Rolf Schnellecke to Join the Logistics Hall of Fame

The new member of the Logistics Hall of Fame is Rolf Schnellecke. The long-standing head and current chairman of the supervisory board of Wolfsburg-based Schnellecke Group AG & Co. KG, was chosen among 25 candidates from eight nations as the “outsourcing trendsetter and innovator of automotive logistics" in the international Hall of Fame of Logistics.

• Professor Rolf Schnellecke, chairman of the supervisory board of the Schnellecke Group, will be admitted to the international Logistics Hall of Fame as “outsourcing trendsetter and innovator of automotive logistics”.
• Festive reception to take place on December 5, 2018 at the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digitalization in Berlin.

Ismaning near Munich, September 3, 2018.  The new member of the Logistics Hall of Fame is Rolf Schnellecke. The long-standing head and current chairman of the supervisory board of Wolfsburg-based Schnellecke Group AG & Co. KG, was chosen among 25 candidates from eight nations as the “outsourcing trendsetter and innovator of automotive logistics" in the international Hall of Fame of Logistics. He is the 34th member among the most deserved logisticians in the world. Official admission will take place on December 5 during the annual Logistics Hall of Fame gala reception in the Erich-Klausener-Hall of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in Berlin.

“With value-added logistics, Rolf Schnellecke has entered completely new territory in the forwarding industry and developed a successful business model with great foresight that has shaped an entire industry. It would be unthinkable for the automotive industry today to operate without these logistics services,” says Anita Würmser, executive jury chairperson of the Logistics Hall of Fame, regarding the final decision of the international expert jury.

Schnellecke can claim to have significantly influenced and further developed automotive logistics beyond the boundaries of his company. “His early approaches to expand the pure transport and storage processes and to offer value-added services and production activities as an outsourcing partner were visionary and had a ground-breaking influence on automotive logistics,” according to the jury's statement.

At an early stage, the entrepreneur recognized the need of the automotive industry to globalize and reduce the depth of production. He believes that the related outsourcing requirements will be the future of modern freight forwarding and has consistently converted his parents' company from a regional rail and furniture forwarding company with four trucks, into a global player and outsourcing partner within 30 years. In the early 1970s, he built up international long-distance forwarding services on fixed lines. He then concentrated on highly specialized value-added partnerships with the automotive industry. 1990, his company became the first logistics service provider to take over the highly innovative assembly of door and side panels, breaking new ground in the forwarding industry. The project is becoming the blueprint for modern value-added logistics and is still widely adopted as the standard in automotive logistics.

Rolf Schnellecke does not only focus on logistics, yet also on innovation in the transport sector. In the early 1970s, he was one of the first freight forwarders to develop large-capacity vehicles for the ever-lighter components of the automotive industry. In the 1980s, he used the emerging computer technology, and he is now pushing ahead with digitization and autonomization. This unconditional willingness to innovate and change gives his company competitive advantages and makes him a sought-after provider of ideas and innovation partner.

Rolf Schnellecke was born in Wolfsburg in 1944. Having lost his father at an early age, he grew up in the small forwarding company led by his mother, Margarete. After graduating from high school in Wolfsburg, he studied law and economics and started a career in administration and municipal policy. Among other things, he was principal and mayor of the city of Wolfsburg for 16 years.

At the same time, Schnellecke founded M. Schnellecke KG in 1967 at the age of 22 together with his mother. As a shareholder and later as chairman of the supervisory board, he determined the strategic orientation of the company and developed the Schnellecke Group into an international logistics service provider with almost 20,000 employees at over 60 locations. In addition to transport logistics with inter-plant transports, area forwarding, milkruns, JIT and JIS transports, Schnellecke is engaged in numerous OEMs and suppliers in the packaging and supply logistics of plants, the sequencing of parts and assemblies and in module assembly. The supply logistics of automotive plants with parts and components ranges from warehouse management and material flow control through order picking and sequencing to material supply of the production lines.

The aim of the Logistics Hall of Fame is to document key milestones in logistics and honour the people behind them, thus underlining the performance capability of logistics and boosting its overall image. So far 34 logisticians have made it into the international pantheon of logistics.
The initiative is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Transport as well as the relevant sector associations, media and companies, including the Port of Duisburg (duisport), Chep, Gebrüder Weiss, Humbaur, PTV Group or Still.

The Hall of Fame can be accessed at any time free of charge at www.logisticshalloffame.net and offers information and pictures about the milestones of logistics and the people behind. 

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Professor Rolf Schnellecke, member of the Logistics Hall of Fame