Solutions for North America & Europe

Our own infrastructure of the auto industry in North America and Europe

The logistics schemes in the auto and in-vehicle electronic component industries in North America and Europe are significantly different from those of other industries. This isn't a problem: Alps Logistics can adapt with precision to these schemes, thanks to the expertise and know-how we've developed in both regions, and through EDI (electronic data interchange) coordination with auto manufacturers.
Take, for example, our ability to provide advanced shipping notice (ASN), which gives prior notification of shipment information to final destination, in this case the auto manufacturer. Alps Logistics is able to link the information system we developed in-house to the customer's information system through EDI coordination. This enables us to give customers advance notifications, customized to the required information, such as scheduled arrival date, order number, and lot number. We can provide a components and materials supply infrastructure adapted to the complex logistics scheme followed by auto industry customers engaged in global production.
If you are a supplier hoping to explore new auto industry-related business in North America or Europe, but are wary of the complexities of the associated systems and delivery specifications, Alps Logistics can offer you powerful support.

Warehouse capabilities adaptable to auto
and in-vehicle electronics manufacturer needs

1. Strict implementation of first-in, first-out

Stock locations and receiving/shipping out records within our warehouses are all system-controlled. We operate a fully-automated first-in, first-out system.

2. Lot control, traceability control

Our information system is used to provide lot control and traceability control as customer's requirements.

3. Delivery labeling（AIAG）

We can issue and attach all labels based on auto industry standards; Automotive Industry Action Group, AIAG.

4. Interface (Advanced Shipping Notice, ASN)

We can provide delivery information via interface to the customer of final destination. We can also send advance data on behalf of suppliers.

Daily departures from LA of Alps Logistics' exclusive consolidated transport

Alps Logistics currently has six centers across North America. In the United States, our centers are located in Los Angeles (CA), McAllen (TX), and Dallas (TX). In Mexico, we are present in Reynosa, a city in Tamaulipas state close to the United States' border, in Irapuato and Querétaro, located in the Bajio region of Mexico's central highlands. Our locations were chosen in line with the trend seen in the auto and in-vehicle electronics industries to shift production to the southern United States and into Mexico.
We operate our Los Angeles warehouse as a logistics hub for ocean cargo, and also send out pick-up and delivery milk runs across the whole of California, including San Diego and San Jose. Los Angeles is also the starting point for transloading, where cargo arriving in ocean containers from such locations as Japan, China, and ASEAN is sorted and moved to our McAllen warehouse. Scheduled consolidated services exclusive to Alps Logistics' customers depart for McAllen daily. In McAllen's Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ), we assist our customers in avoiding US customs duty by storing inventory and making partial shipments as goods in bond. From McAllen we can offer delivery routes through the mid-West, to such locations as Dallas and Chicago, or arrange for bonded transfer, a service combining customs clearance and cross-border land transportation, to Reynosa across the US-Mexican border. From Reynosa, we can of course deliver to any delivery destination in the vicinity, or we can support our customers, who assemble their products in Mexico using the materials and components imported in bond from across Asia and the United States, as well as shipping finished products back to United States for delivery to assembly manufacturers. What's more, we can also deliver to Mexico's industrial regions via our Irapuato and Querétaro warehouses.
Our broad yet flexible network is what enables Alps Logistics to support companies struggling to optimize their North American supply chains.

Alps Logistics' North American transport network

Mexico's IMMEX Program certified

Mexico is home to the production plants of many auto manufacturers and in-vehicle electronics suppliers. “We don't have a local subsidiary in Mexico, but we'd like to operate a VMI for our Mexico-located customers' plants”. If this sounds familiar, please get in touch with us here at Alps Logistics. We are a Japanese logistics company familiar with using Mexico's IMMEX Program, which makes exactly this sort of operation possible for non-residents.
Put simply, the program works as follows. Components sourced overseas or within the United States are delivered in the first instance to our McAllen warehouse. Here, components are consolidated, an invoice for export to Mexico is drawn up, and the components are duly exported. Through Mexico's temporary import program, these goods are then unloaded at component warehouses in Mexico without being subject to IVA (value-added tax). Moreover, they can then be virtually “exported” to assembly plants through bonded transfer, to become manufactured goods. From here, they can be re-exported, this time back into the United States, and placed on the US market.
Using the IMMEX Program, which enables non-residents to retain an inventory in Mexico, translates into greater logistics efficiency. If you are thinking about using the IMMEX Program, please get in touch with us here at Alps Logistics.

Mexico's IMMEX Program approach

A vast network encompassing 20+ countries across Europe

Alps Logistics also boasts a network optimized for auto and in-vehicle electronics in Europe. We work with partner companies across more than 70 centers located in more than 20 countries throughout Europe, in locations including Rotterdam, Stockholm, and Dublin in western and northern Europe, and Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava, and Bucharest in eastern Europe. Japanese staff are present in all of our independently operated centers, including those in Dortmund, Frankfurt, and Budapest, in order to offer detailed-oriented responses to customer requirements.
By drawing upon our impressive track record and experience in Europe and by making use of our in-house developed information system, Alps Logistics is able to handle the demands of Europe's automotive industry, including ASN and VDA labeling.

LCL available on our rail transport service

Air, ocean, rail. Alps Logistics offers transport and forwarding services across all of these modes, in combination with any other necessary arrangements. For example, our China-Europe rail freight service is LCL (Less Than Container Load) compatible, in addition to FCL (Full Container Load). In other words, in addition to large lot cargo, we can handle small lot cargo from multiple consigners by consolidating it into shared single containers.
For rail transport from China to Warsaw, we offer two routes. The first is northern route, which leaves from Tianjin and moves across inland Russia through Moscow. The second is southern route, which leaves from Shanghai or Shenzhen and moves through inland China before entering Russia via Kazakhstan. The lead time for both routes is broadly the same, and both are faster than ocean freight while also offering lower costs in comparison to air freight.
If you want to establish supply chains optimal for your needs across the vast expanse of Europe, please get in touch with us here at Alps Logistics.