eCargoService – transport logistics fit for the future thanks to seamless transparency across trans-European shipment of goods

The customer

Railion Deutschland AG is the largest transport company in the European Union. It had earnings of approximately 3.900 million Euros in 2003. As the successor company to DB Cargo, Railion transports goods all across Europe on 6,300 trains a day with a total of about 120,000 freight cars. Railion's transport flows are managed by 26,000 people whose objective is to advance European train capabilities. The Customer Service Center (CSC) in Duisburg processes every order, with more than 350,000 customer contacts each month. One of the main factors in Railion's success is the monitoring of the logistics process and the management of rail car circulation, which takes place here.

The challenge

Railion intends to use an intelligent follow-up solution to optimize core points of its logistics process, lower costs and significantly improve efficiency. Particularly abroad, the intention is to achieve greater transparency as regards locations and down times through the use of a comprehensive monitoring system. The information gathered will be used to better manage and secure the movement of goods and rolling stock. Another objective is to reduce the amount of time goods spend in transit.

 

The T-Systems solution

AutoID/Right Time Enterprise Services (RES) by T-Systems offers modular component solutions for industry, trade and logistics for non-contact identification of objects using RFID (radio frequency identification) as part of an integrated platform solution. Within this industry solution,T-Systems developed the “eCargoService” together with Munich cooperation partner Transportdata AG. The technological basis of this system is Intelligent Tracking Management (ITM), which has a GPS-supported system that assists in locating and monitoring the Railion freight cars all over Europe. Each car has a satellite location device that sends informationation at regular intervals (as SMS) on the position and load to the T-Mobile SMS Center in Nürnberg through the GPS (Global Positioning System). From there, eCargo transmits the data collected to the Railion CSC in Duisburg. Only deviations from the transport plan are reported.

Customer benefits

Railion receives rapid, real-time information on the location and the transport circulation of the goods throughout Europe. The Deutsche Bahnservice center improves its market position by being able to provide its customers, real-time information on the position and condition of deliveries. Cost reduction potentials are created on fleet expansion, use analysis, load control and history at all levels of the delivery network: more efficient use of freight cars, prevention of down time and empty cars, immediate notification of deviations from planning as regards location, time, temperature and door. With eCargo, the length of time of a transport until it is available for the available for the next load is reduced by up to 30%.