02.10.2023

Rhenus continuous improvement: never alone, always together with our customers

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Summary:

Rhenus believes in continuous improvement to remain successful in logistics. To do this, we organize training sessions for our employees. Our continuous improvement team constantly finds smarter ways of working, involving our customers in these enhancements. A lean maturity model guides our efforts and by monitoring performance, we can quickly address issues. Learn more about our continuous improvement efforts in our blog below.

As the saying goes – to make the world better, you must begin with yourself. This saying defines Rhenus Warehousing Solutions and is something our customers gain from. We believe that continuous improvement is an unmistakable prerequisite to every logistics service provider in becoming and staying successful in the business.

At Rhenus, one of our strategies for continuous improvement is to organize training courses and assess our processes. We analyze our current methods, understand the reasons behind them, and explore ways to enhance them. This knowledge helps us pinpoint areas for improvement in our logistics processes and involve our customers in these discussions.

Delighted customers
Continuous improvement is crucial, but it requires clear direction. As a logistics service provider, we need guidance on what actions align with our goals. We also need to know how to incorporate improvement steps into our 3PL organization. Recognizing this need, Rhenus Warehousing Solutions appointed a continuous improvement manager a few years ago, a decision that was enthusiastically welcomed by our customers.

Lean maturity model
Rhenus Warehousing Solutions's structural approach to continuous improvement. Each location assigns an employee for training and coaching to define roles within the organization and for our customers. This method led to adoption and enhancement of a lean maturity model. We conduct sessions based on this model to assess employees' positions and outline the steps needed for progress.

Detecting and correcting nonconformities
The performance of each department must be constantly monitored to highlight strengths and areas for improvement. This approach also exposes any nonconformities. There is no harm in some performance indicators turning red from time to time, provided that this is accompanied by clear plans for improvement. Within Rhenus, we promote self-learning by encouraging employees to solve challenges themselves and this has become appealing to our customers in bids.

Continuous improvement for our customers
Customers benefit from our continuous improvement program in multiple ways. For instance, we can repair the returned products quickly or update their software before returning them to the end-users. The sooner a product is repaired, the faster a customer can sell it. Another example is using less paper in the logistics chain by sending records electronically instead of printed ones.

To ensure the continuous progress of our program, the customers and our continuous improvement team meet quarterly. During this meeting, we present a progress report and the achieved benefits to the customers. This gives them an insight into the qualitative and quantitative benefits of the program.

In close cooperation with our customers
Continuous improvement is more than just a task – it is a mindset. At Rhenus, we always strive to do better and never settle into the status quo. We work together and communicate closely with our customers, aiming for lasting partnerships through better performance and innovation.

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