Zeppelin Rental using AX4 platform

Zeppelin Rental is using AXIT’s AX4 cloud-based logistics platform to organise shipments of its construction equipment and attachments.

In a statement sent to Post&Parcel today (16 May), AXIT said that Zeppelin’s 120 locations in Germany use the IT platform to assign and coordinate the transport of its high-tech rentals to customer sites. Three carriers and two parcel service companies are linked to the system, and preparations are currently underway to link an overnight express service provider as well.

Zeppelin uses a standardized process to send out over 1,000 rental equipment items to customers each month with AX4. Zeppelin can calculate

transport prices, shipping options, and equipment delivery dates in advance, because all the rates and master data of the linked logistics partners are stored centrally on the AX4 platform.

“Using the digital solution of AX4 to manage our transports helped us unlock large potential savings in our processes,” said Michael Schmidt, Head of Logistics at Zeppelin Rental. “Before, each of our offices booked transports with different regional carriers. Today, it all follows a clearly laid-out process that begins with the automated price query.” Another benefit: Using AX4 to standardise transport assignments allowed Zeppelin to centralize its invoicing and transport audits as well.”

Digital transport management also offers advantages in communications with the carriers. The platform is used to generate waybills, barcode labels, and consolidated lists.

AX4 also allows managers at Zeppelin Rental’s headquarters in Garching outside Munich to monitor the activity of all its field locations and see the latest status of any shipment at any time.

“This transparency allows us to use of our assets more effectively,” said Schmidt. “We can also optimise the regional distribution of transports to minimize our environmental impact. Because the best transport is the one you can eliminate through good planning,” concludes Schmidt.