dachser magazine 02/15 english
TRANSCRIPT
CAREER DUAL STUDIES: TWICE AS GOOD
THE DESERT CALLS SOLAR POWER LOGISTICS FIT FOR A MOVIE
ONE-STOP SHOP FOR THE ENTIRE WORLDOF COMMERCE
NETWORKINGTHE NETWORKS
EDITION 2/2015
THE WORLD OF INTELLIGENT LOGISTICSmagazine
NUMBERS THAT COUNT
is how much weather-related temperatures on
earth can differ. Vostok Weather Station in the
Antarctic measured negative 89.2 degrees Celsius
(-128.6° F) in July 1983, while in September 1922,
temperatures in the Libyan Desert soared
to 57.3 degrees Celsius (135.7° F)—in the shade.
represents the volume of the annual apple
harvest in the southern hemisphere, just as
Easter daffodils are blooming in Europe.
A bounty of the fruit harvested in South
Africa, Chile, and New Zealand is
exported, since far fewer people live
in the Southern hemisphere than
north of the equator.
equals the duration of Argentina’s
summer vacation from December through
February. Instead of a white Christmas, a
white-hot one. The yuletide holidays are
among the warmest of the year.
90 days 5,550,000 tons
sacks of coffee (at 60 kilograms per sack) were harvested south of the equator
during Brazil’s winter between May and September 2014. Coffee is the second most
important global commodity after petroleum.
49 million
75,000 hppropel the vessel 50 Let Pobedy (Russian
for “50 Years of Victory”). The world’s most
powerful nuclear-powered ice breaker conveys
expeditionary tours to the North Pole during
Europe’s summer and to the South Pole in winter.
81 percent
One world, two hemispheres: in mirrored seasonal conditions, hot and cold are never very far away from one another.
of the southern hemisphere is covered with water, compared to
61 percent of the northern half. One in ten of the earth’s inhabitants
are experiencing winter while Europe sizzles.
147° C (296.6° F)
IT’S (ALMOST) ALWAYS WINTER SOMEWHERE
02 DACHSER magazine
DACHSER magazine 03
CONTENTS
04
16
22
28
TITLE STORY
Sea freight: Pioneer ofglobally interlinked commerce 04
FORUM
People and markets: 1085 years of Dachser; growing with the global supply chains; Essay: Everything that ties us together –A cultural history of roads 14
EXPERTISE
Hazardous materials: Where the sun is harvested 16Careers in logistics: Dual studies program 20Furniture logistics: Getting creative with Kare 22
NETWORK
Network Expertise: News from the Dachser World 26Poland: A golden age in the heart of Europe 28
BUSINESS LOUNGE
Motivation: Bernhard Simon speaks withthe corporate ethicist Prof. Baldur Kirchner 32
GOOD NEWS
Top Performer: The euro pallet –the unsung hero of logistics 35
Publishing informationPublished by: DACHSER SE, Thomas-Dachser-Str. 2, D – 87439 Kempten, Internet: www.dachser.com Overall responsibility: Dr. Andreas Froschmayer Editor-in-Chief: Christian Auchter, tel.: +49 831 5916-1426, fax: +49 831 5916-8-1426, e-mail: [email protected], Martin Neft, tel.: +49 831 5916-1420, e-mail: [email protected] Editors: Theresia Gläser, Christian Weber Editorial Assistant: Kathrin Geis, tel.: +49 831 5916-1427, e-mail: [email protected], Andrea Reiter, tel.: +49 831 5916-1424, e-mail:[email protected] Publisher: C3 Creative Code and Content GmbH, Heiligegeistkirchplatz 1, D – 10178 Berlin, tel.: +49 30 44032-0, e-mail: [email protected] Project ManagementC3: Marcus Schick Design: Ralph Zimmermann, Kerstin Spörer Photos: all photography Dachser except thinkstockfotos.de (pp. 1, 2, 3, 6, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 28, 29, 30, 31), Elbe&Flut (pp. 3, 4, 5, 7), Maersk Line (p. 8), Eurogate/Sabine Vielmo, Hamburg (p. 7), MAN Diesel & Turbo (p. 13), BFFT GmbH (p. 13), Sari Goodfriend (pp. 3, 20, 21), Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (pp. 16, 17, 18, 19), Kare (pp. 3, 22, 23, 24, 25) Illustration: Ralph Zimmermann (pp. 32–34) Printer: Holzer Druck und Medien Druckerei und Zeitungsverlag GmbH, Fridolin-Holzer-Str. 22-24, D – 88171 Weiler im Allgäu Print run: 40,000/56th volume Publication: 4x per year Languages: German, English, French, Spanish. DACHSER magazine is printed on NovaTech Paper certified in accordance with the FSC® mix for sustainable forestry.
F Further information can be found in our DACHSER eLetter.
Intelligent systems are only as capable as the people who operate them. One of them is Günther Laumann, Head of Global Ocean Freight, Dachser Air & Sea Logistics.
TITLE STORY
04 DACHSER magazine
hThis Sunday is really living up to its
name. The sky is a clear blue, a light
breeze is playing with the leaves on the apple
tree. The midday sun is sending its warming
rays into the garden. Time to relax in the
hammock and give this glorious day over to
a mood of vacation and world travel. Yester-
day, this eye-catching piece was still in the
gardening department of the local home
improvement center. The words “Made in
China” were stamped on the brown box.
And now the hammock is here in my garden
in Germany. Brand-new, and yet it clearly
already has a long history behind it, one
that tells of a journey halfway around the
world. But then how did the hammock get
from China to my garden?
Ralf Meistes, Department Head at Dachser
DIY-Logistics is an expert in shipping goods
for home improvement and garden centers,
having worked at the company for more
than 40 years. One of his many tasks is to
organize the supply chain of my hammock
from the factory in China to the shelves of
the store around the corner.
“Before you can set up the hammock in your
garden, a lot of homework has to be done
first,” explains Meistes. As a rule, he says, a
well-established model guides this process
for Dachser’s home improvement center ‡
NETWORKINGTHE NETWORKSA hammock is like a piece of summer vacation. And often it can tell a great story: about its journey halfway around the world, about the ocean liners and intelligent net-works that transported it across trade routes, and finally landing in a German garden.
TITLE STORY
DACHSER magazine 05
Dachser. Time-consuming and costly tem-
porary storage is also kept to a minimum.
The goal is to have full containers every time.
Günther Laumann introduces me to his
colleague Marco Chan. He has put the phone
on loudspeaker so that I can listen in on how
things are going with the new hammocks.
“Work in progress,” says Dachser’s Far East
Ocean Freight Director in Hong Kong. He
explains that all data from the order manage-
ment system always arrive at the same time
on his computer and that along with his
team, he is the contact person for the manu-
facturers and the carriers hired by the ship
owner. “We have the hammocks loaded into
containers from the Zhenhai economic devel-
opment zone nearby, where the producers
have their factories, and then we have them
transported by truck just in time for shipping
to the container port of Ningbo,” explains
Chan.
“For camping and seasonal items, we have
set up three shipping waves with the garden
centers for each bulk order—one in Decem-
ber, the next in February, and finally another
one in April. This is how we ensure that
enough merchandise is available in the stores
at any given time,” says Günther Laumann.
Together with other gardening and DIY items
from China, the hammocks embark on the
20,000-kilometer voyage in both 40-foot
standard and 40-foot high-cube containers.
To get the job done, Dachser works with
shipping companies like Maersk Line, the
largest in the world. Its German headquarters
are located on Sandtorkai, not far at all from
the Dachser Air & Sea Logistics office.
There I meet Henrik Fürbach, Communica-
tion & Marketing Manager at Maersk
Germany. The shipping company always has
room for hammocks like mine. “Regular
service from Ningbo to Bremerhaven runs
five times a week,” explains Fürbach. “Prefer-
ably, the Triple-E ships, our largest class of
ship, are used on this route, which we man-
age for Dachser and its home improvement
center customers. These cargo ships have
a capacity of 18,000 TEU (Twenty-foot
Equivalent Unit, the definitive unit of meas-
urement in container shipping) and are just
under 400 meters long.”
Timetable instead of adventureDuring my quest, Henrik Fürbach enlightens
me about the sea freight business. Sea routes
are some of the most important links be-
tween worldwide producers and their mar-
customers. In June, the retailers have the
manufacturer in East Asia send initial samples
for the following year. Hammocks come in
many designs. “After inspecting the samples,
the store managers and buyers come up with
their favorite assortment, and the stores place
their orders,” says Meistes.
At that point, production in Ningbo is run-
ning full speed ahead. The Chinese province
of Zhejiang in the Yangtze Delta Region
is the center of the Chinese textile and ap-
parel industry. More than two thirds of the
Chinese industry exports for the European
market come from there. “When the bulk
order comes in, then that’s the starting signal
for logistics and sea freight,” says Meistes.
Only full containersRalf Meistes is in charge of the DIY supply
chain together with Günther Laumann,
Head of Global Ocean Freight at Dachser
Air & Sea Logistics. This division is respon-
sible for strategic development of sea freight
at Dachser, including collaboration with
shipping companies, global procurement
logistics, sustainable standards and processes,
and assisting customers with extensive mar-
itime shipments, which are typical of home
improvement and garden centers. I meet
him and his colleague, Michael Müller, Far
East Trade Manager from Global Manage-
ment Ocean, in the Hamburg office of
Dachser Air & Sea Logistics. The phone
lines there light up during high summer for
the next hammock season. Indeed, as soon
as suppliers sign the “sail confirmation” in
August/September, it arrives at Dachser
instantaneously through the order manage-
ment system. The processes go hand-in-
hand with maximum transparency for
home improvement and garden centers and
World-class: the globetrottinghammock
Hammock production in Ningbo
TITLE STORY
06 DACHSER magazine
kets. Last year, container volume between
Asian and European ports rose again dra-
matically. Around 15.4 million TEU—7.4
percent more than in 2013—were shipped
west, according to the Container Trades
Statistics (CTS). The volume moving east
was nearly 7 million TEU—1.3 percent more
than the prior year.
Henrik Fürbach and Günther Laumann can
only smile at the notion that a voyage halfway
around the world is an adventure rife with
uncertainties. “Nowadays, that’s most defi-
nitely a myth. Shipping traffic is as precisely
timed as bus traffic. Only here, it’s across
continents and oceans,” explains Laumann.
With everything running on schedule, post-
ponements or delays due to storms or rough
seas are generally a matter of a couple hours
at most. Anything else would likely cause
almost incalculable chaos at the terminals.
After all, according to calculations by the
World Shipping Council, the roughly 6,000
ships being used in scheduled service around
the world enter a port around 10,000 times
each week. The well-planned unloading of
cargo is only possible here due to such relia-
bility.
“Once a year, the shipping company’s Key
Client Team meets with Dachser to agree
on the approximate number of containers ‡
According to calcula-tions by the “WorldShipping Council,”large container shipscover almost 290,000km in an average year.Such a cargo shiptherefore travels a distance of ten times to the moon and backduring its service life.
Günther Laumann, Head of Global Ocean Freight, with his team in Hamburg
The Eurogate inBremerhaven
TITLE STORY
DACHSER magazine 07
Sea freight runs according to precise timetables
Ningbo
Bremerhaven
TITLE STORY
08 DACHSER magazine
that Dachser wants to ship for this segment,”
says Henrik Fürbach in explaining the
process. He says that this is how Maersk Line
can ensure enough empty containers at the
depot and adequate space on the line service
from Ningbo to Bremerhaven, even during
peak times, for instance right before the
Chinese New Year at the end of January/
beginning of February.
Back at Dachser’s ASL office in Hamburg.
Even while the freight is being transported
on the high seas from Ningbo to Bremer-
haven for anywhere between 28 and 30 days,
the order management system and Dachser’s
new planning tool called “Standard Opera-
tions Procedures” (SOPs for short) show
all the relevant statuses for the logistics
providers at any given time. “So both we and
the customers always know exactly where
their goods are, and what that means for the
remaining segments of the supply chain,” says
Michael Müller. He says that kind of inte-
gration fully agrees with the philosophy of
home improvement center customers: they
don’t want e-mails; rather they want to know
in real-time how the current shipment is
doing at any given moment.
My attention now turns to Bremerhaven on
the North Sea, one of the largest container
ports in the world. When the hammocks
arrive at the Eurogate terminal, the train is
already waiting for the steel boxes, which
are full to the brim. They are then immedi-
ately transported by rail approximately 600
km south to Mannheim. There, at the na-
tional overland container terminal, the boxes
filled with the hammocks and gardening
items are loaded onto trucks, which transport
them in a scheduled shuttle service over
roughly 160 km of highway to the Eurohub
in Überherrn. From there, Dachser supplies
various home improvement center customers
on demand.
Seamless connectionsAll of that happens according to plan.
“During peak time, there might even be 120
containers arriving daily in Bremerhaven,”
says Michael Müller. They are processed on
a rolling basis and brought via Mannheim to
Überherrn, where Dachser clears customs
with the customs office in nearby Saarlouis
and unloads 25 to 30 containers daily on
average. At that point, the hammocks then
finally arrive in Europe. After all, Dachser’s
Air & Sea Logistics and Road Logistics
Business Fields combine to make for an out-
standing two-for-one solution for the home
improvement center customers in Überherrn.
The concept called “interlocking” sums this
up nicely. It refers to closely interconnected
logistics networks with integrated IT systems
that dovetail with the customer and service
providers. “By linking two strong, powerful
business fields to their networks and ser -
vices, we can develop solutions that combine
the best that we have to offer in overland
shipping and in air and sea freight services,”
explains Thomas Reuter, COO of Dachser
Air & Sea Logistics. “In so doing, we will
create remarkable added value for interna-
tional customers.”
As a result of this seamless connection be-
tween Air & Sea and Road Logistics, under
the direction of the Dachser DIY-Logistics
industry solution, Überherrn can now
supply home improvement center customers
throughout Europe on demand. As the
trucks are being loaded with garden items at
the Eurohub ramp, Ralf Meistes gives me
more details about the hammock’s timeline:
“In the first shipping wave, the hammocks
and other gardening items are completely
distributed to their stores in Germany and
in the neighboring European countries. So
as of mid-February, they’re ready to be sold.”
He says that the close collaboration with the
logistics provider always gives Dachser’s DIY
customers the ability to arrange deliveries at
short notice. “Warehouse goods ordered in
Überherrn can be on the shelves within five
days at the latest.” says Meistes.
The customers and Dachser always consider
the weather as a factor in their calculations.
For instance, in 2013 there was still frost well
into April in Central Europe, so the garden-
ing season started late, too. “The majority of
hammocks and garden implements were not
sold until July and August,” recalls Meistes.
In 2014, temperatures reached springtime
levels as early as mid-March, which greatly
boosted early season hammock sales.
At any rate, the new hammock in my garden
arrived in plenty of time. And I don’t want to
do without it. As I lie in it, stretching out my
legs and gazing at the sky, it occurs to me that
a sample collection is probably being put to-
gether right now for next summer in Ningbo,
China. And tomorrow Ralf Meistes and
Günther Laumann will already be planning
the next great voyage of new hammocks from
China to the gardens of the world. M. Schick
hhAll parties want
full transparency
for information along
the complete supply chain
Ralf Meistes, Department Head,
Dachser DIY-Logistics
Dachser links sea freight to European markets
TITLE STORY
DACHSER magazine 09
Kempten: One of the most important
inventions of humankind is the wheel. It
mobilizes the world and is the reason why
even the most distant places are mov -
ing closer together. Good Allgäu cheese
also has the form of a wheel, but it
can’t roll to customers on its own. In
1930, Thomas Dachser had the idea
to transport cheese in his truck from
Kempten, one of the oldest cities in
Germany, to the densely populated
Rhineland. On the way back, he
filled the flatbed truck with manu-
factured goods for southern Germany.
The first Dachser supply chain was
born. The wheel of time has kept on
turning, and the entrepreneurial spirit of
Thomas Dachser now links the entire world.
Hong Kong: Asia’s ascent is unstoppable.
Economists are already talking about the
“Pacific Century.” Will it be an Indo-
Pacific, Chinese, or—perhaps more
likely—a Chinese-American cen-
tury? No matter where this path
leads, Dachser is well-posi -
tioned because the company
has already been in the Asian
markets for almost 40 years.
In 1976, the family-owned
company started operations
in Hong Kong and laid
the foundation there for
customer-oriented logistics
services in the Asia-Pacific
(APAC) region. In 2015, from
the head office in Hong Kong,
the company is represented in China,
Singapore, Taiwan, Bangladesh, India,
Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Thai-
land, and Vietnam.
85 Years of Dachser
BLUE AND YELLOW HEADOUT INTO THE WORLD Miami – Kempten – Hong Kong: three places that could not be more
different from each other. And yet they do have something in common:
they are linked by their important role in the 85-year history of Dachser.
HIS
TOR
Y
10 DACHSER magazine
FORUM
FORUM
DACHSER magazine 11
Miami: Christopher
Columbus anticipated silk
and spices. His goal was a
sea route to China, which he
and his contemporaries back
then also referred to as “India.” As
we all know, he discovered America
instead. The “New World” itself has
long since become the starting point for
discoveries. Initially working out of New
York, Dachser now runs its Air & Sea lo -
gistics network in the “Americas” out of
Miami, where the primary focus is no longer
on silk and spices. It’s on another milestone
in the history of Dachser: the increasing
internationalization of the company and
the creation of networks for global trade.
2015 A global organization
2013 Takeover of AZKAR and Transunion
2008 Expansion of the intercontinental network in Bangladesh and Thailand
2006 Establishment of ASL locations in China, Hungary, Mexico, and the USA; takeover of majority stake of the Czech logistics provider EST
2005 Acquisition of the Haugstedt Group
2004 Takeover of Euronet in Austria
2002 Start-up of operations of Eurohub Überherrn; Bratislava (2007) and Clermont-Ferrand (2011) follow
1999 Acquisition of Graveleau; Liegl&Dachser established in Hungary
1990 Bar code standardization: introduction of the EAN/NVE global identification system
1982 Launch of Dachser Food Logistics
1981 Dachser becomes the only German member of the World Air Cargo Organization
1980 Design and development of proprietary IT applications
1971 Conversion of the entire fleet to swap bodies
1951 Air freight office at the Munich Airport begins operations
1950 First international department at Dachser in Kempten
1945 Rebuilding the freight forwarding business after World War II
1934 Establishing the first branches in Germany
1930 Thomas Dachser founds a haulage firm in Kempten as a one-man operation
Era 4
Era 3
Era 2
Era 1
Company founderThomas Dachser and his wife Anna in the 1930s
Group Figures for 2014
GROWING WITH GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINSDachser is continuing its upward trend in growth.
In fiscal 2014, the family-owned company increased its
revenue by 5.2 percent, to about EUR 5.3 billion.
At the company’s annual press conference
in Munich in mid-April, Dachser CEO
Bernhard Simon was able to report strong
figures. The family-owned company, which
has been operating as an SE (Societas
Europaea) since the beginning of 2015 and
which has about 25,000 employees in 437
locations throughout the world, increased
its consolidated revenue by 5.2 percent, to
EUR 5.3 billion. The business fields of
Road Logistics and Air & Sea Logistics con-
tributed 5.0 and 8.0 percent, respectively, to
this positive development. “The trend toward
outsourcing complex international logistics
tasks is contributing to this organic growth,
in particular,” Bernhard Simon explains.
Integrated supply chain solutions for multi-
national customers will also be one of the
IN BRIEF
Dachser is continuing
its steady investments in the
future. In the current fiscal
year, the company has
allocated EUR 116 million
for fixed assets. Most of
this will flow into the land-
based network.
main drivers of growth in the coming years,
in Simon’s view. “With our efficient Euro-
pean groupage network, customized contract
logistics solutions in Europe, Asia, and the
U.S., and our own air and sea freight network,
we can map complete supply chains.”
Consolidated revenue* EUR 5.3 billion +5.2 %
DACHSER REVENUES IN 2014
GROSS REVENUES
*consolidated (minus revenue from equity shareholdings of 50% or less)
Shipments73.7 million +4.4 %
Road LogisticsEUR 3.858 billion +5.0 %
Tonnage35.4 million tons +5.1 %
European Logistics EUR 3.171 billion+5.3 %
Food LogisticsEUR 687 million +3.7 %
Air & Sea LogisticsEUR 1.577 billion+8.0 %
12 DACHSER magazine
FORUM: PEOPLE AND MARKETS
Height: 17.2 m
In the Formula 1 of researchers, horsepower
is not the only thing that matters to
automotive engineers. The business plan also
has to be brought into the fast lane.
To move something big, you have to be big. Like the MAN B&W
12S90ME-C MARK 9.2, which is the largest diesel engine ever
built. The fifteen-meter-high two-stroke unit propels the CSCL
Globe, the biggest ship in the world. The container ship of
China Shipping Container Lines Co. Ltd. is a full 400 meters long,
58.60 meters wide, and holds 19,000 standard containers. The engine
for this sea freight giant has to pack a punch. And it does just that by
achieving a maximum output of 69,709 kilowatts (almost 95,000 HP)
at 84 revolutions per minute. For the CSCL Globe, the engine was
adjusted down to 56,900 kilowatts, which are “only” about 77,000 HP.
The captain might not want to think about waterskiing just yet.
XXL Technology
MUSCLEMAN
Tens years of “Formula Student Germany”: from July 28 to August
2, when nearly 200 teams from all over the world compete at the
Hockenheimring racetrack with their homemade race cars, the
international design contest for students will be entering its anni -
versary lap. In their own Formula Student Electric (FSE) race,
forty teams will send electric shooting stars onto the track. The
goal of this design contest is to develop innovative approaches for
electric vehicles and to enhance them from year to year. Whether it
is achieved with a battery or with an internal-combustion motor,
high speed is not everything. The overall package is what counts:
design, cost planning, and the business model have to be just as
persuasive for the jury of professionals from business and industry
as the per formance of the students’ designs on the race track.
More infor mation about this year’s series of races can be found at
www.formulastudent.de.
Automotive research
SHOOTING STARS IN SCIENCE
Container ship voyages are on an upward trend.
The largest engine in the world will now get a new
generation of ocean liners underway.
Height: 1.85 m
Almost ten times as tall as a human: the new giant engine
Student racer on the Schanzer Team
DACHSER magazine 13
FORUM: PEOPLE AND MARKETS
great dynamism.” According to Dienel, the
history of the modern road is equally a his -
tory of infrastructure, traffic, politics, soci -
ology, and culture for this reason.
Connecting marketsIn fact, traffic routes pass through all areas of
culture and life—as paths, roads, and high-
ways, as railways and waterways, and air
routes and (pipe) lines. It was merchants in
particular who recognized the potential of
developed roads early on. They made it
possible for merchants to form politically
and economically strong alliances, like the
Hanseatic League, beginning in the early
Middle Ages. “By constantly adapting to
changing circumstances and at the same time
helping to shape these circumstances, they
linked faraway markets and interconnected
various systems of production—such as
a textile factory and a cotton plantation,”
explains historian Jürgen Osterhammel in
his universal history entitled “The Trans -
for mation of the World.” According to him,
transport routes integrated national mar -
kets in this way, or in some cases actually
created them.
Already in pre-industrial times, waterways
were the cheapest transport route. Even
the bulkiest of goods could be transported
h “The sustainable, true way is created
under your very feet by the act of
going on it.” Confucius and Lao-Tzu showed
the way to new knowledge in the 6th century
BC with the “Tao” (the way). “The way is the
goal” became a slogan entrenched in popular
consciousness, tied to the following principle
in terms of the history of ideas and cul -
ture: All progress starts with the first step—
ideally on a usable track.
The Romans later interpreted this trail-
blazing very pragmatically. They conquered
Europe on roads that were paved and cam-
bered to drain water. Unlike the “barbarians,”
they were able to quickly move large numbers
of troops and continuously provide them
with supplies, weapons, and food, thanks to
the first highways.
An ever larger network of long-distance
routes on which traders transported goods
like salt, flint, honey, metals, ceramics, and
weapons developed into a systematic infra-
structure in the Middle Ages. This made it
possible to completely plan and organize
transport. The historian of technology,
Hans-Liudger Dienel, co-editor of the stan-
dard reference work “The Modern Road”
published in 2012, believes that roads are
“carriers of multiform freight transport and
passenger transport” and also “an event of
From A to B—small and large connections have been linking people, places, and cultures since timeimmemorial. Traffic and information routes always pave the way to the future.
THE WAY IS
THE GOAL
FORUM: ESSAY
14 DACHSER magazine
Full speed ahead for progress:technology creates the necessary (transport) routes
quickly and reliably over long stretches. In
Great Britain, the motherland of industrial-
ization, more than 25,000 barges were trav-
eling the expansive inland waterway network
in the mid-19th century, mostly towed by
horses on river banks.
Mobility full steam aheadWith the steam engine, mobility really came
up to speed at the start of the 19th century.
More and more, railroads linked industrial
production to markets. Steamships and then,
later, diesel engines freed the maritime navi-
gation industry from the caprices of the wind
and made timetables possible. In the 1930s,
a steamboat entered Glasgow every ten
minutes. The advantage of faster transport
is obvious: costs drop, faraway markets get
closer, and perishable goods can be traded.
Aviation then eliminated the difference
between land and sea in the 20th century.
The “jet age” began when the Boeing 707
started regular service in 1958—a “reality,”
hhEverything
changed with the
steam engine
says Jürgen Osterhammel, “that even the
boldest of visionaries in the 19th century
would not have dared to imagine.”
Long-distance lines underwaterSince the 19th century, information has been
traveling faster than people and objects. The
wiring of the world began when telephone
and telegraph lines were installed—even
underwater across the Atlantic, for the first
time ever. Exchanging information and
knowledge in “real time” revolutionized the
concept of infrastructure. Information chan-
nels expanded at a breathtaking pace. At the
end of the 20th century, faxes, satellite tele-
phones, and e-mail were still considered to
be the “latest thing” in technology. Today
they are already “yesterday’s news.” High-
speed internet and a constant wave of new
wireless data transmission standards like
UMTS and LTE are the new frontier.
Goods are now on the move
not only by road and by rail,
in the air and on the water,
but also on the information
high way and on the “Internet
of Things.” Progress marches
on. To paraphrase Confucius
and Lao-Tzu: The way is
the goal. M.Schick
In 1896, Daimler andMaybach introduce theworld’s first truck. With its design and itsrubber-tired woodenwheels, it still resem-bles a carriage. The 4 HP one-liter, two-cylinder inline enginein front of the rear axleaccelerates to an impressive 10 kilome-ters per hour and canhaul up to 1.5 tons. Initially the driver andpassenger sit exposedto the elements, butlater their seats areheated by the engine-cooling system.
FORUM: ESSAY
DACHSER magazine 15
Pic
ture
: Mor
occa
n A
genc
y fo
r S
olar
Ene
rgy
The desert will become the energy source of the future
16 DACHSER magazine
EXPERTISE: CHEM-LOGISTICS
A good film needs excitement, a bit of drama, heroes, and a happy ending. The construction of the world’s largest solar power plant in Morocco has all this andmore. Logistics has helped to write the screenplay of this very special success story.
WHERE THESUNIS HARVESTED
hThe story begins with a setback. The
Desertec solar project nurtured hopes
that electricity from the North African
desert would solve the energy problems of
Europe once and for all. But it was not to
be. Interests changed, major investors backed
out, and political unrest raised its unruly
head in North Africa. Dramatic develop-
ments may be good for Hollywood films,
but not so in the business world, where many
projects start out with great gusto, yet end
up in complete failure. So it came to pass
with Desertec. However, King Mohammed
VI of Morocco refused to accept that the
desert power project had fallen through and
instead he promoted Marocco’s own am -
bitious strategy: Now, the country is planning
to expand its solar, wind, and hydro power
capacities to 2,000 megawatts each by 2020.
The backdrop for this new project, the Noor
project (Arabic for light), is just outside the
city of Ouarzazate in southern Morocco. It
is the stage of an epic futuristic adventure
in which Dachser is playing a leading role.
The landscape of rugged cliff formations
and fortress-like cities built from red sand-
stone was discovered by filmmakers long ago.
In the desert not far from Ouarzazate, epic
films like “Lawrence of Arabia,” historical
dramas like “Gladiator,” “Pope Joan,” and ‡
DACHSER magazine 17
EXPERTISE: CHEM-LOGISTICS
hhWe have to be able to offer the client
the same high safety standards for hazardous
goods outside European borders
Rüdiger Erb, Business Development
Manager Chem-Logistics at Dachser
The Dacher warehouse for BASF
Mirror for the power of the sun
Clean energy for a culturally rich country
the “Physician,” as well as the American
fantasy series “Game of Thrones” and nu-
merous other Biblical films have been shot
there.
While the film industry is all about fiction,
the energy industry is only interested in hard
facts and figures. “Noor” represents the
largest solar thermal power plant in the
world. Over a surface area of 3,000 hectares
(7,400 acres), four individual power plants
are under construction that will be able to
supply up to 560 megawatts of output
annually in just two years. Noor 1 is sched-
uled to go into operation this year. After
com pletion, the power plant complex will
produce clean energy for over 1.2 million
people and save up to 800,000 tons in
CO2 annually.
Storing solar energyModern solar thermal power plants are
making this possible. In addition to solar
cells, a mixture of sodium nitrate and potas-
sium nitrate is used. At high temperatures,
the salts melt and store energy in the process.
Like a battery, this energy can be re-released,
which enables the power plant to produce
power even if the sun is not shining.
The sodium nitrate is supplied by chemical
company BASF from Ludwigshafen. In
Morocco, Dachser coordinates temporary
storage, which began in May 2014, as well
as deliveries to the construction site.
“It took several years of persuasion to get
the order placed,” recalls Rüdiger Erb, Busi-
ness Development Manager for Chem-
Logistics at Dachser in Kempten, Germany.
The story of the project is the stuff films
are made of. Back in 2012, BASF sent an
inquiry to Dachser about the possibility
of warehousing and delivering hazardous
goods. Yet the company kept changing its
framework conditions.
Right from the start, the biggest problem was
to find a suitable hazardous goods warehouse
in the North African country. BASF had
clear expectations: Its high safety standards
must also apply outside of European borders.
This included obvious items like sprinkler
systems, which are not usually standard
in Marocco. Its list of requirements also
covered fire protection barriers and gates,
explosion-proof forklift trucks, fire protec-
tion measures and 24/7 monitoring with
cameras and an enclosed compound.
EXPERTISE: CHEM-LOGISTICS
18 DACHSER magazine
Pic
ture
: MA
SE
N
Pic
ture
: MA
SE
N
“Let’s just say we came out empty-handed
in Morocco,” explains Erb. In the beginn -
ing, there were not a lot of warehouses that
came close to meeting the needs of BASF.
Low ceilings, leaky floors, and corroded lines
were problematic in even the better ware-
houses.
Casablanca was the turning pointAs the Desertec successor Noor became im-
minent and Dachser once again hit the
streets in search of a suitable warehouse for
BASF, the chemical-logistics experts finally
hit pay dirt in Casablanca. A Moroccan
company recognized that hazardous goods
warehouses could be a promising business in
the future and was able to provide a ware-
house with ten fire-proof compartments
that covered more than 100,000 square
meters. The warehouse infrastructure and
equipment also met the high standards.
Since the middle of last year, BASF has
been storing big bags containing sodium
nitrate covering 7,000 square meters. Start -
ing in July, Dachser will begin transporting
these big bags to the construction site in
Ouarzazate following a strict three-month
schedule.
For Erb and his colleagues, it came to a show-
down: “We had to find reliable companies
that could guarantee two years in advance
that they would be able to make up to 15
trucks available to us daily for a period of
three months.” Also, drivers not only had
to have the appropriate ADR equipment and
training for road transport of hazardous
goods, but also be ready to perform minor
acts of heroism every day along the way.
M’hamed Chraibi, General Manager, South
Morocco, is supervising the project at
Dachser Morocco. “When selecting the
drivers, we made sure that they have suffi-
cient experience,” adds Chraibi. “The 450 km
route between Casablanca and Ouarzazate
goes through the Atlas Mountains, where
there is no highway, only a perilously curvy
and narrow road that winds through the
Tizi n’Tichka Pass, to name but one. At
2,260 meters, it is one of the highest moun-
tain roads in Morocco.” Although tempera-
tures in summer in Morocco hit 40°C, driv-
ers can expect snow in winter.
To complete the first solar power plant, it
will take a total of about 24,000 tons of
chemicals, which will be transported along
the high ridge of the Atlas Mountains, total-
ing a distance of 1,134,000 kilometers. But
the sequel to this story is yet to come:
With additional expansion phases of the
solar power plant, once again about 150,000
tons of chemicals have to be transported
along the hazardous route from the coast
inland to the desert sands by 2020. Accord-
ing to the screenplay, though, there will be
a happy ending. A. Heintze
For over 30 years,Dachser has beentransporting goods inthe North AfricanMaghreb countries,moving approx. 15,000trailers annually be-tween continental Europe and NorthAfrica. Headed up byFrédéric Seillier, Managing Director ofDachser Morocco, the company operatesfour sites and two offices throughoutthe country withapprox. 180 employees.
Parabolic mirrors form the heart of the solar power plant
DACHSER magazine 19
EXPERTISE: CHEM-LOGISTICS
EXPERTISE: DUAL STUDIES PROGRAM
20 DACHSER magazine
TWICE AS GOOD
From theory to practice without a detour: A dual studies program with Dachser offers the best foundation for starting a career in the world of logistics.
hHe just has to deal with it. Andreas
Sprint is stuck in traffic in the middle
of New York City. All around him, horns
are honking and people are hustling and
bustling—that is the regular morning crazi-
ness in the Big Apple. It doesn’t seem to
bother the 24-year-old sales executive at
Dachser Air & Sea Logistics, who drives
along Atlantic Avenue from Williamsburg
in Brooklyn to his office near JFK airport.
“In the end, you always get there,” he says
with a smile.
For eight months, the young logistics expert
has been working and living in the U.S.
“New York is a bit like the degree program I
just completed last September,” says Andreas
Sprint. “Exciting, diverse, and challenging.”
He just finished a three-year dual studies
program from Dachser, graduating with a
Bachelor’s in business management, with a
particular focus on logistics. This special form
of college-level education goes hand-in-hand
with practical learning in the company.
“For me, the dual studies program was like
a bridge that perfectly connects theory and
practice,” says Sprint in summing up his
experiences. “From day one, it was anything
but boring.” Yet students in a dual studies
program must demonstrate a high degree of
flexibility. For three years and at three-month
intervals, Andreas Sprint had to switch back
and forth between the university and differ-
ent Dachser branch offices. This is how he
became familiar with the operations of the
company's branch offices in Frankfurt,
Zürich, Dresden, Beijing, Izmir, New York,
and Atlanta, not to mention his exposure to
the most diverse work areas. These included
national and international overland trans-
port, air and sea freight, service, insurance
and claims processing, invoicing, accounting,
and controlling.
Here are some of theuniversities offering adual studies programwith Dachser: HWRHochschule für Wirt -schaft und Recht Berlin,Duale HochschuleBaden-Württemberg in Mannheim and Lörrach, and the Berufsakademie inGlauchau.
From the lecture hall to the Big Apple: Andreas Sprint
LOGISTICS
CAREERS
EXPERTISE: DUAL STUDIES PROGRAM
DACHSER magazine 21
Putting knowledge into practice“Each office immediately integrated me into
the team and accepted me as a full-fledged
colleague,” recalls Sprint. This meant that
he assumed responsibilities early on and ap-
plied knowledge learned in the classroom
directly in real work situations. Full-time
students might ask themselves what they can
do with all the dry theory they are learning,
while students in dual studies programs will
find the answer directly in the day-to-day
business operations that they are a part of.
The last year of the dual studies program
focuses on the future role with Dachser. For
Andreas Sprint, this path took him to the
Big Apple. “I was lucky to be able to make
the right contacts during this time and
was recommended. That’s how I landed the
position as sales executive here in New York,”
explains Sprint.
There, he is benefiting from being an em-
ployee with practical experience. The fact
that terms like “SWOT analysis” or “six
sigma” are familiar to him is due to the
theory phase of his dual studies education,
which is replete with subjects like econom -
ics, transport operations management, law,
mathematics, and statistics as well as solid
foreign language training and preparation
for the exam to qualify as an instructor. For
the young salesman, these skills and knowl-
edge have created a level of respect necessary
in today’s business world when dealing with
customers. On the other hand, he knows
the limits of what is feasible from his practi-
cal experience and does not promise people
the moon during acquisition talks.
Ever-changing environmentsWith all the euphoria that has come with
his educational choices, Sprint is also very
aware that the dual studies program may
not be the right choice for everyone. “You
have to be very disciplined with excellent
time management skills in order to make it
through the program,” he adds. During the
practical phase, students are constantly meet-
ing new people and adapting to different
environments. This was not a problem for
Sprint since he grew up the son of a diplomat
and was used to moving around frequently.
Unlike a normal university degree, there is
little free time for those on the dual studies
path. “While university students get to enjoy
semester breaks, I would go back to the com-
pany,” says Andreas Sprint. Vacation days for
a student in a dual studies program are more
or less the same as in professional life. In
his case, 27 vacation days, which he was only
able to take during the practical phases. “In
exchange, there is more money left over for
travel at the end,” says Sprint. This is because
students receive a salary from the company
during their three-year study program.
Traffic is beginning to move on Atlantic
Avenue. Finally, he is on his way. “It was the
right decision to do a dual studies program
with Dachser,” asserts Andreas Sprint, step-
ping on the gas pedal. He loves it when
things move quickly—both on the road and
in his career. K. Fink
Finding a dream job straight out of university
Dual track or full time?Two paths to success: practical experience carries more weight with the dual studies program
Dual studies program
Practical experienceOn-the-job
training
Practical experience
Personal initiative!
TheoryDegree at a uni -
versity (vocational or trade school)
TheoryStudy at a university
Full-time study program
Source: logistik-studieren.de
More about career opportunities at Dachser on Facebook
www.facebook.com/dachsercareers
or at www.dachser.com
F
Networking goes mobile
EXPERTISE: DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS
22 DACHSER magazine
LIVINGCREATIVELY
With extraordinary ideasfor furniture and acces-sories, Kare promotes anurban lifestyle around the world. Logistics is partof the recipe for success.
Kare sets the stage for creative living
hThe young man makes a courtly bow,
greeting the visitor with a mischievous
smile. Life-sized, flame-red, and gleaming
from head to toe, the artful decorative figure
“Welcome Guests Red Big“ performs its
duty in the showroom of the furniture and
accessory specialist Kare. And attracting
attention in these colorful worlds of domes-
tic wonder is quite a feat. The factory-like
space in Garching, just outside of Munich,
is crammed full of ideas for the home like
fantastic stage designs: some living room
atmosphere with a lot of wood in an elegant
vintage style here, a kid’s room bursting with
color there, and now a sofa with cushions
made of jeans.
“We got the idea for the friendly young man
in red from ancient China. Figures like that
were often put in front of houses to welcome
guests. Nowadays, he is all the rage in de-
signer lofts in major cities around the world,”
says Susanne Knacke, Head of Corporate
Communications at Kare-Design GmbH.
“It's better to live unconventionally and go
against the mainstream,” she says, summ -
ing up the furniture company’s philosophy.
In 1981, Jürgen Reiter and Peter Schön -
hofen opened up their first store in the
Maxvorstadt neighborhood of Munich. At
the time, it was no more than a few shelves
and around 40 square meters of space. Their
plan was to work in a niche market, ‡
EXPERTISE: DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS
DACHSER magazine 23
the freight forwarder’s most urgent task in
distribution is to bring all of Kare’s invest-
ment and creativity to the consumer. The last
mile is crucial for us. We can’t have anything
go wrong there.”
“Dachser has the size and the resources to
serve a demanding customer like Kare with
consistently high quality every day,” says
Markus Lischke, Head of the Sales and
Customer Service Department at Dachser’s
Munich branch. From Kare’s 30,000-square-
meter central warehouse at the Garching
headquarters, Dachser has been supplying
branch stores, retailers, and in-store shops
primarily in Germany, Austria, and Benelux
since 2003. In 2014, around 24,000 ship-
ments totaling nearly 10,000 tons were han-
dled. “Our assortment includes roughly
6,000 products with around 1,500 new items
a year. We have to be just as flexible with
logistics as we are with our products,” says
Michael Wolf. “The challenges range from
overnight delivery, to the planned opening
of a new store in six months. We have to be
able to model everything in between with
our logistics.”
The total packageThe Kare chief has identified four pillars
that support the partnership with his logistics
provider. For him, this includes the basic
ability to effectively render all transport ser -
vices, both here and internationally. He also
values a forward-looking business relation-
ship. The third pillar for Wolf is service.
“Our contacts also have to make a difference
in day-to-day operations. A partner with
nothing to say is not very useful to us.” And
finally, there’s the price. “But that’s not every-
thing. The overall package must be right,”
says Wolf.
A key reason why Kare chose Dachser twelve
years ago, according to Michael Wolf, is
the IT expertise of the Kempten-based
logistics provider: “Dachser was always far
ahead of the field in electronic data process-
ing and confirmations to the sender. That
extends to bundling proof-of-delivery re-
ceipts on a daily basis using shipment -
control and electronic invoices,” says Wolf.
“This has allowed us to optimize adminis -
trative processes, significantly reduce invoic-
ing times, and lower costs.”
“We both had a learning curve to get
through,” says Markus Lischke. “But to -
gether we were able to meet the constantly
“Red Big” is not theonly thing that is “a bit different”—hereare some furnituretrends for 2015 inKare’s style: a shiningwhite table with an oval top supported byfour horse legs. A stoolthat looks like a juicyburger. A powder-blue,crocodile-embossedleather wing chairswinging on a brassframe. A sideboardwith doors and draw-ers that look like acomputer keyboard.
Kare Design GmbH Founded in 1981, the international
trading company for furniture,
lighting, and home accessories,
headquartered in Garching-
Hochbrück (outside of Munich),
is a franchisor, distributor, retailer,
in-store shop operator, interior
decorating consultant, and trend -
setter within the interior decorating
industry. Kare has 200 brand part-
ners in 40 countries around the
world (as of May 2015).
For more information, visit
www.kare.de
INFO
delighting customers with a steady stream
of new furniture, lighting, and home acces-
sories. So they traveled the globe searching
for unique pieces in small, out-of-the-way
workshops, finding not only off-kilter, one-
of-a-kind furnishings that leave the customer
saying “wow,” but also solid wood furniture
lovingly made by hand for use in everyday
life. The concept worked. Kare now has 200
brand partners in 40 countries.
In Germany alone, the company has 380
employees from 28 nations. Around 1,150
employees work in the network world -
wide. Exports make up about 70 percent of
their sales.
Bringing creativity to the customer
Michael Wolf, Chief Operations
Officer at Kare, was only a student
when he helped out at the furni-
ture warehouse in the early days.
He was there from the begin-
ning to witness and help shape
its dynamic growth. Kare’s mis-
sion to offer furniture and acces-
sories that are “a bit different” comes with
parti cular challenges for logistics. “On the
one hand, our procurement process involves
working with around ten times as many
manufacturers and pickup locations as other
companies,” explains Wolf. “On the other,
F
24 DACHSER magazine
EXPERTISE: DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS
hhWe have to be
just as flexible
with logistics as we are with
our productsMichael Wolf,
COO Kare Design GmbH
Kare power plant: the new flagship storein Munich
changing demands of the market time after
time, putting ourselves in an optimal position
as a result.” And since the end of 2012, this
has also included customer-direct delivery
for Kare’s online store in Germany. The
experience gathered from this process has
also been incorporated into development of
the “targo on-site” product family, which
the logistics provider recently re-launched
at the transport logistic trade show. Dachser
has added three defined service packages
to its proven, standardized entargo product
family to meet the demands of deliveries
to non-warehouse locations. Free curbside
delivery, delivery to place of use, and two-
person delivery with premium services like
furniture assembly, packaging removal, and
returns handling. Michael Wolf confidently
interlinks the upcoming shared tasks for
the logistical implementation of new multi-
channel distribution strategies. “Having a
partner with its own stable network in
Germany and Europe, we get the best com-
bination of product and price,” says Wolf
with conviction. And the friendly red man
in the showroom corner smiles at that. He
has, it seems, every reason to be in a good
mood. M. Gelink
In the Kare Logistics Center On the way to the customer Achieving success with teamwork
DACHSER magazine 25
EXPERTISE: DISTRIBUTION LOGISTICS
26 DACHSER magazine
Mehr Umschlagkapazitäten in Wrocław
Dachser started its logistics operations in
Great Britain 40 years ago with leased storage
space and five employees on the island. Back
then, the focus was on freight forwarding
services in particular. The head office of
Dachser UK is still in Northampton. But out
of this grew an ultramodern logistics center,
with branch offices in Dartford and Roch -
dale and a sales office in Reading to boot.
The country organization led by Managing
Director Nick Lowe has a total of 321 em-
ployees and has long offered a complete
range of logistics services including cus-
tomized contract logistics. Dachser’s growth
in Belgium and the Netherlands—going on
1975–2015: With its country organizations in Great Britain, Belgium,
and the Netherlands, Dachser has made logistics history with its customers
for over 40 years.
40 years at this point—is also characterized
by a long-lasting upswing. Dachser started
out in Zevenaar, Holland, near the German
border with just three employees, a small of-
fice, and a 400-square-meter warehouse.
Dachser’s nucleus in Belgium is located in the
Flemish town of Kuurne where Dachser
opened its doors 40 years ago. In the Nether-
lands, Dachser now has more than 400 em-
ployees at five locations, while in Belgium 300
employees work at four branch offices. The
country organizations, both of which are
managed by Aat van der Meer, operate in the
market with integrated solutions, whether air
or sea freight, road transport or warehousing.
Anniversaries
FROM START-UP TO GO-GETTERS
The logistics centerin Northampton
Building bridges to global commerce:40 years of Dachser in Belgium and the Netherlands
NETWORKEXPERTISE
NETWORK
DACHSER magazine 27
+++ SUPPORTING PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS +++ Dachser Service und
Ausbildungs GmbH’s goal is the training, professional orientation, and
support of professional drivers on the path to becoming independent
carriers. The fleet manager occupies a key role by overseeing the training
process and at the same time serving as a link between drivers, carriers,
and the branch office. When training began in 2014, 45 professional
drivers in Germany started out under this model and at least 80 more
will join their ranks in the fall of 2015. +++
+++ TEACHING NETWORK
STANDARDS +++ “DOMINO
for beginners” is the name of
the program for novices, in
which Dachser trains its em-
ployees to use Dachser’s pro-
prietary transport software
DOMINO and its processes. In
three-day sessions of inten -
sive training, 49 trainers taught
more than 680 employees in
Great Britain, France, Austria,
Hungary, Germany, Sweden,
Norway, and Poland. Continu -
ing education is also planned
in 2015 for Switzerland, the
Netherlands, and Belgium. +++
Scoring points with quality
the roughly 100,000-square-meter facility
with over 450 employees, Azkar has been
supplying the 60 Leroy Merlin retail stores in
Spain—which receives 53 million visits a
year—since February. With its expansion to
multi-channel distribution, Leroy Merlin
is introducing a new distribution concept
within the home improvement sector. In
order to achieve this, the company is com-
pletely reconfiguring its operations on a
logistical, technical, and personnel level—a
process that will be completed in 2018
and will require major IT and supply chain
investments. “Leroy Merlin’s strategy is to
turn supply chain management into one of
its competitive advantages,” explains Juan
Quintana, Managing Director of Azkar
Dachser Group. “This is where Azkar comes
in, a strategic partner who can assist with
this change management process.”
DIY-Logistics
GAINING A COMPETITIVEADVANTAGE
Azkar Dachser Group is now
managing the Leroy Merlin
distribution center in Guadalajara,
which supplies the 60 retail
outlets in Spain.
Azkar has signed an agreement with Leroy
Merlin, the leading Spanish home improve-
ment chain, to develop and manage the
distribution center located in Torija near
Guadalajara. The two companies have now
passed another milestone in the partnership
that they started in 2000. Operating from
The architecture of new adventures: the Warsaw “Sail”
NETWORK: POLAND
28 DACHSER magazine
A GOLDEN AGE – IN THE HEART OF
EUROPE
Dachser began doing business in Poland about ten years ago. The country and its economy havecome a long way since then. However, the demand for comprehensive and intelligently networked logistics has also risen.
European Union put together. Since 2003,
economists have recorded growth of 49 per-
cent while average economic growth within
the EU is at 11 percent. Poland was also
able to successfully navigate the economic
crisis. Even in 2009, at the height of the
global recession, the country was the only
EU member state to achieve positive eco-
nomic growth. In 2013, it grew an addition-
al 2 percent over the previous year. In con-
trast, Germany grew only 0.4 percent, with
France following at just 0.3 percent.
No wonder that the long-term outlook in
Poland is very bright. In a current study,
the World Bank even mentions that the
country is on the brink of entering a “new
golden age.” By 2030, growth could average
3 percent annually and the economy’s output
could double compared to what it is produc-
ing today.
From problem child to model studentThe economic boom that the country has
experienced over the past ten years is unique
in Europe. Poland has even left Europe’s ‡
hPoland’s star is on the rise, as evidenced
by the new 192 meter Złota 44 sky-
scraper that towers over downtown Warsaw.
It is now Europe’s highest apartment build-
ing and was designed by New York’s star
architect Daniel Libeskind. Asymmetrically
curved geometries of different shapes join
together to create an artful silhouette that
calls to mind the sails of a ship. Emulat -
ing modern architectural masterworks from
internationally renowned architects like
Helmut Jahn with his “Cosmopolitan Twar-
da 2/4” or Norman Foster with his “Metro-
politan,” the glass façades of the Libes -
kind skyscraper reflect the verve and dy-
namism of the Polish capital. Though opin-
ions always differ when it comes to modern
buildings, they do, nonetheless, unmistakably
represent a point of departure in the revela-
tion of their inherent powers. Norman Foster
once said: “My buildings broaden horizons,
they invite you to look into openness.”
It is exactly these broad perspectives that
currently distinguish Poland. The country
is a model student in Europe, with an econ-
omy that is growing faster than the rest of the
NETWORK: POLAND
DACHSER magazine 29
Award-winning service The most important site in Poland is the
Stryków branch, which is not far from the
central Polish city of Łódź. Stryków is the
country’s main traffic hub, located near the
A1/A2 highway junction. This strategically
favorable location enables Dachser to pro -
vide the best connections between busi -
nesses in Western Europe, Poland, Russia,
and the Scandinavian countries with south-
ern Europe. The Stryków branch also
benefits from close integration into the Euro-
pean Dachser network and connections
to Eurohubs in Bratislava (Slovakia), Über-
herrn (Germany), and Clermont-Ferrand
(France).
A particular area of focus for Dachser in
Poland is contract logistics, which includes
all logistics services, such as transport, ter -
minal handling and storage, targeted IT
support, quality assurance, project planning,
and industry-specific value-added services.
“Most of our customers are focused on
exports and are experiencing strong growth
in this area. And we are providing them with
the assistance they need,” explains Grzegorz
Lichocik, Managing Director, Dachser Euro-
pean Logistics Poland. “That’s our plan for
expanding our branches in Poznań and
Stryków.”
An important step in recent years was the
introduction of DIY-Logistics at Dachser
in Poland in 2012. “The products are no
longer delivered to the incoming goods ramp,
but rather directly to the shelves of the
DIY stores,” says Lichocik in explaining the
service concept. “This helps our customers
streamline their services and costs within
model students from the 1990s, such as
Hungary or the Czech Republic, far behind.
In the meantime, investors and companies
value Poland as a central European logistics
location. In 2014, international investors
spent more than EUR 3.1 billion alone in
Warsaw. At the end of 2013, total FDI
(Foreign Direct Investments) since 1989 to-
taled EUR 160 billion in Poland.
Dachser recognized the signs early on and
has been active in the Polish market since
2006. “We have grown vitally right from the
start and meanwhile have more than 330
employees who work for us in eight loca-
tions,” reports Grzegorz Lichocik, Manag -
ing Director of Dachser Poland European
Logistics. The company has grown quickly
especially in the last five years. In 2012, the
Polish country organization posted revenue
of almost EUR 40 million, two years later,
it rose another 20 million. Moreover, in
2010, Dachser expanded its air and sea
freight business into Poland. The ASL War-
saw office currently has 19 employees. “Com-
pared to our competitors, we are still rather
new to the Polish market,” explains Robert
Pastryk, Managing Director of Dachser Air
& Sea Logistics Poland. There is a strong
focus on the export business via sea freight
and air freight through the European hub
Frankfurt am Main. “The Polish economy is
becoming increasingly export-oriented and
we want to make Dachser the top export
service provider in Poland. That is why we
are working closely together with our col-
leagues from Road Logistics and can there-
fore offer customers the benefits of the entire
Dachser network,” adds Pastryk.
Investors and compa-nies are focusing increasingly on Polandas a Central Europeanlogistics location. The primary industriescurrently includeeCommerce, the auto-motive industry, andlight manufacturing.Germany Trade & Invest estimates thatthe entire surface areaof existing modernwarehouses in Polandat the end of 2014 was over 8.5 millionsquare meters. Also, at this time, an addi-tional 650,000 squaremeters were underconstruction.
The “Mermaid” of Warsaw at the Market Place
Building bridges to the future:the new Warsaw
30 DACHSER magazine
NETWORK: POLAND
IN BRIEF
also launched its “Dachser Education Pro-
gram” in Poland. This program exports the
con ventional dual education program model
that is used in Germany into the Dachser
network. It combines theory from the
vocational school and practical, hands-
on experience with the company. Uniform
standards ensure a high level of education
and training, and thereby also high service
quality. International companies, in parti -
cular those that have discovered Poland
as an important logistics hub in Central
Eastern Europe, place great value on stan-
dardized processes.
Homework doneIn the last few years, politicians have done
their homework by building a modern infra-
structure in Poland and turning it into a
powerful transit country in Central Europe.
In 2012, 716 kilometers of new roads were
completed, the most ever in terms of length.
In 2013, spending on road construction to-
taled about EUR 4.5 billion (after conver-
sion), resulting in the completion of approx.
420 kilometers of new roads. Today, high -
ways connect major business areas of Poland
with neighbors to the west and south. In
the years ahead, the government plans to
add another 2,227 km to the country’s high-
way network.
In addition to building roads, handling ca-
pacities in the seaports are being expanded.
Large warehouses are being built at the new
transport hubs as well as smaller warehouse
units in urban areas. Dachser, too, is con-
stantly expanding its capacities in Poland.
More recently, the branch in the city of
Wrocław was expanded. In the fourth-largest
city in Poland, the logistics service provider
expanded its existing 2,000-square-meter
warehouse up to 5,000 square meters. At
the same time, more office space was also
added. This makes Wrocław Dachser’s third
largest location in Poland. Expanding in
the best of company: many foreign inves -
tors, such as LG, IKEA, Carrefour, Tesco,
and Toshiba, are all located near the A4.
Even Google, Siemens, and SAP Polska
have branch offices in Wrocław. Bosch
currently has 700 employees working in the
city’s outskirts, and automobile manufac -
turer Toyota has built an engine factory in
the neighboring city of Jelcz-Laskowice.
That new “golden age” is already well under-
way. K.Fink
PolandArea: 312,685 km2
Population: 38.53 Millionen (2013)
Capital: Warszawa (Warsaw)
GDP: EUR 413.1 billion (2014)
Real growth: 4.3%
the supply chain.” Dachser in Poland has just
received an award from the Polish builder’s
magazine “Top Builder” for this solution.
“The fact that it was launched at just the
right time probably had something to do
with it,” adds Lichocik. “After all, Polish
businesses have just recently begun to very
successfully tap into markets all over Europe.
Among its most important partners are the
DIY stores.”
Also in 2012, Dachser opened a Cargoplus
office, located in direct proximity to the A1
highway, which connects Paris, Berlin,
Warsaw, and Moscow. Dachser uses its facil-
ity for pan-European full load freight and
special freight services to the CIS states
and the Maghreb countries.
“With this broad range of services, we are
more attractive to major customers as a lo-
gistics service provider because we can cover
all their transport needs,” explains Lichocik.
“For groupage and partial load business, we
score points with our powerful network.
From a geographical perspective, Poland is
an excellent platform for bundling shipments
to Russia and other CIS regions.”
Expanding export tradeShipments to EU countries are the most im-
portant pillar of Poland’s export business at
77 percent while imports make up almost 60
percent. Germany is still Poland’s number
one trade partner and has been for 20 years.
Currently, over a quarter of Poland’s total
exports and about 22 percent of its total
imports processed are with Germany. Other
important trade partners include China,
Russia, and Italy for imports as well as Great
Britain, the Czech Republic, and France for
exports. Polish companies are looking in-
tensely for new sales markets outside Europe.
Machines and transport equipment are
among Poland’s most important export
goods at 40 percent, while chemicals and
food total 9 percent, with furniture coming in
at 5 percent. Machines and transport equip-
ment are also the country’s primary imports,
along with chemicals, food as well as iron
and steel. These goods are transported by
an above-average number of companies.
According to Eurostat, there were 146,000
registered transport companies in Poland
in 2011. Compare: In Germany, there are
90,000 registered logistics providers and in
neighboring Russia only 3,800. Dachser
has successfully established itself in this
highly competitive market. Recently, almost
800,000 shipments weighing over 300,000
tons were transported by the company’s eight
locations.
“In Poland, Dachser has become well-known
and popular not only among companies,”
says Lichocik. Young people, he goes on
to say, are becoming increasingly interested
in working for Dachser because this indus -
try sector offers bright career prospects. To
offer qualified training, the logistics company
hhWe help our customers
minimize their costs within
the supply chainGrzegorz Lichocik, Managing Director, Dachser European Logistics PolandRobert Pastryk, Managing Director, Dachser Air & Sea Logistics Poland
DACHSER magazine 31
NETWORK: POLAND
Mr. Simon, have you met anyone recentlywho left a particularly strong impression onyou?Bernhard Simon: More than anyone else,
I’d have to say Malala Yousafzai, who won
the Nobel Peace Prize this past year for her
advocacy for the human right to free educa-
tion, specifically for girls. Big things are
often connected to seemingly “little” things
in everyday life. At the award ceremony for
our best student trainees, I recently got to
know a young woman who received top
marks in her education and training, and
in her free time additionally tutored children
of an immigrant background with their
homework, in order to give them a chance
to gain access to society. This inclusive think-
ing on the part of our trainees also made a
powerful impression on me.
Prof. Baldur Kirchner: Encounters like
these are always associated with the charisma
of personalities. They are the result of an in-
ner magnetism. St. Augustine (354–430 CE),
a teacher of church doctrine, put it in a
nutshell long ago: you must have a burning
interest in the flame you seek to kindle in
others. That is why I consider charisma to
be an invitation to experience closeness and
to promote dialogue—precisely what is con-
veyed by the examples you cited.
B. Simon: Understood in those terms, when
I consider charisma in the work routine,
especially on the part of management, I see
the broadest range of potential for opening
up to staff members and seeking closeness
with them. The one may do it through an
extroverted manner; others always have an
open-door policy; the next one takes the
first step in approaching others and seeks a
direct exchange. It is important for manage-
ment to understand the employees in terms
of their individual personality, to appreciate
the context of their everyday lives, and be
able to relate that context to their own—and
ultimately to that of the company.
Prof. B. Kirchner: Communication pro-
vides the key. For growing companies, their
personalities should also mature. As they
grow, many companies all too often keep an
eye just on the figures.
Ultimately, what constitutes a leadershippersonality?Prof. B. Kirchner: I consider three criteria
to be critical. First: the openness to self-
reflection. Only those who have engaged in
self-exploration will be inclined to let others
in. But this is precisely what many people
are afraid of because they have discovered
the shambles inside themselves that still needs
to be processed. One of the most deep-seated
fears in the personality of a human being is
the fear of change. Second: personal confi-
dence and deftness in dealing with both your
own and someone else’s feelings. Third: a clear
grasp of reality. In the New Testament, Jesus
asks: If the blind lead the blind, shall they
not both fall into the pit? Put another way:
you must first attain enlightenment for your-
self before you can help others do the same.
B. Simon: Specialized knowledge is of para-
mount importance to the personality of a
leader, but it is by no means everything.
“Leadership” does not just mean superiority
from a technical standpoint, it also means
the capability to produce context, to promote
it in others, and to consistently kindle the
flame of enthusiasm for a common goal.
hhYou must first
attain enlightenment
for yourself before you
can help others do the same
Prof. Baldur Kirchner
BERNHARD SIMON SPEAKS WITH ...PROFESSOR
BALDUR KIRCHNERHow dedication and enthusiasm fosters advantage: Bernhard Simon speaks with corporate ethics expert and theologian Prof. Baldur Kirchner on charisma andpersonality as keys to success in corporate management.
BUSINESS LOUNGE: DACHSER FACE-TO-FACE
32 DACHSER magazine
Specialized knowledge can be learned;leadership, too?Prof. B. Kirchner: Not everyone can be-
come a leader. It demands a mature personal-
ity. This maturing process starts in one’s up-
bringing. It is a parent’s duty to encourage
their children to act independently. In doing
so, they lay the foundation for the eventual
development of self-initiative. This fosters
awareness of those things that are necessary
to complete, and the obligations to do so—or
the responsibilities that result from one’s
own actions. An adult can also learn all of
this, too, although the process is substantially
more difficult than for an adolescent.
B. Simon: I expect an executive manager
not only to allow his/her concerns to be guid-
ed by reason but also to promote them with
passion. A leader can then impart a ratio nally
formulated notion or construct with true
authenticity and conviction if he/she is capa-
ble of linking it to positive emotional vibes.
With respect to communications, thatmeans fewer facts, more feeling?B. Simon: Facts become meaningful if they
are placed within a context. In order to per-
suade someone, the emotionally moving
moments are critical in the delivery. After
all, people are different from machines, which
only operate with bits and bytes when you
press the button. People are guided and
motivated above all by emotions and a patch-
work of relationships. Consequently, these
are what an executive manager must attend
to as a matter of priority. They establish the
foundation this way and create the willing-
ness in their staff to address complex matters
independently.
Prof. B. Kirchner: Emotional participation
in the things life has to offer is what creates
identification. When there is no identifica-
tion, there is an absence of motivation. In
other words: in order to produce a deep bond
with the company, with the other employees
on the team, and the company’s products
and services, management must consistently
speak to the human personality in all its
depth and complexity.
Managers are role models. Are role modelspermitted to show weakness?B. Simon: Human beings without weak-
nesses do not exist. So those who refuse to
show any weakness will not be perceived as
honest or credible. This openness certainly
should not be misconstrued to signify that
management appears to lack direction. This
means that even if a decision has not yet
been fully and unequivocally adopted, it
must remain clear that, based on honest con-
viction and certainty, leadership knows in
which direction things are going.
Prof. B. Kirchner: We have to differentiate
between self-doubt and critical self-reflection
here. The latter results from a clear relation-
ship to reality. By contrast, self-doubt most
often expresses a sense of inferiority or defi-
ciency. Whereas the self-reflective person
always has a perspective on things, persons
afflicted with self-doubt are so utterly fixated
on their own mental afflictions that they
can hardly envision any progress in the future.
The abilities to accept criticism and handleconflict go hand in hand. What does thatmean for an executive manager?B. Simon: It is inconceivable to be a leader
without the ability to deal with conflict. In
order to give people direction and make them
stand out, you have to produce friction. Sub-
sequent to the dispute, however, a manager’s
skills in dealing with conflict should pave
the way toward constructive cooperation
wherever possible, and thus become the in-
spiration for new ideas and ultimately, the
source of a better future.
Prof. B. Kirchner: Benedict of Nursia
(480–540 CE) previously described this
notion in the “Rule of St. Benedict.” In it,
he defines leadership as the guidance of
souls. He called upon the leader—the Abbot,
in this case—to appreciate the souls entrust-
ed to him, and to instill in them a set of
values. Romano Guardini, a philosopher of
religion, concisely summarizes it this way:
“Those who seek to lead others should
first learn to respect them.”
B. Simon: Respect is a crucial value. I often
suggest to our management staff to take a ‡
It takes personality to turn a decision into resolution.
DACHSER magazine 33
BUSINESS LOUNGE: DACHSER FACE-TO-FACE
BUSINESS LOUNGE: DACHSER FACE-TO-FACE
34 DACHSER magazine
Prof. Dr. Baldur Kirchner
He was born in Komotau,
Germany in 1939 and has
served as Assistant Lecturer in
Personality Development since
1972. After studying philosophy,
Catholic theology, and classic
philology in East Berlin and
Tübingen, he obtained his doc-
torate in 1968 at the University
of Tübingen. He has been
holding seminars at his own
seminar center in Ettenbeuren,
Germany, since 1983; in addi-
tion, he is the author of numer-
ous books, conducts lecture
presentations, and is Lecturer
and Honorary Professor at the
University of Neu Ulm in the
discipline of corporate ethics.
As part of his seminars and
colloquia for executive manage-
ment, over the past 43 years,
he has conducted more than
35,000 one-on-one consul-
tations.
Bernhard Simon
In his discussion with Professor
Kirchner, Bernhard Simon
brought the focus of corporate
ethics to the individual human
in his totality as a rational and
sentient being. In his view,
management must have exper -
tise and experience. Yet he sees
the interaction with employees
to be at least equally significant,
along with empathy. “As for
imparting objective facts and
figures,” the Dachser CEO stat-
ed succinctly, “there are books
and the Internet.”
PERSONAL DETAILS
good look in the mirror every now and
then and answer this question honestly: do
they respect themselves?. Because only then
are they truly ready to engage their staff
with the respect that is essential to shared
success and to be capable of plausibly guid-
ing them in the right direction. The absence
of such humility leads to a skewed perspec-
tive in their perceptions, so mistakes are
virtually unavoidable.
Prof. B. Kirchner: There’s an old adage
about this: practice what you preach. Credi-
bility is the essence of leadership, it is the
expression of the manager’s authenticity and
moral fiber. And one thing is of particular
importance: credibility is something that is
bestowed by others. If you tout yourself as
credible, then you’ve brushed up against a
neurosis. But on the other hand, that can
also mean that you may also lose your credi-
bility if you disappoint others. Therefore,
credibility in an interpersonal relationship
has an especially high level of moral quality
that each individual should strive for.
What role does credibility play in manage-ment role models?Prof. B. Kirchner: I consider credibility to
also be an openness to other cultures and an
appreciation of each other’s living conditions
as well as respect for the needs of others.
This includes a sharing of experiences and
potentially the willingness to change based
on intercultural and international encounters
and experiences. A company that opens itself
to globalization should also reflect on its
capacity to change and vanquish any fears
that may be associated with doing so.
B. Simon: That is why it is so important to
present the proper concepts in leadership
models so that everyone understands it and
is able to discuss it constructively. If employ-
ees ask what it means “to be Dachser,” the
answer points to our physical networks, for
instance. People are needed in order to sus-
tain these networks through customer-
specific solutions. And they must possess a
thorough understanding of how these net-
works must be handled, how processes work,
how shipments are consigned, or how our
own IT is used for this purpose. But at the
same time, it is also about the overarching
question of how the service is rendered.
What does it mean to manage oneself in order to be able to lead others?B. Simon: This sentence encapsulates the
entirety of our conversation. Management
personalities are tasked with passing on their
experiences and their expertise to others so
that they become strong enough to con -
scientiously do everything that occupies the
company each day. In doing so, we have the
liberty to develop new ideas and are able to
reach new horizons for Dachser. When man-
agement staff approaches things this way
for themselves, we become stronger together.
We succeed because we are able to help
others become more successful. Or to put it
another way: we become strong because we
succeed in making others strong.
hhWe succeed
because we are
able to help others become
more successful
Bernhard Simon
DACHSER magazine 35
GOOD NEWS
They may seem like an after-thought, but nothing moves without their support: “Trackable reusable
transport packaging,” especially the Euro pallets. In 2014, Dachser moved about 49 million of these standardized
pallets throughout Europe. Stacked on top of one another, they would form a tower 7,056 kilometers high.
It would take 98,000 truckloads to transport them.
CARRYING THE LOAD
