Large-item logistics is based on precision, digital technologies, and above all, on people who coordinate complex processes. In our new portrait series, we introduce colleagues from various business areas and with diverse backgrounds: they all contribute their expertise and experience to ensure smooth processes and satisfied customers. Kicking off the series is Yvonne Edler, Division Manager of HUB & Transport Management.
“When everything runs smoothly for us, our customers benefit immediately.”
Yvonne Edler is a passionate logistics expert: She manages our locations in Löhne and Ansbach and has been part of the Hermes Group for 24 years, including ten years with Hermes Einrichtungs Service. With foresight and empathy, she leads around 400 employees and is responsible for approximately 65,000 truck transports and 20,000 swap body units each year.
Her career began in parcel logistics, with stations in transport logistics, last-mile delivery, and at the hub. The transition to large-item logistics was a logical next step: “In my current role, I can bring in all my experience, which makes the work particularly exciting.” What drives Yvonne is the direct impact: “When everything runs smoothly for us, our customers benefit immediately.”
Leading means living responsibility
Yvonne’s daily work is characterized by organization, communication, and closeness to the team: “My focus is on creating structures that provide orientation and being a link between various areas and tasks. It is important to me to leave enough space for personal responsibility and development.” For her, leadership primarily means taking responsibility for decisions, people, and collaboration. “The underlying concern is always to make the world (professionally and privately) a little better.”
Yvonne also reflects on herself and her work repeatedly: “Whether ‘old hand’ or career starter, we all should keep moving. The key is to keep the goal in sight and move in the same direction as a team.” For her as a leader, this means staying open, listening, and actively incorporating different perspectives.
Diversity as a success factor in large-item logistics
For Yvonne, diversity is not a goal but an attitude. It starts in the mind and is, for her, a fundamental prerequisite for sustainable success. “Working with colleagues from 34 nations shows me every day how much potential lies in different perspectives.”
She particularly encourages women to confidently take their place in logistics: “Women and men have different approaches, and companies should leverage that. As a woman in a still male-dominated industry, I bring (perhaps) different perspectives – and that’s a good thing.”
Yvonne’s advice to female colleagues and those who want to become one: “Walk your path confidently and with an open ear. Logistics needs women who can lead without having to be loud. Those who listen and decide. And those who are ready to actively shape things.”
Technology meets team: Digitalization with a human focus
One project that currently occupies and excites Yvonne is the introduction of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in intralogistics. A technically complex endeavor and a change for the workforce. “We involve our colleagues early on, which promotes acceptance of the technology and creates a shared understanding.”
Yvonne is certain that the demands for speed, transparency, and flexibility will continue to rise. Digitalization now permeates almost all areas, from network planning to intralogistics and internal communication. “The future belongs to companies that find the balance: between people and technology, between speed and quality. It is all the more important to involve the team from the very beginning and empower them through training to use and participate. This is how genuine change occurs, and only then can the full potential of digital technologies be tapped.”
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