#CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY
AcceleRail drives digital transformation at ARS Altman AG
ARS Altmann AG, based in Wolnzach, Bavaria, has been a leading provider of automotive logistics services in Europe for over 40 years. For over 20 years, the family-owned company has successfully relied on rail as the number one means of transport and has pursued a consistent growth strategy, particularly in international markets. There are now 3,500 freight wagons travelling on the European rail network. ARS Altmann also operates its own single wagon network via two marshalling hubs in northern and southern Germany.
Summary of ARS Altman’s customer success story
- ARS Altmann decided to modernise its scheduling processes in rail freight transport and selected a software for this purpose. By the time AcceleRail joined the project, several years had already been spent on adapting the system to the processes without successful implementation; together with AcceleRail, the introduction was successful in a short space of time.
- AcceleRail supported ARS Altmann with its expertise from the railway industry and in IT project management and acted as a translator between the IT service provider and the employees with high expectations.
- The first step was to record ARS Altmann’s key business processes and prioritise the resulting requirements.
- The AcceleRail team set up structured deadlines to track progress and ensure that the project approach could be realised within the ambitious four-month timeframe.
„The collaboration with AcceleRail was crucial in order to implement this project in a short space of time, without overburdening our employees. We were particularly impressed by the combination of IT expertise and a deep understanding of our industry.“
Martin Franke
Project Manager and Deputy Head of the Rail Transport Department
ARS Altmann AG
Challenge: Digitalisation and optimisation of scheduling processes during ongoing operations
“At ARS Altmann, we faced the challenge of modernising our IT landscape, particularly in scheduling and wagon dispatching processes for rail freight transport, to align with the digitalisation initiatives of our clients and service providers,” recalls Martin Franke. “Manual, time-consuming work processes, such as maintaining Excel lists with price data and manually entering train running data, were a burden on efficiency and data quality. The biggest hurdle was involving employees in the digitalisation process and ensuring that the switch to new systems went smoothly without affecting ongoing business.”
Project and change management for successful IT implementation
“The resources in the team were lacking to convert a system from 0 to 100, which requires the right capacities and someone to bundle the open issues,” explains Martin. ARS Altmann registers an average of 140 loaded trains per week, which ensures a high workload for the team. AcceleRail played a key role in establishing a suitable project structure. On-site meetings with the end users provided the necessary insight into the processes. “They knew who was doing what, recognised our priorities and were able to give the long project the impetus it needed by making the project more concrete.”.
“The system had already been in the company for a long time, but the presence of AcceleRail, including on-site, made it clear that no one was going to drop out, we were going to do it.” The employees, some of whom were initially skeptical, proved to be competent users of the new systems after intensive training. “Some were worried that they wouldn’t be able to cope, but in the end they were the ones who were best able to work with the new tools.”
“You understood us and together we successfully implemented the project. You were on-site, engaged with the employees and really left a lasting impression.”
ARS Altmann AG
AcceleRail as an interpreter between IT, business and end users
“AcceleRail often acted as an interpreter in our project. As end users, we had difficulties for years in explaining to the IT provider what we needed,” Martin continues. “Not all systems speak the same language, and that requires a lot of coordination. It’s two different languages – the IT language and ours – and you’ve bridged that gap.”
An important step that AcceleRail was able to take was to record the actual processes, on the basis of which priorities could be set. “We didn’t know how the software could best support us. The software provider didn’t know our railway industry that well and we weren’t IT experts ourselves. You built us a bridge there, and that helped a lot.”
Target image gives ARS Altmann clear orientation for the next projects
In addition to actively accompanying the final development for the commissioning of the software, prioritisation, training and testing, AcceleRail also provided support in the development of a comprehensive digitalisation strategy that took into account both technical and personnel aspects. The IT landscape for the rail transport department was rethought in close collaboration. “At the moment, we’ve only taken the first step. We have created the basis on which we can continue to build in order to optimise and stabilise the system. Many of the other ideas need to be implemented on an ongoing basis,” remarks Martin Franke.
