A glamorous stage for Professor Rolf Schnellecke: On December 5, 2018 the outsourcing pioneer was admitted access to the Logistics Hall of Fame on the occasion of the annual gala reception of the Logistics Hall of Fame in the historic Erich Klausener Hall of the Federal Ministry of Transport in Berlin, Germany. More than 250 guests, including the leading figures of the automotive industry and logistics, accompanied the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Wolfsburg-based Schnellecke Group AG & Co. KG, when he received the membership certificate made of glass and metal.
“The members of the Logistics Hall of Fame are visionary people, driving forces and pioneers. With their ideas, their innovations, their entrepreneurship and their courage, they have optimized and developed logistics all over the world. And they have brought us growth and prosperity. With vision and determination Professor Rolf Schnellecke has raised especially the logistics of the automotive industry to a new level. For this he deserves gratitude and respect,” said Andreas Scheuer, Federal Minister of Transport.
The laudatory speech for the new member was held by Prof. Dr. Thomas Wimmer, Chairman of the Management Board of the German Logistics Association (BVL). In his speech, he paid tribute to Schnellecke's groundbreaking work: “In 1990, Schnellecke was the first freight forwarder to carry out assembly work as part of the VW production. He has developed this form of cooperation into a trademark: value-added logistics for the automotive industry”.
In brief talks, VDA President Bernhard Mattes, VW Group logistics expert Thomas Zernechel und Schnellecke CEO Nikolaus Külps reviewed the history of logistics outsourcing and discussed the milestones and business models of the future.
Rolf Schnellecke is the 34th member of the Hall of Fame. He was chosen out of 25 candidates from Australia, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Great Britain, Serbia, Switzerland and the USA by an international jury.
Other members of the Logistics Hall of Fame include Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, UPS founder James Casey and Fedex founder Frederick Smith, Swiss logistics patron Klaus-Michael Kühne, contract logistics pioneers Heinz Fiege and Hugo Fiege, Fraunhofer researcher and German IoT guru Prof. Dr. Michael ten Hompel or Austrian logistics entrepreneur Heidi Senger-Weiss. Posthumously, the Post pioneers of Thurn und Taxis, truck inventor Gottlieb Daimler, Gottfried Schenker as a pioneer of combined transport, the assembly line inventors Henry Ford and Ransom Eli Olds, the inventor of the forklift Eugene Clark as well as Malcom McLean, father of containerization, and the Japanese Toyota manager Taiichi Ohno, inventor of the just in time concept, were among those who were included in the prominent circle.
The Logistics Hall of Fame honours leading figures who have made outstanding efforts to promote the further development of logistics and supply chain management. The initiative is supported by the German Federal Minister of Transport as well as the relevant associations and companies, including the Port of Duisburg (duisport), pallet pooling specialist Chep, logistics service provider Gebrüder Weiss, intralogistics provider Still, real estate developer Panattoni, the mobility and IT specialist PTV Group and the commercial vehicle manufacturers Traton and Humbaur.
