RIO, the digital brand of the TRATON GROUP, plans to support group logistics of the Volkswagen Group in digitising their processes. The collaboration aims to make significant savings with more transparent and efficient processes. 

Volkswagen Group Logistics GmbH & Co. OHG is one of the logistics companies in Germany with the highest turnover. In Europe alone, it coordinates a daily average of 18,000 truck transports in an extensive network of suppliers, production sites, sales markets and dealers. Group Logistics is managing a constantly increasing flow of materials and goods together with 13 group brands and requires an efficient and future-proof IT solution to meet this challenge.

“There is a huge amount of complexity involved in our business,” said Thomas Zernechel, head of Volkswagen Group Logistics. “The planned cooperation with RIO will allow us to push ahead with digitisation in the transport sector and gain more transparency. This will enable us to optimally control and continue to finely tune our business to perfection. Optimising utilisation by further reducing empty runs and idle times will also help us to achieve our climate protection goals.” 

More than 150 forwarders work with the Volkswagen Group. In the future, each truck in this network is to be registered in the same digital environment. 

TRATON subsidiary RIO will create the basis for these digital services. The brand has been developing a cloud-based logistics platform since 2016 to support all parties of the delivery chain in digitising their business. RIO is manufacturer-independent and can therefore be used in all truck brands. RIO is now to develop tailor-made services for Volkswagen Group Logistics, which will make the supply of parts at sites of the Volkswagen Group (inbound logistics) and the delivery of fully assembled vehicles (outbound logistics) more efficient. This includes tracking consignments as well as integrating different systems to collect and use data efficiently – for example, for supply management, freight billing and container control.

“Cloud-based digital solutions based at the interface between freight and forwarder have the potential to significantly increase our efficiency. RIO‘s digital expertise and open approach makes it the ideal partner for us. We are also going on this platform with our volume to send a signal to the market. We hope that others will follow suit so that logistics based on transparent processes will become more efficient for everyone,” said Matthias Braun, head of material logistics digitalisation at Group Logistics.

RIO CEO Jan Kaumanns said the forwarders‘ world is the premium class of logistics.

“Its complex delivery chains need a smart product to bring all the participants into the same digital environment. At RIO, we are very happy to accept this challenge. As telematics OEM of MAN and with the RIO-Box as a brand-neutral, retrofittable component, RIO is in an excellent position to bridge the gap between the control tasks of Group Logistics and implementing the tasks of transport logistics on the road.”

For RIO, this cooperation opens up the market for solutions that are initially tailor-made for the automotive sector. With an eye to the future, they should, however, form the basis for all forwarding relevant services.