Logistics That Thinks Ahead
In Switzerland, no one is surprised when a “Chauffeur” arrives in a “Camion”—that’s what drivers and trucks are called there—such as those who are on the road day in and day out for HG COMMERCIALE, or HGC for short. Founded in Zurich in 1899, this trade cooperative of the Swiss Builders’ Association employs around 1,000 people. It operates more than 40 locations to supply construction companies throughout Switzerland—including its nearly 3,000 member firms—with building materials: cement, bricks, tiles, roof tiles, lumber, plaster and drywall products, as well as virtually all other materials needed on construction sites.
As you might expect, that adds up to quite a lot: HGC moves many hundreds of metric tons of material in a wide variety of packaging every day—using around 90 of its own transport vehicles as well as those hired from external freight forwarders as needed. “The challenge here is coordinating many different processes—processes whose optimization can save a lot of time, money, and resources—which is why HGC ultimately turned to io,” reports Sonia Cortese, Senior Consultant and Team Lead at io.
The collaboration between HGC and io began in 2020, when HGC decided to implement easyTrack® and the mobile Transport Execution App (TEA) for the first time to digitize and standardize its existing dispatch and delivery processes. easyTrack® was established as the new central dispatch and route planning tool, while TEA was deployed as a mobile front end for drivers.
As the project lead on the HGC side, Marco Rohner oversaw the organizational development and implementation of the new processes.
easyTrack® is an in-house product from io, developed by the company’s own experts. Its wide range of applications makes it the Swiss Army knife of transportation logistics. This digital tool allows users to plan transport inventories and routes, define delivery sequences, retrieve geodata, and integrate maps—quickly, transparently, and with reliable planning. “Combined with the company’s own mobile Transport Execution App, this opens up completely new optimization approaches for customers,” Cortese continues. “The tool is a solution integrated into SAP for mobile devices. It supports drivers in the digital handling of delivery processes.”
io's own apps
TEA, for example, handles navigation to the customer. The app can display route information, document pallet exchanges, record any defects in the cargo, or save photos as proof of completed deliveries. “This not only results in enormous time savings, but also makes transport processes paperless,” says Cortese. “Especially since we’ve customized the app specifically for HGC so that external carriers can also be integrated, and all route and delivery information is managed centrally in easyTrack® and automatically sent to the drivers.”
As the modernization project progressed, the entire transportation solution—that is, easyTrack® and TEA—was migrated to the new SAP S/4HANA environment, ensuring that scheduling and mobile processes could be operated in a future-proof and seamless manner within the new ERP system landscape. Until then, easyTrack® had been using the geodata services of the PTV xServer, for which support will expire in mid-2026. Therefore, the next major step is the migration of all geofunctionality from easyTrack® to the cloud-based “PTV Developer.” Thanks to the new GeoFramework, HGC benefits from more precise routing, more up-to-date map technology, higher performance, and a fully cloud-based, future-proof solution.
Modernized and Simplified
“HGC always seeks out suitable solutions and services early on to achieve the best possible results at all times. The main focus has long been on meaningful digitalization,” says Cortese about the modernization approach. Through the introduction of easyTrack® and TEA, the migration of the entire transportation solution to the S/4HANA environment, and the replacement of PTV xServer with PTV Developer, HGC’s transportation processes have now been noticeably simplified and modernized.
