Big enough to handle, small enough to care.

If you know your customers, you also know what you have to do: Established and expanded in the Tyrol, AFS All Freight Systems, an owner-managed company, has always seen it as its task to be a partner to the regional economy. The day-to-day business of the independent logistics and forwarding company is focused on the requirements and needs of the regional economy. For carrying out its work AFS relies on a strong team of experienced and reliable employees. When it comes to infrastructure there are no limits to the day-to-day business, which brings new challenges every single day. AFS provides the solutions.

“For us quality is more than just a promise: It is the base of all our actions.”

Martin Köcher and Johann Stark, owners and CEOs of AFS

Since its establishment in 1994 the AFS All Freight Systems forwarding and logistics company has been owner-managed and independent. This has always paved the way for good cooperation, a partnership of equals: At AFS one is fully aware of the concerns of local businessmen/women and entrepreneurs and one knows that the tasks with which they have been entrusted must be carried out in a responsible way. This makes it possible to find a tailored solution for every customer and for all requirements.

From the Tyrol to the rest of the world and back again, or from one part of the world into another: Big enough to handle, small enough to care is the motto. Reliability and long-term customer relations are basic principles of the company, which values continuous partnerships. Co-operations which are supportive and marked by attentiveness.

“If the customer is successful, so is AFS. And this is the decisive drive our work is based on.”

Martin Köcher and Johann Stark, owners and CEOs of AFS

Many years and decades of work experience in international forwarding and logistics have endowed Martin Köcher and Johann Stark with a well-based and extensive knowledge in the field. This has also given them a concrete idea of how to do things better.

In 1994 – Austria’s EU entry was imminent and this implicated profound changes for this line of business – this idea materialized: On 1 June 1994 Martin Köcher and Johann Stark founded AFS All Freight Systems, which was then based in Völs. Independent of rigid structures of concerns and with a decided focus on the requirements of the customers 5 employees successfully took up their work in a 50m²-large office (538ft²) and a warehouse covering 350m² (3,767ft²).

Almost to the day five years later – on 2 June 1999 – AFS acquired a property at the Innsbruck Westbahnhof train station: With 25 employees in the meantime and an increasing number of customers the base in Völs was bursting at the seams. With the relocation to Innsbruck the warehouse area was enlarged to 4,900m² (52,743ft²).

A year later AFS stepped across the borders of the Tyrol and Austria – with the opening of subsidiaries in Salzburg and in Sankt Margrethen in Switzerland the decisive course for the strategic positioning of the young business was set.
Another five years later, in 2005, it was getting cramped at our location in the Egger-Lienz-Straße. So AFS bought another property in Innsbruck to increase its warehouse space by a further 1,300m² (13,993ft²).
However, the two managers still yearned for a perfect and tailored location, where they could structurally integrate and implement their accumulated know-how and experience.


And so – after intensive years of searching and planning – the building works for the new business base in Zirl started and in 2014 a team of 80 employees moved there: With modern perspectives and logistics, handling terminals and state-of-the-art equipment tailored to the needs of the day-to-day business, AFS doubled its size. The choice of a location near Innsbruck with excellent traffic connections means the business is now perfectly located for the future.

Even during the construction work, in 2013 AFS was the first logistics company in the Tyrol to receive the AEOC certificate and it is also the Tyrol’s only independent logistics company holding this certificate which has earned it the status of an authorized economic operator.

On November 1, 2016, AFS-All Freight Systems Speditions-GmbH & Co. KG had contributed its freight forwarding assets to AFS Logistic Solutions GmbH. All forwarding activities are carried out from this date onwards by AFS Logistic Solutions GmbH.

In 1994 the forwarding and logistic experts Martin Köcher and Johann Stark founded All Freight Systems on the basis of their experience which they had accummulated over the years. “Since we founded our business we have based all our actions on our philosophy: We want to be a partner to our customers and clients and act this way”, state Martin Köcher and Johann Stark. “Partnerships demand trust and trust must be earned by proving one deserves it, every single day. “

This profound concept of partnership and cooperation on eye-to-eye level is the basic philosophy of the business, which is not only carried outside but also deeply rooted in the business culture. Owing to the fact that the company is independent and owner-managed it has a close relationship to the region and the region’s businesses and gentleman’s agreements are not empty clichés but a matter of course.

The best business philosophies are worthless if not implemented properly: At All Freight Systems this philosophy is lived every single day. This is ensured by our team of altogether 80 employees, most of which have been with the company for many years. Some of whom are very aware that they owe their expertise to the businesses’ awareness that the best of staff can only emerge from the best of conditions and like to refer to themselves as “self-made”. This basic principle is responsible for the fact that the large number of trained freight forwarders working there also continuously improve their knowledge and expertise.

 
Regular internal trainings and continuous trainings ensure that the employees’ know-how is always up to date.

With regard to the team one places great value on harmonious and efficient cooperation – this is also accommodated by the fact that half of our employees are women, some of whom have executive positions. Such a team structure is quite unusual in this line of work, but we have had very positive experiences with it over the last two decades. Our excellently established team proves this in an impressive manner.

AFS gives its employees top priority. Based on this regardful appreciation, commitment increases together with motivation, a sense of responsibility and the natural implementation of all the things that All Freight Systems puts on its banner:

“We aim at offering extensive services that create lasting customer relations and successful partnerships.”

Martin Köcher and Johann Stark, owners and CEOs of AFS

The CEOs of AFS All Freight Systems know all about the challenges of the know-how intensive forwarding and logistics area and the resulting high demands on the employees. To equip themselves with the best possible requisites regular trainings are included in the program.

 
All Freight Systems also has high standards in apprenticeship training: One knows that the apprentices of today are the persons responsible for tomorrow and therefore care and accuracy is of top priority in apprenticeship training. During their apprenticeships they get to know all departments in the company and the corresponding tasks. Early on they take on responsibilities. They are supported by the entire team and are fully integrated from day one onwards.

Up to today 20 young women and men were trained as forwarding merchants, forwarding agents and office administrators. Apprentices are also encouraged to take their school leaving examinations and the company supports them in doing so.

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In early 2014 AFS All Freight Systems moved into its new and long planned hub in Zirl, a place with perfect traffic connections. The competence centre offers more than 7,000m² (75,347ft²) of warehouse space, 1,000m² (10,764ft²) of office space and an outdoor area covering 2,300m² (24,757ft²) which is perfectly suited and structured for the demands of the day-to-day business of a forwarding and logistics company. The headquarters are the heart of this internationally operating business: This is where all routes meet and from where it all starts.

The field of forwarding and logistics is knowledge-intensive and brings with it a high degree of responsibility. This calls for tailored solutions: Already in 2010 AFS All Freight Systems integrated a state-of-the-art Transport Management System. This creates not only a high level of flexibility, but also enables individual quality solutions for highly complex and multi-layered tasks.

The advantages of the Transport Management Systems at a glance:

  • High data safety thanks to outsourcing to Europe’s biggest logistics data processing service centre
  • High degree of data availability guaranteed
  • All process steps can be carried out in one place
  • Simple exchange of consignment data
  • Simple integration and real-time tracking
  • Modular extension possible: GPS tracking of all vehicles, digital signatures in real time, live video surveillance, Proof of Delivery online
  • High flexibility thanks to openness of the system, modular adaptability

A network is the sum of several parts and a good network is decisive for success: AFS All Freight Systems has always carefully selected the best national and international partners. This way the company has set up a world-wide network of businesses that have been strategically selected because of their high quality demands.

A large number of bilateral treaties, such as TPF, Systempo and Cargo Line are part of this network. Thanks to worldwide partners, AFS All Freight Systems can offer system solutions specific for branches and tailored to specific customers. This forms a simple and uncomplicated basis for every customer and for each assignment: The customer gets everything from one source – from one contact on site.