City and District of Osnabrück Supported by Koch International

At the beginning of 2020, the City and District of Osnabrück faced a significant challenge: medical practices, care facilities, and outpatient care had to continue their work at the start of the Corona pandemic without sufficient protective equipment. They found support from the logistics provider Koch International, which took over both the storage and distribution of protective items. A webshop, developed specifically for the City and District, was used to manage the distribution campaign.

(Osnabrück) As the number of infected individuals rose in the spring of last year and uncertainty grew due to the unknown disease, the reserves of masks, face shields, protective gowns, surface and hand disinfectants were running low and were hardly restockable due to the high global demand. “We had to protect the nursing staff from infections and counteract a potential larger outbreak, so we procured protective items. We needed secured areas for storage. Additionally, we had to distribute the items and transport them to the facilities as quickly as possible,” describes Klaus Wübbolding, who works in the Department of Order, Fire, and Disaster Protection for the District of Osnabrück, the situation. Relief organizations reached their limits when it came to logistical support. There was a lack of storage space to keep the supplies, options for distributing the goods with vans or trucks, and IT to manage a distribution campaign.

Storage, Transport, and IT from a Single Source

The City of Osnabrück found the necessary expertise at Koch International. As a full-service provider for the transport and storage of goods, the Osnabrück logistics company was able to take over the complete management, storage, and distribution of protective equipment in a very short time. “The contact with Koch International came through the City of Osnabrück. Together with the District of Osnabrück, the procurement and management of materials were organized. After the first discussions, we immediately received a concept idea and a cost overview,” reports Klaus Wübbolding. This included not only the logistics and transport solution but also the implementation of a webshop. Through this, the crisis management team was to order the corresponding quantities of goods from the warehouse and manage the delivery in the City and District.

Webshop for Protective Equipment

Done: Within a few days, Koch International, together with a partner company, realized the programming of the webshop and set up 90 different items, allowing the crisis management teams in the City and District of Osnabrück to optimize their work. In the following months, they assessed the needs in hospitals, nursing homes, and outpatient care, allocated the quantities to the facilities, and recorded them in the webshop of Koch International. The logistics provider received all important data through a direct connection of the webshop to the warehouse management software and the transport management system. The team at Koch International assembled the goods according to the specified orders and distributed them via their own van in the local transport area. In total, over 300 pallets were received in the Osnabrück warehouse and delivered to more than 100 different care facilities in the City and District of Osnabrück within a few weeks. “We were operational again in no time. The webshop was designed to be absolutely user-friendly for our employees and is easy to use. The logistics team at Koch International coordinated the large quantities effortlessly and did an excellent job in April and May,” says Klaus Wübbolding.

Perfect Logistics Processing Thanks to Collaboration

The immediate, intensive collaboration and constant coordination during the “hot phase” at the beginning of the Corona outbreaks contributed to managing the pandemic in the City and District of Osnabrück. Through the implementation of the logistics project in connection with the webshop solution, medical practices, care facilities, and outpatient care were always supplied with sufficient protective masks and suits. “In retrospect, we experienced Koch International as a reliable and fast partner in our collaboration. We are very pleased that we could support the nursing staff during this turbulent time together. For the current situation, we are now very well positioned should the demand rise again,” summarizes Klaus Wübbolding.

About Koch International

As a service-oriented provider, Koch International develops customized transport and logistics concepts for customers from various industries: from national piece goods transport and European traffic to sea and air freight, as well as complete warehouse logistics. Additionally, the Osnabrück logistics provider supports the digitalization of logistics processes. In the eCommerce sector, the service ranges from webshop development to order picking, labeling, and returns management in contract logistics. The entrepreneurial thinking and actions are based on the more than 120-year-long, traditional company history. Koch International has evolved from a horse-drawn carriage business to a powerful global logistics provider. Today, the business is run by Heinrich Koch, Heinz-Peter Beste, and Uwe Fieselmann. The Osnabrück company now employs more than 780 people. Photo: © Koch International / Image Caption: Logistics_Koch_International; Koch International takes over both the webshop development and the order picking, labeling, and returns management in contract logistics. www.koch-international.de