Chick is the largest company of its type in the United States with operations in 13 of the country’s most important manufacturing and distributions centers as well as a large production and logistics facility in the Port of Hamburg, Germany. This operation, Chick International GmbH [Translog Hamburg] provides contract logistics services to many of the world’s largest manufacturers.

Our bid was accepted at the end of April, 2005 but the customer wanted service to begin July 1. This project was unusual in that the company required a rapid turnaround to its new logistics provider during a time when the company was in full production. Eliminating a usual ramp-up phase, the customer asked Translog to take over the contract logistics, including project management, employee training, installation and coordination and purchase of all necessary tools, materials, in just 2 months’ time. We were able to complete the necessary preparations in the short time period allowed, and in fact when the company audited the packaging operations at Translog in October 2005, we demonstrated we had easily accomplished all they had asked.

Eighteen months later, the company indicated that their existing contract logistics with Translog were running smoothly and the quality of the supervision was above their expectations, and they approached us directly for a new project – contract packaging and logistics involving semi- knocked down parts for export to South Africa, where local hires would complete the manufacturing and installation. The product to be SKD and shipped was the Rahmenleuchteinheit, a word for which there is no direct translation, but which essentially is a frame around car headlights that anchors them to the car.

The company was unhappy with their existing packer for these parts and asked Translog to develop a new packaging process that would eliminate waste and reduce costs while still providing superior protection. The challenges for Translog were two-fold: 1) the product is very sensitive as it is adjustable for various models of cars and headlights and 2) once again, the customer required us to design and implement the contract logistics in a short time frame [a few weeks].

Drawing on the range of packaging and logistics solutions provided by Chick divisions, Translog designed and fabricated optimal packaging for these parts, which previously had been shipped fully-assembled in very large wooden crates with a lot of air and space between the units. We developed an interim solution based on a sample part and photographs that enabled us to take over the packaging immediately, but like the predecessor was based on a lot of wood and involved many manual packing steps that made the process both inefficient and costly. Ultimately, the custom packaging solution involved shipping the unit not as a complete part, but as groups of 5 single parts in a cushioned, corrugated crate that was protective but easier to handle than the wood crates, and far less costly. The company could now ship 300 parts [for 60 units] in the same size [40 sq. feet] crate that previously handled 28 units.

Translog’s winning contracts were based on our ability to streamline the manufacturing process by providing a full complement of management, design, procurement, packaging and logistics supported by our strategic locations. This capacity meant we could respond quickly to the customer’s requests and accommodate the nature of the contract logistics and their time restraints, and save the customer money in the process. Translog now has a dedicated 1,250 sq. meter warehouse at their facility in Hamburg just for this customer, which makes use of synergies like people, reach stackers and overhead. This arrangement and the more efficient packaging designed by Translog has significantly reduced the customer’s transportation cost for sea freight, with a 60% reduction realized in the first year of this contract.