Rondo Food is a Halle/Saale-based producer of pet treats which are primarily for cats and dogs, but also for rabbits and guinea pigs. They deliver their goods to large trade chains throughout all of Europe. Approximately 51,000 pallets with an average of five lorry trailers leave the site every day. Around 60 percent of their goods go directly to the customer, with 40 percent going to the Finsterwalder warehouse which is fitted with a refrigerating system.

Efficient food transportation. Finsterwalder transports larger deliveries in full or part loads directly to the central warehouses of large chains like Aldi in Germany, Tesco's in England or Continental in France. Smaller deliveries to branches are fed into the break bulk network of CargoLine, one of Finsterwalder’s partners. In order to avoid empty runs, the lorries supply the plant with packaging material, which is also stored at Finsterwalder’s site. “Just as with production, there are high expectations concerning hygiene when it comes to transportation and storage, and checks are regularly carried out,” explains head of marketing, Sven Köcke. For dealing with packed foodstuffs, Finsterwalder is certified DIN EN ISO 9001:2000 including HACCP.

Seamless item tracking. Unit load consignments are recorded electronically all the way to the loading unit level and can be tracked in real-time via the internet. Furthermore Finsterwalder is presently developing another IT interface which will electronically provide the animal food producer with the entirety of its data regarding warehouse management. "Finsterwalder stands out because of its excellent service and qualified and highly-motivated staff," comments Josef Bosch, member of Rondo Food's management team, on the co-operation.

Central Germany's hub. The choice of the Halle/Saale location including the operation of one of the German railways' Railports was the right decision, "because this region in Central Germany is turning into a strategic logistics centre with a promising future," confirms Sven Köcke, head of marketing at Finsterwalder's Halle branch. "We basically started from scratch in 1990 and have since turned into one of the industry's giants." The region offers the perfect combination of roads, railways, air- and waterways in all directions. The Leipzig/Halle airport is a central hub for air freight and the Halle/Saale goods depot is turning into one of the most important hubs in Eastern Germany.