More than mere carriage
These days, exhibition logisticians have a wider brief than simply transporting stand construction or event equipment from A to B. They must advise clients comprehensively on event planning and follow-up.
For all the innovations, exhibition forwarding has remained an individualised line of business where much still rides on personal contacts," Maria Lorenz, managing director of the BTG group in Langweid/Augsburg, says. "Generally speaking, the work of an exhibition haulage contractor has not changed over the decades. Exhibitors still want exhibition goods to be transported to an exhibition venue, all the necessary formalities such as unloading, customs clearance, storage of the empties et cetera handled, and the return or onward transport arranged after the show," Georg Nork from Kühne & Nagel in Munich agrees. So there has only been a certain amount of innovation in terms of the type of activity. What have changed, though, are customer requirements and transport professionals technical aids. "Information technology immediately springs to mind here. The recipient gets documents, transport guidelines and the like within seconds in electronic form, consignments can be tracked online, interfaces are reported automatically," Nork explains. The introduction of mobile telephony has done away with walkie-talkies. "Telephone, fax and e-mail are certainly not the latest technical innovations, but they are still the main element of an exhibition haulier's day-to-day work. These simple means of communication, in conjunction with customer focus and a healthy service mentality, are ‘tools of the trade’ that should never be underrated, whose use guarantees permanent reachability for the client," Kai Peltzer, Hansa-Messe-Speed, Wuppertal, also says.
What is more, at the trade fair venue exhibitors can save themselves the trip to their haulage contractor. Problems, orders et cetera are no longer discussed in the haulier's exhibition office; instead they are dealt with by phone from the exhibition stand.
But convenient communication and reachability on the one hand lead to complications elsewhere: "Exhibition appearances make a very late transition from the planning to implementation stage, production of the exhibition stands and exhibits doesn't begin in time, transports are ordered late," Peltzer says. Often, this results in unnecessary additional expense for exhibitors, when, for instance, carriage has to be switched from sea freight to air freight. Such costs would be avoidable. Given that these days the price generally determines who is awarded the contract, haulage contractors are very keen to avoid unwelcome surprises and to have a clear cost structure. They can rely for this on a variety of IT tools and efficient database management. "The exhibition and event specialist uses a specially developed IT system for the entire database management, that is to say address and master data administration, preparation of the quote and order handling, documentation, warehouse management, personnel and equipment assignment and statistics generation. Updated software releases are naturally used for this or the system adapted to current requirements," Hartmut Böck, managing director of Danzas Messen GmbH, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post World Net, explains. And since time saved is also money saved, "modern telematics help with comprehensive vehicle position finding, monitoring and tracking and optimise fleet management. This means that information is available at all times on where the exhibition goods are," Ulrich Kasimir, in charge of exhibitions/special transports at Schenker, Kelsterbach, says. "In combination with the efficient LCL and networked land transports, with which Schenker Deutschland connects all German and European business regions by means of scheduled services, the shipment of exhibition goods can now be planned down to the minute." This is something clients demand, given that a successful exhibition appearance often hinges on just-in-time delivery of an exhibit.
"That said, thus far innovations in exhibition logistics, like track-and-trace systems, have been implemented with only limited success, or they are not yet mature or still too technically involved and expensive, like satellite-based fleet management or paperless order settlement," Bernd Keil, Atege Internationale Spedition, Fairs & Exhibitions, Frankfurt, says. Problematic are interfaces such as complicated and copious customs procedures. Extremely helpful, by way of contrast, is the use of navigation systems helping drivers to reach their destination stress-free.
All this technology makes you wonder how the industry ever used to cope. Says Matthias Beyer, project manager at Panexpo GmbH, Worpswede: "The time frames were longer. We didn't have the mass processing taken for granted these days. An exhibition venue like Milan had just ten shows a year, not a hundred like it does now. The erection and dismantling periods were three to four times as long. If a truck was two or three hours late, it was not a disaster - unlike today."
But logistics companies have long since cleared the hurdle to international business. The issue of globalisation now on everyone’s lips is fairly old hat for exhibition forwarders. Take Schenker, for instance: "The company's history is the history of internationalisation and global exhibition business. Trade fairs have traditionally been the drivers of global logistics because industry has ever been in search of new markets. A century ago, exhibition logistics experts were already enabling many export companies to showcase themselves effectively at the world exhibitions in Paris or Melbourne. An outstanding event was the "floating fair" that Schenker organised in 1924 and 1925," Kasimir reports. The company chartered a huge ocean-going vessel so that companies from German-speaking countries could present their products throughout South America. This enabled them to tap into lots of new customers and markets.
Exhibition hauliers also achieve a global presence through networks. "Danzas Messen GmbH has targeted and realised the internationalisation of its business since its establishment. To be sure of providing exhibitors and staging companies with the premium service to which they are accustomed in other countries as well, DHL Trade Fairs & Events seeks out professional exhibition partners, cooperates closely with local exhibition companies or opens local agencies or accredited offices. It also acquires specialised know-how in the respective country by buying up locally based companies or setting up joint ventures. Incidentally, Danzas Messen GmbH entered into the first joint venture in the then Soviet Union in October 1991 with the foundation of DMW Expo Ltd in Moscow," Böck recalls. Keil mentions the Asian countries as an important focus of the logisticians ongoing process of internationalisation: "The Gondrand group, the parent company of Atege, took account of this development early on with the establishment of its own national companies in China and Taiwan, for example."
The transport professionals also fall back on existing networks such as International Exhibition Logistics Associates IELA with more than 90 member companies in over 45 countries.It goes without saying that customers also benefit from such an international focus: "Experience, pooled know-how, contacts and reliable partners the world over guarantee exhibition logistics at a high level," Lorenz maintains. Nowadays, BTG operates at all important exhibition centres in the world. "Business relations and friendships in all corners of the earth that have developed over time are now cultivated meticulously for our clients," Peltzer adds. Hansa-Messe-Speed handles 350 events a year all round the globe. Peltzer perceives "multilingual contacts and local connections as vital to smooth implementation". That the logistics companies are "at home" in so many places throughout the world has another advantage, too: one-stop full service of the kind that Danzas and Atege, for example, guarantee. Schenker, in turn, see local presence as the door-opener for exhibitors. "Ultimately, it is generally a representative of the exhibition forwarding agent that exhibitors contact first and last at the exhibition venue - and, as we all know, these impressions are lasting," Nork insists.
m+a report Nr.3 / 2006 vom 28.04.2006
m+a report vom 28. April 2006