The Smart 3PL Shipping Solution
By outsourcing transport and route planning to a logistics service provider, Villeroy & Boch has implemented a smart shipping solution that relieves internal logistics and ensures significantly faster deliveries to customers.
Villeroy & Boch AG is a German ceramics manufacturer known worldwide for its high-quality products, such as bathroom and wellness solutions. For transport, Villeroy & Boch relies on international freight forwarders like Dachser—one of Europe’s leading logistics service providers—whose distribution center in Überherrn is located near Villeroy & Boch’s central warehouse in Losheim. Until now, Villeroy & Boch managed route planning and truck dispatching entirely in-house, using Dachser primarily as a freight forwarder. Now, the company is leveraging additional logistics services from Dachser.
Shipping and Transport via 3PL Logistics
The goal of the new process solution is to enhance customer service by delivering orders much faster. To achieve this, Villeroy & Boch is outsourcing parts of its transport and route planning and gradually transferring responsibility for customer deliveries to Dachser. Shipments are sent directly after picking to the logistics center in Überherrn, where Dachser independently organizes delivery routes and benefits from synergies with other customers.
Process Integration in SAP
The SAP process is structured as follows: A forklift driver registers a truck, and the system automatically creates a “truck” handling unit (HU) within the transport process. As loading begins, each pallet placed on the truck is confirmed via scanner. The corresponding statuses are updated in the truck HU. Once loading is complete, the truck HU is assigned a final status. This status serves as a trigger to send the actual transport data to Dachser via EDI and to print accompanying documents, such as the loading list. Based on these transports, freight cost documents are generated, serving as the basis for settlement with Dachser.
Conclusion
With this new process, Villeroy & Boch has significantly reduced complexity at its Losheim logistics center, increased capacity, and now benefits from the route planning synergies of an international logistics provider. This saves both time and costs.
The real winners are Villeroy & Boch’s customers, who now receive their orders much faster than before. This has been made possible through a smart transport solution, in which SAP and logistics consultancy amotIQ solutions contributed their deep expertise in logistics and third-party integration—laying the foundation for sustainable process optimization today and in the future.
