Challenge
Disconnected 3PL structures and reporting made carrier comparisons time-consuming.
Logistics Cost Transparency at Danone
One harmonised view of logistics spend across multiple providers.
Cost analysis by provider, region and category, supporting benchmarking and data-led logistics negotiations.
Delivered
ERP and provider datasets integrated into a harmonised logistics cost model.
Decision support
Provider benchmarks, geographic views and cost-per-ton KPIs for analysis and negotiations.
Challenge
Danone's logistics operations spanned multiple 3PL providers (DB Schenker, GEFCO, Kuehne + Nagel, XPO Logistics, others) across European routes. Each provider had its own cost structure, invoice format, and reporting cadence. Logistics cost analysis required manual consolidation across providers - making it difficult to compare carriers, identify cost drivers, or negotiate from data.
Approach
We integrated Danone's ERP data with logistics provider datasets to build a unified logistics cost model. The platform consolidates inbound, storage, handling, picking, co-packing, and outbound costs across all 3PL providers into a single harmonized view.
Geographic analysis maps carrier performance across European drops, regions, and partner-level breakdowns. Custom KPIs track cost-per-ton by category, year-over-year trends, and provider benchmarks. The system enables Danone to slice costs across multiple dimensions and identify root causes of cost fluctuations.
Logistics analytics in practice
Two screens from the delivered logistics cost dashboard.
Dashboard screen · 01 / 02
Cost overview
Monthly logistics cost compared year over year, cost per logistics partner by costing class, and a breakdown of the total from costing group to costing class and costing detail.
- Date, costing class and logistic partner filters
- Logistic cost and average cost per month by partner
- Drill-down from total cost to individual cost lines
Dashboard screen · 02 / 02
Geographic and partner analysis
Drops by city on a map, monthly cost by provider and by costing class, and cost per ton per category set against volume.
- Drops by city, split by logistics provider
- Monthly cost by provider and costing class
- Cost per ton by category and volume
Outcomes
Qualitative project outcomes; no measured cost savings are claimed.
Unified cost view across multiple 3PL providers, harmonized into one reporting layer
Geographic and partner-level cost analysis enabling provider benchmarking
Year-over-year tracking of logistics expenses with breakdown by costing class
Custom KPIs (cost-per-ton, average cost per category) for ongoing monitoring
Foundation for data-driven 3PL contract negotiation
Technology
SAP
ERP integration
Power BI
Data harmonization layer
Solution areas: Data Foundations ยท Data Products
