Zurich, 2 October 1996:
The very first shipment is entered using the lbase software at the offices of Bonafide Logistic AG, part of the Loomis Group. The company needed to ship a box full of electrical components from Munich to Ticino. And so began a long-standing successful partnership.

Fast-forward to today:
19 years later, lbase has already been used to process 6,636,752 shipments (as of 8/10/2015) within the Loomis Group as a whole. From Zurich to New York, Los Angeles to Hong Kong, the lbase TMS suite is used to exchange data globally within Loomis International. The system has been adapted to the business models over intervening years. Whether art logistics, a parcel service, or the transport of valuables: The solutions can be adjusted relatively quickly as needed.

Clear signal of intent

lbase was introduced at Loomis in Vienna, Prague, Istanbul, and Copenhagen in 2015. Singapore will go live in early 2016, with Shanghai and Paris waiting in the wings. Reinhard Böhme, Head of Competence Center, is strongly focused on integrating the lbase TMS suite. Warehouse projects with lbase WMS are also being implemented at most sites.

The release upgrade to lbase 6.3 took place in November 2015. The migration to Unicode means that the databases are now capable of accommodating multiple countries and languages as well, allowing for the integration of Turkey, the Czech Republic, Dubai, China, and other countries. This step will be tackled in the first half of 2016. The crucial nature of this feature is demonstrated in the example of China. Silver ingots with sometimes Chinese manufacturer designations are currently stored there but cannot be correctly inventoried.

These difficulties will soon become a thing of the past with the changeover to Unicode. By factoring in approx. 600 days of its own workforce for implementing all lbase projects in 2015, Loomis has clearly signaled its intention to work with lbase. Planned projects include address data management with a distribution function to the various systems, offer creation and monitoring in lbase, and other check mechanisms relating to software distribution.

Delivery anywhere in the US within 24 hours

One major project is currently being realized with Loomis USA. Cooperation is ongoing with UPS, with its aircraft fleet being used so that the whole of the US can be served within 24 hours. An office for handling the shipments has been set up for this at the central hub in Louisville (Kentucky).
lbase has been chosen as the lead platform for collating data from various systems. The some 150 Loomis USA sites are also part of the network, providing local distribution services, as well as the Loomis International sites, handling shipments to and from abroad via the network.

lbase Online has a leading role to play in the initial phase: The orders are entered manually at the beginning using lbase Online, and the data is then subsequently exchanged automatically between the various systems via interfaces with lbase. Reinhard Böhme is enthused. “This opens up a completely new business field in the US, where everything was only transported by road previously. Through this cooperation with UPS and lbase, such vast distances can be covered within one day by combining road feeder and airfreight services. The lbase TMS software allows us to follow every step of this in near real time. With 15-20 orders a day, which were previously handled without any IT support, this is the perfect volume from which to launch our project.” However, the volumes are due to rise very sharply with the acquisition of a competitor in the US.