new in the geis group: general Transport ag

The cusTomer and sTaff magazine of The geis group i november 2011 i www.geis-group.com
new in the geis group: general Transport ag
Project logistics
and more

2 | editorial
Dear readers,
Our continued growth regularly presents us with new
challenges. Thus, human resources development has
become one of our most important strategic tasks.
Demographic change in Germany means that people
are having to work or want to work longer, while the
number of young people available to start apprenticeships
and degrees is decreasing. By the year 2035, according
to calculations made by the Federal Ministry
for Education and Research, there will be around one
fifth fewer young people available to join the labour
market.
Youngsters who leave school at the age of 18 can also
naturally join the Geis Group as the first step in a successful
career. On 1 st August/September, for example,
we greeted a total of 72 new trainees at our training
sites throughout Germany. In September four vocational-college
students also began working for Geis
Group as the practical component of their courses.
We are currently training a total of 189 young men
and women, with the most popular apprenticeships
being those for forwarding merchants, logistics executives,
warehouse logistics specialists, clerks and qualified
warehouse staff. At Geis they all receive practical,
high-quality professional training that is personally
overseen by a designated contact person. They also
benefit, just like our employees, from the other training
programmes that we offer.
Our concept works well, as confirmed by the feedback
we get from our trainees and external agencies. Two
years ago at the “Bayerns Best 50” awards, for example,
the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs awarded
us one of the two special prizes for companies that
provide large numbers of training opportunities. Such
successes and also the outstanding achievements of
our students (see also page 14) make us even more
determined to expand our training programmes.
Our aim with the training we provide is to fully meet
the future needs of our customers and to offer them
innovative and effective solutions. As usual, this edition
of Transfer contains information on the services
our staff currently provides customers and other news
about the Geis Group. We hope you enjoy reading it!
Qualified training
This is naturally also something that the Geis Group
will have to deal with. After all, we now employ more
than 3,600 employees at our network and logistics
sites across Europe. Every single one of our employees
– whether a warehouse worker in Germany, a
truck driver in the Czech Republic or a site manager
in Switzerland – has complex and sometimes highly
differentiated tasks to fulfil. And in future there will
be a whole new range of tasks to carry out.
We therefore offer in collaboration with vocational
colleges the possibility of completing academic training
while working. For office-based employees, training
is offered in IT, telephone communications and
foreign languages. The standard training programme
for drivers and warehouse employees includes practical
training in load securing, dangerous goods handling,
special packaging, etc. And in future these programmes
will be expanded to reflect the ergonomic
needs of older employees.
Yours sincerely,
Hans-Georg Geis and Wolfgang Geis,
Managing Partners of the Geis Group

04
08
10
13
top story – GeNeral traNsport aG
04 Project logistics and more
05 World heavy-lift record
loGistiCs serviCes
06 Tailor-made fashion logistics in Kürnach
08 Solar logistics in the whole of Europe
08 Siemens Healthcare‘s ‘Supplier of the Year’
09 2011 Expert Dialogue: Innovations live
09 A strong 10-year alliance: Avaya and Geis
road serviCes
10 Roller-bearing round-trip deliveries for SKF
11 “Geis” brand now more present
11 New scanners on board
12 New online
12 Transport services for tea services
12 Ejpovice: successful expansion
air + sea serviCes
13 Transformer successfully transported
13 Logistics for adventure holidays
GeNeral NeWs
14 Training at Geis: exciting and practical
14 Four new authorized signatories
15 Geis runs for a good cause
15 A job that packs a punch
15 Anniversaries
Published by
Hans Geis GmbH + Co Internationale Spedition
Rudolf-Diesel-Ring 24, 97616 Bad Neustadt/Saale
Phone: +49 9771 603 0, Fax: +49 9771 603 109
www.geis-group.com
Responsible for the contents
Management of the Geis Group
Editorial
STROOMER PR | Concept GmbH
Christian Stephan, Katharina Segl
Rellinger Straße 64a, 20257 Hamburg
Phone: +49 40 853133 0, Fax +49 40 853133 22
E-mail: mail@stroomer-pr.de
CoNteNts |
3

4 | top story
KaNBaN-Belieferung: in solchen Fließregalen wird immer
automatisch das nachgefüllt, was entnommen wird, damit ständig
genügend produktionsmaterial für die Montage von
telefonanlagen zur verfügung steht
five Star logiSticS:
general tranSport ag
Since April this year, General Transport AG has been a member of the Geis Group. Under the registered brand name Five Star
Logistics ® the Swiss company, with a long tradition behind it, offers a wide range of services.
image (top):
a General transport aG team
recently demonstrated
their expertise in heavy-lift
transportation
he new member of the Geis Group offers
five-star service all along the line – whether
in contract logistics, transport by road, rail,
air and sea or logistics for major events and humanitarian
services in crisis zones. Global partnerships mean
that the company can call on a world-wide network for
transport and logistics solutions. The long-established
company has acquired special know-how in the field
of industrial plant and project logistics, and in this sector
the company General Transport has been a market
leader for many years.
experTs for heavy TransporT. One speciality
of the Swiss company is the complex supply chain for
heavy freight from manufacturer to installation site,
most frequently with several carriers, country borders
or even continents to consider. Only recently, two
high-volume heavy transports were successfully completed
by road from Aigle in Switzerland near Montreux
to Montpellier in France. “The loads weighed 62
tonnes each, and in particular due to their length of
44.5 metres each, the two lorries were a real challenge
on normal roads, above all in the preparations. For one
thing, a bridge which the transport was supposed to use
was closed only a short time before the move was due
to be made. For us, this meant replanning the whole
route, regauging everywhere and applying for approvals
all over again. Apart from that, not every village in
France was terribly thrilled at the length of the transports,
which made some intensive negotiations and
a whole lot of convincing necessary”, says Christian
Labhardt, Manager Road Services Europe. “But we’re
used to it now – it’s virtually routine!”

a show of sTrengTh. In intercontinental transport,
the company tackles some really heavy work: at the
beginning of this year, General Transport delivered
two generator circuit breakers from manufacturer
ABB Hochspannungstechnik in Zurich to a large
power station in Japan. Two road low-loaders started
the transport off in quick time from Zurich to Leipzig/Halle
airport where it was loaded on a plane for
Tokyo, and for the last 180 kilometres to the destination,
lorries were again used. In this project, as usual,
the company called on the service of reliable local
partners with the necessary expertise and equipment
to accomplish special tasks. “The colleagues from
SDV Tokyo inspected the route in advance in a very
short time and prepared a “Road Survey Report” for
ABB project management”, says Air Freight Manager
Bernhard Zaugg. “Although we were only allowed to
cover 40 kilometres per day, we completed this part of
the transport in only five days.”
well-known name, new services. After joining
the alliance with the Geis Group, General Transport
will continue to act independently in the market. The
established name and the branding Five Star Logistics ®
will be retained, as well as the staff structures. “In cooperation
with the Geis companies in Germany, Luxembourg,
Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, and
Slovakia we will continue to extend the service portfolio
and the customer base of General Transport AG”,
says Andreas Speiser, CEO General Transport AG.
“We are particularly looking forward to extending the
services offered in the sector of land transport and contract
logistics.” —
the General transport aG,
established in 1947, has its
headquarters in Basel and a
branch in Zurich. appointed
in april 2011, Ceo is andreas
speiser who has already held
a number of senior positions
within the Geis Group.
the company employs around
75 staff, and revenues for the
2011 business year are expected
to be about 90 million swiss
francs (around 74 million euro).
Heavyweight
world record
Two years ago, the transport of a 187.6-tonne generator,
organised by the General Transport AG in an Antonov AN-
225 from Frankfurt-Hahn Airport to Armenia, earned the
company an entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the
heaviest item ever to be carried by aeroplane. The record
remains in place today.
The record flight with the biggest transport aeroplane in the world began
on the evening of 9 August 2009. On board there was only the one item
of freight, but that was some item! The generator turned the scales at a
total weight of 187.6 tonnes. Its destination: a gas-fired power station in
Armenia. The flight represented the final sprint in a round-the-world
trip which the generator had started weeks earlier in Korea.
top story | 5
From collection to customs clearance, General Transport had prepared
all the steps in the minutest detail. The generator was collected on the
first stage in Korea and shipped to Rotterdam, where it was transhipped
onto a platform trailer. Using a load-carrying pontoon, the journey continued
via the Rhine and Moselle to Longuich (near Trier). This was the
only place with a suitable ramp over which a heavy-haulage lorry unit
could manoeuvre the trailer off the ship and back onto the road. The last
kilometres of the transport to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport with a gross load
of 302 tonnes were mastered thanks to two tractor units. Two cranes
finally loaded the generator onto the loading ramp of the Antonov, from
where it was gradually slid into the belly of the aeroplane – truly a millimetric
piece of work. —

6 | loGistiCs serviCes
photo: drykorn

tailor-made
faShion logiSticS
t the start of April, the Geis Group
brought the logistics facility in Kürnach
near Würzburg into operation. One
month later the first containers with Drykorn products
arrived. Not only is the fashion label, which
is based in Kitzingen in Bavaria, the first tenant in
the new logistics facility, it is also a new customer
for Geis. “We’re delighted that an international customer
based in our region has opted for Geis”, says
Henry Portisch, Site Manager at Kürnach.
The new logistics terminal has a total area of 7,800
square metres and a clear height of 10.50 metres.
It has a shelf area, flexibly-sized order picking and
handling areas, as well as a block storage area. Nine
loading and unloading bays are available as well as a
ground-floor access bay. Drykorn goods are stored in
an area measuring around 1,200 square metres with
2,500 lower shelf spaces. The fashion label occupies
the “modern premium men and women” segment,
i.e. higher-priced clothing for fashionable, discerning
customers. Each delivery season Geis picks and
packs around 140,000 articles, all of them flat packs.
Geis employees take care of goods receipt, quality
control, storage, packing, individual pricing for fashion
store chains, and shipping for the fashion label.
millimeTre-accuracy. The Drykorn containers
delivered to Kürnach primarily originate in Europe,
with some arriving from the Far East. Geis employees
unload the boxed goods, take inventory and
check the quality of the products. “Our employees
measure, for example, whether sweater sizes correspond
exactly with the specified dimensions”, explains
Henry Portisch. They also attach price labels
to the products, pack them as desired, and pick items
for consignees throughout Europe and the world.
Goods are distributed from the logistics terminal in
Kürnach via parcel service providers. Drykorn has
three own-brand shops in Berlin, which are run in
conjunction with a local partner. Elsewhere its products
are sold via high-class fashion retailers, boutiques
and fashion houses – more than 1,000 in total
loGistiCs serviCes | 7
Short collection cycles predominate in the fast-moving fashion world. The demand in textile logistics
therefore is for flexibility and a strong customer focus – simply a matter of course for the Geis Group.
Since May 2011, it has managed the entire logistics for international fashion label Drykorn from its new
logistics centre in Kürnach.
drykorn – from bavaria
into the wide world
founded in 1996, fashion
label drykorn is based in
kitzingen in mainfranken.
corporate governance,
administration, design,
product management
and logistics are all
overseen from here.
each year, drykorn
introduces two ladies‘
and men‘s collections
onto the market.
The products are sold
in over 1,000 shops
worldwide, including
in germany, austria,
switzerland, italy, great
britain, the usa, canada,
australia, Japan and china.
Certified drykorn quality: in the logistics Centre in Kürnach,
Geis employees make sure that garment sizes match the
specified dimensions
in all four corners of the world. Since 2010 it has also
had its own online store.
The chemisTry is righT. From Drykorn’s point of
view, there were several arguments in favour of the
collaboration with Geis. “Right from the start the atmosphere
was very positive”, says Gerrit Voss, Managing
Director of Drykorn Modevertriebs GmbH &
Co. “We noticed that Geis employees were always
obliging and true to their word. A medium-sized,
owner-managed logistics service provider from our
region which is also very customer-oriented, innovation-driven
and curious about the new is precisely
the right partner for Drykorn.” —

8 | loGistiCs serviCes
Solar logiSticS in
the whole of europe
Since May of this year, Geis supports international solar company SCHOTT Solar AG, based in Mainz,
with the logistics management of photovoltaic products.
he services that Geis provides to SCHOTT
Solar at its Erlangen-Frauenaurach site
include loading and unloading trucks and
containers, warehousing, distribution, customs management
and continuous quality control.
The goods arrive at the Logistics and Technology
Centre in Frauenaurach from a manufacturing plant.
Geis then distributes them to wholesalers throughout
Europe. The employees process up to 30 loads of the
sensitive solar components per day at goods inwards
and outwards. Geis also runs, via Czech subsidiary
Feico, daily scheduled round-trip deliveries between
SCHOTT’s Alzenau plant near Frankfurt am Main
and the company’s plant in Valašské Meziříčí in the
east of the Czech Republic.
“In solar logistics, business fluctuates greatly on a daily
basis. The goods we deal with are also highly sensitive”,
explains Hans-Peter Schneider, Sales Manager
of Geis Industrie-Service GmbH. “Thanks to
our longstanding experience, the challenges in this
area have become routine for us by now. Our broad
expertise and high degree of flexibility mean that we
can guarantee our customers the best-possible quality
at all times.” —
Siemens Healthcare’s ‘Supplier of the Year’
Geis Ersatzteil-Service GmbH has been awarded “Supplier of the Year 2011” by Siemens Healthcare CS ML. The prize was
awarded for outstanding performance, reliability and flexibility.
Since 2007, Geis Ersatzteil-Service GmbH has run
the World Distribution Centre (WDC) in Neu-
Isenburg for Siemens Healthcare. In the logistics
hub with 25,000 square metres, Geis employees
organize the worldwide distribution of and returns
logistics for spare parts. Inside the WDC, Geis permanently
stores around 36,500 different spare parts
for distribution to Siemens engineers around the
world – ranging from tiny electronics components
to the four-tonne hoist used to repair CTs. —
photo: sCHott solar
siemens awards Geis (from
the left): dr. Frank debus
(siemens), Christian sörgel
(Geis industrie-service GmbH),
Harald Maier (siemens),
Michael pierer v. esch
(siemens), Hans-Jürgen König
(siemens) and Jochen Maul
(Geis industrie-service GmbH)

Expert Dialogue 2011:
A fresh breeze for contract logistics
Once again this year the Geis Group presented “Innovations live”:
Under this motto, Geis invited logistics industry executives to Erlangen-
Frauenaurach and Nuremberg to experience, both in theory and practice,
innovative contract logistics.
The location was the Geis Group’s new Logistics
and Technology Centre in Frauenaurach Industrial
Park. This is where Geis, among other things, is
implementing an outsourcing project for Siemens
Enterprise Communications. “The customer has
outsourced not only the entire distribution and spare
parts logistics to us, but also the configuration of telephone
systems”, said Geis Managing Director Dr.
Johannes Söllner.
soluTions for invenTory and cosT reducTion.
The subsequent presentations by experts took place
in the Hotel Schindlerhof in Nuremberg. The topics
on the agenda were returns management, inventory
financing and European distribution. Using
the example of global telecommunications solutions,
Dr. Andreas Knierim, Senior Vice President Supply
Chain Management and Global Customer Interface
at Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH &
Co. KG, outlined the logistical demands that would
need to be met in the future. The second expert lecture
focused on inventory management and financing.
Dr. Uwe-Peter Hastedt, Managing Director of MHB
Group, presented an off-balance-sheet solution for
inventories. “This solution will allow the Geis Group
to free up the balance sheets of its customers by a significant
degree as an additional logistical service”, said
Dr. Hastedt.
“meTropolis same-day” for norThern europe.
The final talk was given by Thorsten Gensmer, Partner
and Director of Miebach Consulting, who discussed
how logistics service providers can optimize
their networks in Northern Europe to be more
service-oriented. His innovative solution is called
“Metropolis Same-Day”, and involves same-day delivery
to the regions surrounding metropolitan areas.
Dr. Johannes Söllner was once again very happy with
the high level of interest in this year’s expert dialogue,
and is therefore not excluding the possibility of holding
the event again next year as a means of bringing a
fresh breeze to the contract logistics sector. —
loGistiCs serviCes | 9
Fred Hayes, vice president of supply Chain at avaya (left)
presented the supplier award to dr. Johannes söllner
a Strong
10-year
alliance
Communications company Avaya and the Geis
Group look back on a decade of successful
cooperation, now crowned with an award.
eis and Avaya recently celebrated the 10 th anniversary
of their successful cooperation at the
site where it has taken place – the Avaya Logistics and
Technology Centre in Dietzenbach near Frankfurt
am Main. This is where 125 Geis employees take care
of the entire logistics for new materials, spare parts
and returns for Avaya, while another 55 Avaya employees
are responsible for order processing and the
core telephone-configuration business at the same
site. In April Avaya also awarded an Supplier Award
to the Geis Group at the “1 st Avaya Supplier Day” in
Singapore.
Geis Managing Director Dr. Johannes Söllner has
overseen the cooperation since it was launched ten
years ago: “Our joint success is due to the combination
of our strengths, which complement each other
perfectly. Up until now we’ve been a strong unit, and
want to continue being so in the future too.” The
foundations for this have already been laid, with the
two companies recently agreeing to extend their cooperation
by several years. —

10 | road serviCes
roller-bearing round-trip
Two plants – one solution: In Schweinfurt and in the Italian town of Airasca, SKF manufactures a whole range of different
types of roller-bearings. Geis now organizes just-in-time round-trip deliveries between the two plants.
Balls, cones,
and the like
The term ball-bearing
is often used colloquially
as a synonym for rollerbearings.
Strictly speaking,
however, ball-bearings
are only one type of
roller-bearing. This is
because the rolling
elements inside a rollerbearing
come in a range
of different shapes:
cones, cylinders, needles,
barrels – and balls,
of course.
even in the morning in Schweinfurt. In SKF’s
largest factory anywhere in the world, preparations
are underway for the next roller-bearing
round-trip delivery. SKF employees load a Geis
truck with pallets holding wooden crates packed with
roller-bearings. And they’re heavy! Once loaded, the
trucks, at around 24 tonnes, are usually at their weight
limit.
puncTual & TransparenT. A short time later, the
vehicle heads south. After a maximum of 23 hours it
reaches its destination, some 800 kilometres away in
the Italian town of Airasca near Turin in northwest
Italy, where SKF Italy has a production site. The roller-bearings
from Schweinfurt are either used directly
in the factory or are handed to an Italian forwarder,
who transports the goods to customers or distributors
– and herein lies the challenge: “As the forwarder
needs to start delivering the goods on the same day,
shipments to Italy have to be just-in-time operations”,
explains Peter Gayer, Head of Key Account Management
at Hans Geis GmbH. “To guarantee this, we
track the location of our trucks between Schweinfurt
and Italy and pass on this information to SKF Italy,
Germany and the head office in Sweden. We also do
the same in the opposite direction, between Airasca
and Schweinfurt. This means that the customer is
always in the know as to the current delivery status.”
efficienT roTaTion sysTem. After being unloaded,
the truck starts its return journey. Its return load to
Schweinfurt comprises products only produced in
Airasca and required by SKF plants, dealers and cus-
tomers worldwide. These are mainly roller-bearings
for the automotive industry, as many well-known
luxury and sports car manufacturers are customers of
SKF.
The round-trip deliveries are not always perfectly balanced
however, because demand for the goods from
the other locations varies a great deal. Each day one
or two trucks leave Schweinfurt; from Airasca it can
be up to five trucks. “For the vehicles coming from
Schweinfurt there is usually a return load from Airasca.
There are also individual loads from Airasca for
which there is no return load from Schweinfurt”, explains
Peter Gayer. “The uneven and irregular nature
of the round-trips means that our team needs to be
extremely flexible, with each operation having to be
planned precisely and individually to ensure maximum
transport efficiency.”
on The road worldwide for skf. Geis has
been organizing round-trip transportation between
Germany and Italy for SKF since June 2011. The
two companies began cooperating in 2004. Besides
the roller-bearing round-trip transport operation,
Geis now also organizes transport services for SKF
to Austria, the Czech Republic, Belgium and Turkey.
Round-trip runs are only organized to Italy, however.
Meanwhile a return load of roller-bearings from
Airasca has arrived in Schweinfurt. SKF employees
unload the pallets from the vehicle, and the truck is
immediately prepared for the next trip to Italy. The
round-trip trucks are never stationery for long. —

photos: sKF
At the start of the 20 th
century, Swedish engineer
Sven Gustaf Wingqvist
invented the spherical
roller-bearing. Shortly
afterwards, to market his
idea, he founded Svenska
Kullagerfabriken or SKF in
short. The company, which
is based in Gothenburg, is
today one of the world’s
leading manufacturers
of rolling bearings, seals,
mechatronics and lubrication
systems. SKF is present
worldwide in over 130
countries and employs more
than 40,000 employees.
SKF‘s main division in
Germany is SKF GmbH,
based in Schweinfurt. At its
sites in Lüchow, Mülheim an
der Donau and Schweinfurt
it produces tapered
roller-bearings, cylindrical
roller-bearings, hub units
for trucks, bulk storage,
automotive specialty
products, and more.
“Geis” brand now more present
Parcel logistics, land transportation, air and ocean
freight and contract logistics – when it comes to logistics,
the Geis Group is able to offer its customers
in the Czech Republic and Slovakia the full range
from a single source. And this is now also more evident
to the outside world too, because since 1 October
all companies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
have “Geis” included in their company names
aster, more robust, and easier to handle. These are the advantages
of the new Motorola MC 9500 handheld scanner, which as of
this year all Geis short-haul drivers have on board. But they are not
just a bonus for the driver: “Thanks to the integrated GPS tracking
function, we can now tell our customers not only that their goods are
on the way, but also where they are and when they will arrive”, says
Maik Niebergall, Scheduling System Administrator.
The system includes an electronic overview map with a location function
for displaying all orders and vehicle locations. New orders can thus
be easily assigned to a driver who has spare capacity and is located in the
vicinity. If a collection is urgent, the scheduler is informed by means of a
flashing indicator on the overview map, allowing him to react immediately.
With these and many other practical functions, the 320 new scanners are
simplifying processes for both drivers and schedulers. —
road serviCes | 11
and logos. General Parcel Čechy, which specializes
in parcel logistics, has now therefore after 16 years
changed its name to Geis Parcel CZ, while TEN
Expres Slovakia, which since 2006 has belonged to
the Geis Group, will from now on be known as Geis
SK. —
new ScannerS on board
photo: Motorola

12 | road serviCes
Ejpovice: successful expansion
Since the summer, the Geis Group has opened two new buildings in
Ejpovice near Plzen in the Czech Republic.
At the end of June, a new depot was opened for more efficient parcel handling.
Covering an area of around 2,000 square metres, it houses a modern conveyor
system and has 40 gates for delivery vehicles and three gates for linehaul trucks.
Over the past few months, there has also another logistics facility been built on the
same site. It primarily expands the existing central warehouse of Finnish tyre manufacturer
Nokian by around 5,000 square metres to approximately 21,000 square metres.
The state-of-the-art facility, which has a clearance height of 9.80 metres and twelve
loading docks, also includes almost 3,000 square metres of complex contract logistics
space for new customers. —
Transport services for tea services
BHS tabletop AG is a customer whose goods quite literally need to be handled with kid gloves, as the company, which is
based in the Upper Franconian town of Selb, is the world‘s leading professional porcelain manufacturer.
photo: BaUsCHer
new online
Following its change of name, SDV
Geis has since the start of this year had
a new website. Now that of the Geis
Group has been totally redesigned
too. In addition to a more modern layout,
navigation between the individual
menu items is now easier and clearer.
Take a look for yourself by visiting
www.geis-group.com. —
Bischoff has been carefully delivering the premiumquality
items to hotels and restaurants in Germany
and Western Europe for the past two years, and
recently delivered an entire crockery set for a new
luxury hotel on the German Baltic coast.
But no matter where the cups, saucers and plates are
headed, each delivery requires extreme care. “For
a forwarder there could hardly be a more sensitive
shipment”, says Bischoff Managing Director Andreas
Weinrich. “Our team is therefore extra careful
when it comes to handling BHS products.”
And this care is paying off: Up until now every single
one of the 15,000 to 17,000 annual shipments delivered
by Bischoff has been damage-free. In Germany
they say that broken glass brings luck. Needless to
say, Bischoff and BHS don’t think so. —

Transformer successfully transported
Every order that the SDV Projects team in Hamburg takes on is exciting.
The transportation of a transformer from Istanbul to Flensburg was
particularly ‘electrifying’, however.
logiSticS for adventure holidayS
For the Land Rover Trophy 2011 SDV Geis shipped
eleven Land Rovers, including an ambulance
vehicle and a trailer to Bolivia. At the beginning of
March, the customer brought the vehicles to the SDV
Geis warehouse in Hamburg. “It was only there that we
found out we also needed to clear the equipment inside
the vehicles for customs”, says Rafael Franke, SDV Geis
Sea Freight Manager in Dusseldorf. “But we’re a good
team, and can easily cope with tight deadlines.”
Using their expert skills, the drivers placed two vehicles
in each container. The valuable cargo worth more than
340,000 Euros was then shipped to Arica (Chile), where
an SIC Logistica agent organized the onward transportation
of the Land Rovers by motor trailer to Cochabamba
(Bolivia). This marked the end of the easy part
of the voyage for the Land Rovers; now they’ll have to
cope with the rocky terrain themselves. —
air + sea serviCes | 13
A project of this magnitude needs to be planned
carefully, and the SDV Projects team in Hamburg
began working on it at the beginning of January.
After partner SDV Horoz successfully handled the
first stage of the transport operation in Turkey, the
almost 200-tonne transformer reached the port of
Flensburg on 18 April of this year on a charter ship.
Here the project team suddenly faced an unexpected
challenge: The planned use of mobile cranes to
transfer the colossus onto the quayside was prohibited
at the last minute by the Port Authority for safety
reasons. The SDV experts’ solution was to use
the “Enak” floating crane, which can lift a weight of
600 tonnes, to bring the transformer safely ashore.
gianT wiTh a righT of way. On the quay, the
heavy-load transportation operation was continued
using a hydraulic 15-axle trailer with two tractors.
Travelling at a fast walking pace on specially cordoned-off
streets, the trailer conveyed the transformer
to its new destination, the substation in Weding, a
suburb of Flensburg. There the transformer has replaced
the old one, and now connects the Flensburg
area’s 60,000-volt power grid with the 110,000-volt
grid of E.ON Hanse AG. —
Participants in Land Rover Experience journeys explore remote areas of foreign countries in the legendary off-road vehicles,
with destinations including Canada, Botswana, Iceland and the latest addition, Bolivia. SDV Geis transports the all-wheeldrive
vehicles safely to the next ‘adventure destination’.

14 | GeNeral NeWs
“Exciting and practical”
A sound apprenticeship opens up excellent career prospects for young people
and ensures that companies such as Geis in future have access to the trained workers
they need. Below we interview Bernhard Hofmann, Freight Forwarding Careers
Training Manager in Bad Neustadt.
Bernhard Hofmann isn’t
just Freight Forwarding
Careers Training Manager
at Geis’ headquarters in
Bad Neustadt.
He is also in the process
of qualifying to become
a “certified professional
trainer” with the
Chamber of Commerce.
Training involves three
stages, and in March a jury
of the Bavarian Vocational
Academy awarded him
the level 1 certificate.
Now he is preparing for
the second stage.
mr hofmann, why would you recommend an apprenticeship
at the geis group?
Bernhard Hofmann: First of all, due to the wide range of apprenticeships
we offer. We train people to become forwarding
specialists, logistics service specialists, warehouse logistics specialists,
clerks and IT officers, to name just a few. In each case,
young trainees can look forward to diverse and qualified training.
All our logistics and warehouse trainees, for example, regularly
participate in central, all-day training sessions held in different
locations. These cover topics such as sales/marketing, correct
telephone manner and shipping insurance. Interaction and exchange
between the trainees is also important to us.
can you give us an example?
Bernhard Hofmann: Just recently we invited first-year forwarding
trainees from all the company sites to Nuremberg for a “Day By
Trainees For Trainees”. They were taught among other things
about combined road-and-rail transport at the container terminal
at Nuremberg, and given the opportunity to see the loading and
unloading of trailers and containers taking place live. The degree
to which our trainees are motivated by such measures is reflected,
for example, in their great performance in the “Best Apprentice”
competition organized by the Verkehrsrundschau, the German
freight transport and logistics magazine. Five of them were in
the Top 100, and the Geis Group was ranked 7 th in the Top 50
training companies.
how many new trainees started working for the geis group
at the beginning of this training year?
Bernhard Hofmann: Once again we’ve managed to fill all our
training courses in line with our requirements. In total 72 youngsters
started apprenticeships at Geis’ and SDV Geis’ 18 training
centres, and four students began studying at a vocational college
or university.
depending on the chosen profession, training lasts
two to three years. what are the chances of being taken
on at the end?
Bernhard Hofmann: Basically our goal is to take on every trainee
once they’ve qualified – especially if their performance has been
outstanding. And it’s not just our traditional freight forwarding
trainees that perform well. Katharina Hoch, for example, completed
her office clerk apprenticeship this year with the highest
possible score of 1.0, and was even awarded the Bavarian State
Prize for her achievement.
mr hofmann, thank you very much for talking to us.
four new
authorized
SignatorieS
At the end of September,
four executives of the Geis
Group were appointed
authorized signatories.
Hans-Wolfgang Geis
has been
appointed
a new
authorized
signatory of
Geis Industrie-Service
GmbH in Nuremberg. There
he is jointly responsible for
purchasing and controlling and
is the site manager for the Gorenje
and Taiyo Yuden projects.
He joined the Geis Group 12
years ago.
Martin Vonderau
has managed
the Geis
Group‘s
Construction
and Facility
Management
department
for the past four years. The
41-year-old architect has now
been appointed an authorized
signatory of Hans Geis GmbH
+ Co.
Dirk Steinkampf
is National
Forwarding
Manager
and a new
authorized
signatory of
Geis Eurocargo
GmbH + Co KG, Nuremberg.
The 43-year-old joined the Geis
Group more than 20 years ago.
Erwin Kraus
has also been
appointed an
authorized
signatory of
Geis Eurocargo
GmbH + Co
KG in
Nuremberg. He joined the
Geis Group 12 years ago and
now heads the International
Freight Forwarding division in
Nuremberg.

a JoB tHat paCKs a pUNCH
On 1 st July 2011 Rüdiger Granitza was appointed
the new Managing Director of Georg Lechner
GmbH in Oberhaching. The company, which since
2009 has belonged to the Geis Group, develops and
realizes customized packing concepts.
Rüdiger Granitza brings a wealth of experience of
the sector with him. He worked for nearly ten years for
a packing company, including five years as a director.
Now the 43-year-old industrial engineer is looking
forward to new challenges
and tasks: “Over the next few
years, we as a company want
to expand our customer base
as well as our involvement
in the area of heavy-goods
packing and project management.”
—
Geis rUNs For a Good CaUse
A sporting event with a difference: The district of
Rhön-Grabfeld recently bet with Sparkasse Bad
Neustadt that they would get 2,500 local inhabitants
to take part in the 11 th Sparkasse City Run. The
agreement was that, if the bet was won, the Sparkassenstiftung
would give 10,000 Euros to kindergartens
in Rhön-Grabfeld.
In the end, no less than 3,172 participants stood
at the starting line, all of them running for a good
cause, including 32 runners in the Geis shirt. On
the nearly ten-kilometre-long main leg, competitors
had to run five times around the city walls of Bad
Neustadt. “All the runners completed the course in
respectable times, but the real winners are the kindergartens”,
says Peter Gayer, Head of Key Account
Management at Hans Geis GmbH, who took part
himself. “This year was the first time we have taken
part, but it certainly won‘t be the last, and it would
be great if we had even more people from Geis running
next year!” —
Anniversaries
Over the past few months, eight Geis employees
have celebrated their 25 th , one his 30 th and three have even
celebrated their 40 th anniversary with the company.
Bernhard Hofmann
began working for Hans
Geis GmbH in Bad
Neustadt on 1 August,
1971 as a trainee forwarding
clerk. Today he is Freight
Forwarding Careers Training Manager in
Bad Neustadt, Eichenzell and Salz, and
also Quality and Environmental Management
Officer.
Jürgen Kleinlein
joined Militzer & Münch
in Hof as a trainee
forwarding clerk on 16
August 1971 and was taken
on by Geis Logistics + Trade GmbH in
2009, where he works today in the logistics
division.
Roland Weigelt
began working for
Kraftverkehr Schleiz on
1 September 1971.
Since 1991 he has
worked as a long-distance lorry driver for
Spedition Bischoff and is currently working
in encounter and night-time traffic.
Eberhard Erdmann
joined the Geis Group
in Nuremberg on 1
October 1981.
Just three years later he
was appointed an authorized signatory,
and is now the longest-serving signatory
within the Group. Today he heads the
SDV Geis branch at Nuremberg Airport.
Heinz Jäkel
began working for Hans
Geis GmbH in Bad
Neustadt on 20 May
1986 as a warehouse
worker. He remains there today and
currently works as a forklift operator,
shipper and order picker.
Dieter Weyer
began working as a
long-distance lorry
driver for Hans Geis
GmbH in Bad Neustadt
on 13 June 1986. Today as Maintenance
Supervisor at Bad Neustadt he is
responsible for all technical matters.
Nicole Zaher
joined SDV Geis in
Frankfurt on 7 July 1986
as a running-account
bookkeeper. Today
she works in the bookkeeping/netting
department.
Silke Mörtel
On 21 July 1986 Silke
Mörtel began working
as a clerk in the auditing
section of the Air
Exports department at SDV Geis in
Nuremberg. She currently works as the
Site Management Assistant in Stuttgart.
15
Doris Schmidt
began working for Hans
Geis GmbH, Bad Neustadt
as a clerk in the
payments department on
1 July 1986. She is currently responsible
for the time recording programme.
Alexandra Eckert
began working for
Hans Geis GmbH in
Bad Neustadt on 1
August 1986 as a trainee
forwarding clerk and is now employed in
the service/outbound groupage freight
department.
Hedwig Straub
also started work as
a trainee office clerk
for Hans Geis GmbH
in Bad Neustadt on 1
August 1986. Today she is responsible in
the central accounting department for the
Geis Group’s international accounts.
Helga Ströhla
joined Spedition
Bischoff as a clerk in
the sales department
on 1 October 1986 and
is now responsible for the import/export
service and import procedures.

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