Results achieved with MIXMOVE HUB OS
Success story
3M
3M

How 3M increased truck fill rates from 35% to 90% and achieved a 25x return on investment

Industry
Manufacturing
Geography
EMEA (30+ countries)
Product deployed
MIXMOVE HUB OS
Partnership
10+ years
How 3M increased truck fill rates from 35% to 90% and achieved a 25x return on investment
MIXMOVE HUB OS
90%
Average truck fill rate, up from 35–45%
35%
Transport cost reduction across EMEA
Results achieved with MIXMOVE HUB OS
90%
Average truck fill rate, up from 35–45%
35%
Transport cost reduction across EMEA
50%
CO₂ reduction from improved fill rates
€25M
Annual logistics savings on a €2M investment
90%
Average truck fill rate, up from 35–45%
35%
Transport cost reduction across EMEA
50%
CO₂ reduction from improved fill rates
€25M
Annual logistics savings on a €2M investment
10+
Years of MIXMOVE partnership
30+
Countries in the EMEA network
3
3PL networks unified (DHL, DSV, Gebrüder Weiss)
3M+
Shipments per month handled
02

Executive summary

01
The challenge

3M EMEA was palletising goods at the factory — one customer-specific pallet per order, non-stackable and non-standard. Trucks ran at 35–45% capacity. Across 30+ countries and multiple 3PL partners, there was no cross-network visibility and no shared performance baseline.

02
The solution

MIXMOVE HUB OS was deployed across cross-docking hubs operated by DHL, DSV, and Gebrüder Weiss throughout EMEA — on top of existing systems, without replacing them. Goods are now consolidated at the parcel level by final destination at the hub, not the factory, enabling full-height mixed pallets and near-full truck loads.

03
Results — confirmed
  • Truck fill rates lifted from 35–45% to 70–90% — the direct operational improvement
  • 35% transport cost reduction — a consequence of fewer trucks moving the same volume
  • 50% CO₂ reduction from line-haul transport — a consequence of fewer and fuller trucks
  • €25M annual savings on a €2M platform investment — the financial outcome of all three gains above
03

Customer overview

3M is one of the world’s foremost science-based technology companies, operating in more than 70 countries with approximately 90,000 employees and a portfolio of over 60,000 products spanning healthcare, manufacturing, safety, and consumer markets. A Fortune 500 company and a consistent presence on sustainability indices, 3M’s EMEA logistics operation coordinates the movement of tens of thousands of product lines from multiple manufacturing locations to customers across 30+ countries, through a network of multiple third-party logistics providers working in parallel.

Logistics performance is not just operational for 3M — it is strategic. The scale of the EMEA network means that even a marginal improvement in transport utilisation translates directly into tens of millions of euros in annual savings. The partnership with MIXMOVE — now spanning more than ten years — began with exactly that problem.

04
The challenge

A structural inefficiency at the pallet level

3M’s EMEA logistics model had a fundamental structural problem. Because goods were palletised at the factory level — one pallet per customer, assembled at the point of production — the pallets were non-standard, non-stackable, and extremely wasteful of truck space. The consequence: trucks and containers across EMEA were loaded to only 35–45% of capacity on average. Across a network processing millions of shipments per month, the cost and carbon implications were severe and compounding.

Beyond the utilisation problem, 3M had no unified view across its logistics ecosystem. DHL, DSV, and Gebrüder Weiss each operated their own systems. 3M’s network operations team had no real-time picture of what was moving where, which hubs were performing on target, or what was causing service-level variance across regions.

Five specific challenges driving the decision to act
Multiple shipping locations sending goods to the same customers independently — duplicating transport movements and wasting capacity
No real-time documentation visibility across the LSP network — slowing exception resolution and creating inaccurate inbound planning at each hub
Inconsistent customer-facing processes across regions — undermining service quality and SLA adherence
Unstable lead times driven by uncoordinated inbound flows — with no advance visibility of what was arriving at each hub or when
No mechanism to measure or reduce logistics-linked CO₂ emissions at network level — an increasingly urgent requirement as EU regulatory obligations expanded

3M evaluated the market and concluded that no existing TMS, WMS, or visibility tool could solve the problem at the required level of complexity. The solution needed to sit above 3M’s existing ERP and the 3PL systems — not replace them — and orchestrate performance across all of them simultaneously.

05
The solution

MIXMOVE HUB OS: deployed across the EMEA hub network

MIXMOVE deployed MIXMOVE HUB OS across the cross-docking hubs operated by DHL, DSV, and Gebrüder Weiss on 3M’s behalf throughout EMEA. Rather than requiring any 3PL partner to replace their existing WMS or TMS, MIXMOVE HUB OS was implemented as an orchestration layer on top of existing infrastructure — connecting via pre-built API integrations and configurable business rules.

At each hub, MIXMOVE HUB OS introduced intelligent cross-docking execution. Goods arriving from multiple 3M factories were received, scanned, and dynamically consolidated at the parcel level by final customer destination — not by factory origin. The result: full-height, mixed-destination pallets loaded into trucks at 70–90% fill, eliminating the structural waste that had defined 3M’s EMEA logistics for years.

Key capabilities deployed through MIXMOVE HUB OS include inbound predictability with real-time advance shipment notification, dynamic lane assignment, automated consolidation and sorting, carrier integration and outbound planning, and digital proof of delivery with full traceability.

06
Causal chain

Why the fill rate is the root cause — not one of several results

The relationship between the headline results is causal, not parallel.
primary
35–45% → 70–90%
Truck fill rate
The primary operational improvement MIXMOVE HUB OS delivered.
consequence
35%
Transport cost reduction
Fewer trucks are needed to move the same volume.
consequence
50%
CO₂ reduction from line-haul
Fewer and fuller trucks produce proportionally fewer emissions.
outcome
€25M a year
Annual savings on a €2M platform investment
The financial outcome of the cost and carbon gains above, measured against the investment.
which directly produces
primary
35–45% → 70–90%
Truck fill rate
The primary operational improvement MIXMOVE HUB OS delivered.
consequence
35%
Transport cost reduction
Fewer trucks are needed to move the same volume.
consequence
50%
CO₂ reduction from line-haul
Fewer and fuller trucks produce proportionally fewer emissions.
outcome
€25M a year
Annual savings on a €2M platform investment
The financial outcome of the cost and carbon gains above, measured against the investment.
which combine into
primary
35–45% → 70–90%
Truck fill rate
The primary operational improvement MIXMOVE HUB OS delivered.
consequence
35%
Transport cost reduction
Fewer trucks are needed to move the same volume.
consequence
50%
CO₂ reduction from line-haul
Fewer and fuller trucks produce proportionally fewer emissions.
outcome
€25M a year
Annual savings on a €2M platform investment
The financial outcome of the cost and carbon gains above, measured against the investment.

Presenting all four as parallel results would misrepresent how MIXMOVE HUB OS creates value. The headline is the fill rate. The rest follows from it.

07
Capabilities

Key capabilities deployed

Inbound predictability & ASN processing
Parcel-level consolidation by final destination
Dynamic lane assignment
Carrier integration & automated outbound planning
Digital proof of delivery (PoD)
Conveyor & automation integration

All capabilities listed are deployed and delivering results across the EMEA hub network.

08

Implementation & approach

MIXMOVE’s deployment model is built around a principle that is fundamental for large logistics operators: no rip-and-replace. 3M’s existing ERP remained in place. Each 3PL partner’s WMS and TMS remained in place. MIXMOVE HUB OS was implemented as an orchestration layer connecting to those systems via API, processing inbound data, generating execution logic, and returning event data — without disrupting live operations at any hub.

The deployment engaged three distinct stakeholder layers: 3M’s EMEA logistics and operations leadership (defining network-level consolidation rules and KPI requirements); the IT and operations teams at DHL, DSV, and Gebrüder Weiss (configuring MIXMOVE HUB OS within their hub environments); and MIXMOVE’s implementation specialists (managing integration, testing, and go-live support).

Gebrüder Weiss deployed MIXMOVE HUB OS across its hubs in Austria and Hungary, using the platform’s intelligent reconstruction and sorting capabilities to align local operations with 3M’s EMEA-wide standards. DSV deployed at two Central European hubs — Germany and Denmark — achieving a 12-week go-live at each location.

09
Results & impact

What the deployment has delivered

Area
Before
After
Truck fill rate
Before
35–45% average — customer-specific, non-stackable pallets
After
70–90% — mixed-destination pallets, near-full loads across EMEA
Transport costs
Before
High and growing due to empty truck space
After
35% cost reduction — fewer trucks needed for the same volume
CO₂ emissions
Before
No measurement at network level; high from part-loaded transport
After
50% reduction from line-haul — fewer, fuller trucks mean fewer movements
Financial ROI
Before
Significant ongoing inefficiency cost
After
€25M annual savings on a €2M platform investment
Hub throughput
Before
Baseline — DSV Germany & Denmark
After
30% improvement within 12 weeks of deployment
Error rates
Before
Manual lane assignment; high exposure to picking and sorting errors
After
Up to 80% error reduction at DSV hubs
Network visibility
Before
Siloed by LSP — no cross-partner view
After
Operational events captured and available per hub
  • Truck and container fill rates increased from 35–45% to 70–90% — eliminating the structural waste at the centre of 3M EMEA’s logistics cost base
  • Hub throughput at DSV Germany and Denmark improved by 30% within 12 weeks of MIXMOVE HUB OS go-live
  • Error rates at DSV hubs fell by up to 80%, driven by inbound scanning, automated lane assignment, and digital PoD
  • More than 2,000 boxes organised daily at Gebrüder Weiss Austria and Hungary, serving 200 distinct consignees from 2 full truckloads per day
  • 35% transport cost reduction across the EMEA network, driven by improved load utilisation and carrier efficiency
  • €25 million in annual logistics savings on a €2 million platform investment — 12.5x ROI
10

Customer voice

“

By using the MIXMOVE software, 3M managed to reduce transport costs by 35% and CO2 emissions by 50%.

3M
Patrick Van De Vyver
Former Head of EMEA's Logistics Operations
“
3M
11
Strategic value

What the deployment proves

The 3M EMEA deployment demonstrates something important for any large shipper managing logistics through multiple 3PL partners: a single intelligent execution layer, deployed at the hub, can transform the economics of an entire logistics network — without disrupting the systems and relationships already in place.

For 3M, the ten-year partnership with MIXMOVE has produced a logistics network that is measurably more efficient and more sustainable than when it began. The fill rate transformation that underpins all of the results above has been operating at scale, across 30+ countries and three major 3PL networks, for over a decade.

Why the broader market should take note
Multiple shipping locations sending goods to the same customers independently — duplicating transport movements and wasting capacity
No real-time documentation visibility across the LSP network — slowing exception resolution and creating inaccurate inbound planning at each hub
Inconsistent customer-facing processes across regions — undermining service quality and SLA adherence
Unstable lead times driven by uncoordinated inbound flows — with no advance visibility of what was arriving at each hub or when
No mechanism to measure or reduce logistics-linked CO₂ emissions at network level — an increasingly urgent requirement as EU regulatory obligations expanded
12

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Success Stories
/
3M
Manufacturing

How 3M increased truck fill rates from 35% to 90% and achieved a 25x return on investment

With a new way to organise their logistics network, 3M now manages their logistics network dynamically and in real-time, improving their productivity.

Success story image
Company
3M
Industry
Manufacturing
Location
EMEA
Solution
MIXMOVE HUB OS

The context

3M is one of the world’s foremost science-based technology companies, operating in more than 70 countries with approximately 90,000 employees and a portfolio of over 60,000 products spanning healthcare, manufacturing, safety, and consumer markets. A Fortune 500 company and a consistent presence on sustainability indices, 3M’s EMEA logistics operation coordinates the movement of tens of thousands of product lines from multiple manufacturing locations to customers across 30+ countries, through a network of multiple third-party logistics providers working in parallel.

Logistics performance is not just operational for 3M — it is strategic. The scale of the EMEA network means that even a marginal improvement in transport utilisation translates directly into tens of millions of euros in annual savings. The partnership with MIXMOVE — now spanning more than ten years — began with exactly that problem.

The challenges

3M’s EMEA logistics model had a fundamental structural problem. Because goods were palletised at the factory level — one pallet per customer, assembled at the point of production — the pallets were non-standard, non-stackable, and extremely wasteful of truck space. The consequence: trucks and containers across EMEA were loaded to only 35–45% of capacity on average. Across a network processing millions of shipments per month, the cost and carbon implications were severe and compounding.

Beyond the utilisation problem, 3M had no unified view across its logistics ecosystem. DHL, DSV, and Gebrüder Weiss each operated their own systems. 3M’s network operations team had no real-time picture of what was moving where, which hubs were performing on target, or what was causing service-level variance across regions.

By using the MIXMOVE software, 3M managed to reduce transport costs by 35% and CO2 emissions by 50%.
Patrick Van De Vyver
Former Head of EMEA's Logistics Operations

Our solution

MIXMOVE deployed MIXMOVE HUB OS across the cross-docking hubs operated by DHL, DSV, and Gebrüder Weiss on 3M’s behalf throughout EMEA. Rather than requiring any 3PL partner to replace their existing WMS or TMS, MIXMOVE HUB OS was implemented as an orchestration layer on top of existing infrastructure — connecting via pre-built API integrations and configurable business rules.

At each hub, MIXMOVE HUB OS introduced intelligent cross-docking execution. Goods arriving from multiple 3M factories were received, scanned, and dynamically consolidated at the parcel level by final customer destination — not by factory origin. The result: full-height, mixed-destination pallets loaded into trucks at 70–90% fill, eliminating the structural waste that had defined 3M’s EMEA logistics for years.

Key capabilities deployed through MIXMOVE HUB OS include inbound predictability with real-time advance shipment notification, dynamic lane assignment, automated consolidation and sorting, carrier integration and outbound planning, and digital proof of delivery with full traceability.

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