Rhenus Logistics makes use of Reflex WMS to manage a large proportion of its business

Hardis Group, a digital services company and software publisher, has been supporting Rhenus Logistics France in its activities as a logistics operator for more than fifteen years. Apart from the robustness and flexibility of the Reflex WMS warehouse management solution, enabling Hardis Group to offer its customers solutions that are both open-ended and customized, this partnership is also based on the deep business knowledge and availability of Hardis Group personnel.

Rhenus Logistics: a multi-sector logistics operator

Rhenus is a German family-owned group doing business worldwide. It provides solutions in the fields of contractual logistics, freight, port logistics, transport and parcels services, for customers around the world in every area of business. In 2014 the company achieved total sales of 4.2 billion euros. It employs more than 25,000 people working in 40 countries at 460 sites around the world.

In France, Rhenus has developed a portfolio of customers that mainly do business in sectors such as light industry, consumer goods, luxury goods, health care, the pharmaceutical industry and e-commerce. Its logistics services are implemented from its warehouses on site. Today the French subsidiary of Rhenus has 32 logistics sites (representing a storage surface area of 500,000 m²) and employs 1,500 people, generating total sales of 240 million euros.

Rhenus works with customers doing business in completely different sectors. Whether they are working with Total (oil), Distriborg (food), Isover (thermal insulation and sound-proofing), ADG Coleman (camping), MyEvian.com (personalized bottles) or Daikin (heating and air-conditioning), Rhenus has to be able to adapt to the specific storage and distribution needs of each customer.

"The job of a logistics service provider is to provide our customers with more efficient logistics than they could provide for themselves" explains Emmanuel Bonnet, business development director at Rhenus Logistics France. "We therefore have to be capable of adapting to their needs and anticipating market trends."

Reflex WMS: for customized warehouse management solutions

15 years ago, Rhenus chose Hardis Group's Reflex WMS warehouse management solution because of its robustness and flexibility, but above all due to its excellent reputation on the French market. "The question of availability of our management tool is absolutely vital, especially for customers who do business 24 hours a day, 365 days per annum" points out Emmanuel Bonnet. "The WMS cannot break down. The flexibility of Reflex is a major asset for Rhenus. The Hardis Group WMS is easy to configure and extremely adaptable, giving each customer the level of customization they require to optimize management of their warehouses. Reflex is equally reliable for both small and large projects, and can also be used to manage multi-customer sites. "This is an advantage both for our employees, because they don't need to learn to use many different tools, and for our customers, because we can adapt our offering to fit their specific situation", continues Emmanuel Bonnet. Today, the Reflex WMS is deployed on roughly fifteen sites in France.

Confidence constantly renewed over the last fifteen years

In addition, the various enhancements made to Reflex WMS over the years, to adapt to changes in the needs of logistics service providers, have greatly contributed to building and maintaining this partnership more than fifteen years old. "Hardis is a leader on the logistics market in France. This makes it possible not only to work with confidence, but also to reassure our customers and prospects. We have never been limited by Reflex WMS", asserts Emmanuel Bonnet. This is an advantage which has sometimes proved invaluable, in calls for bids where the warehouse management solution was a decisive factor.

But apart from the tool and its reputation, Rhenus also renews its confidence because of the business and logistics skills of the Hardis Group teams, and their availability. "In addition to the solution itself, the quality of our partnership is also thanks to our interlocutors at Hardis", adds Emmanuel Bonnet.

Although the Hardis Group teams provide constant support for the Rhenus teams, the latter have gradually become more independent in their use of the tool and its customization according to each customer. "To such a point that today we are in a position to evaluate the costs of the solution and possible developments ourselves, in our responses to calls for bids, where Reflex WMS is offered", concludes Emmanuel Bonnet.