One Transport Management System for the long haul

What is RoadLOG? 

If you were to Google it, the main results would be a smatter of job ads on Kuehne+Nagel’s career site. There are ads for Road Logistics planners, certainly. But also for technical architects and java developers. 

Which makes sense. Because RoadLOG is Kuehne+Nagel’s transport management system (TMS) for road freight, developed in-house. 

The software is used by office and warehouse employees, and created by a highly skilled, interdisciplinary team of product engineers, programmers, and Road Logistics experts. 

Find out about Kuehne+Nagel’s successful RoadLOG journey, and why it is developed in-house.

So what does a TMS do?

A TMS is the backbone of logistics operations. The software captures data from the moment a shipment order is created. It helps to plan, execute and optimise the shipping of goods.  In fact, it is a great source of actionable data that delivers efficiency, resilience and more benefits for the order-to-cash cycle in the context of supply chain services. 

Jens Bossmeyer, Senior Vice President Operations & Technology in Road Logistics, explains:

Our TMS is really at the centre of our operations. A solid TMS is modular, and surrounded by smaller service applications. In our operations, an example would be bar code scanning in the cross-docks. For customers, examples would be the booking and tracking modules on myKN."

 

TMS and operational excellence

Although a TMS is a back-end system, something that is invisible to customers, a well-functioning TMS contributes hugely to a good customer, supplier and employee experience.

“Ultimately the RoadLOG development and deployment is an enabler for operational excellence. Regardless of where in the world a customer relies on our services.”

“Operational excellence entails several aspects. Internally, it means supporting and simplifying daily decisions to help our freight forwarders navigate their workflows.  With customers, it is really about building long-term partnerships by delivering a seamless, easy user experience from the moment they book shipments with us. For suppliers, it’s about facilitating their collaboration with us. This, in turn, contributes to developing trust with our stakeholders. And building trust is a key feature of Kuehne+Nagel’s Roadmap 2026,” concludes Jens.

But why not simply buy a TMS off the shelf? 

Building a TMS in-house is complex, costly and time-consuming—so why bother?            

Jens’ answer is straightforward: 

“Systems only work well if they are attuned to processes and people. Processes and systems are deeply interconnected in Kuehne+Nagel, and when shaping them, we must always have people in mind. ‘People’ being primarily our employees, but by extension also customers and other partners.

We need to have a pleasant working experience. We need to feel that our skills are supported. In Kuehne+Nagel, we believe that we have the best knowledge of our processes and our people to create the best fitting systems. That is why we develop our TMS ourselves, and why one of the cornerstones of our Roadmap 2026 is Digital Ecosystems. 

Requirements will also continually evolve, so its development is a project for the long haul. In fact, as with any software that needs to remain useful in the long run, its development is ongoing.” 

A software developer in Jens’ international and interdisciplinary team (representing 25 nationalities!) shares how working alongside the teams who use their software motivates him and supports the team to achieve the best result:

“It’s all about the feedback loop. Working right next to the people using the software we’re developing gives us a unique opportunity to see how it works in real life, and allows us to make continual incremental improvements. Also, you feel a sense of responsibility to the wider team – you want to make their work as smooth and enjoyable as you can.” 

- Aurelien Prochazka, IT Team Lead Road Logistics

43 countries on board so far

To truly reap the rewards of RoadLOG, including economies of scale, improved productivity, standardised processes and having a universal data pool, making sure that it becomes the only road freight TMS used within Kuehne+Nagel is crucial. Because there are currently still numerous legacy systems, for example from acquired companies, that will eventually be replaced by RoadLOG as part of our Roadmap 2026. Although this is a major endeavor that will continue to develop beyond 2026.

With a company that is the size of and has the geographic spread of Kuehne+Nagel, switching to a consolidated TMS from one day to the next is simply impractical. And this is where the deployment team comes in. Their job is to ensure each rollout goes as smoothly as possible, with plenty of up front change management carried out, such as process improvement and training.

“As of June 2023, an impressive 96 branches in 43 countries across 4 continents use RoadLOG, operating 4 million shipments annually.”

 

So far, the deployment team has done a great job. Much like habits, old processes sometimes die hard. However, with a rigid and focused hypercare at the onset, new adopters learn how to go with the flow when they become aware of the benefits of RoadLOG. And its role in the bigger picture of Kuehne+Nagel’s Digital Ecosystem.

As of June 2023, an impressive 96 branches in 43 countries across 4 continents use RoadLOG, operating 4 million shipments annually.  “As far as we know, we are the first company to run the same Road TMS in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific,” says Jens.

And the roll-out continues, with the next continent, North America, to come next. Stay tuned!

The team in Kenya during the RoadLOG rollout: