WHS Logistics improves visibility

INTELLIGENT EXPERTISE

SUPPLY CHAIN • A UNIQUE COMBINATION OF EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS TOGETHER WITH ADVANCED SOFTWARE TOOLS IS HELPING WHS LOGISTICS ACHIEVE ITS PLATFORM AMBITIONS

WHS LOGISTICS MAY be an unfamiliar name in the market, having been founded only in 2016. But that masks the fact that the people working there have been tried and tested in managing supply chains over decades and have an intimate knowledge of the liquid bulk market. They are using that expertise to optimise supply chains by bringing improved performance, flexible service and efficiency – all the while focusing on the highest standards of safety and sustainability.

The fourth-party logistics (4PL) control tower offered by WHS Logistics takes care of the entire supply chain process, offering a one-stop-shop concept for its clients. WHS Logistics offers what it says will be the most optimal supply chain solution, where visibility and transparency are self-evident and efficiency is key. This constant focus on innovative solutions from WHS Logistics allows its clients to stay focused on their core business.

The fully transparent WHS Logistics control tower covers such services as procurement, planning, execution, invoicing, analysis, quality assurance and optimisation tools. Its employees are passionate about providing added value and they do this by realising year-on-year cost reductions in combination with guaranteed flexibility and by following the highest quality standards.

ENGINEERING PROWESS As a 4PL control tower, WHS Logistics has a global reach with a focus on the raw material flows arriving in all the main ports and hubs in Europe. From there it coordinates transport to factories throughout Europe. It can choose from Europe’s largest database of active partners in the liquid bulk sector and this large supplier network lies at the core of WHS Logistics’ value proposition. All suppliers are monitored, audited and evaluated to make sure they are compliant with WHS Logistics’, and also their customers’, high quality standards.

The WHS Logistics team consists of dedicated logistic engineers, spread across three locations, all of them having in-depth knowledge of the industry, customer requirements and legal constraints. They know how to tackle logistical challenges in order to completely relieve their customers of their logistical burdens. In addition, to assure the seamless operation of the daily business, WHS Logistics also develops and implements new logistical concepts with its partners, such as drop-swap, modal shifts and yard management. The team continually strives for supply chain improvements through, for example, payload optimisation initiatives and spot market tendering.

CLIMB THE TOWER The strength of the WHS Logistics 4PL control tower lies in its ability to enable economies of scale through vertical and horizontal integration. In order to do so, WHS Logistics has a dedicated team of software developers working around the clock to build new functionalities for the custom-made ‘Freight Management System’ that forms the backbone of the control tower.

All systems, processes and portals have been designed and configured to assure customers complete confidentiality while reaping the benefits of visibility, control and intelligence across their global supply chain. A track and trace system has been implemented so that customers can monitor their supply chain at all times.

WHS Logistics has developed an automated tender tool that allows large tenders of thousands of lanes to be executed, managed and analysed. The carrier portal forms the interface with suppliers through which they post updates, and also manages the invoicing processes. The purpose of all this is to make the processes as efficient as possible for customers and carriers.

In addition, WHS Logistics has rolled out an intuitive yard management tool, allowing complete transparency over the load-out process through visual management. Dynamic customer dashboards, telematics and APS (Advanced Planning & Scheduling) are all in the pipeline for further development.

Furthermore, WHS Logistics actively helps its customers to realise year-on-year spend reduction in their supply chain, and to have visibility over those reductions via the customer portal. This added cost control makes it easier for the customer and the WHS Logistics employee to determine which improvement processes can be initiated to optimise the supply chain and bring the service to the next level.

THE BIG TEST This year started with great uncertainty. The Covid-19 pandemic led to border closures in Europe and traffic jams sometimes reaching more than 50 km at border points. Another big challenge was ensuring the health and safety of drivers, something in which all parties needed to play a role. In the end, despite this level of volatility, WHS Logistics was able to execute all orders and deliver them with zero or minimal delay. This was due to its good relationship with all the partners involved and the presence of excellent communications and maximum flexibility.

Indeed, the pandemic has tested the promise of the 4PL control tower concept, which has proven to be there to serve the liquid bulk transport sector both in good times and during the Covid-19 crisis.

QUALITY AND SAFETY In the liquid bulk sector, quality and safety are key: products must be handled in such a way that quality will not be compromised and food safety will never become an issue. But the safety of drivers taking care of the loading and unloading of the product is just as important. In order to ensure high quality and safety standards, WHS Logistics conducts audits across Europe for both customers and its carrier partners. It takes its responsibilities seriously in terms of ensuring that all companies involved in the supply chain meet the highest standards and, through these audits, it helps the entire chain to maintain those standards.

The benefit of this effort is mutual: WHS Logistics demands that its carriers follow the regulations set by loading and delivery locations and, if they fail to, they will receive a warning. In return, WHS Logistics asks its carriers to let it know about locations where local legislation is not being followed or where conditions are not workable or present a hazard to the driver. WHS Logistics believes that this cooperation in raising awareness of health and safety issues across the supply chain will help industry flourish.

LIQUID BULK LOGISTICS IS A COMPLEX BUSINESS AND

WHS LOGISTICS IS CONTINUING TO DEVELOP ITS CONTROL

TOWER TO PROVIDE MAXIMUM VISIBILITY AND ACCURACY ADDRESSING SUSTAINABILITY The transport industry in general is considered to be highly polluting. While other industries see sustainability, green solutions and carbon footprint offset as being the norm and are even unique selling points, the same is not (yet) common in the transport sector. Transport is considered as a commodity and low costs are key. WHS Logistics started to change this by providing insight into carbon dioxide (CO²) emissions during transport and by offering a way to compensate those emissions.

In order to find the best solution, it has partnered up with the H&S Group and sent out a so-called International Technology Request, using the Enterprise Europe Network, to work on an IT solution that will enable it to make calculations of CO² emissions during transports organised by its control tower; at the same time this should provide an easy way to determine CO²-compensation for all parties involved, such as customers, suppliers and producers. WHS Logistics is really connecting all the dots and therefore feels obliged to be the linking pin for sustainability in the liquid bulk sector. www.whs-logistics.com