Packwise follows the IBC

RAIL PLATFORM

DATA • RAIL SPECIALIST VTG HAS UPPED THE ANTE FOR DIGITISED RAIL LOGISTICS BY PROVIDING AN EXPANDING RANGE OF POSSIBILITIES FOR CUSTOMERS THROUGH ITS NEW PLATFORM, TRAIGO

VTG HAS BEEN at the forefront of digitisation in the rail sector since the launch of VTG Connect in 2016. But digital technology changes fast and in the coming months VTG will roll out its latest digital platform, traigo. VTG Connect included functions such as wagon tracking, information on transport incidents and load statuses, features that will be included in traigo alongside many more.

Dr Heiko Fischer, chairman of the executive board of VTG, explains: “With traigo, we are creating a digital infrastructure for rail freight transportation and, on this basis, offering a service that is unique in the industry; traigo will become our customers’ central interface for digital fleet management in the future. For us as a company, traigo represents a systematic continuation of the digitalisation path that we have been pursuing for several years. We are convinced that rail freight transportation can only be a competitive option in the long term if we exploit the potential of digitalisation to make the entire rail system more transparent, more efficient and easier for the customer.”

NEW APPLICATIONS In its initial form, traigo users will be able to access a host of digital solutions, such as contract data and information about the wagons they have hired in real time, but there will be far more added to the platform in due course. One such addition will be a digital correspondent for the complete analogue service portfolio, which includes the online booking of wagons and a fully digital maintenance management.

There will also be the inclusion of completely new services such as forecast arrival times for rail freight consignments, wagon tracking, information on transport incidents and load status. The forecast arrivals feature will be based on the analysis of millions of actual, anonymised wagon movements.

“There’s never been anything like this in the rail industry before,” says Sven Wellbrock, who is responsible for wagon hire and rail logistics in Europe on the VTG executive board. “We map our entire hire business digitally and will also be able to offer completely new services in future based on digital data and smart models. This will make rail freight transport significantly more attractive.”

VTG says traigo will provide a whole new system of collaboration where third parties can offer digital products to their customers via traigo.

“The name ‘traigo’ doesn’t just make you think of the words ‘train’ and ‘go’, thus playing on how dynamic logistics is,” says Dr Niko Davids, VTG’s chief digital officer. “Moreover, ‘traigo’ is the Spanish for ‘I carry’ – and this is precisely what we want people to associate with the new platform. It brings a whole range of useful services with it as well as, of course, the experience we have amassed. We do know, though, that one player alone can’t change a complex system such as ours by themselves.”

The full release of traigo is planned for the second quarter of 2020. Interested customers have the opportunity for a sneak preview to test the platform and all currently available functions with their own data free of charge. The feedback from this test phase will feed into the platform’s continued development. Customers wanting to find out more can contact a representative by e-mailing servicedesk@traigo.com. www.vtg.com

SUPPLY CHAIN UNITED

TERMINALS • IMPLICO AND BRAINUM HAVE JOINED FORCES AND POOLED THEIR EXPERTISE TO BECOME LEADERS IN THE REIMAGINATION OF THE OIL AND GAS DOWNSTREAM SUPPLY CHAIN

IN NOVEMBER 2019, after several meetings, Implico acquired Brainum, marking a substantial step in its global growth strategy. “We excel in the same fi eld of business – tank storage automation – and we have a similar mindset as well as a common vision,” says Tim Hoffmeister, CEO of Implico, about Brainum. “Yet, we merit in different areas. During our initial talks, we quickly learned that we would complement each other very well.”

The fusion of Implico and Brainum brings together two of the tank storage industry’s most advanced innovation programmes, especially in the future-facing areas of cloud computing and

BRAINUM’S MARTIN KEULEMANS (ABOVE) AND

IMPLICO’S TIM HOFFMEISTER (TOP) ARE UNITING digitisation. With OpenTAS TMS and QINO, the companies have two powerful terminal management and automation systems available. In the future, they will make sure that upcoming innovations will become part of both solutions. The means to realise this is the cloud. If new features run on the cloud, these features can be accessed and integrated via APIs. That way, Implico and Brainum only need to develop them once, while ensuring that all of their customers will benefi t from them.

BETTER TOGETHER In addition to placing new features directly in the cloud, Implico and Brainum will also carry over existing functionalities from one technology to the other. “The fusion brings great benefi ts to all parties involved,” summarises Martin Keulemans, managing director of Brainum. “Implico and Brainum are both thought leaders in their fi elds of expertise. Yet we can still learn from each other, bringing our product development to the next level together. With shared know-how and combined efforts, we will further strengthen our position in the market and render our solutions even more capable. The result: elevated service quality and increased business benefi ts for our customers and ourselves.”

Looking forward, Implico and Brainum will strive to realise a connected downstream supply chain, a technological and economic innovation that, they say, will disrupt the industry. The idea behind it is to link all trading partners in mid- and downstream sectors via a cross-company architecture of shared cloud solutions and easy-to-use web services. This will be available to storage terminals, refi neries, service stations, hauliers, IT providers, authorities and many other stakeholders. The target environment is digital, dynamic and decentralised. It will give oil and gas companies the required agility and fl exibility to make the most of the market’s swiftness and unpredictability. After all, oil and gas professionals are now seeing new technologies emerge or company structures alter on an almost daily basis.

To gain and keep a competitive edge in such a fast-moving market, businesses must be fi rst movers rather than followers. If an opportunity arises, a business has to grab it while it is still hot. Using the concepts offered by Implico and Brainum, companies will be able to profi t enormously from an infrastructure that enables the adoption of innovations directly, without the need to go through long implementation cycles. The same is valid for mergers and acquisitions. Day by day, corporate bodies and organisations change because of fusions, transfers and takeovers. If the partnering entities manage business processes via cloud solutions and web services, they can unite their operations swiftly and smoothly.

BUILDING ‘SUPPLY CHAIN UNITED’ Constant development in the oil and gas industry calls for an adaptive IT landscape that can align with rapid changes in a timely and economic manner. The ‘Supply Chain United’ – brought forward by Implico and Brainum – is such an adaptive IT landscape.

On the one hand, its cloud solutions and web services are quick to install and easy to use; they provide immediate value without long roll-out phases or extensive training programmes. On the other hand, they are also fl exible, scalable and open to connect with all leading software and hardware on the market. This saves oil and gas companies the hassle of overhauling their systems again and again, just to make sure that they can use certain offers, functions or services.

For the Supply Chain United to take off, however, it will not be enough for just a couple of individual locations to be connected to the described architecture. Rather, it wil be necessary to roll out the tapestry of cloud solutions and web services broadly and to make these solutions and services the agreed standards for the work steps they cover.

An example borrowed from a differing industry is the online check-in that airlines offer their customers. Today, it is almost unthinkable for passengers to queue for hours at an overcrowded airline counter to check in and get their seats assigned. Instead, they handle all pre-requisite steps at home via their PC or smartphone. When they are done, they give their contact data to the airline. That way the airline can reach them in case of unforeseen issues or deviations from the plan. This procedure is so convenient, reliable and effi cient that air passengers would not want to do without it any more. If an airline refuses to adopt it, then customers would most likely not book their fl ight with them.

ADVANCING TOGETHER In the tank storage sector, Implico and Brainum expect a similar course of events. “A number of innovative companies will pave the way,” explains Hoffmeister. “Their success will inspire others to join in.”

These other companies will either use existing web services at their locations or will create new ones and link them to the connected supply chain. This is an important point. While Implico and Brainum are attempting to play a driving role in the evolution of the downstream value chain, they will not be the sole architects of this innovation.

“Being open is a vital criterion of the ‘Supply Chain United’,” says Keulemans. “To create an industry-wide infrastructure, the used solutions must to be open to connect with a great number of other soft- and hardware. And the companies taking part must be open to collaborate closely with each other.”

Shared cloud solutions and easy-to-use web services sit at the core of this development. Providing maximum fl exibility and connectivity, these technologies mark the heartbeat of a decentralised, digitised and cross-linked downstream future. A future that has already begun. www.implico.com www.brainum.eu