The 4th “Supply Chain Innovation Day” impressed with high standards

The “Supply Chain Innovation Day” in Rorschach, Switzerland, organized by the Institute for Supply Chain Management at the University of St. Gallen, was able to take place live again this year after last year’s cancellation. The promising title of the event, “Supply Chain Management in Challenging Times – Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement through Supply Chain Innovations,” lived up to expectations. The 120 participants experienced highly interesting presentations and panel discussions.

(St. Gallen/Rorschach) The “Supply Chain Innovation Day” took place on Tuesday in the beautiful “Würth Haus” located directly on Lake Constance.

The promising title of the event was: “Supply Chain Management in Challenging Times – Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement through Supply Chain Innovations,” and it met expectations.

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Stölzle, Managing Director of the Institute for Supply Chain, guided the day, and Reto Niederer, Global Head of Sales at Würth Logistics AG, welcomed the guests with a greeting.

Keynote Dr. Detlef Trefzer: Kühne+Nagel Well-Prepared for Crises and the Future

With the first contribution and keynote by Dr. Detlef Trefzger, CEO of Kühne+Nagel International AG, the participants were deeply immersed in the day’s topic. He demonstrated in an exciting presentation that the company is well-positioned across the board, prepared for crises, and equipped for the future through numerous digital innovation tools.

Dr. Detlef Trefzger, CEO Kühne+Nagel, opened the SCID 2021 as keynote speaker (© Kühne+Nagel)

Speed Presentations by Start-ups

Several start-ups presented their innovations, demonstrating that the supply chain offers significant potential for digitalization in its entirety.

• Agile-IM (AIM) presented AI & Machine Learning solutions in application.
• archlet showcased user-centered procurement, analysis, and optimization functions.
• GenLots helps industrial companies order materials more easily and efficiently with its software.
• idealworks automates intralogistics workflows in industrial environments.
• Meteomatics explained that weather forecasts for transport can impact costs, time, and CO2 balances.
• MotionMiners offers automated and anonymized analysis and optimization of manual processes in intralogistics.
• Numi provides fully digitized assessments in the supply chain.
• Premium-Robotics presented solutions for gripping technology in intralogistics.
• ZeKju showcased a telematics solution that operates without an app and integrates drivers via WhatsApp, Telegram, or Viber.

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Stölzle guided the SCID 2021

More Stability in the Supply Chain – Disruption, Management, or Redesign

Moderated by Prof. Dr. Erik Hofmann (Director of the Institute for Supply Chain), this current topic was discussed by Holger Langbein from Bosch (Electronics), Dr. Torsten Mallée from AEB (Logistics Software), Björn Richers from LKE (Material Flow Systems and Load Carriers), and Holger Seehusen from Militzer & Münch (Logistics Service Provider). It became clear that the approaches are fundamentally different, as are the requirements.

While the globally active large corporation Bosch secures itself broadly, including political analyses worldwide, significant investments are made to remain positioned as a global corporation in the future.

The software provider AEB is currently benefiting from a boom in digitalization, not only triggered but accelerated by COVID-19.

LKE, on the other hand, was caught off guard by the COVID crisis. The tenfold increase in container prices and delivery delays weigh heavily, leading to a shift of parts of production from Asia (China) to Eastern Europe (Romania).

Militzer & Münch has long been well-established in the CIS states and can thus offer good solutions to customers along the Silk Road even in times of crisis. New products, such as Air/Truck or Air/Rail, with air freight from China to Kazakhstan and then further by truck or rail to Western Europe, are particularly interesting.

The SCID 2021 took place in the beautiful “Haus Würth” in Rorschach directly on Lake Constance (© Würth)

Winners of the VDA Logistics Award and Eco Performance Award Present Their Solutions

The only speaker connected digitally was Christoph Hartmann from Volkswagen Group Logistics. He impressively demonstrated how VW navigated through the crisis and how complex, timely-oriented solutions were developed to minimize damage. Whether to avoid supply bottlenecks or to remain current at the sales front, the experiences show that even large corporations cannot completely succeed, as the forces are sometimes greater. Nevertheless, agility helped prevent even greater damage.

Dr. Nela Murau represented the award-winning BMW Group and impressively illustrated that in intralogistics, the units of humanity, ergonomics, and efficiency improvements do not have to be mutually exclusive. The award-winning “Pick Platform” enables hardware- and location-independent work, regardless of which data sources or supporting wearables are used.

Daniel Balmer from Migros Ostschweiz (large company) and Nicolas Legler, a member of the management board at Schöni Transport AG (SME), presented their concepts that led to the award at the Eco Performance Award 2020.

Avoiding, shifting, and improving form the core of the sustainability strategy of the Eastern Swiss Migros Cooperative. Under the motto “Avoidance is the most effective sustainability measure,” Migros has thoroughly revised its tour planning. Better utilization and optimized tour plans avoid empty trips and reduce truck kilometers.

Schöni aims to be the first Swiss transport company to operate completely CO2-neutral by the end of 2023. To achieve its goals, the company is testing future technologies such as hydrogen drives. Transitional technologies such as biodiesel from slaughter waste are also being utilized.

Topic Sessions on Digital Services and Resilience

Regarding “New Digital Services – Efficiency Improvements or Value Generation,” Christian Beer (Servus), Jessica Grote (Oracle), Dr. Carsten Jacobi (Emporias), and Jürgen Köck (Better Solutions Coaching) discussed under the leadership of Ralf Mock (Meyer & Söhne).

With “Resilience – A New Performance Discussion for Supply Chains?” Irma Amrehn (Knauf Gips), Heiko Bressem (GF Piping), Katarzyna Geiger (MBP Solutions), Heinz Giesen (Swissport), and Alexander Wenk (Stadler Rail) engaged in discussion. The panel was led by Prof. Dr. Christian Abegglen (Senior Executive Advisor, Institute for Supply Chain Management).

Keynote Hakan Bicil: Digitalization is a Matter of People

Hakan Bicil; CEO Imperial Logistics

At the end of the day, Hakan Bicil captivated the participants once again with a moving speech on the topic of digitalization. He summarized that digital products are tools, with the human being always at the center.

He also mentioned situations where digitalization takes a back seat. For example, during low water levels in European rivers, when the entire fleet stands still and enormous losses accumulate in a short time.

Conclusion

Participants and exhibitors expressed unanimous satisfaction with this intensive day. All speeches and discussion rounds provided high informational value.

The “Supply Chain Innovation Day” 2022 will take place on Tuesday, September 27, 2022, at the Würth Haus in Rorschach.