the Schenker AG Board as the member of the board for Logistics.

Schenker is strengthening its presence in the auto industry through investment in supplier parks, says Detlef Trefzger, who has joined the Schenker AG Board as the member of the board for Logistics.

Trefzger a former CFO of the Schenker Region South East Europe with extensive experience in project management is hungry for new business. “Schenker has strong land, air and sea networks, driven by regional and local entrepreneurs,” says Trefzger. “With the sophisticated logistics set-up Schenker is already successfully running worldwide today and new products being launched, we will aggressively pursue the logistics market and supply chain solutions around our networks.”

Schenker has the advantage of a wide and successful network, in addition to being able to develop and implement its own products and IT solutions. It is also investing in the necessary infrastructure. “The supplier park in Hanover for the Volkswagen Transporter is one of our flag-ships with respect to supplier park concepts.” Schenker AG intends to further invest into these supplier parks, as Hanover has proven its value not only to the OEM but the Tier 1 suppliers which use this facility. “The investment into this kind of project runs well into double digit million Euro’s, but provided that the business case is right, it turns out to be a win-win situation for all parties involved,” says Trefzger.

“We have now also successfully implemented the first customer projects for our new supply chain product Supply Net Solutions (SNS), and others are lined up for this new product, which Schenker is offering to the automotive industry.” Trefzger believes SNS is a major step
towards offering total supply net solutions, starting with the OEM production plan and then the proactive order management conducted by Schenker. “What is so exciting about this product is that we can support the value chain of different plants in different countries with the same supplier base, and we therefore can offer interesting synergies, even if the production plants are in different countries,” says Trefzger. “These and other products will also be a bridge head when we are talking about China.
“This country is right now the most exciting market for us. With China we also have the advantage that we have been in this area for more than 20 years and are very well established.

“We already serve important OEM’s and Tier 1 suppliers in all aspects of the logistics landscape such as productions supply, spare parts and Pan-Asian milk-runs. At the moment we are into crucial discussions with clients with regard to supplier park schemes and widening our scope of SNS implementations. “Undoubtedly, China is the most booming market right now in Asia,” says Trefzger. “But we should not forget that besides the Chinese Dragon, there is also an Asian Tiger. We are still focusing on other interesting markets. We are very successful in South Africa – here we are currently implementing another SNS project in relation to the ASP in Rosslyn. We expect India to rise as well and let’s not forget Eastern Europe and the new EU members.”

Schenker is pursuing the logistics market in other directions as well. “We have established a joint venture company with Siemens”, informs Trefzger. This new set-up now consists of 18 branches with 350 employees. “With this company, we bundle the industrial industry know-how of Siemens with the logistics know-how of Schenker. We can offer streamlined and specialised services for this industry and will be able to transfer these best-practises to other arising projects. We can envision similar co-operations for automotive customers.”