Cutting down on manual work and boosting efficiency: Militzer & Münch regularly checks out where it makes sense to use artificial intelligence (AI). With new providers and innovative tools constantly popping up, making the right choice is a challenge. What’s the current status of AI in the company, what’s already working well, and how are employees being taken along for the ride?
In the initial phase, more than a year ago now, Thies Spannagel, Group Project Manager AI at Militzer & Münch, and colleagues gathered knowledge about the possibilities and limitations of AI, exchanged ideas with competitors and companies in other industries, and participated in relevant events. “We deliberately took a broad view: What strategies are medium-sized companies pursuing, and what about large companies? What are the expectations of our Group Management, and what would be a realistic budget?” says Thies Spannagel. “Things became more concrete when we conducted an internal review to identify some ‘pain points’ within our processes – always with the key question in mind: Are there any AI modules on the market that can make the company faster and be integrated into the existing IT infrastructure?”
Success story: tariff management
Using AI can be particularly worthwhile in areas with a high volume of repetitive tasks that tie up a lot of resources. In the area of tariff management at M&M air sea cargo GmbH, the amount of manual work involved had increased significantly in recent years. “Customer and market behavior has changed since the pandemic,” explains Thies Spannagel. “A lot of business is now conducted on a daily rate basis rather than with long-term offers as was previously the case. We receive new inquiries from our customers for each individual shipment. This made the area an ideal candidate for AI.”
The M&M air sea cargo team has recently started using a new tariff management tool that significantly simplifies their everyday work. It uses AI to automatically read email inquiries and order details, and creates offers that customers can accept digitally. On September 1, the tool went live at the three branches Hamburg, Düsseldorf, and Stuttgart. The other branches in Germany will be connected to the tool step by step. Once the implementation is complete, 70 to 80 percent of the approximately 100 employees of M&M air sea cargo in Germany will be working with the new tool.
Selection process and security aspects
The process from the initial idea to implementation and use took about a year. Thies Spannagel researched suitable tools and evaluated the products of selected providers together with in-house IT and operations colleagues. During the test phases, which lasted several weeks, both the handling and the support provided by the individual providers were assessed.
Another crucial aspect when deciding to use new IT tools is data protection. Many solutions do not originate in Germany or Europe, which is why Militzer & Münch carefully checks where the data is stored and whether confidentiality and GDPR compliance are ensured.
International cooperation
Useful tools that have been implemented will also be presented to other interested country units in the future. “The tariff management tool is currently being tested in Poland,” says Thies Spannagel. “And email inbox management is planned in Serbia.”
“AI is not an end in itself for us. We use it where it makes every day work easier for our employees, allowing them to concentrate on higher-value activities because AI takes repetitive tasks off their hands. This saves time, which also benefits our customers.”