Increasing efficiency in freight transport
Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln AG

About the customer

Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln AG (HGK) is a subsidiary of Stadtwerke Köln (Cologne’s public utility company) with a business focus on rail freight transport, inland freight shipping, port handling, vehicle repair, network maintenance and real estate leasing.Together with Neuss-Düsseldorfer Häfen, HGK founded the logistics company RheinCargo and outsourced port and rail operations to it in order to pool resources and further increase port handling performance. In the first fiscal year, RheinCargo was already able to increase cargo throughput at the ports to 27.7 million tons. In addition, the company handles almost 8,000 ships a year at seven cargo handling ports in Cologne, Neuss and Düsseldorf.To provide these extensive logistics services, RheinCargo operates 83 locomotives with 648 freight cars and has become the largest private freight railroad in Germany. Its transport performance to Germany and neighboring countries exceeds 3.4 billion net ton kilometers. As an infrastructure provider, HGK itself maintains a track network with a length of approximately 100 km. The HGK Group generated annual sales of over 75 million euros in 2019.

Challenge

Over the last ten years, HGK has greatly expanded its business. The company therefore needed a new solution to support the operations of its ports and rail freight business units, which would optimize asset management and enable preventive maintenance.

HGK wanted to gain visibility into its entire asset portfolio. assets. In addition, all processes important for this were to be integrated, and purchasing and materials management optimized. In addition, it was required that technical services for other companies could be organized and invoiced. The company therefore turned to RODIAS for support.

Solution

HGK implemented a solution based on IBM Maximo Asset Management to manage its diverse asset portfolio. RODIAS supported the reorganization of the processes, customized the system, implemented interfaces and took over the ongoing support of the system. After a detailed study, HGK decided to consolidate maintenance and procurement processes for port facilities and the vehicle fleet into a single solution. RODIAS supported the company in mapping the complex facility structures and importing the data into the system. The new solution is used for asset management and maintenance as well as for warehouse management in the ports division and for materials management in rail freight transport.

Maintenance planning and monitoring, as well as maintenance and inspection, are among the most important tasks for HGK, because the company cannot afford poorly functioning facilities of any kind. Leaking pipelines or containers, as well as overdue maintenance work on cranes or locomotives, can have devastating effects on people or the environment, and thus on the business and reputation of the HGK Group. And this is especially true because the HGK Group also transports oil, fuels, gases, acids and other hazardous materials in addition to other goods. Even the failure of a single crane or locomotive poses a major risk that the HGK Group must avoid at all costs, because otherwise there is a risk of serious injury to people.

Benefit

The new solution provides a complete overview of all repairs and maintenance activities. Cost transparency is improved and planning efforts are reduced with the help of comprehensive insights into the cost status of each asset.

HGK is now able to proactively identify risks and problem areas. Efficiency is increased by providing meaningful drawings, diagrams, and data sheets in the dashboard at the touch of a button. The ability to order as needed also improves materials management and consumption planning.