How we’ve worked with Gebrüder Weiss to support their IBM i applications

  • Oldest transport company in the world
  • Long standing relationship developing, supporting and maintaining business-critical applications on the IBM i
  • Development of modern, web-based IBM i application using PHP and Zend
  • Developed integrations with a number of third-party applications, including MyCRM.

With a history dating back to 1474, Gebrüder Weiss is the oldest transport company in the world.

Not only that, they are now one of the largest in Europe.

Operating from over 150 locations in 27 countries across the world, Gebrüder Weiss has in excess of 3,500 trucks on the road on any given day which help to transport over 10.6 million overland shipments annually.

Gebrüder Weiss has over 1,200 Europe-wide routes alone.

 

A long-term business relationship

Our longest standing customer, Proximity has developed a close working relationship with Gebrüder Weiss.

A dedicated team of developers with extensive experience of logistics and warehouse management work on behalf Gebrüder Weiss supporting a number of IBM i-based applications predominately using RPG. These applications include CIEL, a transport and warehouse management system which controls all road freight worldwide, plus air and sea freight in Europe and the Far East.

Our deep understanding of Gebrüder Weiss; their operations and software; and the wider freight forwarding industry has enabled us to work in partnership with Gebrüder Weiss to develop new applications to improve operational efficiency.
One such application, is Gebrüder Weiss’ Freight Rate Tool.

A web-based application, the freight rate tool has been developed using PHP running on the IBM i with Zend Server. The tool replaces Gebrüder Weiss’ Excel spreadsheet-based system for generating tenders and quotations.

Historically, should a customer require a quote, Gebrüder Weiss had to use a complex spreadsheet, which was both difficult to maintain and keep up-to-date with the very latest freight rates.

It was a slow process to generate customer quotes and was subject to problems in calculating the best and most competitive prices.

Launched across Europe in 2013, the Freight Rate Tool uses the native DB2 database and reuses some RPG business logic to generate quotes and tenders.

Regardless of whether a customer wants a price for simple point A to point B route, or multiple shipments across multiple locations during a set period of time, the Freight Rate Tool can generate prices based on rates in real-time.

Proximity has recently integrated the Freight Rate Tool with Gebrüder Weiss’ customer relationship management (CRM) system, MyCRM.

IBM i Application Development, Support and Maintenance
How Gebruder Weiss manage usiness-critical applications on the IBM i

With a dedicated team of developers working on behalf of Gebrüder Weiss, Proximity supports a number of IBM i-based applications predominately using RPG. Proximity and Gebrüder Weiss have had a long-term business relationship going back a number of years, enabling a deep understanding of the business, operations, software and the wider freight forwarding industry. In 2013, Gebrüder Weiss’ launched the Freight Rate Tool across Europe using the native DB2 database and some RPG business logic.

Learn more about IBM i managed services
With Proximity, Gebrüder Weiss has:
  • Developed a modern, web-based IBM i application
  • Used both PHP and Zend
  • Developed integrations, including MyCRM