Westar navigates the shipping waters using Scope in both US and German branches

Westar is a global logistics provider focused on customized solutions and who pride themselves on individual customer care. Their services include the consolidation and forwarding of air and ocean freight, vendor consolidations, time-definite transportation, project management, warehousing, distribution and export packaging. As an international logistics provider Westar is committed to simplify logistic processes by providing best in class services from start to finish.

Atlantic crossing and beyond

One-time entry and seamless exchange of data across the Atlantic between their branches and customers was a key issues for Westar when migrating from their former TMS to Scope. But the larger picture was the impressive overall performance of Scope and its easy to use interface that convinced Westar to select the air & ocean freight and customs modules of Scope.

Mark Ketcham, VP of Riege Software the Americas, conducted some compelling demos in 2014 at Westar's US branch in Pittsburgh, PA. These were followed by demos for the German branch at Riege Software headquarters in Meerbusch.

Andreas Rohde, International Business Development Manager, hosted Thomas Zudeick, Head of Import, and Horst Nickel, Head of Export at Westar Germany. “From our point of view it was a success to convince two prospects on both sides of the Atlantic at the same time, because their demands and requests differed from each other,” Andreas stated and added “Fortunately, Scope allows considerable modifications to meet forwarding demands and a number of these were produced simultaneously in a short time period.”

A sea of enhancements

After Peter Schubert, CEO of Westar Germany, signed the contract in April 2015, the Air Freight module was almost immediately ready for take-off while the Sea Freight module needed various enhancements to meet Westar's specific demands, for example, connections to local harbor authorities bypassing other platforms, and inclusion of accompanying documents. “We faced a few initial difficulties, and we also had some special requests for modification mainly concerning sea freight functionalities which have been executed by Riege precisely according to our demands,” said Peter Schubert, General Manager at Westar Germany, and confirmed his satisfaction: “After almost 2 years of experience we can testify that Scope is a reliable and user-friendly software lessening the daily burden our employees.”

Consequently, the projected go-live of Scope in Germany had to be postponed from October 2015 to January 2016 when Westar Germany and the USA went live. Ashley Bratek, Director of Operations at Westar USA, empasized on another important factor, the dialogue between man and machine: “To provide the best service in the industry, it takes both dedicated people who know how to navigate the waters of shipping, and a complementary software that simplifies processes to enable the fulfillment of our customer commitments. We have both, skilled and, committed people combined with the innovative system, Scope, that supports our efforts by ‘Putting People First.”

Mark Ketcham, VP, The Americas at Riege Software summarized: “The transatlantic collaboration worked perfectly having local resources in both Germany and the US, at both Riege and Westar. I would like to express my gratitude for the trust Westar placed in us as one of our initial customers in the US.”

Launched but not finished

A successful launch never means, the work is done. Scope is recognized as the sum of its continuous improvements and enhancements. In the following weeks, several additional projects had to be executed, e.g. the integration of third parties like TCI (Trans Container International) providing additional services.

Smooth sailing

With 34 users in 2 branches, Westar operate and communicate now at a far higher level that permits far more efficient processing of their duties, project tasks and shipments, enabling the company to run with the tide sail full steam ahead.