With advances in technology making business communications faster, easier and more efficient, it is with no surprise that customers and partners of Hellmann Worldwide Logistics are embracing its Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) service. The service, which electronically transmits documents such as orders, status messages and registrations/forms, is in fact so popular that Hellmann is receiving an average receipt of 150,000 messages in a daily transmission.
The specially designed EDI technology enables messages to be processed at every stage in the supply chain from the moment an order is placed, to when the order finally arrives at its final destination. In short, the EDI service keeps everyone informed of the exact location of any consignment at any given moment in time. This, alongside the electronically transmitted documents has seen a growing number of customers using the service.
In 2006, Hellmann found that 36 million messages were exchanged between 2,500 partners and customers worldwide. The UK Managing Director of Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, Martin Meyer explained:
"Hellmann's overall aim is to provide the best quality service to our customers and the EDI system is an excellent tool in supporting this. Through the EDI system we offer customers total transparency and as you can see from the figures, this is something they really appreciate.
In addition, and from a business prospective, it offers consistency between Hellmann offices, saves valuable time and is more likely to eliminate any possible errors that can sometimes occur in supply chains."
Due to EDIs popularity and the growing number of system users, Hellmann is planning to restructure the EDI department to accommodate this demand and ensure the smooth running of the service continues well into the future. Consequently, the four employees who manage the system at Hellmann's global HQ in Germany are working closely with the software specialists Tibco to establish these improvements.
Jurgen Burger, Chief Executive Officer of Hellmann Worldwide Logistics concluded:
"The extended software will allow for an even better response time to customer's needs and requests. Moreover, we can link up our existing services to the EDI system so that customers can eventually have complete access to our full range of IT capabilities."
Hellmann Worldwide Logistics is one of the largest privately owned and family run logistical global networks. It currently employs over 16,500 dedicated people to serve customers worldwide and operates from 443 branches across 157 countries.
Hellmann's UK network has 10 individual offices based throughout the country including state of the art corporate headquarters at Fradley Park in Lichfield, Staffordshire.