Implementation completed in six months: Nagel-Group digitises pallet management at all 130 locations

PRESS RELEASE

On 1 August 2025, the Nagel Group reached another milestone in its digitalisation strategy: the complete conversion of loading equipment management at all 130 locations to the software solution developed by the start-up Logistikbude. Following a successful test phase at four pilot locations in June and July 2025, the solution was rolled out synchronously across all remaining branches in Europe, including intensive training and support for key users.

At the beginning of 2025, the Nagel Group announced a large-scale digitalisation initiative with the aim of managing reusable packaging (‘loading aids’) digitally across the entire company using the SaaS solution from Logistikbude. The start-up offers a solution for the digitally networked and automated management of all loading aids, from Euro pallets and plastic pallets to Euro boxes, in real time, thereby unlocking considerable potential for optimisation in terms of processes, costs and sustainability.

The Nagel Group moves around 25 million Euro pallets, 35 million Euro boxes and 3 million H1 plastic pallets per year and, like most logistics service providers, faces the major challenge of keeping track of current stocks and the whereabouts of exchanged load carriers. Traditionally, this is managed using analogue receipts, which are filled out by the carrier when the goods are picked up. In addition, manual processes make it difficult to track crates and pallets: for a company, losing a receipt is equivalent to losing the load carrier. With the digital solution, this process is now much more transparent, faster and more secure. Logistikbude uses existing data for the newly designed load carrier management system. Important information about the whereabouts of load carriers can be extracted from numerous existing upstream systems.

‘The close partnership with Logistikbude played a key role in ensuring that we were able to implement the project almost seamlessly. Together, we succeeded in successfully digitising a complex process within six months,’ says Björn Hobusch, Head of Operational Excellence & CSM & LEM at the Nagel Group.

The key users at the locations underwent intensive training to ensure a successful go-live. In addition to training courses and workshops, there were weekly meetings on current topics and key innovations. The software will continue to be developed after go-live. New functions and process optimisations will be introduced step by step. Practical experience and user feedback will be incorporated directly into the process. This ensures that the system remains closely aligned with actual requirements. In the next step, the software solution will be expanded to include a function that automatically evaluates and posts various pallet slips based on artificial intelligence.

‘We always take practical experience and user feedback into account in order to tailor our system to actual needs,’ says Philipp Hüning, co-founder and CEO of Logistikbude.

Digital load carrier management offers numerous advantages for the Nagel Group and its customers. Thanks to real-time recording and management using the software, every load carrier is digitally visible at all times. This means that even exchange partners who have not implemented the software can view all data relating to the crates and pallets via a web link. When several parties make full use of the solution, load carrier management runs almost automatically. Seamless documentation increases security in the supply chain. This also has a positive financial impact: fewer shortages lead to a lower reorder rate and thus to lower capital commitment.