Logistics

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We always have our ear to the ground when it comes to the current market situation and therefore understand logistics companies and their challenges.
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We support you in your strategies for overcoming your challenges with a special focus on processes and IT.
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We are competent and build on the success of numerous logistics projects and our wide-ranging industry knowledge.
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We offer a comprehensive service portfolio together with our sister company DATIS IT-Services.
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We impress with our industry knowledge in combination with our subject and methodological expertise - depending on the requirements.
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International retail group automates warehouse locations and harmonizes processes

With our IT expertise and proven industry know-how, we advise and support logistics companies on the path to digital transformation, from the conception of a professional process design to contemporary solutions for transport management, digital warehouse processes, the automated processing of forwarding orders or data flows. You can find out more in this white paper. Simply click here to download:

Always with an open ear on the logistics market

The market for transportation and logistics services is highly competitive and more fiercely contested than ever due to the ongoing pandemic and the war in Ukraine. As a result, many logistics companies are facing supply bottlenecks and material shortages that are putting entire logistics networks under pressure. Added to this are the shortage of skilled workers and the changes that the logistics sector in particular is facing as a result of climate protection. Logistics companies are responding to this with rationalization and automation. This enables them to increase their productivity and achieve efficiency gains. Digitalization plays a central role in this. It paves the way for more resilient and sustainable logistics processes. A transparent supply chain is particularly necessary in the course of disrupted supply chains in order to recognize disruptions at an early stage or even avoid them in advance. With digital twins of the logistics network and simulations, structures and processes in logistics can be raised to a new level. Big data and artificial intelligence (AI) are becoming increasingly important. These strategies are accompanied by the modernization and optimization of IT system architectures. IoT (Internet of Things) and cloud computing play an important role here.

We know the process requirements of logisticians

With our IT expertise and proven industry know-how, we advise and support logistics companies on the path to digital transformation, from the conception of a professional process design to contemporary solutions for transport management, digital warehouse processes, the automated processing of forwarding orders or data flows. In the volatile logistics market, it is more important than ever to have real-time access to key company figures, such as the performance of the logistics network.

This enables logistics specialists to recognize the effects of boundary conditions promptly and make fact-based decisions. This is why we support and advise our customers in the planning and implementation of real-time data warehouses that bundle important information and make it available in real time. We also construct hybrid analytical infrastructures. They combine the properties of a data warehouse with big data and thus generate a detailed digital image of the supply chain. In this way, we are creating the basis for logistics companies to fully exploit the opportunities opened up by data science and AI.

We attach great importance to quality in everything we do. With the ISO27001-certified IT services of our sister company DATIS IT-Services GmbH, we meet all the requirements that logistics companies place on modern and reliable system architectures. We are always informed about the current needs of logistics companies. To this end, we are in constant communication with our customers and are involved in the BVL and the Hamburg Logistics Initiative.

Research our IT projects in the field of logistics

In our project database you will find logistics projects that we have successfully implemented together with our customers in recent years. In our Industry Focus Logistics you will also find these in a graphical overview. The range of solutions developed and implemented is correspondingly wide. You too can benefit from our unique experience and expertise in logistics and gain an overview of our wide-ranging industry knowledge.

An application for management, controlling and storage of freight at various locations is developed in cooperation with a partner company. A system of this kind consists of different software components that interact …
Development of interface mappings and administration of EDI processes for logistics companies in a service data centre. The logistical processes in the area of transport management and warehouse management are supported, with …
The customer operates as a transport association in local public transport. The customer sells products for its affiliated transport companies and local public transport organizations. PTA implements the necessary extensions in the …
The aim of the project is the migration of a (near) real-time streaming application. The application is used to process and visualize event data in near real time. The challenge lies in …

We offer logistics companies a comprehensive portfolio of services and customized all-round services

With our comprehensive service portfolio, we offer logistics companies all the components for an all-round carefree service, from consulting and design to implementation, support and secure operation of their IT landscapes. But what exactly do the individual areas involve? We will be happy to explain this to you in more detail.

Professional process design is an indispensable basis for successful digitalization. We use proven methods and software tools from business process management to help logisticians identify, evaluate, implement, monitor and continuously improve the potential of digitalization in their organization. The aim: to increase productivity and improve efficiency.

We use the notation language BPMN 2.0 for process modeling. This is standardized worldwide according to ISO/IEC 19510:2013 and has become established and proven itself internationally for the representation of functional and technical process flows, for example in the mapping of processes in the warehouse, for goods handling, order processing or the introduction of scanner solutions. Our spectrum ranges from the creation of actual and target processes for the value-adding processes of a freight forwarding company to the technical mapping of processes including workflow management and low-code platforms as well as technical executability using a BPM process engine.

Together with our partner Celonis, one of the leading process mining experts, we are developing process models that logisticians can use to make every step in their complex processes traceable, down to the document level if necessary. This reveals deviations, outliers or any bottlenecks that make their process chains inefficient. Using these analyses, logisticians can identify the current status of the processes in their organization, compare this with the target process models and derive targeted measures.

This allows business processes to be optimally adapted, improvement potential to be fully exploited, efficiency to be increased and costs to be saved. Logistics service providers in particular, who map many process sequences and transaction data, can no longer avoid the use of process mining. Since organizational and IT projects in logistics are usually extensive and complex, we rely on efficient partnerships. Our cooperation with the following partners in the logistics environment has proven to be very successful:

Read our success story to find out how we modelled and optimized the logistics processes of TCI Logistics GmbH from Hamburg using BPMN 2.0.

Our IT consultants develop customized solutions that are tailored to the individual needs of individual logistics companies. There are basically no limits to the requirements. Using modern technologies, we also create hybrid IT landscapes, for example, from web applications to mobile solutions, into which we also integrate cloud services if required.

When choosing the right software architecture, we recommend that our customers in the logistics sector rely on container technology for reasons of resilience. We break down monolithic architectures into microservices that are encapsulated in containers. Clustered in this way, the instances can be automatically scaled in line with the runtime. When it comes to programming languages, we are proficient in a wide range of different ones; in the logistics environment, we mainly use Java and .NET.

This is how software development works within the framework of Continuos Integration and Continuos Deployment:

Software developers program an IT solution. As soon as they are finished, tests are carried out, ideally automatically. After successful testing, the components are transferred to an integration environment and tested in context. After approval by the testers, we install the components in the production environment. The aim is to automate as many steps of this process as possible.

When implementing our projects, we rely on modern software development methods that leave nothing to be desired or specified by our customers. If they give us a free hand, we rely on agile methods such as Scrum or KanBan.

Here we have listed some examples of individual solutions for you that have been developed using this methodology and have proven themselves in the logistics market:

  • EuroMistral® (Transport Management System)
  • Container Operation and Planning for hinterland transportation (water, road, rail, terminals, repair)
  • Scanner solutions for warehouses and transshipment points
  • Electronic roll card: telematics connections of the vehicle fleet of freight forwarders and carriers to the transport management system

3.1 Business Intelligence (BI) – or data is the new gold

The future lies in digitized material and value flows. Especially in the logistics sector. Tight margins, price wars and intense competitive pressure: for logistics specialists, these conditions reflect everyday working life. It is therefore all the more important that logistics companies use their resources efficiently. At the same time, they must provide a high level of service in order to maintain customer relationships in the long term.

These goals are supported by the intelligent handling of large volumes of data, i.e. big data. Big data puts countless pieces of data and information into context and reduces them to the essentials. This gives logistics specialists a detailed view of the overall business and provides them with precisely prepared, relevant information at all times. In this way, decisions can be made on the basis of reliable facts rather than assumptions.

This is why we are building real-time data warehouses with our logistics providers (courier express parcel service, CEP) that combine and display data from IoT devices, such as scanners, as well as key performance indicators (KPIs) in real time alongside data from company systems.

We take the view that hybrid analytical infrastructures are architectures that consider the classic data warehouse and data science as complementary rather than separate. Logistics companies benefit from this architecture by using a single point of truth for the same key figures and dimensions. A company-wide Business Object Model (BOM) serves as the functional view here. Once the technology has been implemented, logisticians use an overall architecture that is characterized by high scalability, a modular structure and flexible adaptability, especially as cloud services can be easily integrated if required. Examples of this are the DWH services Teradata Vantage and Snowflake in the GCP (Google Cloud Platform). The following cloud services are also used in the BI environment at GCP:

Detailed analyses using business intelligence and evaluations in real time are characterized by the following advantages:

  • Complete transparency of the logistics network and transport chains
  • The most important company key performance indicators (KPIs) are available in real time
  • The performance of the logistics network can be checked in real time and acute situations can be responded to quickly

A reliable data and information base provides logisticians with a sound foundation, even for short-term operational decisions. Individual specialist areas or departments can also benefit from BI: By providing them with a self-service BI, which provides clear tables with the important area data.

Convince yourself of the efficiency of a real-time data warehouse and read how Hermes, one of Germany’s leading logistics service providers, stores many millions of new data records from over 30 connected source systems in its data warehouse every day.

Read our success story to find out how we helped Hermes transform into a data-driven company by developing a customized BI platform.

3.2 Data science opens up new fields of application for logistics experts

The aim of data science is to generate knowledge from data in order to support decision-making processes or optimize corporate management. In the big data environment, huge amounts of data are analyzed using data science with statistical evaluations, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). This is made possible by computer algorithms that recognize patterns and correlations from historical data. Logistics experts can also use these findings to create more complex analyses in terms of business analytics.

We are very familiar with how data science can be used to enhance the reporting of a BI landscape. This enables logistics experts to create more complex analyses such as forecasting models in addition to standard evaluations and to fully exploit the possibilities of data science and AI. For example, they use forecasts from our machine learning models to support their transportation management and personnel management at transshipment points.

Logisticians use data science to simulate an exact digital image of their supply chain and thus the performance of their entire logistics network. Different environmental situations and stress situations can be mirrored without great effort and weak points can be specifically identified.

This is made possible, for example, by storing original data from the respective logistics company in HADOOP clusters for a longer period of time and merging it with IoT data (scanners) and external data. This provides logistics companies with a sound basis for strategic decisions, for example to optimize their network or detect anomalies in shipment flows.

Agile approaches have proven their worth in these projects. This gives our logistics customers greater flexibility in meeting their requirements. You can quickly incorporate the knowledge gained into the development of solutions.

EuroMistral® Road (EMR) is a sophisticated transport management system with a full range of services for general cargo and freight transportation. EMR covers the entire value chain of a logistics company and is therefore one of the most comprehensive TMS solutions on the market and has proven itself in productive operation at many logistics companies in recent years.

These features make EuroMistral® Road so unique:

  • EMR covers the entire value chain of a logistics company
  • EMR provides regular best practices and can be customized to meet individual customer requirements
  • EMR enables individually configurable workflows
  • EMR allows a high degree of automation for business process optimization, including EDI from Seeburger
  • EMR provides logisticians with a three-dimensional condition management system
  • EMR ensures real-time contribution margin calculation as early as the quotation preparation stage
  • EMR has interfaces to various third-party systems

Logisticians use the following modules in EuroMistral® Road:

  • Quotation system
  • Order acceptance
  • Disposition
  • Billing
  • Warehouse, hall and transport organization
  • Customs clearance
  • Internal clearing
  • Invoicing
  • Hall scanning/revision
  • Dangerous goods handling
  • Residue processing

In EuroMistral® Road, logisticians benefit from these advantages:

  • EMR is based on many years of logistics expertise
  • EMR is customized software made in Mannheim
  • EMR is being continuously developed in cooperation with renowned logistics companies
  • EMR is designed from the ground up for mass data processing
  • EMR has a modern container software architecture
  • EMR is available via a future-proof and sustainable DevOps operating model
  • EMR is continuously supplemented with new, future-oriented tools
  • EMR can be used conveniently in the browser

EuroMistral® Road supports interfaces to the following third-party systems:

  • Interfaces to CRM, DMS, ERP (e.g. FI/CO) and MES systems
  • Interfaces to route planners and telematics systems
  • Interfaces to EDI via XML and EDI (SuccessStory)
  • Interfaces to third parties involved (subcontractors, customs, etc.)
  • DWH, BI etc.

The following logistics companies already use EuroMistral® Road as their leading transport management system:

Have we piqued your interest or would you like a (live) demo by one of our IT consultants? Then get in touch with us without obligation!

How the DevOps operating model accelerates IT:

In our agile operating model, development and operations work better together, allowing logistics specialists to react more quickly to changes. DevOps leads to a cultural change in software development and also forms an important foundation on the path to the cloud:

  • We live a true DevOps operating model
  • We develop our IT solutions in-house in Mannheim
  • We provide IT services and data center operations in the Rhine-Neckar region from a single source
  • We have consistently aligned Continuous Delivery and Continuous Integration with your added value
  • With the integrated SpiraTeam application lifecycle management system, we provide you with a complete solution that also enables you to master your project management and quality management reliably

The logistics and forwarding industry is constantly faced with major challenges when it comes to meeting customer requirements and saving costs at the same time. With SAP S/4HANA, companies in this sector have the opportunity to optimize their processes and thus save time and money.

SAP S/4HANA offers numerous advantages for the logistics and forwarding industry. By processing data in real time and being able to control processes in real time, companies can react more quickly to changes and optimize their supply chains.

The ability to analyze data in real time also gives companies in the logistics and forwarding industry the opportunity to improve their business processes and better understand their customer needs. PTA GmbH is an SAP consulting company that provides comprehensive advice to companies in the logistics and forwarding industry. We support our customers in the implementation and optimization of SAP S/4HANA and help them to improve their business processes and increase their competitiveness. With our many years of experience and broad expertise, we are able to offer our customers tailor-made solutions.

The logistics sector is a digital pioneer. This is how the results of our survey, which we conducted together with Statista, can be interpreted. Many companies use modern digital technologies in logistics, such as warehouse management systems. The industry clearly recognizes the advantages of using a modern software solution and benefits from consistent and optimized warehouse management processes along the entire supply chain – from receiving and storage to picking, packing, shipping, inventory tracking and all associated processes. The figures prove this. For example, 74 percent of logistics companies worldwide already use warehouse management systems. Almost a third rely on integrated solutions from SAP, in particular SAP WM (17.6 percent) and SAP EWM (12.4 percent).


As digitalization progresses, more and more IT solutions are being used in companies. These have many advantages. But these tools and applications also need to be supported, developed and maintained in the back office to ensure efficient operation over time.

To enable logistics companies to focus on their core business, we support both standard software systems and our customers’ own developments. Our professional application management not only saves logistics companies costs, but also increases continuity, flexibility and security.

And they raise their applications to a professional software level – from application development and requirements management to application design, test management, implementation, performance and the roll-out of their IT landscape.

With DATIS IT Services GmbH, a subsidiary of PTA IT-Beratung, we offer logistics companies hosting, outsourcing and industry-specific IT services. The focus is on modern and reliable IT system architectures – certified in accordance with ISO 27001 – that are also tailored precisely to the needs of logistics companies. With highly available systems, we guarantee logistics companies a smooth electronic exchange (EDI, Electronic Data Interchange) of important documents such as transport orders or status reports – around the clock, seven days a week. With data centers at two locations and mirrored systems, we achieve very high system availability for our logistics customers.

We design and implement cost-efficient operating environments with minimal downtime for logistics companies and always focus on their individual requirements. We are thus taking account of the margins in logistics, which are under greater pressure than ever due to current events.

You take care of your core business, we take care of the seamless and secure operation of your IT systems in our modern data centers. You benefit:

  • From setup, highly available operation and seamless support of your IT infrastructure by our IT experts and service staff 24/7, 365 days a year, Made in Germany
  • From a significant reduction in legal risks through strict compliance with your IT governance
  • From compliance with the complex KRITIS data protection regulations
  • From smooth integration of your on-premise solutions and streamlined cloud services that take your digital transformation to a new level
  • Modern IT security concepts and protection against cyber attacks to prevent system downtimes or failures

What distinguishes PTA IT consulting in the logistics environment?

In its organization, PTA IT-Beratung focuses on specific topics and sectors, which are supported by supra-regional units and constantly adapted to the latest market developments. Our IT experts complement our industry expertise and cover it with industry-independent skills – including basic methods, process models, technologies, tools and services.

Depending on the requirements of a logistics provider, we combine our proven industry expertise in logistics with our thematic and methodological competence. The extent of this symbiosis depends on the type and scope of our customers’ requirements in the logistics sector. It can range from temporary consulting to extensive project management in remote teams. Regardless of the extent to which logisticians make use of our logistics expertise, the result is that they receive unique and customized solutions from us that combine the knowledge gained from countless logistics projects with pioneering technological and methodological expertise. And this is precisely what sets PTA IT Consulting apart from numerous players on the market.

Have we sparked your interest?

Gerd Minners

Key Account Manager

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