Lhoist and Axians Industrial Applications & Services cooperate in Asia
Following the successful introduction of the VAS IT logistics solution at Lhoist’s European plants, the collaboration between the global lime and limestone producer and Axians Industrial Applications & Services is being extended to the Asian market. The new global template approach has already been implemented at three sites in Malaysia and one plant in Singapore. For Lhoist, this is a further step towards standardizing and optimizing logistics processes internationally. Standardized digitization throughout the entire value chain can also save resources and CO2.
The process-oriented software solution VAS from Axians Industrial Applications & Services has been developed specifically for the needs of the raw materials industry and has proven itself internationally for over 20 years. More than 200 plants around the world simplify and digitize their processes with VAS: from online order placement to dispatching and exit from the plant premises, the entire process chain is mapped in the solution, increasing efficiency in logistics.
Lhoist was one of the first companies to use VAS for its logistics processes. In the course of the long-standing partnership, VAS was initially rolled out for the plant shipping processes in Germany. In 2015, the joint standardization project “European Shipping System” was launched to harmonize the processes of Lhoist plants in Europe based on VAS. At the end of 2020, Lhoist and Axians Industrial Applications & Services started rolling out the VAS logistics solution in the Asian market. VAS was successfully implemented at the Tapah plant in Malaysia before the end of 2020 – a global VAS template with local customizations. This was followed by the rollout of VAS in three other plants in Malaysia and at one site in Singapore. Currently, the second rollout phase is underway at the Tapah plant with additional VAS modules to further optimize and accelerate the check-in and check-out process. To this end, four new self-service terminals are being installed, which can be operated by truck drivers via touchscreen without leaving the vehicle. For the drivers, this means increased safety and, above all, significant time savings compared to the previous manual handling with numerous documents and papers. Lhoist can speed up turnaround times, save resources and improve the company’s carbon footprint through this comprehensive digitalization.
Marc Graner, Managing Director Axians Industrial Applications & Services emphasizes: “Lhoist has been a customer from the very beginning. The partnership has existed since 1998 and has contributed to the continuous development and optimization of our IT logistics solution VAS. We are pleased to now contribute together with Lhoist in the Asian market to logistics optimization and thus also to more sustainability in the basic materials industry.”
Digitalization promotes decarbonization
At Lhoist, the global digitalization of logistics processes represents one of numerous measures to reduce CO2 emissions. Only recently, the lime producer presented one of the world’s first climate-neutral product lines Level|Blue, making it possible to reduce CO2 emissions already in the supply chain – for steel production, for example. Axians Industrial Applications & Services is part of the globally active Vinci Energies Group. The parent company Vinci is pursuing the goal of reducing 40% of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. As an ICT brand of Vinci Energies, Axians helps its customers reduce their carbon footprint by using green technologies.
