The operations across the Swiss company's vehicle logistics centre in Studen will be digitalised for optimisation.
At COTRA, INFORM's SYNCROTESS vehicle logistics system will take care of the optimised allocation of vehicle movements to employees, the selection of parking spaces, and the sequencing of selected tasks in the workshop. All to ensure full transparency of the entire vehicle logistics process, greater efficiency based on algorithmically optimised work sequences, and improved customer flexibility.
"Vehicle movements or the unloading of trains are, for example, planned according to priority, availability of required resources, and impact on adjacent processes. If, say, an employee drives a vehicle from A to B within the parking space, this person is next assigned a task (where possible) that begins close to the last parking spot so as to minimise walking distances," explains INFORM.
The company also underlined in a press release, "A variety of other optimisation logics are integrated into the system, while COTRA can also configure and implement its own workflows at any time. Each task is documented by the employees themselves using a mobile application, which ensures that transparent data is available for subsequent planning, as well as controlling, billing, and communication with customers."
COTRA in Switzerland counts among its customers not only car manufacturers but also dealerships, second-hand dealers, vehicle subscription services and other companies, providing these with a broad range of up- and downstream services.
The company processes over 50k/year new and used vehicles at its vehicle logistics centre in Studen alone. Operations include handling the return of used hire cars, company, leased and subscription vehicles, as well as inspections, technical and optical preparation, maintenance, and customer-specific pre-delivery inspections, customs clearance, cleaning, storage and transport of vehicles.
"The new systems from INFORM, based on operations research and artificial intelligence, are set to make complex logistics processes even more flexible and transparent," says the tech company.
Hartmut Haubrich, Vehicle Logistics Director at INFORM, added, "Vehicle logistics in general and the high-growth used car market in particular are known for having to meet customer requirements that often change at very short notice. In many cases, our customers need to be able to map new process steps for all vehicles of a particular manufacturer or for specific models within just a matter of days. Our algorithms are designed for dynamic process planning and optimisation in real time."
Remo Sollberger, Operations Manager of the Vehicle Logistics Center in Studen, also said, "One of our unique selling points is that we've been making all of our customers' individual requirements a reality for 55 years. Changing customer requirements motivated us to rethink our processes and systems and to consistently drive digitalisation forward."
He furthered, "This is how we came into contact with INFORM GmbH and, after a pilot project, we were satisfied that their SYNCROTESS solution was the one for us. Once it is implemented, we'll be in a position make our processes even more customised, dynamic, and transparent to plan, control, and analyse. This allows us to create even more significant added value for our customers and supports our forward strategy in vehicle logistics."
Photo: COTRA/INFORM