After the central government proposed to effectively reduce the logistics costs of the whole society, each segment of logistics has its own "little ninety-nine". For the express industry of the road freight branch, the express industry is a typical market segment with scale effects and network effects, and cost optimization can even be as refined as "a penny". This is not sensational, but the view of Qin Xinghua, chairman of Aneng Logistics, a leader in the express industry.
He believes that based on the huge scale and volume, any small cost improvement will have a huge positive impact on the overall profitability. How
can improve service quality while reducing costs and increasing efficiency has become the direction that every express company explores. This means that industry change is imminent.
Recently, Qin Xinghua, founder, co-chairman of the board of directors, CEO and president of Aneng Logistics, told TMTpost at the financial report release that quality growth comes from efficient business efficiency and organizational efficiency. "We compare scale in the incremental market, and leanness and high efficiency in the stock market. In the future, the stock market will accelerate concentration, whose standards will become better and better, more concentrated, more optimized, and more and more lean. When it is strong, it will become the helmsman of accelerated concentration.”
Organization optimization
As a leading domestic express company, Aneng Logistics will launch in-depth changes in 2023 and propose the best cost, best quality, most stable timeliness, and best service. The "five most" development goals with the fastest response and the densest network coverage.
Recently, Aneng Logistics, the domestic express delivery leader, released its 2023 financial report. Past reforms have been accepted. Data show that Aneng Logistics' annual revenue reached 9.917 billion yuan, approaching the 10 billion mark, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%. Gross profit reached 1.268 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 73.6%, reaching the best level since its listing.
Qin Xinghua said that the organizational "secrets" of Aneng's transformation for more than a year are to establish organizational management principles based on power lines and professional lines to form a "collaborative-platform" organizational structure and a flat organizational system.
He said: "To make the organization as flexible as water, we stimulate the vitality of the organization through "authorization, activation, and empowerment", authorize the operation area, and let people who can hear the cannon fire make decisions. "The advantage of this is that the entire organization is more down-to-earth and can respond more quickly to market changes and customer needs.
Traditional organizations, such as Aneng Logistics, a national logistics company, generally have three networks: headquarters, provinces, and regions. Levels. After organizational changes, Aneng Logistics currently has only two levels.
"This has greatly reduced the problem of organizational bloat, which is also a manifestation of cost optimization. In addition, due to the efficiency brought about by digitization, automation, and systemization, when human efficiency is increasingly improved, the inevitable result of organizational downsizing is cost optimization, and cost optimization can be reflected as the core competitiveness of the entire industry, because The logistics industry naturally relies on cost optimization as its foundation. "He said.
In terms of specific cost optimization, Aneng Logistics mainly focuses on reducing costs and increasing efficiency in the three aspects of people, sites, and equipment. In 2023, Aneng Logistics will reduce its distribution by 81, and the number of core hubs will increase to 34. On the transportation side, By optimizing route planning, improving transport capacity structure, upgrading fleet management system, etc., transportation costs are reduced.
takes Jinhua to Guangzhou as an example. By optimizing routes, it improves the connection rate and saves 2 to 3 days on average compared to before. " In Shiyan City, Hubei Province, the "truck capital", Aneng has reduced comprehensive logistics costs for merchants in the automotive supply chain by about 30%.
data shows that in the second half of 2023, Aneng's unit distribution center cost was 156 yuan/ton, a month-on-month decrease 17.1%, the unit trunk transportation cost was 310 yuan/ton, a month-on-month decrease of 5.1%, and the cost reduction was significant.
According to Jin Yun, executive director and chief operating officer of Aneng Logistics, large-scale structural adjustments have come to an end. Judging from the ratio, (Aneng's) distribution layout structure has reached the optimal level, and will be configured in the future as the scale changes.
However, continued cost reduction is an eternal topic in this industry for 2024. Plans continue to optimize distribution and transportation costs.Chen Xinzhi, head of the product operation department of
, said that there are four main actions to continue cost reduction in the distribution structure in 2024: First, lean operations will allow the site to operate more cargo volume and improve the efficiency of infield operations. Second, use digital tools to schedule shifts to reduce employee waiting time and increase effective operating time. Third, with the growth of e-commerce small packages, further investment in assembly lines, etc. Fourth, through the increase in growth volume, the turnover rate of the entire venue is increased.
Xiong Dalin, head of the transportation department, will further reduce transportation costs. First, from the perspective of intelligent vehicle line planning, we will continue to carry out intelligent upgrades to further reduce the frequency of transportation and improve transportation efficiency. Second, increase the intensity of drop-and-hook operations. In terms of vehicle resources, the ratio of front-end vehicles to drop-and-hook vehicles is constantly increasing, thereby increasing vehicle mileage. Third, basic costs such as gas, tolls, labor, etc. Centralized collection, discount exploration, and highway route optimization will be carried out. Fourth, the increase in scale has led to the continuous straightening of train lines and the continuous reduction of transfer frequency, forming a positive cycle.
Qin Xinghua said, "We were very rough at first, but then we continued to iterate and upgrade, change and reform. When the structural network density and structure reached the optimal state, the best model reached the best standard in the industry. I feel that these are the "five best" long-term values. They are the execution values of an industry and the company itself. This is a code of conduct rather than a slogan. "
The second curve is a false proposition.
Competition with express delivery is also different, compared with express delivery orders. Concentrated sources, express orders mostly come from scattered orders from small and medium-sized enterprises, showing the characteristics of point distribution. Therefore, the advantage of network scale is particularly important for express companies. It can not only create cost advantages, but also improve product and service capabilities through outlets.
Aneng has also tried express delivery business in the past, but it was unsuccessful. In the current economic environment, "Strategically, we focus on our main business and will not make any unnecessary external actions. In today's environment, 'less is more'" Qin Xinghua told TMTpost.com, "Aneng's strategy is to go deeper and deeper. , go deeper, instead of investing in the second curve and the third curve, those are false propositions."
He said, "Today's express delivery is like the express delivery ten years ago. When it enters the stock market, it accelerates the concentration of variables, and the entire organization. The team and even the company have spent one and a half to two years preparing in advance to accelerate the concentration. "
At present, Aneng Logistics also revealed that it is working with Pinduoduo, temu and Cainiao International Business, Douyin International Freight, Tmall, 1688 and other e-commerce companies. Contact the business platform. At present, Aneng Logistics' e-commerce business volume is expected to reach 1,300 to 1,500 tons.
Aneng executives believe that Aneng has several advantages. The first is the advantage of scale, at two levels: first, volume, and second, network. The volume of goods is the largest, and the number of outlets is also the largest in the industry. This is the advantage of scale. The second is distribution carrying capacity. Aneng currently has 81 distribution centers. "In fact, from the perspective of production capacity, our distribution carrying capacity and transportation resources still have relatively large carrying space."
In addition, Aneng Logistics revealed that the company is also piloting new energy battery swap projects in Nanchang, Quanzhou and other places. Qin Xinghua said that battery swapping requires a relatively large infrastructure, which is a battery swapping station, similar to a gas station. Aneng is a scene in the entire logistics basic industry. Scheduled and fixed-point shuttle bus lines are the most standard and the most stable on concentrated routes. If the entire heavy-duty truck battery replacement takes 5 to 10 years, the cost can be saved by 5%-20%. However, this requires the participation of many parties, such as State Power Investment Corporation, CATL, and OEMs.
"We are leading in this scenario, but the future trial may take 3 to 5 years. This is definitely the name of the industry. We are the first to do it first, and running out iterative data is the personnel revolution. For logistics, it is cost reduction. The biggest revolution. It also reduces carbon emissions for the country,” he said frankly.
McKinsey report pointed out that China's 1.5 trillion LTL market will continue to develop along with economic transformation and upgrading, and the overall market size growth rate is slightly higher than the GDP growth rate.In the context of domestic economic transformation and upgrading, benefiting from China's new commercial supply chain - the four underlying demands of the production end, retail end, commercial end and e-commerce end are all tending to "high frequency" and "small batch" transportation needs. With its advantages such as wide coverage and high standardization, the whole network express will grow at a higher rate than the dedicated line and regional LTL markets, and its share will gradually increase. The whole network express has the most long-term growth and economies of scale in the domestic LTL industry. The value market has the highest maturity and is also the most promising track to become a 50 billion level leader. The further
Express develops, the more important its price, timeliness and service advantages become. Whoever takes the initiative can take the lead and become a 50 billion level leader. Industry changes have begun, and those who fall behind will be eliminated.
(This article was first published on Titanium Media app, author | Yang Xiujuan, editor | Fang Yu)
