Raben Logistics Polska.

Janusz Anioł - General Director

What challenges does the TFL industry face in 2023?

Being able to adapt in the current economic and geopolitical instability is one of the biggest challenges facing all companies, not only those in the TFL industry. The last two years in particular have shown that the needs of our customers, and therefore the world of logistics, have been changing dynamically. The speed of response in emergency situations, the partnership with customers and the flexibility of all links in the logistics chain have become a test of business efficiency.

Just when we had learned how to function in the pandemic, the war broke out in Ukraine and, in addition, we all have to contend with high fuel and, more recently, gas and electricity prices. We estimate that electricity and gas costs together account for around 25-30% of the cost of warehousing. Analysing recent changes in macroeconomic indicators, we are talking to our customers to build their awareness of what rising electricity and gas prices and rampant inflation mean for warehouse logistics and the maintenance of cross dock terminals.

Despite the demanding market conditions, the TFL industry also needs to respond efficiently to changing customer needs. In our company, for example, as a result of monitoring the increasing volumes of export shipments, we are systematically launching new international groupage lines. And when a new country appears on the Raben Group map, its national distribution network is connected to the other countries of the Group through direct international lines. So last year Greece joined Raben European network, and in early 2022 it was Austria, the fourteenth and fifteenth markets of the Group.

The current situation is a strong impulse to further optimise processes. At Raben, we are aware of the current challenges and, as a professional logistics operator, we are taking steps to limit the impact of cost increases on our customers' business in the areas we manage. Our customers know that in the current unstable and unpredictable geopolitical and economic conditions they can count on Raben - their partner in logistics.

What trends are noticeable in the industry?

Certainly, increasing digitalisation and automation is still a visible trend. Alongside the development of robotization and automation in logistics, Raben Group is implementing various solutions to increase the efficiency of warehousing and transport processes, e.g. shipment measuring devices, autonomous or semi-automated forklifts, “cobotic” arms, the Internet of Things (IoT) sensors or automatic sorters. However, for the past two years, the Group has been equally engaged in process robotization and focused on RPA, the so-called software bots that mimic user actions in IT systems. Currently, their team has 18 units that perform more than 60 processes. These are unattended robots, i.e. they are centrally controlled robots that do not require interaction with users and de facto fully assume their roles. It is an advanced technology, virtually autonomous entities that operate in IT systems. Naturally, they require task scheduling and supervision but beyond that, they also work when the physical user has already left for home. 18 robotic licenses that we can use 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, effectively means at least 50 full-time jobs. In addition, the RPA robot is able to do the job several times faster than the user, which is a huge improvement, especially with the current problems of employee availability in logistics. If we further consider the flexibility, efficiency, reliability and attractive cost of RPA, there is no doubt that automation will be the future of our industry.

Paperless solutions are also being developed. This trend has been particularly evident since the outbreak of the pandemic. At Raben, we concentrated on investments in this area many years ago and these have proved successful. I am thinking, for instance, of the pricing of international shipping orders on the website (thanks to the aforementioned RPA), where our customer receives a quote for an international transport service in just a few minutes) and of the myRaben platform. The entire handling of orders takes place via that platform, from acceptance to fulfilment, tracking and control of fulfilment to reporting, pallet accounting and finally invoicing. In addition, the ETA (estimated time of arrival) is also calculated in the myT&T tab on the platform, which provides the customer with information on the planned delivery time. Importantly, in the event of unforeseen circumstances, if the system registers a deviation of at least 60 minutes from the previously calculated time window, it automatically updates the ETA parameter. As a result, information is provided in real time.

Environmental protection is also an important trend that we keep in mind regardless of the challenges we face. I am delighted that Raben has joined the international Science Based Target ('SBTi') initiative. This provides clear evidence that the decarbonisation targets we adopted have been verified, are in line with scientific knowledge and realistically support halting global warming and reducing CO2 emissions into the environment. Added to this is the implementation of solutions to promote energy efficiency and low emissions. This applies to both warehouse and fleet investments. All our new developments are equipped with state-of-the-art technology.  We are also working to reduce the carbon footprint from the use of buildings. One of the biggest challenges in this area is currently the construction of the first zero-emission warehouse at the Raben Group depot in the Netherlands. The commissioning of this facility is expected to take place next year. In November, in Poland, we commissioned a modern warehouse in Warsaw (Annopol municipality), which also features low-carbon, energy-saving and environmentally friendly solutions, such as led lighting and an automatic lighting control system, thermal insulation of hydraulic ramp platforms, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, roof lighting for natural light and lithium-ion forklift trucks. In addition, we are working systematically all the time to reduce the emission intensity of transport by improving loading efficiency, better route planning and modernising the fleet. This year, for instance, we initiated a project with IKEA and Volvo to use the first electric truck in transport operations.