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Anniversary: 15 years of Falken and Fiege
A crystal wedding anniversary for Falken and Fiege: Falken Tyre Europe GmbH has been working together with logistics services provider Fiege for 15 years. Falken currently stores its tyres at four Fiege locations in Europe on logistics space of approximately 100,000 square metres. In addition to the storage of the tyres, Fiege is also responsible for their distribution.
The key factors behind the success of the long-standing and effective partnership which characterises the collaboration between Falken and Fiege are open communications, the proactivity of both partners, and the sense of trust – as highlighted in the short film made by Falken and Fiege to celebrate their 15th anniversary.
The film is entitled “Fast & Forward – Fiege x Falken” and is dedicated to the long-standing and successful collaboration between the Japan-based tyre manufacturer and the 150-year-old family business from the Münsterland region of Germany. The teaser for the film was shown on the social media channels of both companies on 14th May 2024. Its official release date has been set for 23rd May 2024. The film will be shown on the social media channels of Falken and Fiege. It focuses on the initial challenges, the development of the partnership from its beginnings, through to the present day and upcoming projects.
The successes of Falken and Fiege include the rapid development – which has only been possible thanks to customer-orientated discussions. Both Falken and Fiege are certain of one thing, though: above all else, the prerequisite for consistent further development is adapting to the customer. Pia Pricken, Key Account Manager for Tyres at Fiege, explains: “We grow together with our customer – that’s what this partnership thrives on.”
Stephan Wittenbrink, Managing Director Industrial Business Unit at Fiege, explains that at the beginning of the collaboration, nobody expected such strong growth in such a short space of time. “15 years ago, we started storing tyres in Dortmund in an area roughly the size of the penalty area on a football pitch. We knew that plans for growth existed that were very ambitious – but the fact that we now supply 15 countries from numerous warehouses in Europe and now handle all our logistics from roughly 14 football pitches are certainly things we didn’t predict at the time.”
Bettina Feldmann, Chief Operating Officer of Falken Tyre Europe, is also very happy, and has a clear vision for the future: “Fiege is a reliable partner, but Fiege is also innovative. That’s something that characterises logistics: always being on the move. We want to maintain this adaptability and to align it even more closely to the various customer requirements in the European market in order to fulfil our own requirements, and above all else, those of our customers.”
The Falken team is looking forward to the future collaboration with Fiege with great anticipation. Despite the potential challenges, everyone agrees: If the collaboration continues to run so well, nothing stands in the way of further success for both sides. The optimum combination of trust and communication is the recipe for successfully completing the tasks of the future together.