This year’s European Carrier Day awards showed a return to form following 2009’s pared down ceremony, with an evening dinner and a full day of management presentations on strategy and tenders at Daimler’s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.
The awards given are the highlight of the event, now running for ten years for passenger cars, and six years for commercial vehicles. This year Daimler introduced a ‘Newcomer of the Year’ award.
Germany’s Horst Mosolf won for passenger cars logistics, while Switzerland’s Galliker Transport won for commercial vehicles. The Czech Republic’s Turinsky Transport was Newcomer of the Year.
Daimler monitors its carriers in an extensive system, also the basis for the manufacturer’s performance-related pay (PRP) scheme. The main categories are damage, loading audit, equipment and distribution time. The latter was formerly lead-time, but was adjusted to incorporate both pick-up performance (70% of the score) and transport time (30%).
The criteria are weighted differently, and starting in 2011 this weighting has been harmonised between cars and commercial vehicles at 10% for equipment, 25% each for damage and loading audit, and 40% for distribution time.
Carriers rated 80 (of 100) or better get a 1.5% bonus on contracted rates, and 3% if they achieve 90 or better. Carriers below 70 lose 1%, below 60 lose 2% and below 50 lose 3%. The commercial vehicle rating had been slightly different, with 60 as the benchmark, but this has been raised to 70 from 2011.
Daimler’s PRP is viewed by management as a positive factor in managing supplier performance, with Christ and Scherr saying that it pays more bonuses than it apply deductions. Daimler plans to implement the system for ocean carriers as well.
Andreas Renschler, Daimler Board of Management Member responsible for trucks and buses, presented the 2010 winners. Mosolf was praised for its consistent improvement in all categories, as well as its modern fleet, which includes a large number of Euro-5 trucks. Daimler also pointed to a higher number of trainees at Mosolf.
As with Mosolf, Galliker Transport received the award for significant improvement in performance, also receiving high marks for its strong focus on the customer and its wide range of training opportunities for employees.
Turinsky won the award as the provider that made the most progress in the shortest time. The Czech company scored well for its low damage rate, high delivery reliability, and environmentally friendly fleet.
A full report on the Daimler Carrier Day, including a programme that focused more on economic forecasts than in the past and which highlighted the strengthening outlook for the global sector, will be published in the forthcoming edition of Finished Vehicle Logistics magazine (Jan-March 2011).
