RIO, the digital brand of the TRATON GROUP, has successfully completed the takeover of Loom Technologies GmbH based in Paderborn. The corresponding purchase agreement was concluded back in July 2021 and the takeover was finalized on 6 December 2021. With this strategic acquisition, RIO is adding transport management solutions to its manufacturer-independent logistics platform, thereby massively expanding the services it can offer to carriers. Loom’s TMS Cartright, a fully comprehensive product portfolio for transport management and order communication, enables efficient planning, management, and optimization of goods flows. From now on, the software will be further developed and marketed under the RIO brand.
“The current challenge in global supply chains is to find collaborative approaches for all the stakeholders involved – from carriers to freight forwarders to shippers. It is vital to ensure that significant added value is created for all these parties. With the strategic takeover of Loom Technologies, we are taking an important step in that very direction. We are expanding our range of services and will be able to link our activities on the shipper and forwarder side even more effectively in future,” says Jan Kaumanns, CEO at RIO. “With the integration of Loom, we are also consolidating our extensive expertise in logistics IT and in the development of web-based, modular and individually configurable IT services and interfaces.”
Loom Technologies was founded in Paderborn in 2015. With its TMS Cartright, the young company with around 25 employees has been focusing on optimizing logistics processes, as well as on cost savings and ease of use. TMS Cartright, which will now be marketed under the RIO brand, can be configured in line with customer requirements, is multilingual and, thanks to a range of interfaces, is compatible with the user’s IT systems. Since the TMS is web-based, users do not need to have their own servers. Around 150 haulage companies are already using the system. With the modular structure and using the extended interface concept of RIO, customers will be able to set up their own bespoke ecosystem for their specific requirements or expand an existing system landscape in a modular way. The customer will thus be able to decide which providers for fleet and transport management, order communication and driver communication they want to integrate into their business processes.
The TMS Cartright has a modular structure and will be available in a Basic or Pro version. The scheduling, personnel and fleet management, master data management, controlling, driver app, warehouse management, invoicing and accounting modules as well as the support service and interfaces differ in their scope depending on the version the customer has ordered. In addition, the Pro version has a customer and supplier portal that allows the user to integrate subcontractors in a straightforward manner.
“The future of logistics will be characterized by networking. Therefore, we need to see greater collaboration between stakeholders in the supply chain. What is needed are open interfaces and modular approaches that allow us to link different systems together. With the takeover of Loom, we are taking another giant stride towards our fundamental aim of achieving greater coopetition. In this way, we are supporting our customers in creating a bespoke transport ecosystem that they can tailor to their needs,” explains RIO CEO Jan Kaumanns.
