Voith, C. H. Robinson Close Partnership for Digital Commerce

Voith, Heidenheim, Germany, continues to expand its digital agenda and extend the range of its trading platform for recovered paper (RCP) merQbiz. For this purpose, merQbiz and the American logistics provider C. H. Robinson, Manhattan Beach, Calif., USA, have agreed to an exclusive cooperation: The customers are now offered unmatched freight capacity, competitive real-time pricing, and a powerful supply chain network to the platform. 

The fact that we were able to win C. H. Robinson, one of the world's largest logistics groups, as a partner for our digital trading platform shows that we have hit a nerve in the market with merQbiz," said Dr. Hubert Lienhard, CEO of Voith GmbH & Co. KGaA.

The B2B-trading-platform merQbiz was launched in 2017 by Voith. It connects buyers and sellers of recovered paper in a digital marketplace. The platform gives buyers and sellers the ability to directly network with one another and access timely and reliable information about the supply and demand of recovered paper. In addition, users can securely conduct their sales and purchasing transactions on the trading platform. Similar to the well-known online marketplaces, merQbiz evaluates the merchants, the buyers, and the quality of the goods. This ensures a high level of security for all goods, logistics, and payment flows as well as a high degree of transparency and professional handling. In the medium term, the trading platform's offers will also be available to customers outside the U.S.

As a result of the expansion of the product range to include integrated logistics solutions, merQbiz now also offers the automation and improvement of previously manually performed logistics processes on a user-friendly digital platform. 

Absolute transparency in the market now applies not only to the pricing of recovered paper, but also to the shipping costs – competitive pricing is carried out in real time and customers receive prompt transport offers that match with their trading order. C. H. Robinson's capacities allow for access to previously unmatched freight capacities. 

C.H. Robinson is publicly listed on the NASDAQ. The group serves more than 113,000 customers worldwide today with logistic solution. 2,600 thereof are in the paper, board, and packaging industry. In the past business year, C.H. Robinson generated sales of approximately EUR 10 billion. The integrated logistics solution is a game-changer for the industry. 

"The supply of recovered paper will become even more predictable for our customers in the paper industry," said John Fox, CEO of merQbiz.

In addition to its existing research and development budget, Voith invests around EUR 100 million annually in digital products and services.

merQbiz is an online marketplace designed to improve the way buyers and sellers of recovered paper do business. The platform allows buyers and sellers to connect directly, take advantage of fully transparent pricing, and transact more efficiently. More information about merQbiz is available online.

As one of the world’s largest third-party logistics providers (3PL), C.H. Robinson provides a broad portfolio of logistics services, fresh produce sourcing, and managed services for more than 113,000 customers and 107,000 contract carriers and suppliers to meet their supply chain goals through their integrated network of 280 offices and more than 14,000 employees.

Voith is a global technology group. With its broad portfolio of systems, products, services, and digital applications, Voith sets standards in the markets of energy, oil and gas, paper, raw materials, and transport and automotive. Founded in 1867, Voith today has more than 19,000 employees, sales of EUR 4.2 billion and locations in more than 60 countries worldwide.