Rockwool Handles Freight Processes Automatically

Using CARGO software for freight vouchers and freight control and management, Deutsche Rockwool Mineralwool GmbH & Co. OHG achieves substantial annual savings. Now Rockwool has updated and enhanced this promising system as a component in its overall complex IT arrangement. CARGO enables thoroughly supported freight processes from route planning to contracting to invoicing.

"While planning our present IT arrangement, we at Rockwool decided to invest in software that grows with the demands of our company. We were able to do this with CARGO, for example, which has been in use at Rockwool since early 2002. A year after introducing the software we were able to set up an interface for importing toll data from Austria; in early 2005 the software was enhanced to include functions for processing toll data from Germany" reports Philipp Lenz, head of Rockwool logistics in Germany. A comprehensive IT arrangement supports this subsidiary of the world’s largest mineral wool manufacturer in the delivery of rockwool insulating material.

Delivered are over 80 different products in approximately 3000 variations. Five or more days a week, the material is produced and loaded day and night. Another important aspect at Rockwool is that warehouse stock comprises less than a day’s produce. Top priority must therefore be given to exact scheduling and transports. Rockwool’s yearly turnover ranks it among Europe’s largest loaders; about 80 different shippers are involved in sending Rockwool’s freight. More than half of the deliveries arrive with special equipment directly at construction sites. These shipments are calculated independently of the transported weight, reflecting the distance between the supplier plant and the final unloading site. Exclusively jumbo loads of up to 120 cubic meters in volume are handed over to shippers. The calculation system is extraordinarily flexible for recording the large number of complex tariffs in use.

Automatic Calculation with CARGO

CARGO calculates and controls an average of 8000 delivery documents per month for Deutsche Rockwool. The software uses criteria like vehicle types and the number of unloading stations involved to evaluate all specifications for any particular transport. After shipping contracts have been executed, a voucher is sent to the shipper once a month at a prefixed date. "Now that the current Version 2.5 has been upgraded", says Ursula Paepcke, project leader at LOCOM, "vouchers can also be sent as PDF documents, creating new ways to exchange vouchers and related documents."

Accounts are also monitored automatically; direct automatic booking within Rockwool’s finance records system is in progress. The software also examines each individual cargo invoice prior to payment. "Billing control and generating vouchers now take much less time than before we had this software", says logistics leader Lenz, "we used to need more than an hour per day at each Rockwool plant to do what the program now does fully automatically."

Since the system also gives precise instructions for all processes, the result is thorough transparency for all cargo costs. Introducing the software has led to substantial savings.

Complex IT Architecture

In order to guarantee that all logistics transport events are managed automatically, at Deutsche Rockwool CARGO is carefully linked to the other IT applications in use. Rockwool’s IT arrangement consists roughly of the following elements: Production planning, contract management, and financial bookkeeping are done with SAP. The processed data are then passed on to INTERTOUR software from the company PTV AG and used to plan transport routes and determine shipping distances. Calls for proposals and contracting is then done automatically through the platform TISYS offerred by Transporeon AG. Discounts and surcharges calculated at this point are sent through a SAP interface to CARGO created by LOCOM Software GmbH. With this data CARGO then performs final freight billing, booking preparation, freight vouchering, and freight control.

“At Rockwool this arrangement reduces manual data records to a minimum and simultaneously guarantees maximum process security” explains Volker Klohr, managing director at LOCOM. Locom was able to insert CARGO into the exisiting IT arrangement at Rockwool in only four months time. “During the project phase the specialists from LOCOM demonstrated extreme flexibility and competence” assures Katrin Danielsmeier, who guided the in-house project at Deutsche Rockwool.

In order to make future changes in freight conditions and transport data easier to handle and calculate (for example, changes in supply relations or quantities), Deutsche Rockwool will in addition use LOCOM’s software FAS, for freight analysis and simulation.

"FAS will prevent stagnation and help Rockwool develop in step with market development" says logistics leader Lenz. The software contains an extremely flexible conditions calculator that enables the comprehensive evaluation of logistics events. It takes account of various modes of shipping, a great number of shipment attributes, consolidation functions, and warehouse processes.

The Results at a Glance

Using CARGO at Deutsche Rockwool brings the following benefits:

• At Deutsche Rockwool only a minimum of manual input into the system is necessary; resulting in a maximum of process security.
• Deutsche Rockwool can process an average of 8000 delivery documents per month almost entirely automatically.
• Using this software reduces the entire budget for cargo costs by a one-digit percentage rate.
• CARGO is extraordinarily flexible for recording and setting up tariffs. Voucher procedures and freight control are done in a parallel integrated system.