Innovative Logistic solutions - we combine cost-effectiveness and sustainability
About us
Eco-First Logistics AB was started in 2017 by Olof Moen and Nils Mårtensson based on the research and development work that Olof Moen has conducted in the transport sector and Nils Mårtensson's long experience of entrepreneurship in the offshore industry and shipping. In 2020, Berndt Andersson joined with 40 years of experience as a transport buyer in pharmaceutical distribution.
Background
The transport industry is characterized by a low level of IT and digitization with manual work routines and analogue information. Eco-First Logistics introduces new business models based on IT solutions that create transparency in business processes between transport buyers and transport companies.
Eco-First Logistics has 30 years of experience in developing business models in the transport sector and was the driving force behind the introduction of route optimization as a planning tool in Sweden during the 1990s in industries such as mail and newspaper distribution, waste collection and goods distribution within the B2B segment.
Using IT tools for digital transport planning with route optimization and vehicle monitoring for control and follow-up, Eco-First Logistics has developed and implemented new transparent business models both in the public sector and for commercial transport.
Municipal co-distribution of goods
Municipalities standard model of procurement of food and other goods for their operations takes place with free delivery, where each supplier distributes with its own vehicles and the transport is a hidden mark-up in the price of the goods.
Municipal co-distribution of goods means that the municipality separates goods and transport into two procurements, where suppliers leave the goods at a transshipment terminal with distribution of all suppliers goods in one vehicle, which reduces the number of deliveries by 60 to 80 percent.
From the start in 1999, in 2020, before the pandemic, 45 municipalities or one in seven Swedish municipalities had implemented municipal co-distribution of goods.
The Ystad-Österlen model
With action research, Olof Moen developed a new concept for transport procurement for municipalities, called the Ystad-Österlen model. The municipality as transport buyer takes over logistics and transport planning with route optimization and vehicle monitoring. The Ystad-Österlen model has won numerous awards as an innovative logistics solution.
During 2018 to 2020, the National center for municipal co-distribution of goods was established, a government assignment with the aim of promoting municipalities' competence and developing the business model, where Olof Moen was the research director. The network for municipal co-distribution (KOSAVA) has more than 60 municipalities as members, follow the link to the network's website
The Five-step model
In the Five-Step Model, the concept of coordinated goods distribution has been transferred and developed for transport for private enterprises as a new and transparent business model, based on digital tools for procurement, transport planning, vehicle monitoring and scanning of information.
The five-step model was developed in an R&D project for the Swedish Transport Administration by Olof Moen and Berndt Andersson, which was then implemented within Swedish pharmaceutical distribution and is compiled in the report "Five-step model. Business model with route optimization for increased transport efficiency in urban freight transport", download the report from the Swedish Transport Administrations website
Solutions
Consulting services
Eco-First Logistics customize system solutions for transport procurement and transport operations and works independently of freight forwarders, truck centers or 3PL companies. The transport buyers are focus, which in selected industries lowers the client's transport costs by 15 to 20 percent.
Eco-First Logistics is a reseller of the route optimization software WinRoute from Descartes and cooperates with leading software providers for Transport Management Systems, vehicle monitoring and document scanning.
Implementation of the Five-Step Model
Through the Five-Step Model, the transport buyer takes over the transport company's responsibility for logistics, where the transport buyer controls the procurement process based on "open book accounting" and transport planning with reverse invoicing.
The five-step model, used correctly, provides significant cost savings for transport buyers, increased profitability in the transporter sector, reduced environmental impact through increased filling rate, reduced number of kilometers driven with fewer distribution vehicles for the same amount of goods.
New model for transport procurement
A new form of transport procurement is the common denominator for the development work carried out in both public administration and for business transport and which forms the basis for Eco-First Logistics' business concept.
A traditional transport procurement is based on a price per delivery or price per hour/day, while the new procurement model is based on route optimization with price per kilometer, worked time and sequenced driving routes, where both parties have a transparent base to start from in a negotiation process.