Over the past 20 years all logistics related industries have gone through major consolidations, with one result being the emergence of large logistics integrators offering standardized services on a global basis. This has produced major benefits for many organizations in terms of ease of movement of goods and lowered unit costs. However, there remain many areas of logistics that cannot be handled well by these large integrators because they require flexibility, exception handling and problem solving skills to meet critical customer needs which are much more difficult to perform. These are the areas in which a regional logistics specialist can successfully operate, and precisely where HGL has focused its attention to build highly expert teams with experience gained over many years, sometimes decades.
Being able to operate successfully in industries where large organisations dominate is not limited to logistics. Multi-national fast food chains offer the same choice of burgers or a standard fried chicken meal at a good price wherever you are. Such organizations have built a successful and profitable business model by economically serving customers millions of meals each day, using highly standardised operating procedures that make efficient use of staff with basic skill sets.
However, a fast food outlet is not where you would go if you want to cater a wedding, have a romantic anniversery dinner with your partner or just enjoy a good rare steak with a bottle of wine. For that you would go to a restaurant that has the skills, resources, staff and experience to meet your specific needs.
There are many areas of transport, logistics and freight forwarding that are just not well suited to standardised, globally available products and services. A specific example is provided by those organizations engaged in production of Films, TV series and the staging of live music events. These activities have grown hugely in regional importance over the last 20 years and have specific and critical logistic needs such as:
- Temporary Customs clearances for every kind of equipment, props and rigs
- Delivery and removal of anything and everything to exact schedules
- Special handling of delicate, sensitive and sometimes dangerous items
- The need to be able to adjust schedules and locations rapidly and reliably.
These logistics needs are critical, which is exactly why film producers and live events organizers rely on HGL to get the job done. Their objective is to produce a film to schedule and within budget, or to ensure that thousands of fans who go to a concert get to see and enjoy exactly the show that they have paid for. HGL’s team will plan, arrange, schedule, organize and adjust everything needed for the logistics to work 100% reliably.
This means being able to predict, avoid and work around any problem that can arise, and being available to respond immediately 24 x 7 – and in person, not as a voice on an answering service or an „Your enquiry is important to us” auto-reply from an e-mail address.
HGL understands that time-critical logistics doesn’t just mean as fast as possible. Express transport is worthless if it takes two days to clear customs, as customs issues will ruin a schedule just as effectively as any other delivery failure. HGL operates one of the largest customs brokerages in the region, and provides 24 x 7 clearance services that can be 100% relied on to cover any and all customs and duty procedures.
HGL – we’re all you need to know about logistics for Film, TV and live events production!
