Case Study:
Britax Römer – Warehouse Strategy & 3PL Tender: Turning a Supply Chain constraint into a strategic Advantage

The project resulted in:

• Selecting the most competitive provider and leveraging further negotiations enabled significant annual savings 
• 17 offers from 15 logistics providers, enabling a broad market comparison 
• Successful transition to an outsourced warehouse solution within the required timeline

When your supply chain no longer fits your business

Supply chains are built around assumptions about where products are made, how they move, and what customers expect. When those assumptions change, the system can quickly fall out of sync. As the global child safety manufacturing company Britax Römer decided to move from a production-based model in Germany to a sourcing model with  manufacturing taking place in Asia, the logistics footprint remained anchored in the past. Their central Leipheim DC, was now creating inefficiencies across transportation, inventory, and service due to the boards decision of changing to an outsourced manufacturing model. Miebach had previously supported Britax Römer with a network  study in 2021. Following the strategic decision by the management board, the EU  Distribution Director from Britax Römer reached out to Miebach in March 2025 to request support for the company’s upcoming changes. 

Britax Römer faced a combination of structural and market challenges:

• A misaligned network footprint
  The warehouse location was optimized for production close-by, not for sourcing from overseas (Asia)

• No clear benchmark for outsourcing 
  Without a structured tender, the business had limited visibility into 3PL capabilities, cost levels, or service trade-offs in the market.

• Increasing pressure to balance cost and service
  Leadership aimed to reduce logistics costs without compromising customer service. 

The previous setup was designed for a production-based model with short response times and high flexibility. With the shift to sourcing, key parameters changed:

• Longer lead times
  Transport from Asia introduced lead times of several weeks and reduced shortterm flexibility

• Higher inventory levels 
  Longer replenishment cycles required increased stock levels in Europe

• Reduced ability to react to demand changes
  Production could no longer be adjusted quickly to compensate for fluctuations

In parallel, Britax Römer decided to transition to an outsourced warehousing model. 

Instead of treating location, operations, and outsourcing as separate decisions, Miebach looked at the whole picture. In this case, it was essential to not just analyze the numbers and strategy separately, but to combine both to create a solution that made sense on paper and could be implemented successfully later on. 

1. Redefining the Network: Where Should the Warehouse Be? 

The first step was to define the requirements of the future logistics setup. We began by building a fact- & data-based understanding of the future supply chain. 

With a model-based a center-of-gravity analysis, Miebach identified the optimal geographic region of the new warehouse by incorporating factors such as

• Supplier geographies and inbound flows 
• Customer demand distribution and service requirements 
• Transportation cost structures

This way, Miebach moved beyond assumptions and identified location scenarios that balanced cost, service & resilience to help stakeholders make an informed decision based on data instead of opinions.

2. Designing the Future Operating Model

Once the location direction was defined, we focused on the operating model. We translated the network strategy into a practical logistics concept, including: 

• Warehouse process design aligned with sourcing flows 
• Handling concepts for inbound, storage and outbound operations 
• Transportation setup tailored to new supply patterns 
• Clear definition of KPIs and performance expectations 

This ensured the future model was not only theoretically sound but operationally viable from day one. 

3. Running a Competitive 3PL Tender

With a clear target model in place, the next phase went into execution. Miebach designed and managed a structured, data-driven 3PL tender built to find a fitting provider fulfilling all of the clients’ needs. All offers were evaluated using a standardized framework to ensure comparability. 

Cost-related criteria:

• Annual operating costs  
• One-time implementation costs  

Operational and qualitative criteria:

• Experience with similar products  
• Warehouse concept and layout  
• IT systems and integration capabilities  
• Proposed team and operational setup  
• Communication and responsiveness during the tender

Scope and scale of the tender:

• 25 logistics providers approached
• 17 offers received from 15 providers 
• Standardized RFQ documents including: 
  - Volumes and flow assumptions
  - Process descriptions
  - Service requirements and KPIs

Miebach also coordinated the bidder communication, facilitated Q&A rounds, and ensured alignment on assumptions across all participants. The result was a level playing field where providers could be assessed consistently on both cost and capability. 

4. Enabling Confident Decision-Making

Beyond collecting offers, the real value came from interpretation and decision support.

Miebach supported the client with:

• Quantitative analysis of cost structures 
• Qualitative evaluation of operational fit 
• Benchmarking insights based on market experience 

This enabled leadership to move forward through informed decision-making, understanding both the trade-offs and the long-term implications of their decision.

To identify the best logistics solution, Miebach and Britax Römer evaluated a range of strategic, operational, and implementation-related factors. The objective was to establish a scalable and resilient logistics setup that aligned with Britax Römer’s future sourcing strategy while also selecting a competitive warehouse provider.

The assessment therefore considered both the requirements of the future warehouse solution and the capabilities of the 3PL providers participating in the tender process.

Key evaluation criteria included:

• Capacity and scalability
  Ability to manage increasing inventory volumes resulting from sourcing changes

• Service continuity
  Ensuring uninterrupted customer supply during and after the transition

• Flexibility and dependency management
  Balancing integrated solutions with the flexibility to separate services if required

• Cost transparency
  Creating full visibility of cost structures and market price ranges

• Implementation feasibility
  Ability to execute the transition within the defined project timeline

• Operational suitability
  Alignment of the warehouse concept with product characteristics and process requirements

• Relevant experience
  Proven track record with comparable products and logistics operations

• Team and implementation capability
  Quality and experience of the proposed operational and project teams

• IT and systems capability
  Ability to integrate into existing processes and IT system landscapes

• Communication and reliability
  Performance and responsiveness throughout the tender process

• Strategic compaalignment
  Overall alignment in terms of collaboration model, ways of working, and long-term partnership potential

Based on the evaluation, Miebach identified a shortlist of providers. The choice in the end fell for Rhenus.

Rhenus was selected because of the demonstration of:

• Strong performance across qualitative criteria
• Good alignment with operational requirements
• Positive assessment of team and collaboration 

After the selection, additional negotiations were carried out that in the end significantly improved the commercial terms.

Britax Römer now has a logistics foundation that can grow in line with its sourcing strategy and offers the flexibility to adapt to changing sourcing structures, demand fluctuations, and long-term business requirements.

• Significant annual logistics cost savings have been identified
• A broad range of offers has been received from multiple logistics providers
• Strong annual negotiation leverage has been achieved
• Transition completed within the required timeline
• Customer supply maintained throughout implementation

With Miebach’s support, we were able to turn a complex logistics transformation into a clear and actionable roadmap. Their structured approach gave us the confidence to make the right decisions and successfully implement our future logistics setup."

Jürgen Kraus, Director Distribution EMEA at Britax Römer