The Open Logistics Foundation is a neutral, non-profit and commonbenefit organisation that is com-mitted to establishing open source solutions in the logistics industry. There are four different Work-ing Groups within the European Foundation, including the Working Group Electronic Transport Doc-uments led by the German companies Dachser and Rhenus. Within the 20 members of this Working Group, the Dutch developers Aventeon, CargoLedger and TransFollow are among the driving forces. The focus is on the topic of eCMR. Although such documents have already been digitised in recent years, there is no uniform standard. The Working Group aims to develop a standardised and in-teroperable open source solution for companies.
Open mindset for open industry solutions
With the eCMR project, the Working Group aims to implement the electronic consignment note for everyone. This means there is no central authority through which freight documents are processed – the network and the electronic consignment note are open to everyone. The members of the Working Group show that the transport sector, in particular, is internationally networked: in addition to Ger-many and the Netherlands, companies from Belgium, Lithuania, Poland, Austria and Switzerland are also represented. The Working Group is open to new members from other countries in order to ex-pand international cooperation further. Frank Kindt, Managing Director at Aventeon, emphasises: “It is remarkable that several Dutch providers of eCMR solutions have joined the Open Logistics Foun-dation as members. Here we are working together on an international level, which is crucial for suc-cess. In the end, we all benefit from a widely accepted, standardised open source solution. This means we have fewer interface problems and can invest more time in add-ons.”
Hans Lip, International Sales and Marketing Manager at TransFollow emphasises the open collabo-ration beyond company boundaries: “The special thing about the Working Group? It is open to any-one who wants to participate and make a contribution. As there are different types of electronic doc-uments and consequently many different solution providers, it is particularly important to have an open mindset – everyone has to work hand in hand here.” Finally, Hjalmar van der Schaaf, CEO of Cargo Ledger, emphasises the network concept: “The Open Logistics Foundation is a unique initia-tive in Europe. It brings together some of the largest logistics service providers, providers of eCMR and other digital logistics solutions, as well as a lot of knowledge about digitalisation available on the market. If together we can develop open source solutions based on open standards that are adopt-ed by the industry, the entire EU will benefit.”
The Working Group focuses on sharing knowledge and experience from the industry and raising awareness of current developments in the logistics sector. With these very important steps, digitali-sation in Germany, the Netherlands and the EU can be taken to the next level. The Working Group has already delivered the proof of concept: in October last year, logistics service providers Rhenus and Dachser tested the eCMR platform and automated document processing for around 200 out-bound shipments on an actual transport route from Berlin – with great success.
Participants in the Working Group
Aventeon, Cargo Sign, CargoLedger, Dachser (Working Group Lead), DB Schenker, DSLV, duisport, Fraunhofer IML, Gebrüder Weiss, GS1 Germany, iteratec, LKW Walter, markant, Pionira NV, Rhenus (Working Group Lead), Sitra, Trade Link, TransFollow, Transporeon, Zufall.
