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A panoramic view on BMW's supply chain

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DHL Freight not only extended it's partnership with BMW, but also expanded it significantly. A custom-made solution "Connected Supply Chain" will provide the car manufacturer with integrated transparency and control of all logistics processes in 17 European countries in the future. Already for years DHL Freight has been responsible for road freight transports of the BMW Group within 17 European countries. As a result of a new tender, the contract has now been extended and expanded. DHL Freight will incur responsibility for a further seven regions and will provide additional services beyond that. The subject of real-time tracking was an important aspect in BMW's decision to prolongate the contract. The BMW system, is named "Connected Supply Chain" (CSC) and affords a comprehensive overview of all transportation activities to all relevant stakeholders.

Easy-to-access overview

[Graph: DHL]

One of the two core components of CSC is a central web portal in which aspects like order and status information are visible in a quick and easy manner to all parties involved. For identification purposes, all orders receive a single reference number from beginning to end. To keep the database up to date and quickly disseminate information, drivers will get the opportunity to access the system via mobile application designed specifically for them. Development partner for the web portal is AXIT, a specialist in cloud-based IT solutions for managing cross-enterprise logistics processes.

Control center to counter disruptions

The second important building block of the partnership is the DHL Freight control tower, which has the purpose of monitoring all the customers' streams of goods in Europe. All available data is aggregated here, which allows for an optimization of relevant processes during live operations. This is not only conductive to identify saving potentials or to monitor the performance of suppliers, but also to counteract possible hold-ups in best time.
“With BMW, we set out to create a solution specifically designed for their needs, one that would provide complete transparency throughout the supply chain, allowing the customer a consolidated overview of extremely complex processes. This has been achieved with Connected Supply Chain, a solution that gives BMW and their partners at DHL Freight the ability to manage potential issues and identify opportunities for further optimization”, says Uwe Brinks, CEO of DHL Freight.

Milestone for FREIGHT 2020

With the two core components of the CSC-System, BMW obtains real-time access to all activities within its own supply chain. The new contract covers the management of about 90,000 shipments per month including temperature-controlled shipping und dedicated transports. About the successful extension of the partnership with BMW, Uwe Brinks declares: “This achievement represents another step towards FREIGHT 2020, our strategy to become the provider of choice in overland transport by offering the best quality and reliability for the customers who depend on us.”

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