Teutofracht Spedition uses the TMS transport management system from FleetGO (formerly Wanko) to plan not only delivery routes, but also the production of new furniture. In future, the software will also take over the automatic booking of time slots and multilingual communication with external drivers.
Five German furniture factories, a shared fleet of vehicles and various logistics service providers involved: for this constellation, Teutofracht Spedition was looking for centralized software that could not only plan the delivery routes, but also the production of the furniture down to assembly line level. “There are hardly any experienced providers on the market for such a complex task,” says Teutofracht Managing Director Matthias Stollberg, who previously worked for another furniture manufacturer.
From this time, he was familiar with the TMS route planning system from FleetGO (formerly Wanko). “Wanko (now FleetGO) listened to our special requirements right from the start,” recalls Stollberg, who works as head of Teutofracht for all furniture brands in the Wiemann world: In addition to Wiemann, this involves the independent companies Wimex, femira, Otten, Themex and Möbelwerk Heidenau MWH. At the three locations in Oesede, Heidenau and Themar alone, there are around 30 tours with 60 swap bodies per day.
„The TMS not only ensures optimized routes and a well-utilized vehicle volume, but also uniformly utilized production on the assembly lines of all plants“
Matthias Stollberg | Managing Director Teutofracht Spedition GmbH
Goods from several locations
“Specialist retailers often order goods from different factories, which we then bundle into joint shipments and combined tours,”Stollberg explains one of the challenges for route planning. The problem is solved with swap bodies, which enable loading from any location. The individual swap bodies are then linked together in the Wanko TMS (now TMS Enterprise from FleetGO) and combined into an articulated train via pre-transport.
However, the actual planning work begins seven working days before the physical transportation: “The TMS not only ensures optimized routes and a well-used vehicle volume, but also evenly utilized production at the assembly lines of all plants,”reports Stollberg and adds: “It’s about balancing the varying demand from the different target regions in Europe and still delivering as quickly as possible.”
„It’s about balancing the different demand from the various target regions in Europe and still delivering as quickly as possible.“
Matthias Stollberg | Managing Director Teutofracht Spedition GmbH
1,700 order data per day
Initial rough order planning is already carried out in the Wiemann-Welt ERP system. From there, the dealers are informed in which calendar week the delivery will take place. At the same time, the order data is transferred to TMS Enterprise (formerly Wanko TMS) for detailed planning. 1,700 orders are exchanged between the systems every day. “We hand over 80 to 85 percent of the volume to freight forwarders. We drive the remaining routes with our own vehicles,”explains route planner and salesperson Pia Schürmeyer.
Seven days before production, the forwarders receive their routes with up to 14 unloading points, the order of which can be determined by the service providers themselves. The furniture stores are notified of the shipments around 5 to 6 working days before the exact delivery date. After that, there are still 24 hours for change requests. Once loaded, the order sequence can no longer be changed. After all, the furniture is not palletized and comes in a wide variety of dimensions. “You can’t just rearrange them on the loading area,” says Schürmeyer.
Automatic time slot booking
This makes it all the more important that transportation runs smoothly and that the planned sequence and agreed deadlines are adhered to. In this context, the time slot booking systems of the recipients play an increasingly important role. These systems cause considerable additional work for dispatchers, which is why Teutofracht was looking for automation options. As part of a pilot project, FleetGO* therefore implemented an interface to the TradeLink time slot booking system. Wanko TMS (now TMS Enterprise from FleetGO) uses this to book the appropriate slots with the recipients fully automatically in the background, based on the planned arrival times. “However, we do not accept half-hour time slots but insist on notifications for a specific morning or afternoon,”says Stollberg.
Another pilot project with FleetGO (formerly Wanko) concerns driver communication. After all, only 15 to 20 percent of tours are carried out by the company’s own drivers, who are connected to the head office via telematics. The vast majority of orders are handed over to external drivers who can only be reached via their cell phones. For this constellation, a bidirectional interface to Wanko TMS* and a corresponding process were defined and implemented together with ZeKju and Teutofracht. Zekju offers real-time transport management with WhatsApp or other messengers and is therefore also suitable for the spot market.
„With the interface between the Wanko TMS (now FleetGO TMS Enterprise) and Zekju, we optimize communication with our drivers and make everyday life much easier for our dispatchers.“
Matthias Stollberg | Managing Director Teutofracht Spedition GmbH
Open for special requests
Wanko TMS* sends the order data to Zekju, from where it is sent to the driver’s WhatsApp account in the relevant language. In an extended version of the interface, status messages can be reported back to the TMS by Zekju in future. “With the interface between the Wanko TMS (now FleetGO TMS Enterprise) and Zekju, we are optimizing communication with our drivers and making everyday life much easier for our dispatchers,”reports Stollberg, who is very satisfied with the cooperation with Wanko*: “We are very satisfied with the service. Wanko (now FleetGO) is always open to our special requests and provides us with convincing solutions at short notice.”
Conclusion: With the TMS Enterprise from FleetGO (formerly Wanko TMS), Teutofracht Spedition has a central solution for integrated route and production planning, which can also be used to control third-party vehicles and book time slots.
„We are very satisfied with the service. Wanko (now FleetGO) is always open to our special requests and provides us with convincing solutions at short notice.“
Matthias Stollberg | Managing Director Teutofracht Spedition GmbH
Background: Teutofracht Spedition GmbH
Teutofracht Spedition is a logistics service provider based in Georgsmarienhütte that specializes in the furniture industry. The company ensures the flow of materials between upstream suppliers and production at several production sites and transports new furniture to trading partners and customers in over 25 countries.
Teutofracht handles around 15 to 20 percent of its transports with its own vehicles. For this purpose, the freight forwarder has a fleet of BDF swap bodies. Teutofracht works with logistics service providers for the vast majority of freight orders.
The main customers are the brand manufacturers Wimex, femira, Otten, Themex, Möbelwerk Heidenau MWH and Wiemann. Oeseder Möbel-Industrie Mathias Wiemann is one of the leading German bedroom manufacturers. At the company’s headquarters in Georgsmarienhütte, over 450 bedrooms leave the 98,000 square meter premises every day. More than 500 people are employed in Georgsmarienhütte alone. The company was founded in 1900 as a small joinery and is still owner-managed today.
