Scheidt & Bachmann discusses state of the industry with its Expert Panel

Some 80 industry professionals got together on September 16 & 17 in Germany for Scheidt & Bachmann’s Experts Panel – the most attended so far.

Jörg M. Heilingbrunner, CEO of Scheidt & Bachmann welcomes the public

Scheidt & Bachmann discusses state of the industry with its Expert Panel — Jörg M. Heilingbrunner, CEO of Scheidt & Bachmann welcomes the public

On the first day, guests were welcomed with a friendly golf tournament and an evening dinner. Elmar Kühn, Managing Director of UNITI Kraftstoff, Germany’s fuel retailer association, sparked the evening discussion with his dinner speech. He made the case of e-fuels to be the number one option for the future transport industry instead of battery-powered electric vehicles – carbon-neutral liquid fuels that are easy to transport, can use existing infrastructure and be blended with traditional diesel and unleaded.

The second day of the event was filled with presentations and discussions as part of the Experts Panel. Mark Wohltmann, Director of NACS Europe, was the moderator for the day. New organizing techniques and office dynamics can improve employee productivity and provide better results, according to Klaus-Peter Rapp, Project Manager at Esso Deutschland. In his presentation he explained new, agile ways of managing projects and how to better integrate teams.

By giving a detailed account of the online travel market, Alex Hefer, CFO at Trivago, showed the importance of making customised offers to clients and the challenge of obtaining the necessary information for that purpose, with Google still the best tool.

Retailer Fred Pfennings told attendees about individualizing the offer at each site according to demand and location. Some sites will include a bike repair shop while others will have the ‘Coffee Jungle’ bistro concept. School students have begun to go to the bistro during breaks.

The co-founder of PicNic, Manuel Stellmann, explained how the delivery service uses Whatsapp and the company app to stay close to its customers. They also use electric vehicles and recyclable bags. Along those lines, Antonella Koch explained how Sixt uses digitization to improve customer experience.

In the evening sessions, Dr. Martin Sommer provided details on e.Go – a new electric vehicle designed for short distance in cities that is produced in Aachen. The company also produces e-scooters which are currently being used by the German Post.

To close a long day of discussions and presentations, Stephan Löffler showed attendees how to reduce purchasing time to zero by automating payment processes.

"We are very proud about hosting these industry leaders that could inspire the audience by successful business models in different industries," said the Scheidt & Bachmann team at the end of the day.

A final discussion on the state of the industry put an end to a successful event for German firm, according to the organizers.