Dear reader
Spring is on its way, and we look forward to more daylight and warmer times. The activity level is high in FREJA, and we are happy that we may continue to assist in maintaining the security of supply for our customers.
In the year’s first newsletter, you can read about what is happening in our part of the transport and logistics world. On February 1st, FREJA welcomed Morten Bruun-Kristensen as our new Logistics & Healthcare Director in Denmark. We have a plan of expanding our logistics activities, and we are therefore very pleased to welcome Morten to the team to carry this out.
Road safety is crucial to FREJA. Therefore, we are happy to be a part of ITD’s campaign called “Keep away from the truck’s right front tire”. Read more in our newsletter about this initiative which will last throughout most of 2021.
In FREJA, we benefit from letting software robots handle manual routines, thus giving our employees more time to handle other tasks. Recently, we automated a daily routine in our domestic department. In one of the articles, the team explains the significance this has had on their job.
As we informed in our newsletter in November last year, FREJA has merged with SDK, and we have now started a consolidation. We have welcomed new colleagues in our locations in DK-Stilling and DK-Taastrup, and we look forward to presenting the possibilities the new FREJA will be able to offer.
Thank you for your interest in FREJA’s newsletter. I hope you will enjoy your reading.
New strong player in the transport market
The merger has now been approved by the relevant Competition Authorities, and the consolidation has started.
In the last newsletter, we announced that FREJA Transport & Logistics Holding A/S and SDK A/S, owned by USTC, had agreed to merge. The merger has now been approved by the relevant Competition Authorities, and we have started the consolidation of the two units. The staff from SDK Logistics in DK-Jutland has moved in with FREJA in DK-Stilling, and the staff from SDK Logistics in DK-Køge has moved in with FREJA in DK-Taastrup.
For a transitional period, we will work in two companies, but we expect to be fully integrated and have merged the companies by May 1st, 2021.
The consolidation means that all FREJA’s current business units will be merged with SDK’s logistics activities into a new unit in the name of FREJA Transport & Logistics. With the fusion, we will become an even stronger player in the market, as we gather competencies and knowledge from our experienced employees in both SDK and FREJA.
We will continue to develop our business areas and introduce new possibilities to our customers. If you wish to know more about the possibilities offered by the new FREJA, please contact Franz Andersen.
FREJA uses robots to optimize internal processes
At FREJA, we always strive to provide the best service to our customers. We work hard to find new and improved solutions, and our employees are in close dialogue with customers to gain a better insight into their challenges and a greater understanding of their needs. To provide customers with the optimal service, we work on optimizing internal processes. The better the internal processes, the more time there is to help customers.
A lot of time and resources are invested in IT and technology, and our employees are actively working to identify manual processes that can be automated using software robots. Most recently, the domestic department in Stilling has had a manual task automated, which has saved them 20 minutes every day – time that instead can be spent on customers. Before the implementation of the automated solution, the department had to manually go through a customer’s bookings every morning. The department looked up approximately 50 bookings daily in the system to check their status and to find out if there were any deviations, but now this process has been automated completely.
“It is fantastic, and a great help to us, that this process has been automated. Every morning, when the robot has reviewed the bookings, we receive an e-mail with an overview of which shipments require our attention. In this way, we can quickly notify customers and thus be proactive, and we can get started on solving the challenges and tasks for the day”, explains FREJA’s Kenneth Hornstrup Andersen, Operations Manager Groupage.
The software robot that performs this work thus creates value for both customers and employees. The robot has solved a trivial task for the team, which not only saves time but also reduces the risk of errors since the job has been automated.
Group Finance Business Partner in FREJA, Alexander Skaarup Kristensen, says: “We are constantly working on identifying work tasks that can be carried out by software robots. Some tasks are more complicated than others, but if we succeed, we can eventually eliminate trivial tasks, reduce errors, save time, and provide our customers with better service because we can be proactive”.
FREJA welcomes new Logistics & Healthcare Director in Denmark
On the 1st of February this year, FREJA welcomed Morten Bruun-Kristensen as our new Logistics & Healthcare Director in Denmark.
Morten has most recently been with GEODIS, and he has over 20 years of experience in the transport and logistics industry. For the past 12 years, he has worked specifically with Pharma & Healthcare Logistics, both at the manufacturers and as a consultant and supplier to the industry, where his primary focus was on business development, strategy, and supply chain management.
About starting at FREJA, Morten says: “I have been very well received by all my new colleagues, and it is a pleasure to be a part of FREJA. There is no doubt that FREJA’s facilities and expertise in handling Pharma & Healthcare products are at a very high level, and we must constantly see the potential in the business and develop in collaboration with our customers, which I look forward to”.
Morten’s role involves internal and external business development, as well as the day-to-day management of the logistics employees in customer service and at our 3PL and Pharma & Healthcare warehouse. He has undergone an intense introductory course, where he has, among other things, been around the various locations to greet all the new colleagues and gained a good insight into the work processes.
”FREJA has a desire to expand the activities within the 3PL and Pharma & Healthcare segment, medical equipment, as well as the logistics activities for industrial, construction, and retail goods at our locations in Copenhagen and Aarhus, and we are pleased to have Morten on board to facilitate this”, says Jan Sunde, CEO in Denmark.
If you want to know more about FREJA’s Pharma & Healthcare solutions, you are more than welcome to contact Morten or your local contact person.
New campaign to prevent right-turn accidents
The organization for the Danish road transport, ITD, has in 2021 started a new campaign called “Bliv væk fra lastbilens højre dæk” (Keep away from the truck’s right front tire). The campaign is part of ITD’s national road safety campaign, and the purpose is to draw attention to and prevent right-turn accidents.
There are far too many serious accidents on the roads, which is terrible for all parties involved. For this reason, ITD has started a new campaign, which FREJA is proud to be a part of. 18 other transport companies participate, and 20 very different trucks drive around in Denmark with the vital message. The message is written on a large pink banner to draw attention, and it is placed on one of our Frigo trailers.
“We hope that many people will see the trucks and think about the message so that we together can create more safety on the roads. Attention and focus help to save lives, and the campaign should attract attention”, says Malene Vitus, Branding & Communication Consultant at ITD.
As part of FREJA’s CSR strategy, we are actively working on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG 3.6 strives to halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents, and this is one of the SDGs that FREJA focuses on.
“The campaign fits perfectly with our CSR strategy, as well as our values and goals to increase road safety. Our trucks are driving around 24/7, and as a transport and logistics company, we have a responsibility to make it safe to be in the traffic. We have launched several initiatives to increase road safety, and we are happy that ITD has reached out to us regarding this campaign”, says FREJA’s QES Manager, Eric Clausen.
Road safety is very important to us, and as part of our work with SDG 3.6, FREJA sets up snow bridges on all of our terminals and by selected customers/partners every year during the winter period. We were some of the first in Denmark to do that. The snow bridges have been installed to make it easy for drivers to remove snow and ice from the top of their truck and trailer, thus minimizing the risk of ice falling on the roads or other cars. The purpose of this initiative is to increase road safety and reduce the chances of traffic accidents.
You can read more here if you want to know more about FREJA’s work with CSR.