2011 is almost at its end and it is time to reflect on the last 12 months, as well as to look ahead into what the new year will bring. Despite the threats of a slow-down in the general economy in 2012 Consafe Logistics are carefully optimistic about the prospects the new year will bring. We are confident that successful companies with a long-term vision and perspective will catch the opportunity to improve their competitiveness through investments in intelligent IT-logistics solutions resulting in increased supply chain efficiency, higher productivity and visibility.
A strong combined offering
Consafe Logistics have a strong market position, which has been further strengthened and widened during 2011. We have a very attractive combined offering providing logistics solutions within manufacturing and warehouse management, as well as to a wide range of mobility applications. In order to stay competitive and increase our market shares we continue to spend high amounts on product development; in 2011 approximately 18% of our annual turn-over, which we trust new customers as well as all our existing customers will be able to benefit from equally as much.
Partnership – Innovation – No-nonsense
Parallel to the product development it is also our ambition to further develop our value proposition (PIN); Partnership – Innovation – No-nonsense. The purpose is to strengthen Consafe Logistics’ position as an attractive place to work, as well as a sustainable long-term partner to all our customers – according the win-win principal.
Three distinct business areas – each with a strong market offer
Warehouse & Distribution - No 1 in EMEA for Warehouse Management Systems
W&D has experienced a steady development through the years. We were very pleased to find that the arduous work has paid off in form of the No 1 position in EMEA for Warehouse Management Systems in accordance with the ARC-market report (2011). World-wide we are in the 6th position, and with our strong product portfolio there is no reason why we shouldn’t aim for an even higher position in the years to come.
The strategic key words for our WMS-development are standardization, rapid implementation, automation, partners, multi-site, visualization, true upgradeability and scheduled release handling.
Our combined WMS/WCS (Warehouse Control System) with complementary products for work-force planning, yard management, represents a unique proposition; supporting standard applications to fully customized solution, a mix of manual and automated warehouse, and a good fit for small as well as large operations single or multi-site.
During 2011 we have been able to sign twice as many new customers as previous years. Among those we find companies such as Net-on-Net, KAN (PL), Nilfisk-Advance and Thanke, and there are more to come.
We are also confident that during 2012 our market position in central Europe as well as in eastern Europe will be further strengthened, providing a platform for a continued development in these important markets.
From a product development point-of-view the implementation of our first two customer applications for our WH3D-product at AJ Produkter (SE) and SKF in Belgium is especially worth mentioning. WH3D is a virtual tool for warehouse visualization, which has achieved international recognition as a major innovative step forward in warehouse management.
Mobility – the mobile value chain – Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP)
Our second business area Mobility is the result of a merger of two previous business areas and has been subject to a major transition during this year. The strategic focus has changed from large hardware volumes to providing state-of-the art software applications within the enterprise mobility area. ConsafeMobility today delivers a unique combination of software, hardware and managed services that truly delivers ROI over the entire lifecycle of a mobility investment.
July this year a strategic partnership was established with Antenna Software to give Consafe access to Antenna’s MEAP platform (rated by Gartner as the leading Mobile Enterprise Application Platform 2010 and 2011) for development of our applications. With the Antenna MEAP added to our already extensive capabilities within enterprise mobility, we firmly believe to have a very attractive position going forward. Our offer includes mobile applications across the business value chain, easily integrated to any back-end system and deployable on any mobile device. It really is the new generation of enterprise mobility!
It will be very exciting to follow the development of Mobility during the upcoming year!
Manufacturing
Manufacturing (previously named Extend) is our smallest business area with great growth prospects. Although Manufacturing will continue to provide and develop the same products and applications as before, the focus will gradually move towards applications within manufacturing and production. This way Consafe Logistics will be able to offer complete logistic solutions to those customers, who support their own production as well as distribution.
The Extend product – a user-efficient front-end system for ERP-systems – will continue to be the main focus for Manufacturing’s product development efforts during the years to come. Already in 2011 a new Extend platform was successfully released. The new release with configurable user-interfaces and simplified ERP-integration secures a fast implementation even for more complex applications.
Voice control of machine equipment in a heavy production environment is another example of innovative solutions moving the technical boundaries into new areas.
Final words
Hopefully the description above has given you a good picture where Consafe Logistics are and where we are going, and that you find it an attractive proposition worth a more detailed investigation.
The Christmas celebrations are soon here, and therefore I would like to conclude with wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We at Consafe Logistics look forward to meet you again to discuss how we can assist you with your new challenges in an ever changing world.
Yours faithfully
Ulf Jansson
CEO, Consafe Logistics Group