Compliance & efficiency: Evotec's path to shipping excellence

Cell material, scientific samples, and patent-protected documents - Evotec regularly ships highly sensitive goods. These not only require special packaging and transport conditions, but are also subject to strict legal and safety regulations.

A large amount of data is required for secure processing - including the UN number for dangerous goods identification, the correct commodity code, and the associated dangerous goods class. Previously, the shipping process was supported by a self-developed shipping solution based on SharePoint, in which this information was recorded.

This solution had worked reliably for a long time. However, as the company became more successful and grew, the system became increasingly slower.

Another challenge was the quality of the data. "Many of our users work in the laboratory and are not trained in logistics," explains Torsten Gennis, Head of Logistics Germany at Evotec. "Laboratory staff therefore need extensive system support for shipping tasks to ensure high data quality."

In addition, the processes at the international locations were not fully harmonized. The users in science and production had some flexibility and the process was not consistently supported by the system. As a result, shipping orders reached the logistics department in varying forms.

Evotec was therefore looking for new shipping software - and opted for a solution from AEB. With the help of integrated graphical business process modeling, the processes were recorded, mapped and harmonized exactly to meet the requirements.

On this basis, the entire shipping process was digitalized end-to-end - from order creation, packaging, and consolidation through to commissioning the relevant transport service provider. The necessary shipping labels and documents are printed via an integrated multi-carrier platform to which over 300 carriers and parcel services are connected.

In order to improve data quality, plausibility checks have been implemented at various points - for example, to ensure that commodity codes and project numbers are specified correctly. If data is missing, the logistics order can be rejected, whereby the person responsible is automatically informed and can complete the order. In addition, all documents are clearly assigned to a shipment - this can be retrieved at any time, is audit-proof, and automatically archived.

The solution also checks whether consignees are on a sanctions list or whether goods are subject to an embargo. In the event of a match, a warning is issued and the necessary processing steps are initiated.

"When it comes to export controls and sanctions list screening, we are not only very compliant, but have also achieved enormous savings in terms of work and time thanks to the AEB software," explains Dr. Jan Willem Vogel, Senior IT Architect at Evotec. "On the one hand, we no longer have to prepare the data separately for this. On the other, the relevant colleagues receive direct feedback in the process when a match is found. This leads to faster processing and approval."