An island supplies the entire world! The logistics of Mercedes-Benz Global Service & Parts

Transcription

1 An island supplies the entire world! The logistics of Mercedes-Benz Global Service & Parts

2 Every day our customers need 20,000 spark plugs alone. The requirement: the right part in the right place at the right time. As well as quality and performance, our customers expect a smoothly running process and a short stay when it comes to servicing their car. Being able to meet these expectations at all times requires intelligent logistics that ensure an optimal parts supply. Whatever our service outlets need from an entire transmission to a single spark plug it must be available within a very short time. The spark plug is waiting to be installed at the workshop. But what path did it take before being used at the service outlet? On the following pages, you can take a look behind the scenes at Mercedes-Benz Global Service & Parts, or to put it another way: gain an insight into the global After-Sales logistics of Daimler AG.

3 We ensure that 20,000 spark plugs are available every day. Our standard: prompt parts availability for our customers. Our promise is to get every part in a 1 st class condition and quality to the right place at the right time. To be able to live up to this promise every day, we employ a global network and sophisticated processes to offer the very best service. Highly trained employees and intelligent warehousing are two of the most important components. Singapore, Hanover or Chicago: It is our goal to have 99% of the parts most commonly needed by the customers our so-called Top Assortment immediately available to our customers. Everything else we generally supply within 24 hours in Europe. The range of ordered and delivered parts is huge. It includes everything from the smallest wheel bolt to a complete body shell and of course our spark plug.

4 Worldwide parts supply from an island. The central solution: the Global Logistics Center in Germersheim. The Global Logistics Center, or GLC for short, is located on a peninsula of the River Rhine in the heart of Europe. It is the hub of the global After-Sales logistics of Daimler AG. The island covers an area of more than 1.7 million square metres: roughly the size of 250 football pitches. But even though there are no football games being played in Germersheim, this is the place where many processes relating to logistics kick off. With more than one million square metres of warehouse space, the Global Logistics Center is the world s largest central warehouse for vehicle parts in the automotive industry. The parts stored here not only provision the current vehicle range. The GLC also supplies parts for vehicles which in some cases have been in operation for 15 years or longer. The warehouse buildings of the central warehouse alone stock more than 420,000 different parts that are immediately available. In addition we can procure a great deal of parts individually upon customer request. Our spark plug is also waiting to be put into action at GLC.

5 Comprehensive intelligence. Precise planning: an absolute must with 2.5 delivery items every second. Boxes zoom along on conveyor belts, fully automated storage and picking machines retrieve parts from the high-bay storage facility at dizzying heights, forklifts pick up merchandise with pinpoint precision, and again and again wire-guided driverless transport systems appear as if out of nowhere and stoically follow their predestined path. What seems uncoordinated at first sight is planned, timed and controlled with utmost precision. Nothing is left to chance because all processes are perfectly coordinated. And the networked communication system is a necessity as orders are received at a rapid pace. Every working day about 220,000 delivery lines are ordered on our network. That translates into 2.5 delivery items ordered per second! And it places the highest demands on the employees and the IT system environment. To meet them the employees use custom software. This is the only way to keep track of the global parts supply. Just this very second, the next order has been received: part number A a spark plug.

6 Route. Sort. Move. Pack. Know-how and technology: committed employees and modern systems. We use sophisticated and automated systems at our sites. Nevertheless, there is one element of parts logistics that is indispensable: people. They ensure that our modern warehouse technology works reliably. Only the interplay of people and technology makes it possible to deliver top-quality parts promptly to our service outlets and, thus, ultimately to our customers. All in all, there are more than 5,000 employees working for the logistics of Global Service & Parts around the world, some 2,800 of them at the central warehouse in Germersheim and its satellite locations. Know-how and reliability are in demand here. It is essential that our employees can intervene in the processes at any time if necessary. The commitment, motivation and flexibility of every single employee form the basis for the success of the After-Sales logistics. To maintain these standards in the future as well, we train young people and give them a chance to discover a professional career with great prospects for the future.

7 Our sites a perfect supply network. Proven: our three-step supply system. How does our spark plug get to the service outlet in the end? This is where it is worth looking at our supply network. First, the parts are shipped from the respective supplier and plants to our central warehouse the first step in our supply system. Each year almost five million spark plugs are delivered in this way. This is equivalent to almost 20,000 spark plugs every working day. The GLC supplies 280 locations in 160 countries, including all wholesale locations the second step in our supply chain. Our wholesale locations ensure fast and smooth provision of the service outlets with an assortment of parts geared towards the respective market the third step in our supply chain. Our spark plug has also followed this path from the supplier to the central warehouse, and from there to the wholesale operation, and finally to the service outlet.

8 Our parts are welcome around the world. Well expedited: by land, sea and air. The parts get to their destination by various means of transportation depending on urgency and distance either by road on trucks, as air freight on aircraft or by ship as sea freight. There are no limits to the transport of parts. Every day more than 300 trucks leave the Global Logistics Center, carrying over 1,500 tonnes of vehicle parts the equivalent of almost 400 elephants to our customers. But we do not ship elephants our shipping is all about parts that are needed somewhere in the world. In addition to fast delivery, the optimal utilisation of the means of transportation is a major priority. In so doing, we support environmentally compatible shipping.

9 24-hour on-call service the prerequisite for individuality and custom solutions. Special solutions: with our emergency programme we make virtually anything possible. Everything in our logistics network is planned in detail and perfectly coordinated. Nevertheless, there are situations that require special solutions. And emergencies can also happen in logistics, for example, when a specific part is needed very urgently for repairing a broken-down truck. When such an emergency occurs is of no consequence. Our 24-hour on-call service ensures that urgently needed parts get to their destination as quickly as possible, even outside of normal working hours. Individual custom solutions supplement the standard processes. With these solutions our logistics experts make virtually anything possible in urgent emergency situations from shipping by taxi to express delivery by helicopter in extreme emergency situations.

10 We supply parts and live our brand values in the interest of our customers satisfaction. Well planned, well supplied: the focus is on the customer. The spark plug we accompanied on its exciting journey through the logistics chain is already waiting to be installed at the workshop. As a result, the customer can get the vehicle back after only a short wait. Ordering recommendations provided by the logistics inventory management system make it easier for the service outlet to place reorders in due time. That is why resupplies for the next customer are already en route. We ensure a smooth-running process and permanent availability so that every part is really in the right place at the right time. This is how we show our customers appreciation and demonstrate our competence while ultimately creating customer focus and customer satisfaction. At this very moment, an exhaust is needed for another customer vehicle. It is also already on hand to replace the old one. And at the same time, tens of thousands of parts from the Global Logistics Center are on their way to all corners of the world. Competence Availability Partnership Closeness Appreciation Individuality

11 About this publication: Content subject to change without notice. Colour deviations are due to the limitations of the printing process. Reproduction, including excerpts, only with the written authorization of the publisher. Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz Global Service & Parts Global Logistics Center Germersheim Printed in Germany