Building new business in logistics, from business case to go-live.
Berling Consulting, Ingolstadt. Consulting for logistics providers, retailers and marketplaces: new business areas and market entry, cross-border e-commerce between Europe and Asia, expansion into eastern Europe, network, location and route planning, innovation and restructuring, KPI systems.
A new market, a new logistics product, a flow of goods across the customs border or a network that has grown over years: such decisions fix costs and structures for years, and Berling Consulting accompanies them where they arise, in operations, in dispatch and in conversation with the people who carry the processes every day. Within a few weeks this produces assessed variants, a clear recommendation and an implementation plan that stands up to management, shareholders and the bank.
Behind this are more than fifteen years in logistics, including at Fiege, Hermes and home24, and engagements in four countries. The first conversation clarifies whether the numbers add up for your project too.
Services
Situations: entering a new market or sales channel, building a new logistics product or business unit, flows of goods between Europe and Asia, expansion into eastern Europe, an investment decision that has to stand up to shareholders, advisory board or bank.
Services: market research and competitive analysis. Location scouting and customer potential. Product concept, pricing logic and business case through to the decision paper. For cross-border projects, the allocation of roles at the border, from importer of record through indirect representation to returns, coordinated with customs and tax advisers. In implementation, building the partner network, processes and steering through to go-live.
Result: feasibility study with a reliable calculation, on request responsibility for implementation.
Situations: route areas that have grown historically, rising transport costs, new or closing locations, driver shortages alongside falling utilisation.
Services: location and network analysis based on real order and route data, complemented by working alongside dispatch and on the route. Route optimisation with mathematical methods. Scenarios for area splits, depot structure and fleet size with a profitability calculation for each variant.
Result: assessed variants, recommendation, implementation plan.
Innovation, restructuring and decisions
Situations: costs rise faster than volumes, a product loses margin, processes that have grown over time depend on individual people, or several options are on the table and a decision is due.
Services: efficiency and restructuring programmes with measures, owners and KPIs. Innovation processes with stage-gate and make-or-buy decisions. Business cases and decision papers for management, board and shareholders.
Result: a decision on a sound basis and a company that is set up more robustly.
KPIs and planning tools
Situations: reports from several systems contradict each other, planning runs in spreadsheets and depends on individual people, decisions need a reliable data basis.
Services: data integration from telematics, time recording, fuel cards and ERP. KPI definition and reporting in Power BI. Planning and simulation models, designed in-house and implemented with AI support. Documentation and handover to the internal team.
Result: reliable KPIs and a planning model for the client's question.
References
Retail company
since 2025
Network and route planning for a nationwide distribution network. Design of a planning tool with real driving times and cost rates, implemented with AI support, scenarios for location and route variants, calculated savings potential of around 12 per cent. Weekly reporting from several source systems.
Fruugo.com
2022 to 2025
Design and build of a proprietary shipping solution for an online marketplace active in 40 countries, product management towards the engineering team, development of the international partner network. Analysis of shipping and tracking quality across the entire carrier network and handover of 43 action areas.
Fiege Hungary
2021
Feasibility study on market entry in Romania: market research, competitive analysis, location scouting, customer potential, entry strategy and decision paper for management.
European
logistics provider
2021 to 2022
Design of an e-commerce logistics unit for a European freight forwarder, from feasibility study to decision paper for top management, including an import solution from China to Germany. The board approved the concept. Projected revenue potential of around 15 million euros. Client confidential.
Hermes
2018 to 2020
Contributed to the realignment of the international parcel product, with a double-digit improvement in margin. Set up the flow of goods between Europe and China together with the group's customs specialists and agencies in China. Process programmes with clearly measurable efficiency gains. Innovation management: start-up scouting with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, concepts and simulations for autonomous driving with Einride, Waymo and Mercedes.
Fiege Logistik
2016 to 2018
Development and management of one of the first end-to-end cross-border logistics products enabling European companies to sell on Chinese e-commerce platforms. Growth to double-digit million revenue.
City of Brașov
2021
Strategy for attracting foreign investors with a phased plan over 64 weeks and the concept for an investment promotion agency, plus a project portfolio for urban development.
Approach and tools
Every engagement follows the same process, regardless of the question.
01
Assessment
Clarify the question and objectives, identify stakeholders and decision-makers.
02
Process analysis
Record and measure processes, check data availability and data quality.
03
Scenarios
Develop and calculate variants, feasibility study with timeline, agreed with stakeholders.
04
Decision
Recommendation with figures, assumptions and risks for management, shareholders and the bank.
05
Implementation
Project plan with milestones, on request support through to ongoing operations.
Systems. Each step is done the way the task requires: by working in operations, with methodology or with suitable software. The data is usually already in the company, for example in transport management, ERP, telematics, time recording or warehouse management. Which systems these are does not matter.
Tools. Berling Consulting designs optimisation and simulation models itself and implements them with AI support, while KPIs and reports are built in Power BI and Excel. Whether existing systems are sufficient or a dedicated model is needed is decided together. Berling Consulting is independent of software vendors.
Profile
Daniel Berling is a logistics consultant and owner of Berling Consulting in Ingolstadt. He combines experience from senior roles in business development, innovation and quality management at Fiege, Hermes and home24 with the ability to design planning and analysis tools himself and implement them with AI. At Fiege he led a cross-border logistics product that enabled European companies to sell to China from concept to go-live, and at Hermes he worked on preparing the China expansion and in central innovation management. Since 2021 he has advised logistics providers, retailers, online marketplaces and public authorities in Germany, Hungary, Romania and the United Kingdom on market entry, new business areas, network planning and KPI systems. Since October 2026 he has also been completing a part-time hybrid MBA at the Ingolstadt School of Management of KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.
Working together
Berling Consulting works in four formats, depending on the question and the time frame.
Project. A clearly defined question with a defined result: feasibility study, business case, market entry, location analysis, route optimisation. Typically four to twelve weeks, billed by effort or at a fixed price.
Interim. Taking on a management or project role in logistics, planning or business development for a limited period, with operational responsibility.
Sparring. Regular support for management or the head of logistics on ongoing decisions, with a fixed monthly time budget.
Network. For tasks that go beyond a single engagement, Berling Consulting draws on a network of experienced specialist partners, for example for implementation, IT integration or specialist topics. Coordination and the interface to the client remain in one hand.
Process: an initial conversation on the question and the data situation, a proposal with scope, result and price, then the start.
Contact
Berling Consulting
Daniel Berling
85049 Ingolstadt
daniel@berling-consulting.com
+49 176 31151299
Information on data protection can be found here.