Nicholas Tengelin has been appointed the new CEO of logistics company Orio, which is preparing to take the next step and grow alongside its new owner, Hedin Mobility Group.

Nicholas most recently comes from Volvo Cars, where he has held leadership roles over the past ten years in distribution networks, service and spare parts, as well as strategy and business development. Previously, he worked for the Hogia Group, which provides logistics and warehouse management systems.

“Orio has the expertise and infrastructure needed to meet demand in a rapidly changing industry, with new players entering the market. Together with the team, I look forward to capitalizing on the opportunities that being part of the Hedin Mobility Group offers, and I hope to contribute the leadership and experience I’ve gained from similar roles,” says Nicholas Tengelin.

– We see significant growth opportunities for Orio, so I am very pleased to welcome Nicholas as the company’s new CEO. With his solid experience in logistics and distribution and his in-depth knowledge of the automotive industry, he is the right person to lead Orio on its journey forward. “I would like to thank Gustaf Ljunggren for his contributions as CEO of Orio over the past three years. He has commendably taken on the task of restructuring the company and, with positive revenue and earnings growth, has created a stable foundation for future growth and profitability,” says Anders Hedin, CEO of Hedin Mobility Group and Chairman of the Board of Orio AB.

Orio is a logistics company with roots in the Swedish automotive industry and is the sole global supplier of Saab Original spare parts through a global network spanning Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. Orio operates its own sales offices through wholly owned subsidiaries in Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Switzerland. The headquarters and logistics and distribution center—including a 57,000-square-meter central warehouse with a high degree of automation tailored to the spare parts business—are strategically located in Nyköping. In 2021, Orio’s net sales amounted to SEK 360 million, and the company had approximately 140 employees.

Instabox and Budbee announced in a press release that the companies intend to merge and form a new company, Instabee. The process is subject to customary approval by the Swedish Competition Authority. The intention is for the new group to vigorously continue investing in and pushing the boundaries of consumer-focused and sustainable deliveries to the e-commerce sector. The merger is a first sign that the last-mile sector is now beginning to consolidate.

Instabox was founded in Stockholm in 2015, and its deliveries to smart parcel lockers have become a popular option for many Swedes. Instabox added home deliveries in 2021 and currently operates in five countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Germany). Budbee was founded in 2016 with an initial focus on creating smart, fast, and more flexible home deliveries. Budbee added locker deliveries in 2020 and currently operates in five countries (Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium). To date, the two companies have been led by their respective founders, who will continue to play key roles in the new company. Budbee’s founder, Fredrik Hamilton, will become CEO, and Alexis Priftis, Instabox’s founder, will become executive chairman of the board.

“I’ve taken a long-term view in my planning from the very beginning, and the merger with Instabox is a fantastic opportunity to create something truly meaningful. We’ve obviously been following Instabox over the years, and I’m impressed by their journey. This feels like a perfect fit, and I look forward to getting to know all my new colleagues. We’re going to achieve something great together,” says Fredrik Hamilton.

“I believe these are two companies that are a great fit, and we share many core values. A mutual respect and admiration has developed over a long period of time, and I’m pleased that we are now joining forces to work toward our shared goal: to transform e-commerce deliveries with a strong focus on both the user experience and sustainability. I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together,” says Alexis Priftis.

Both Instabox and Budbee have challenged traditional market players and led the way in the shift toward customer-focused and sustainable delivery services. The business rationale behind the proposed merger centers primarily on more efficient use of resources, both in terms of infrastructure and expertise. The new company will continue to challenge traditional state-owned postal operators as well as well-funded international delivery companies entering the e-commerce market. Additionally, potential synergies within the business and shared technical solutions will lead to significant reductions in carbon footprint. Instabee is valued at SEK 18 billion, and the founders, together with Kinnevik, are the largest shareholders on a list that also includes Creades, EQT, Verdane, AMF, Stena Sessan, H&M, CNI Nordic, and Tham Invest.

The DHL Trade Growth Atlas report (NYU Stern School of Business and DHL) identifies the key trends and outlook for global trade. The report shows that global trade remains resilient despite recent world events and widespread market pessimism.

The DHL Trade Growth Atlas examines global trends in trade growth, geographical shifts, the mix of traded goods, and broader changes in the business environment. The report analyzes global trade in goods by region, distinguishing between advanced and emerging economies, and across 173 countries. The countries covered account for more than 99% of global trade, GDP, and population.

“We have sought to identify the most important facts about the state of global trade and bring the data to life through maps, charts, and other visual content. The results show that there are still significant opportunities for trade growth in both advanced and emerging economies, as well as in regions around the world. The trade landscape is changing and presenting new challenges, but this report strongly refutes predictions of a major retreat from global trade, says Steven Altman, Senior Research Scholar and Director of the DHL Initiative on Globalization at NYU Stern’s Center for the Future of Management.

– Our goal is for the DHL Trade Growth Atlas to become a key resource for understanding and navigating changes in the global trade landscape. Trade will always remain a key driver of prosperity—as it has been for centuries. In the current global business environment, DHL can help customers rethink certain supply chains and balance cost and risk to ensure they are both efficient and secure. As the world’s leading logistics provider, we offer solutions for all logistics requirements and can deliver stable and reliable services even in volatile market environments, says John Pearson, Global CEO of DHL Express.

The DHL Trade Growth Atlas also measures changes in the shares of world trade held by countries and regions, with the key points being:

• The COVID-19 pandemic has not been the major setback for global trade that many predicted. International merchandise trade has increased by as much as 10% above pre-pandemic levels, despite significant supply-side bottlenecks that have limited further growth.
• The outlook for future trade growth remains surprisingly positive. Due to the war in Ukraine, forecasts for trade growth have been revised downward, but trade is still expected to grow slightly faster in 2022 and 2023 than it did during the previous decade.
• E-commerce sales boomed during the pandemic, and forecasts point to continued strong growth in international e-commerce.
• New key trade regions are emerging in Southeast Asia and South Asia, and trade growth is expected to accelerate dramatically in sub-Saharan Africa
• Trade growth is spread across a larger number of countries: China accounted for a quarter of trade growth in recent years and is expected to continue to see the highest growth, but its share is likely to fall by half, to 13 percent.
• Vietnam, India, and the Philippines stand out in terms of both the pace and scale of expected trade growth through 2026. All three have the potential to benefit from companies’ efforts to diversify their China-centric production and procurement strategies.
• While emerging economies increased their share of world trade from 24 to 40 percent between 2000 and 2012—with half of that increase driven by China alone—these shares have remained virtually unchanged over the past decade.
• Emerging economies will continue to develop, as evidenced by measures of connectivity, innovation, and leading companies. They are becoming increasingly important exporters of sophisticated manufactured goods and are competing not only on low costs but also on innovation and quality.

According to a study by SAPIO Research commissioned by Descartes, only 38 percent of consumers believe that retailers are meeting expectations regarding sustainable delivery options.

The study*Retailers: Sustainability is Not a Challenge, It’s An Opportunity*, conducted by SAPIO Research on behalf of Descartes, examined consumers’ perceptions of how well retailers are meeting expectations for sustainable deliveries. Interviews with 8,013 consumers in nine European countries, as well as the United States and Canada, reveal just how critical the issue of sustainability is. 

– The mistake many in the retail sector make is to view sustainable home deliveries as yet another challenge posed by consumers, rather than seeing it as an opportunity to gain significant market share, reduce delivery costs, and minimize environmental impact. The survey shows that many consumers prefer suppliers that offer eco-friendly delivery options to reduce environmental impact while also lowering delivery costs, says Chris Jones, EVP, Industry & Services at Descartes. 

The survey shows that the majority of consumers plan to shop online more in the future and that there is significant interest in being able to choose eco-friendly options. Among Swedish consumers, 43 percent believe it is somewhat important or very important to shop in a climate-smart way, and the proportion of Swedish consumers who shop online is expected to rise to 42–48 percent in the future. According to the survey, the Nordic market is still in a maturing phase when it comes to home deliveries, which means that investing in eco-friendly deliveries could be an especially significant success factor for Nordic retailers.

Descartes is a global systems provider offering solutions in areas such as customs management, route optimization, and transport management.

In Västerås, about 100 kilometers west of Stockholm, automation expert TGW is working on a flagship project for grocery giant ICA: a highly automated, temperature-controlled frozen-food warehouse designed to boost the efficiency of ICA’s processes and speed up deliveries to stores. The entire project is scheduled to be completed in January 2026.

“We are delighted to be joining ICA on its automation journey. Together, we will tailor the internal logistics to the needs of the Swedish market and implement a solution that sets new standards,” says Kristian Brink, Sales Project Manager at TGW Scandinavia AB.

Since the long-established Industri-Matematik, now known as IMI Supply Chain Solutions, was acquired by Priveq in January 2021, the company has embarked on an impressive growth trajectory. The number of employees has doubled, and in the summer, the acquisition of the Norwegian company Agrippa Solutions was announced. The acquisition of Östersund-based Millbyte Solutions was also announced recently.

Following IMI’s acquisition of Millbyte Solutions, a new cloud-based WMS and transportation management system for e-commerce companies will be launched shortly. The foundation is Millbyte’s user-friendly cloud solution, which is already used by companies such as aim’n, Twistshake of Sweden, and Granada AS. IMI’s Niklas Rönnbäck is keeping details under wraps for now, but promises more information about the acquisition and the new offering soon.

Millbyte Solutions is a software and logistics company that develops and delivers innovative supply chain fulfillment technology for e-commerce, omnichannel, and last-mile delivery.

The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 is an annual ranking of the world’s leading companies in supply chain management—the companies that have built the best supply chains. The top 15 European companies for this year were recently announced, and one of them is partly Swedish.

The world’s supply networks are rapidly transforming due to new customer demands, increased risks, and a growing number of disruptions of various kinds and impacts. Since March 2020 alone, global supply chains have been impacted by a global pandemic, trade wars, Brexit, hurricanes, floods, shortages of raw materials, components, and transport capacity, cyberattacks, major conflicts in Europe, an energy crisis, and much more. Against this backdrop, the resilience, sustainability, and agility of supply chains are the most critical characteristics. In Gartner’s ranking of the Europe Supply Chain Top 15, these characteristics have been given special consideration. The Swedish-British company AstraZeneca now ranks eighth.

1. Schneider Electric
2. Nestlé
3. L’Oréal
4. Diageo
5. Inditex
6. BMW
7. Siemens
8. AstraZeneca
9. British American Tobacco
10. GSK
11. Reckitt
12. Danone
13. Bayer
14. BASF
15. Novartis

Scandinavian Tobacco Group Assens A/S (STG) is implementing Descartes’ customs solution, GCT (Global Customs and Transport), according to a press release. With the new solution, STG is said to gain automated processing of customs declarations, which will contribute to more efficient communication with the Danish Customs and Tax Administration and ensure compliance with EU customs regulations. 

– Descartes’ comprehensive SaaS-based customs solution is updated to meet current local requirements and regulations and efficiently handles a large volume of customs declarations with a high degree of automation. Descartes meets our requirements as a globally established provider with a well-proven customs solution. We operate in a global market, and it is important that our suppliers are on the same level, says Yves Neven, Sr. Manager Inbound, Receiving, Customs & Logistics – EU/Exports at STG. 

– Our customs solution, GCT, is designed for companies with high demands for efficient customs and transport management, and STG is one such company. “We are confident that STG will benefit greatly from the solution, as it helps reduce customs handling costs and streamline the processing of customs declarations,” says Lars Persson, VP of Sales Customs EMEA at Descartes. 

The automation company Knapp is a major global player headquartered in Graz, Austria. The company was founded in 1952 by engineer Günter Knapp and is still owned by the Knapp family. In recent years, the group has grown rapidly and now employs 6,300 people and has 53 offices worldwide. Knapp is now set to grow rapidly and become better known in the Nordic region as well.

To this day, Knapp is guided by its founder’s motto:“Can we build it? Of course we can!” This attitudethat nothing is impossible is reflected, for example, in the development of innovative milk pumps and filling machines for donut production. Today, Knapp is perhaps best known for the OSR Shuttle EVO automated shuttle system and for its early development of the A-Frame picking solution, although there is a wide range of other solutions in the product portfolio.

“Move beyond the association with conveyor systems”
Knapp has been operating in Sweden for fifty years. Here, the company is often associated with mechanical light-goods conveyors and pallet conveyors, a result of the Austrian automation company’s 2008 acquisition of Swedish Moving AB—a locally well-known manufacturer of conveyor systems with a strong brand.

“We are now phasing out our production of pallet conveyors in Åstorp and establishing a new Nordic headquarters in Malmö. Our goal is to eventually move away from our association with rail systems. That association is unfortunate because we are a high-tech automation company that offers hyper-automated solutions for warehouses, hubs, and stores,” says Mikael Holmqvist, who has been CEO of Knapp AB for just over a year but was hired as the company’s production manager in 2017.

Mikael has extensive experience in the logistics industry, as a management consultant, and as a CEO in the contract manufacturing sector. Among other roles, he served as a business unit manager and later as sales and marketing director at the WMS company Consafe Logistics for nearly six years. In other words, he knows the industry inside out and has solid experience in sales and marketing.

“Unfortunately, Knapp has been somewhat overshadowed here in the Nordic region. With over 3,000 installations worldwide and several leading technologies, I definitely think there’s a need to raise awareness about who we are,” says Mikael with a laugh.

“We don’t have the market presence we’d like in the Nordic region, and we don’t feel that the brand is well-known enough here. We’re usually included in the really big tenders because consultants who are familiar with us are involved, but the broader business community doesn’t know who we are,” says Mikael.

Following the closure of production in Åstorp and a number of new hires, the Nordic division, Knapp AB, will consist of approximately 60 employees, 35 of whom will be based at the new Malmö office, with the rest working on-site at various client locations. The Nordic employees are also supported by various specialists from Knapp’s headquarters and other operations. In addition, intensive efforts to recruit more employees are currently underway.

“An important part of our Nordic expansion is recruiting more employees, including solution designers—a role that combines the responsibilities of a management consultant and an application consultant—who help customers identify the most effective and value-adding solutions. We’re also hiring for a number of other customer-facing roles where we need to strengthen our team,” says Mikael.

“We see significant opportunities to double our business in the Nordic region over the next five to eight years. We have a broad product portfolio that’s a great fit for many companies in e-commerce, retail, trade, and industry,” says Mikael.

“The Knapp Group is doing exceptionally well. Since 2015, the company has doubled in size, largely through organic growth. In other words, the group is performing very well, even though growth in the Nordic region has been weaker,” says Mikael Holmqvist, emphasizing that it really goes without saying that the same ambition should apply here in the Nordic region as well.

– The automation market as a whole is growing by an average of about 10 percent per year, and the Knapp Group is growing even faster. There are several trends driving demand. The growth of e-commerce, with its increased demands for quality, speed, and efficiency in the supply chain, is an obvious trend, notes Mikael, continuing:

– Another key trend is the dynamic emerging around how consumers, stores, corporate clients, and branches will be served by an entire ecosystem of warehouses, hubs, and last-mile operators. Should you have a central warehouse in Stockholm or a combination of various types of micro-fulfillment centers, and if so, how should they be equipped with automation? Here I see an exciting trend where different solutions will be chosen throughout the value chain in a more seamless way, says Mikael.

– Knapp takes pride in its history and culture of technical innovation. This is reflected, among other things, in the fact that we have 2,000 development engineers out of a total of 6,300 employees and that we invest 800 million per year in product development. Knapp was, among other things, the first to introduce the A-Frame and the OSR shuttle, and we were early adopters of both AI and visual technologies
in our solutions.

The OSR Shuttle system mentioned earlier, which was launched shortly after the turn of the millennium, is a major milestone in the Group’s development and is now at the heart of the company’s solutions. But Mikael reveals that the market can soon expect alternatives to the OSR Shuttle.

“OSR isn’t the cheapest solution on the market, but it has a very high capacity, and all items are readily available, sequenced, and handled quickly. Within a year or so, we’ll be introducing alternatives aimed at companies that can’t justify an investment in the OSR shuttle,” says Mikael, without revealing any further details about what’s in store.

– We’re introducing new products, software, and setups that will provide suitable, flexible solutions for all warehouses that don’t have extremely high speed requirements and where existing infrastructure limits the level of automation that can be implemented. We’ve allocated dedicated resources to sell these mobile robots here in the Nordic region.

– Knapp has adopted a different strategy, under which we invest 800 million kronor annually in in-house product development and continuously expand our portfolio of solutions and systems. We do this because we are convinced that in-house innovation and a holistic approach ultimately create greater customer value.

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About Mikael Holmqvist