Network, location and route planning in logistics, with data and proprietary tools.
Where should the next warehouse be, how many depots does a network need, and which routes do the vehicles drive every day? These questions determine a large share of logistics costs and the service the customer experiences. Berling Consulting supports retailers, logistics providers and parcel carriers in planning their network with reliable data and calculating variants before investing.
The experience behind this comes from planning a nationwide distribution network for a retail company, from location assessment for market entry in Romania and from last-mile concepts at Hermes.
Planning networks, locations and routes
Typical situations
The network has grown over years, and nobody can say for sure whether locations and delivery areas still fit. Transport costs are rising faster than volumes. A new location is up for decision, at home or abroad. Or dispatch still plans routes by hand and from experience.
Approach
It starts with working alongside dispatch, in the warehouse and on the route, because only there does it become clear which rules are missing from the data. Then shipment, cost and driving-time data are prepared and variants for locations, delivery areas and routes are calculated, with real driving times and cost rates. Berling Consulting designs the tools for this itself and implements them with AI support.
Locations at home and abroad
For market entry in Romania, transport corridors and planned motorway projects were overlaid with market and customer data to narrow down suitable warehouse locations. This makes a location decision traceable, for management as well as for partners and investors.
Result
Scenarios with costs and service level for each variant, a clear recommendation and reporting that makes the impact visible in day-to-day operations. In a nationwide distribution network, the planning showed a calculated savings potential of around 12 per cent.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Contact
Berling Consulting
Daniel Berling
85049 Ingolstadt
daniel@berling-consulting.com
+49 176 31151299
Information on data protection can be found here.
