Front & Center: How Höganäs centralized their transport and took control.
As a leading metal powders manufacturer, Höganäs of Sweden has a reputation that stretches across the world. And a reputation they’re committed to keeping. This extends to their transport: being on time and on quota is a point of pride to them.
On a typical day, Höganäs loads between 40 and 50 shipments, mainly by truck or in containers. Over sixty percent of those shipments go to their own facilities and customers outside Europe, while the rest are delivered across Europe by truck or intermodal transport.
Yet Höganäs realised that to expand their supply chain, not to mention maintaining the high demand for quality and reliability, they needed to rethink their transport game.
And that started with analysing their present transport situation.
The challenge Höganäs faced
Höganäs found themselves dealing with the growing complexity of a global transport network managed through fragmented, manual processes. Hard as they worked to maintain standards, the symptoms popped up across the board:
- Decentralized operations across sites = inefficiency
- Imprecise truck schedules
- Heavy reliance on manual coordination
- Limited visibility and control
- Planning obstacles and delays
- Inefficient warehouse flows and bottlenecks
Says Jonas Tell, from the Höganäs operational team: “It was difficult to get a quick overview of what was happening because information was spread across different systems, emails, and spreadsheets.”
Clearly, a solution that managed these drawbacks, and solved them with a solution that ticked all the boxes, was needed.
Discover how Höganäs took control of transport execution:
How Alpega helped Höganäs take control
Höganäs transformed operations to meet their company objectives of scalability and sustainability at the standards expected of them by implementing two prominent Alpega systems.
TMS
A comprehensive suite of tools designed to streamline transportation management, optimize processes, and enhance supply chain efficiency.
Benefits include:
- Centralized platform
- Standardized processes
- Data-driven planning and decision-making
“Before we introduced the TMS, a lot of our booking steps were still manual, which slowed things down and increased the risk of making mistakes.” Jonas Tell, Höganäs.
Smart Booking
This allowed Höganäs to unlock their warehouse's potential with advanced dock scheduling software. Not only did it streamline transport schedules, but in doing so reduced stress, and improved team coordination with intuitive scheduling.
Benefits include:
- Digital slot booking
- Better coordination with carriers
- Reduced congestion and smoother flows
The team expands: “With Smartbooking we have a slot booking in place, with clear time windows and capacity rules, which means less congestion and waiting time in the warehouse, which makes the whole operation smoother.”
Learn more about Smart Booking
Two solutions working as one
By centralizing operations with TMS and optimizing warehouse flow through Smart Booking, Höganäs achieved a measurable impact and built a more agile, data-driven supply chain.
- The combined outcomes were impressive:
- From fragmented → centralized
- From reactive → proactive
- From inefficiency → control
- Enabling Scalability and visibility
The business impact
Efficiency, visibility, collaboration, sustainability, and scalability. These were the first order of business that Alpega’s products came to address. As their transport operations entered a phase of transformation, deeper, and more nuanced impacts were also revealed.
These included:
- Full visibility across transport operations
- Faster decision-making and issue resolution
- Reduced manual workload
- Improved warehouse efficiency and predictability
- Better collaboration across teams
And most importantly:
They built trust in their operations
Annika Lundberg, Supply Chain Developer:
“We chose Alpega because their focus aligns very well with ours. They’re large enough to provide the full range of competence and support we need, but at the same time they manage to stay accessible and easy to work with.”
The moment transport fails to live up to its promise, the core component of trust breaks down. Between shippers and carriers, and between those who file orders and those who fulfill them – or aim to.
By ensuring transparency, punctuality, and reliability, trust remains valid as a business currency.
Alpega exists to foster transport trust in several ways. Chiefly by building it through consistent, transparent execution. As such, we present ourselves as a trusted partner to scale and transform logistics operations.
Learnings for Leaders
The steps Höganäs took to optimise their transport process is a valuable case to take note of.
In a nutshell, it illustrates how important it is to centralize, digitize, and scale operations.
In short: acting, instead of reacting.
How?
Close the execution gap
Don’t rely only on planning tools
Planning is only the starting point. Alpega TMS and Smart Booking ensure plans are executed as intended, enabling real‑time booking, monitoring, and exception handling so transport decisions translate into reliable, on‑the‑ground outcomes.
Centralize operations
One truth across teams
With Alpega TMS, all transport execution data lives in one place. Smart Booking connects carriers, rates, and capacity centrally, ensuring planners, operations, and finance teams work from the same accurate, up‑to‑date information.
Digitize execution workflows
Carrier collaboration meets warehouse coordination
Alpega TMS and Smart Booking digitize carrier communication, booking, and dock coordination. Automated workflows replace emails and calls, improving collaboration between carriers and warehouses while reducing delays, errors, and manual effort at every execution step.
Interested to see if the above scenario can apply to you – and how you can benefit?
Discover how to bring control and predictability to your transport execution.
Book a 30-min review to assess your transport situation. The first step towards solutions is to transform them!