The Future of Logistics: Innovative, Sustainable and Flexible
Interview with Stefan Minhorst, Member of the Executive Board and Nicola Rackebrandt, Managing Partner of STERAC Transport & Logistik GmbH
In recent years, the logistics industry has experienced turbulent times, due to disrupted supply chains and significant price increases. Farsighted planning horizons and a medium-sized sense of responsibility have particularly paid off during these times, believe Nicola Rackebrandt and Stefan Minhorst, who run the business of STERAC Transport & Logistik GmbH. They spoke with Wirtschaftsforum about the current developments.
Wirtschaftsforum: Mr. Minhorst, the coronavirus pandemic has caused turbulent years, especially in logistics - how has STERAC experienced this period?
Stefan Minhorst: From an economic perspective, we can point to a very positive balance sheet overall - we have grown disproportionately strongly, especially in the years 2021 and 2022, and were also able to maintain our position sustainably in the subsequently inflationary market environment.
Wirtschaftsforum: What factors do you attribute this sustained success to, even in difficult times, Ms. Rackebrandt?
Nicola Rackebrandt: We have always seen ourselves as a provider of quality, and therefore have consistently engaged in the market with correspondingly high-quality and demanding services. This applies both to the European land transport, which continues to be the focus of our business activity, as well as to our container and customs clearance services and our expertise in warehouse logistics with now 60,000 pallet storage spaces. While other market competitors felt the various developments of recent years to be quite disadvantageous, we were able to prove ourselves as a reliable partner for particularly exposed clients from the food processing and pharmaceutical industries, where, as is well known, particularly high safety and quality requirements apply.
That is why we have decided to use this time to further optimize our existing structures, make comprehensive investments, and then start off into the future with momentum. This also shapes our entrepreneurial self-image and our sense of responsibility towards our employees. Sometimes, in this context, I like to compare us to a German oak: We grow very steadily and can therefore rely on a thick trunk that promises stability in difficult times.
Wirtschaftsforum: What topics are currently at the center of your attention?
Stefan Minhorst: In every value chain, logistics in particular plays an essential role in further improving sustainability scores. Therefore, as early as 2016, we developed a sustainability plan and systematically began implementing a regenerative energy concept in our warehouses. Thanks to underfloor heating and suitably sized photovoltaic systems on the roofs, we have since become almost completely independent from fossil fuels. In this process, low-threshold but far-sighted measures have proven to be particularly effective: for example, we use our forklift batteries and our 25 company electric cars also as energy storage units. In our newly built hall in 2022, with 13,000 pallet spaces, we achieve a degree of self-sufficiency of nearly 100% during the summer months.
As we are never satisfied with the status quo, and not least in close coordination with our customers, we target innovations that provide real benefits. Therefore, we will naturally expand our product portfolio in the future and have already set important courses for this, such as with another new logistics hall which will start operations at the beginning of next year. This hall will be equipped with active cooling and prepared for the automated storage of logistics goods. It will also be possible to store substances hazardous to water there. Naturally, it will take time for these extensive investments to pay off, but we have this time. At STERAC, we do not think in terms of quarterly figures, but with a distinctly long-term planning horizon.
Wirtschaftsforum: What role does digitalization now play in your company?
Stefan Minhorst: We began establishing our own digitalization department back in 2016 in order to consistently utilize the impulses arising from it. Thus, we can quickly and easily connect the ERP systems of our customers today, ensuring comprehensive transparency in the processes involved. Of course, the transport and storage of goods will remain our main business, but the transmission and utilization of data, which must be available on demand, is now an essential part of our services. Routine tasks such as order capture and data return can thus be largely automated, allowing us to design the communication channels with our customers today much more effectively and with significantly greater added value.