Atlanta, May 20, 2019—Family-owned global logistics provider Dachser, and Dicsa, a Spain-based manufacturer of hydraulic and pneumatic lines and stainless steel fittings, extend their partnership as Dicsa begins a strategic roll out into the Americas with a presence in the U.S. and Argentina.
"We have reached a point where we now want to replicate our model around the world, starting with the US," says Daniel Carmen, General Manager of Dicsa. "We plan to proceed gradually into the market to assess the scope of the opportunity to develop Pan-American business operations. From a strategic standpoint, we determined establishing a branch office in Atlanta and a sales agency in Argentina was the best way to introduce Dicsa into the Americas."
With its global reach and universal logistical technology solution, Dachser will continue its role as Dicsa's single source for intelligent logistics, thereby enabling Dicsa to smoothly expand into the Americas market.
"Thanks especially to the universal IT systems, above all the MIKADO warehouse management software, we are always on hand to support our customers with their plans for expansion and internationalization and to help them access new markets with ease," says Alexander Tonn, Managing Director European Logistics Germany and Corporate Director, Contract Logistics at Dachser.
"Growing together" was the motto of the small company from Zaragoza, Spain, when it joined the market in 1983, supplying tradespeople and industry customers with hydraulic and pneumatic lines and stainless steel fittings. Today, Dicsa is a global enterprise. Dachser's role has been providing intelligent logistics from a single source.
"When we founded Dicsa in 1983, we had a dream: to make the company a market leader in Spain. We had no idea what awaited us, but we wanted to meet every challenge head-on," says Carmen, as he recounts the beginnings of his company with obvious enthusiasm and passion.
That dream came true long ago. Today, the 180-strong company is a distributor of hydraulic and pneumatic lines as well as all the corresponding connections and components, and is now also a manufacturer of high-quality stainless steel fittings. It leads these markets not only in Spain, but throughout the world. Dicsa boasts one of the most complete and widest-ranging inventories of such articles and components in Europe, and supplies over 4,000 customers in more than 100 countries on five continents. In 2018, it generated sales of more than EUR 50 million.
Dicsa operates production and distribution centers around the globe—in Spain, Italy, Germany, and China. Covering an area of 215,000 square feet, the warehouse in Zaragoza alone has space for more than 65,000 items. In this way, the company can deliver an increasing range of products, especially to the small manufacturing companies that need constant access to a wide range of articles but do not want to, or are unable to, maintain such a broad inventory. "We make these products available to them within 24 hours," is how Carmen summarizes the distribution concept. "Our customers don't need to speak to four or five logistics partners or eight to ten manufacturers to get hold of what they need; they can arrange everything through us. They can place their orders over the phone or online and will receive the parts the next day."
That's why Dicsa looks to Dachser. It found a reliable logistics partner early on in Azkar, the predecessor to Dachser Iberia, to help guarantee its 24-hour or sometimes even 12-hour turnaround time.
Daily routes to Central and Northern Europe
To strengthen its market presence in Germany, and by extension in Central and Northern Europe, Dicsa joined forces with its logistics provider to find new ways of storing, picking, and distributing fast-moving products. "To that end, we set up a daily groupage line in 2016 that ran from Zaragoza to the Dachser warehouse in Malsch, near Karlsruhe, and back," says Bernd Großmann. The General Manager European Logistics in Malsch took over platform services for Spain back in 2007.
In 2017, Dachser then established a direct line from Zaragoza to Italy. This shortened transport times to Dicsa's Italian base in Modena. Faster transit times and enhanced quality accelerated the company's growth.
Soon after, Dicsa began operating a warehouse at Dachser's Karlsruhe logistics center, which took over distribution for Dicsa's customers in Germany, the neighboring countries, and Scandinavia. This also includes a cross-docking process: some of the goods are delivered from Zaragoza to Karlsruhe, where they are then consolidated with products already available at the site before being shipped on to the end customer. Furthermore, from its Karlsruhe branch, Dachser Air & Sea Logistics handles the arrival of containers from the production and distribution centers in China. Dachser transports them from the port cities of Hamburg or Bremerhaven to the warehouse in Karlsruhe.
Setting off for the US
With MIKADO, plus the processes and EDI connection already established for Dicsa, it was possible to mirror the logistics from Europe one-to-one in the US in just a short period of time. "In September 2018, just four months later, we were already shipping the first Dicsa products from the Dachser warehouse in Atlanta," Carmen says with pride. That's good news for the enterprising family company, which for some time now has set its sights on the next major goal: China—the world's second largest economy after the US.
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About Dachser USA Air & Sea Logistics: Founded in 1974, Dachser USA Air & Sea Logistics Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of German-headquartered Dachser SE. The company is a leading global logistics provider employing 30,600 professionals in 399 locations and handling 83.7 million shipments annually. Dachser USA Air & Sea Logistics is headquartered in Atlanta. For more information, visit www.dachser.us.
