“We can now work much more objectively, with a data-driven approach and on the basis of KPIs.”
The FIEGE Group, with its head office in Greven in Westphalia, is a leading European logistics company specialised in efficient supply-chain solutions. With a history dating back to 1873 and more than 15,000 employees at 185 sites in 15 countries, FIEGE works on an international scale, from core markets in Europe to India and China.
Belgium, Puurs
September 2019
trucks processed
The company wants to be able to handle twice the number of trucks per day
Difficult communication between dispatching and international truckers
Everyone used to just drive in, creating a situation that was unsafe
Linking with TMS was important
No view of who should and who shouldn’t be on the site
Not enough operational overview
“Now that we’ve installed Peripass we only call the trucks in when we can actually load or unload them. Incoming and outgoing truck traffic used to be very restricted, but now it’s very busy.”
“There was no overall view or coordination, either. Someone who had an appointment at 8 o’clock would drive into the site as early as 6 o’clock and expect to be dealt with, making it very difficult to adhere to a planning with the warehouse. Now that we’ve installed Peripass we only call the trucks in when we can actually load or unload them.”
“It was very difficult to adhere to a planning: hauliers would drive whenever it suited them.”
“We combine cross-dock operations with warehousing. We have a large number of very different clients, ranging from the international supermarket chain Makro to e-commerce companies. They all come with their specific processes, which gave us a total of 17 different flows. Our cross-dock services in particular are a challenge. These are often supplied by joint-cargo companies and those drivers were in the habit of turning up here without an appointment. We had absolutely no means of keeping these guys out. We genuinely felt a bit like the FIEGE rubbish bin, the company where you can do as you please.”
“We found ourselves with 17 different flows.”
“Thanks to Peripass we are now armed with the ideal ammunition in the event of complaints about waiting times.”
“Our first roll-out went completely haywire. It only took a quarter of an hour for us to see that our initial set-up was completely wrong.”
“For Makro we have a separate flow because this has to be monitored more closely. Here the drivers first have to go to one of the five waiting places at reception. Depending on the reserved slot, the driver is asked to proceed to reception where the documents are checked, any changes are made, and the goods received note is prepared. As soon as that driver has moved off to one of our 50 docks, the next one is allowed into the reception area.”
So where did things go so wrong in the roll-out? “Gee, it’s a case of ‘failure to plan is planning to fail’. At least part of it is certainly down to inadequate project planning on our part. We organised the ‘go-live’ at a time when the site itself was not completely ready because the signposting was not yet in place. This led to confusion. Paper can also bend to your will. Our ideas were very convincing on paper, but in practice they proved not to be workable. So, we reviewed the internal traffic plan for the parking lot, and the lesson we drew from this was that the first ‘go-live’ should actually have been a test-run. We should also have ensured better communication with clients and suppliers. We only let them know at a very late stage that Peripass would be going live and that they had to gear their own organisation to it.”
“Our ideas were very convincing on paper, but in practice they proved not to be workable.”
There may have been a few bumps in the road, but in Peripass we most certainly had a partner that planned together with us in the framework of a highly solution-driven approach. I very much enjoyed working with the project manager at Peripass: very approachable, very receptive, very clear communication and simply doing what was said. The CEO was also here early in the morning to analyse how we could arrive at a better solution together. There was no passing of the buck, and no blame was laid at our door for having failed to plan things better. There was simply an attitude of ‘let’s get this sorted out’. You can clearly tell that this solution-driven thinking is part and parcel of their DNA; that this is who they are.”
“There was no passing of the buck, but simply an attitude of: let’s get this sorted out”
What has changed since Peripass was installed? “The main difference is that we can now work much more objectively. We also have many more possibilities now for enforcing a planning and obliging drivers to keep to the slot agreements. Drivers also find this to be a fairer system. Now if they arrive too early, we check to see if we can fit them in, but if that’s not possible, they accept that. And if it turns out that we can handle them earlier, they’re grateful.”
“We can now work much more objectively, with a data-driven approach and on the basis of KPIs. That is in keeping with our international objectives.”
“Our employees in goods reception are subject to much less stress now that they can at last keep the flow of drivers under control. Our staff also find it easy to work with Peripass, since it is a highly intuitive drag-and-drop platform. Communication with the drivers has also become much easier. If we don’t find a driver, we now have his contact details and can quickly contact him by calling him or sending a text message. Moreover, it’s much safer now to drive and walk around on our site, which is also reassuring. So, in a nutshell: one satisfied customer!”
