In his welcome address at the Christmas party of ground service provider Cargo Handling International (CHI) last Thursday (14DEC23) near Frankfurt CEO Kai Domscheit pointed out that standstill is regression. This is no option because “we want to move forward and progress,” the executive exclaimed. Although remaining somewhat unspecific, he indicated that going beyond traditional cargo handling and becoming a tech company offering a broad spectrum of logistics services is the aim of the transformation. Following the party, we spoke with Kai about the management’s masterplan:
Your staff and surely many customers would like to know what changes this new focus implies a) for your corporate strategy, and b) the daily working process? Kindly elaborate.
KD: For the last 30 years, we have been known as a small family-run business which might have been perceived as just a small warehouse handler of some freight forwarders located in Frankfurt. At our ‘Pick Your Christmas Tree’ event, we launched our new logo and with that we initiated our journey to transcend into a tech company that happens to do logistics. I certainly can’t reveal nor summarize our corporate strategy into one paragraph, but I can disclose two areas of focus that we are going to work on this year and after. With regard to our corporate strategy, we will not only intensify our HR policy initiatives by putting our people first, but also focus on more efficient processes and more scalable organizational structures. We see our employees as our extended family members. Hence, simultaneously on the daily working process, we must empower our employees through communication. Most managers understand communication as a one-time transfer of information, often top-down. We have recognized the beauty of a two-way communication, that we realized this year in our pilot workshop ‘to create our first digital warehouse of the future’. High executives, mid-level management, all the way to the warehouse employees came together and are still continuing to come together every 12 weeks, to identify barriers before they become the problems of tomorrow. This proactive identifying of barriers not only helps us to respond and dissolve process issues, but also created magical moments that we have not witnessed in our company’s culture in years. We saw leadership involve employees, who in return felt valued. …and let me tell you, when employees feel valued, they are more likely to embrace change and participate in making it happen, which, in return, yields to an amazing Christmas party with fireworks.
CFG: Sounds like you will need expert digital know-how to achieve your targets. However, qualified IT personnel is rare, at least in Europe. Any solution to overcome the bottleneck in order to make your visions come true?
KD: You are absolutely spot on in regard to the IT-personnel challenge. We have decided to entrust this to Bernd Mau, our CDO position. He joined our organization from HPC and has vast knowledge. This year alone, we hired 14 additional people, i.e. project managers, a business analyst, product owner, software developers, data analysts and engineers, as well as IT administrators, totaling now 31 IT employees and eight more will follow next year. This shows that we are investing in our IT strategy, and that our digital supply chain is more than just a buzzword. We have a comprehensive strategy covering the entire IT chain and it seems that we have succeeded in showing that we do take digitalization and automation seriously. We try to show people the potential and possibilities, and that there is plenty of room for creativity and ideas. We are seeking people who not only enjoy their work, but also excel and take pride in shaping the common future of our air cargo industry. Furthermore, we offer IT-people an increasingly professional environment in which we can grow together. At the same time, we offer a high degree of flexibility and personal responsibility, for which we simply request performance. Bernd Mau stated that he thinks “all of this together makes CHI an interesting employer for certain people, especially those prospective employees, who identify their work as more than just a job. We also know that we cannot achieve all of our projects on our own. Hence, we will also increasingly rely on models such as team extension with suitable near-shoring partners in the future.”
CFG: … Doesn’t the new transformation strategy, ‘Beyond Cargo’, also require a change of mindset among many employees? Experience has shown that change always triggers fears. Did you sufficiently consider this aspect prior to your announcement?
KD: A long time ago, we gave up trying to make it right for everyone or trying to find the right timing. Obliviously, there will be people who either fear what is coming or might question the timing of the announcement. Some will do both. Therefore, we decided to tackle the traditional prejudice to change by making our upcoming transformation more compelling and exciting. Change management communication doesn’t have to be a fully mapped out and timed out plan in detail, that needs to be executed only by managers. I strongly believe that the utmost important part of a transformation strategy is that it addresses and communicates an authentic and prioritized purpose that is clear and consistent.
We want to become a tech company that happens to do logistics. We believe that by communicating our context to our why and what we change, our employees will also transform from “how does this change or impact my life and work” into employees with a much deeper and clearer understanding, who optimistically will simply ask: “How can I support this new avenue and become part of CHI’s transformation?”
CFG: In your Welcome Speech at the Christmas event, you emphasized that consolidation is not a threat, but might open up new avenues. So, are there any plans in the near future to merge CHI with another player? Or was this statement more a reflection of your entrepreneurial thinking?
KD: In the recent past, we already merged with other stakeholders such as the handling unit of Nuremberg Airport. We also widened our footprint from Munich all the way up to Hamburg. For the near future, we do not want to spoil the excitement, but we might give you a sneak-peak of what’s to come. The curiosity as to whether this is a statement that reflects entrepreneurial thinking or if mergers are on the horizon, shall remain a secret a little longer. But what I can state is that… people who do appreciate us, know and understand this is usually not a question about “if”, as it is more a question about “when”… Although, we do respect your curiosity as a journalist to shed some light into certain unanswered questions and as much as it is your responsibility as media to reveal…, but still, some things are better experienced as they just unfold. It is similar to a magician’s spell. Knowing how and when the trick is performed, and the magic is lost forever! I do not want to carry that burden 🙂
CFG: It would be interesting to know if there is any kind of time horizon for CHI’s Beyond Cargo Strategy – what will be changed and when will this be done?
KD: I hope that I made our Beyond Cargo Strategy and value preposition clearer and when it comes to change, respectively, achievements, I will repeat Arthur Ashe’s quote that I stated in our ACCF Hub-Performance Task Force. “Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.”
To be continued… I promise!
CFG: Kai, thank you for your statements. It doesn’t take much phantasy to forecast that more talks are to follow on CHI’s industrial transformation journey.
