FAZER

Fazer and Scandic Trans – partners for over a decade

It’s been 129 years since the young Karl Fazer opened his first bakery in Helsinki, with the purpose of creating moments of joy through meaningful food. Today Fazer makes up an impressive corporate group with operations in nine countries and exports to over 40. For over a decade Scandic Trans has been one of the group’s partners when it comes to food transport.

Text: Anna Sand • Pictures: Fazer

Fazer´s operation is vast within the food industry, both geographically and when it comes to the form of business.

“When we talk about Fazer, the first thing which comes to mind is confectionary, but our baked goods also mean big business, not forgetting our classy and iconic Fazer cafés.” Fazer’s purchasing manager within logistics, Marie-Christine Frantz, begins.

The corporate group employs almost 9 000 people spread over nine operative countries and last year’s turnover hit 1,1 billion euro. The group includes three parts: Fazer Bakery, Fazer Confectionery and Fazer Lifestyle Foods.

“In the newest part, Fazer Lifestyle Foods, which was founded in 2017, the focus is on plant-based, dairyfree food, on-the-go-snacks and smoothies as well as breakfast products”, Frantz explains. Development has been rapid in the last couple of years in this sector. New interesting products are launched continuously.

The Fazer Experience visitor centre was opened in 2016 when Fazer celebrated its 125th anniversary. In the visitor centre people can experience Fazer in their own way, familiarizing themselves with Fazer’s history, explore a raw materials garden and see how chocolate or sourdough bread is made, among other activities. In 2019 the Fazer Experience had over 230 000 visitors.

“Fazer has deliberately been focusing on innovations in order to create more sustainable solutions for the food products of the future”, Frantz continues.

In Lahti the company is currently building a xylitol factory, which is expected to be finished this fall. With the help of state-of-the-art technology, the factory will produce xylitol from oat hulls, a by-product of the oat-milling process.

“The process is the first of its kind and represents an innovative circular economic solution which Fazer is now patenting”, Frantz tells us.

Sustainability is highlighted within all of the corporate group’s operations – they have committed themselves to lowering emissions by 50 percent within the whole value chain by 2030. Some of the emissions are made up of CO2-emissions within the logistics sector, where Scandic Trans is a collaboration partner, and has been for quite some time.

“When choosing a logistics partners, we look at the big picture. Needless to say, it’s important that the vehicle fleet is in good condition, that they fulfil all the requirements

Fazer, turning 130 next year, congratulates its partner Scandic Trans on their first 30 years of business.

and regulations when it comes to transporting food and that the personnel knows the industry standards. But there are other factors that also play a crucial part. Timetables must be kept and communication between us has to run smoothly”.

At the same time, it’s a question of promoting long-term, sustainable development, for example by creating smart solutions in order to minimize the strain on the environment.

“Cost-effective transport is also an important factor”, Frantz adds.

Joakim Lerbacka, transport manager at Scandic Trans, states that both parties share the same values when it comes to the environment and quality. “Fazer has been a longstanding client of ours, and we look forward to continued, stable and long-term collaboration. We at Scandic Trans value a close relationship with our customers and being flexible throughout the whole transport chain. We also continuously strive towards being able to meet the client’s needs in all situations and therefore there is always someone there providing a personal service – we call him Johnny”, Joakim adds with a smile.

The big picture has been decisive for Fazer, and with Scandic Trans as a partner there is also big flexibility when it comes to transport. “We transport a great deal between our own units.

With Scandic Trans we transport both big and small, all according to the quality demands in place for foodstuffs transport. It has been very easy to work with them and everything has run smoothly, just like it should”, Frantz concludes. Fazer has operations in nine countries and exports to around 40. Logistics is an important part of a well-functioning " entity and since 2009 Fazer has collaborated with Scandic Trans. “We expect much from our hauliers when it comes to quality, schedules and communication.”

Serving Scandinavian customers out of southern Sweden

Last year was the subsidiary Scandic Logistics’ first real business year, and result for the start-up have been above and beyond all expectations. The sales and dispatch company, located in Helsingborg on the Swedish west coast, focuses exclusively on transport between Scandinavia and Europe, and after a favourable 2019 an ambitious business plan has now been prepared for the next five years.

The start-up of the subsidiary means that Scandic Trans can offer a considerably broader portfolio of transport services in Europe for its Scandinavian countries – Sweden, Norway and Denmark. “We also have excellent collaboration with our Finnish colleagues and we help each Scandic Logistics works with some ten haulage contractors on the continent and quality standards are high. “We sign contracts with haulage contractors and choose co-workers on the basis of their own areas of expertise. They should have the same quality and environmental certification as Scandic Trans’s own hauliers, and we always pay them personal visits before making our choice. High quality and an equally high level of service are keywords,” Joakim Lassen Text: Anna Sand/bySand • Foto: Scandic Logistics/ Saint-Gobain Ecophon & iStock other regularly with transport solutions,” Joakim points out. Lassen, Sales Manager at the Helsingborg office, explains. “Today we have steady flows from Poland to The goal, as often requested by the customers, is to Scandinavia and vice versa as well as from Sweden to minimize the number of hauliers in the chain. the Baltic states and Italy, both when it comes to tem“The customer should feel that the whole transport perature-regulated and hazardous goods, as well as is handled by Scandic Trans, all the way from the congreat solutions for domestic transport. This includes tinent to unloading or vice versa,” he continues. mixed cargo groupage, partial loads and FTL,” Joakim Today’s customers have strict demands, especially continues. when it comes to delivery times and follow-up op

Joakim Lassen, Sales Manager at Scandic Logistics, together with Måns Böös at Saint-Gobain Ecophon.

portunities. They often expect express deliveries and regular, real-time notifications.

“This is also one of our strengths. We have chosen not to compete with low prices. Instead, through our tight controls, we want to make our customers feel that they can relax and leave the delivery in our We also have excellent collaboration with our Finnish colleagues and we help each " other regularly with transport solutions,

hands. They appreciate receiving notifications about arrivals, unloading times and these sorts of things, often almost exactly to the minute.

Just like in Finland, they have specialized in temperature regulated, cooled and frozen foodstuff transport, and also to a degree in hazardous goods, in the rest of the Nordic countries and Europe as well. “But we exclude no one,” Joakim stresses.

There have been many inquiries to the Helsingborg office, and once the traffic really started rolling during the spring of 2019, the final accounts for last year were well beyond expectations.

“But now the honeymoon is over, and we have established a rather aggressive five-year plan,” Joakim says with a smile. The goal is to recruit a third person for the office towards the end of the year, and that within five years we will have our own terminal business somewhere in the southern part of Sweden,” he continues.

The big challenge in his work together with traffic planner Alex Proca, involves creating and building new customer relations.

“There are seldom people to contact on a local level when it comes to global corporate groups. At the same time, it’s just that - being out amongst customers and building relationships - that is so crucial in this business. And keeping your promise is of course a given,” Joakim concludes.

An impressive flow of goods – despite the crisis

As Swedbank Finland’s chief economist for almost a year now, and before that in the same role at Aktia, Heidi Schauman has a deep insight into the Finnish economy, trade and the challenges ahead after this exceptional spring.

Schauman, born in Tammisaari but nowadays residing in Helsinki, has a doctorate in economics and vast experience of the banking world. She sums up her current work duties in the following way:

“I follow developments from an economic perspective, partially domestic, partially global, and what this may mean for society at large and for our individual customers. My job is to communicate the message to them in different ways.” Right now nobody knows how much Finland’s GDP will drop this year due to the current circumstances, but Heidi believes that anything between minus five and minus twenty percent is possible. “It all depends on how long the crisis lasts but landing at minus 12 percent isn’t that far-fetched.”

It’s hard to find two countries so much alike as Finland and Swe- den anywhere else in the world. "

Nor have we yet seen all the effects of Brexit.

“We know that it has happened, but not much more, and today nobody yet knows how much harder it will become. But the timing was undoubtedly quite bad,” Heidi notes.

Seen from a global perspective the spring’s events make a scenario with a weakened China in relation to USA and Europe likely, which according to Heidi may lead to the USA and EU getting closer.

“When it comes to the Nordic countries it’s important that we maintain our high competence level and the knowledge that exists here, and only here. The Nordic economies are in good shape overall, and even though there are structural differences between the countries, it’s hard to find two countries so much alike as Finland and Sweden anywhere else in the world. " The transport business is the centre of everything and crises like the one we’re experiencing right now present a huge logistical challenge with completely new flows of goods.

“We still have that solid, industrial nucleus in our production on the home front, and even though Germany nowadays is our most important export country, Sweden is running a close second,” Heidi continues.

We export completely different goods to Sweden than to Germany, and the trade between the countries is very broad.

“It’s noticeable how little we export to Norway compared to Sweden, but contacts and relations between the countries are also on a completely different level. Then of course the Nordics make up a very special area, where each country has its own regime. Finland uses the European currency, while the other countries have their own, free-floating krona, except for Denmark with its currency tied to the euro. Norway in turn isn’t a member of the EU,” Heidi adds.

Exports and their yearly changes greatly depend price of oil, which of course has sunk considerably this spring.

“We have to remember that even if the value of our exports has decreased a lot due to this, the export in itself hasn’t declined on a corresponding scale. But the unstable krona presents challenges for companies in both countries and for those doing business with them.”

The transport business is, according to Heidi, a good indicator of how the economy in the country is doing.

“It’s sensitive to the state of the market and has to be flexible. It’s the centre of everything and crises like the one we’re experiencing right now present a huge logistical challenge with completely new flows of goods. In Finland this has worked wonderfully well and we haven’t experienced any shortages of necessities. I’m impressed by how smooth the flow of goods has been.”

Threats to the transport business depend greatly on whether changes in the flow of goods become permanent as a result of the pandemic, the trade war and Brexit.

“It might change the logistics business a great deal, especially if big changes take place within long production chains.”

If the crisis drags on or if a new wave hits us in the fall, she fears many bankruptcies and a massive wave of unemployment in the country, which will also inevitably affect our flow of goods.

“Then it will be interesting to compare the countries, and I am of course talking about Finland and Sweden, since we have chosen very different paths. Already now we can see smaller affects on the Swedish economy than on the Finnish one, but in the end it’s always global demand that’s decisive.”

Fossil free

– without investments in the vehicle fleet

The use of renewable fuels is a decisive factor for a sustainable logistics sector. Higher and higher demands are put on both individuals and companies to decrease their emissions, and at Scandic Trans they strive be a pioneer in decreasing the climate footprint of their traffic.

Some measures in this line of work “The cost increase for using fossil free fuel is 2,2 - 3 can demand big investments, which percent of the total haulage and during the second are heavy to bear. But there are also half of 2020 we will introduce environmental measconsiderably easier ones, that don’t ures as an alternative to all Scandic Trans customers require any investments whatsoever interested in renegotiating,” Löfqvist continues. in the existing vehicle fleet. The choice is made when standing at the Neste MY Renewable Diesel, also called HVO, gives fuel pump, since it doesn’t concern both companies and individuals the chance to reduce the motor itself, but the fuel used their environmental footprint, without costly investin it. ments. This is something Scandic Trans has sustainable fuel, which leads to up focused on, and during the winter to 90 percent less greenhouse gas months of 2020 they tested Neste’s emissions (CO2). It can be mixed MY Renewable Diesel in several of with regular diesel; no modification their vehicles. of the engine is needed. Just fill up

“For a long time now we’ve been and drive,” explains Heidi Peltonen, searching for alternatives that create manager of sustainable partnera measurable environmental impact. ships at Neste, the world’s leading Our customers have also actively producer of renewable diesel. done so. Right now the use of fossil “It’s a totally renewable and free fuels is the only sustainable and When it comes to capacity and possible way for us and our customfunction, Neste MY Renewable ers to noticeably lower emissions,” Diesel works just like fossil diesel, explains Mikael Löfqvist, CEO at because it has the same chemical Scandic Trans. composition.

“The differences lie in the production. Renewable diesel is part of a circular production chain,” Peltonen explains.

While ordinary diesel is produced from crude oil, HVO is made out of bio-waste and decomposed products, like animal and fish fat, cooking oil and grease from the food industry and restaurants, as well as from decomposed products from the production of cooking oil – components that contain a great deal of energy.

“The result is a product much better for the environment than fossil diesel, which delivers the same performance thanks to its chemical composition and can be used straight away without making changes to the vehicle fleet or infrastructure.”

Neste’s MY Renewable Diesel has been available since 2017 and most manufacturers of heavy-duty vehicles, among others Volvo, Scania and Mercedes, have approved the use of clean HVO in their engines.

“The challenge for us is to reach out to the users with the message that each and every one of us has to realize and take responsibility for climate issues,” Peltonen states. But already now more and more companies are starting to realize that, by taking environmental responsibility, they can also gain a competitive advantage.

“More and more customers demand fossil-free solutions. This is something logistics companies can take advantage of by quickly changing to fossil-free fuels. That way they become a natural partner for responsible clients, contracting companies and businesses,” Peltonen says.

Kenneth Sandås at Trans Sandås Ab, one of the joint owners of Scandic Trans, has noticed the same phenomena.

“The demand for eco-friendly transports is constantly growing, and during the spring we tested Neste’s MY Renewable Diesel in one of our vehicles. It worked really well and we haven’t noticed any differences in performance or consumption,” Sandås notes.

“According to the data, renewable diesel should also have a positive effect on the length of time between servicing the vehicles, which sounds very plausible,” he adds.

The availability of Neste’s HVO has improved continuously.

“The distribution network is expanding all the time and the goal is that we will have over 100 stations all around Finland in the fall of 2020. MY Diesel is also available in Sweden,” Peltonen concludes.

Technology gives a more transparent transport service

A new IT department, consisting of a team of three people, was founded at Scandic Trans this spring. The change will create larger IT resources and utilize the possibilities today’s technology has to offer.

Reko Märsylä and Linda Bengs are two of the members of the IT team. They work on a broad scale when it comes to developing the systems within the company.

“One thing is monitoring development; we must constantly evaluate what measures are needed. We also develop our own programs and measuring and reporting systems in order to simplify work routines within the company, and we also work on integrating our own and our customers’ systems wherever possible,” Reko explains.

The company’s customers benefit from the work carried out in all these areas.

“Our own pricing system enables us to give the client a fixed rate instead of waiting for a quotation. Scanning of the waybills directly using the drivers’ cell phones has shortened invoicing times, and in the very near future the customer will also be able to access scanned waybills automatically.

“Furthermore, our follow-up programs make it possible for us to constantly adapt our operations so that our customers get the best possible service, and when our systems are integrated with the customers’, they get much more insight into the transport we provide to them,” Reko continues.

Thanks to these measuring and reporting systems they will also soon be able to offer companies emissions reports and other information.

Bookings have to some degree been automated so that the customers themselves can feed them into the Scandic Trans system, and where that is not yet technically possible, the problem can be solved through a portal.

“But bookings are still also fed manually, when they are placed via telephone or e-mail,” Linda adds.

The goal is also to be able to book a ferry ticket through their own system. Today this also happens via a portal, and this works as a kind of temporary stage.

The technology that makes it possible for customers to follow their transport via a GPS signal is already in place, and can be used by those who wish to do so. In a corresponding way the same information can be communicated to all the shipping companies in case of delays. ”Requests are often very customer-specific and depend on the client’s size and operation, but the trend is that more and more of them wish for a better insight into their transport,” Linda and Reko conclude

Reko Märsylä and Linda Bengs, furthest to the right, are part of the IT team at Scandic Trans. Here they are discussing with Marko Äbb, who works with transport planning at the office in Mustasaari. Their systems have been put to the test due to this spring’s telework, and since the transport system works in the cloud, the personnel can work basically anywhere without it affecting the client.

An increasing number of addresses around Europe

Earlier Scandic Trans transported imported commodities from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy, but now also Luxemburg, Austria and Hungary are included on this list. This mainly concerns the transport of temperature-regulated foodstuffs, and the main man behind the work with this new start-up is Richard Romar, project manager within market development.

Targeted sales work started about two years ago, and since then they have gone from zero to quite considerable and regular volumes when it comes to both import and export.

“During the fall of 2019 we clearly focused on new procurements and quotations, to great success. Existing, satisfied customers have chosen to continue using Scandic Trans, and new ones have been added. Many of them have never before experienced the kind of reliability and punctuality that we have been able to offer. This is something they have valued, especially after the strikes within the trade last year,” Romar explains.

The work isn’t just about building new networks; it also means developing our service for existing customers. More and more customers are looking for a more comprehensive service from one company, instead of involving several different companies from different markets in their transports, something that Scandic Trans has been eager to cater to. Flexibility, storage capacity and finding solutions at very short notice are key to success in this line of work.

This is corroborated by Mikael Kock, the man in charge of the operational work of coordinating the transports since the fall of 2019.

“It can happen that the customer will contact us with one day’s notice, and even then we do all we can to find a solution. Most often we succeed, and even though the volumes and also the selection have grown dramatically during the last six months, we’ve managed to develop a well-functioning and effective system,” Kock notes.

Scandic Trans uses their own subcontractors, haulage contractors with whom they build long-lasting relations and who perform on the level that both Scandic Trans and the company’s customers demand.

“The goal is to continue to grow year by year. There is potential for development in several countries: in Poland, The Czech Republic, Hungary and partly also in Great Britain, just to mention a few. From our own terminal in Turku we also have the capacity to load containers for further sea transport to Asia. Scandic Trans’s big warehouse capacity at our own terminals can often be crucial, just like the price of course, but reliability and quality in both transport and service are often the decisive factors when it comes to the customers’ choice of haulier,” Romar concludes.