Creative minds: Rhenus encourages innovations from its employees

Selected participants from the "Rhevo" innovation project will present their own ideas to a jury of Rhenus experts on 12 July. More than 260 employees from 28 different countries have been participating in the corporate initiative that was launched in the spring. Its goal is to improve processes and products within the company by means of digital concepts and intelligent ideas.

16 teams, who were able to make their way through several preliminary rounds to the jury's assessment, will compete for the implementation of their ideas in July. Their innovations involve issues like augmented reality, space optimisation, online chats with broadcasts as well as new products and logistics concepts.

"It was easy to arouse the innovative spirit in our employees. They're highly motivated when it comes to shaping our business and solving our customers' problems. They themselves want to be forces for change," says Tobias Bartz, a Member of the Rhenus Board and a member of the jury. In order to support its employees, the logistics specialist developed the so-called "Rhevo Kickbox" in advance, which, with its mix of resources, money and advice, served as the basis for the individuals to turn into digital innovators.

"We need a fundamental rethink in order to handle digital technologies more efficiently and continue improving our services. "Rhevo" is designed to make a long-term contribution to this process," says Petra Finke, CIO of Rhenus Freight Logistics and a co-initiator, explaining its purpose.

80 selected participants were allowed to continue developing their project at two parallel events held in Essen and Bangkok. Important skills on design, business models and start-up methods were communicated to them at the same time. An initial sales pitch and a three-month training course with mentors from the start-up scene as well as a development budget were provided in order to validate their ideas.

The presentation of the individual projects to Rhenus senior managers now forms the climax of this process. As if they were in the "lion's den", the participants must now persuade the jury about their idea, withstand critical questioning and win through against the competition. Promising ideas are set to be introduced at a later stage.