Why do you need to optimize your inbound logistics?

Optimal inbound logistics are key to keeping your business competitive. By ensuring an efficient flow of goods, you can avoid bottlenecks in the transport process and increase efficiency. Effective process optimization in areas such as incoming goods and quality control, and service level agreements (SLAs) with suppliers make deliveries more reliable and significantly improve the quality of the transport process.

By optimizing your inbound logistics, you ensure that you are reliably supplied and can therefore reduce your reserve stocks. You can also effectively reduce costs by inviting to tender and selecting suitable suppliers. Another advantage is that optimization may contribute to greater sustainability. Efficient route planning and transport optimization can significantly reduce emissions.

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What are the challenges?

Inbound logistics may involve numerous challenges that must be overcome. You have to identify your current challenges before you can increase your competitiveness by making targeted improvements. Challenges in inbound logistics include:

What are the benefits of optimization?

• Greater profits: Our transport and logistics tender processes generally lead to significant savings, with percentages often in double figures.
   
• Flexibility: Greater flexibility is another positive outcome of transport and logistics tendering. Outsourcing can, for example, mean replacing fixed costs with variable costs. Inviting to tender can also increase flexibility in the transport area, because new, more powerful suppliers can be identified and volumes redistributed with an eye to flexibility.
   
• Full transparency: Tender processes also have the advantage that your organization becomes fully informed about the latest market prices (ideally divided up into different cost components, such as transport price and personnel share) and current volume flows in the market.
   
• Improved delivery performance: Tenders can also identify efficient, alternative service providers with whom you can then enter into service level agreements (SLAs). This can lead to an effective increase in your company’s delivery performance.

How we can help you

Inbound logistics is optimized using a five-step approach.

1. Situation analysis and concept development: At the start of the project, current transport agreements are analyzed with a focus on documents and results from previous tender processes. The next step is to perform a comprehensive analysis of transport volumes, which can then be used to draw up a logistics spend cube encompassing the quantity structure and an evaluation of volume flows. We also record requirements and restrictions in transport logistics, create cost transparency, and derive a baseline.

2. Preselection: To preselect potential suppliers, we begin by drawing up a longlist of service providers and shipping supplier self-assessments. The latter includes the following:

• Size of company
  • Turnover
  • Employees
  • Vehicles
• Locations
• Credit check (e.g. Creditreform)

3. Tender: The tender phase includes an intensive workshop to approve the tender documents and draw up a shortlist of service providers. The invitation to tender is then made and offers are obtained. This process includes efficient tender management and answering inquiries. On this basis, offers are evaluated, a suitable service provider identified for future negotiations, and forthcoming rounds of negotiation scheduled.

4. Final negotiation: In this step, components of the agreement and operative requirements for the service provider are defined, and condition negotiations with the selected transport provider are prepared and conducted. This phase also includes evaluating revised offers following negotiations, deriving a recommendation based on these, and calculating savings before deciding on awarding the contract.

5. Implementation: In the final phase, transport agreements are signed and new structures begin to be implemented. This is also where transport service providers may be reorganized.

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