Awards of the Rüdinger Freight Forwarder, Germany

Krautheim – Rüdinger Spedition GmbH has been awarded the TOP 100 seal for the third time, making it one of Germany's most innovative medium-sized companies in 2025. The award ceremony will take place on June 27 in Mainz, where science journalist and mentor of the competition Ranga Yogeshwar will personally present the award.

This honor is based on a scientific selection process in which the innovative strength of companies is evaluated according to over 100 criteria in five categories. Rüdinger Spedition impressed the judges in particular with its commitment to sustainability, the involvement of its employees in innovation management, the use of digital technologies, and its close cooperation with customers.

Sustainability at the heart of the strategy

Sustainability is a key focus for the company: the use of electric trucks, the expansion of photovoltaic systems, and the maximum consolidation of goods flows are all part of Rüdinger Spedition's sustainable concept. These measures help to reduce CO₂ emissions and combine ecological responsibility with economic efficiency.

Employees and digitalization as drivers of innovation

The employees of Rüdinger Spedition play a crucial role in innovation management. This year, their successes were honored at the Innovation Awards ceremony in order to further strengthen the culture of innovation. Fifteen teams proudly presented what they had achieved together. At the same time, the company relies on state-of-the-art digital technologies, which were often developed in-house and introduced in various areas to make processes more efficient and provide customers with optimal service.

Close cooperation with customers

Another special feature is the constant exchange with customers. At the regular logistics lunch events at the Jagstforum, customer needs and new topics are discussed in order to jointly develop tailor-made solutions.

A success that comes with responsibility

The TOP 100 seal has been awarded for over 30 years to companies that impress with their particular innovative strength and successes. With its third award in a row, Rüdinger Spedition proves that innovation, sustainability, and tradition are not contradictions, but together pave the way for the future of logistics.

Fürth. More than 170 decision-makers from the transport and logistics industry accepted the invitation from hosts Schaeffler Technologie and transaktuell to attend the first Zero Emission Summit at the event venue of second division club Greuther Fürth. They came together to share experiences and ideas on how to successfully transition to new drive systems in the industry.

This day was particularly exciting for nine companies, as the informative presentations and discussion panels at the summit were followed by the Eco Performance Awards ceremony. Roland Rüdinger, CEO of Rüdinger Spedition GmbH, was also eagerly awaiting the announcement of the winners. The TOP 100 innovator from Krautheim was nominated as a finalist in the “Large Companies” category and was in the final alongside Benjamin Roßmann, CEO of Spedition Ansorge GmbH & Co.KG. There was great excitement when the laudator Josef Perisa, CEO of Transcoop09 AG, announced Rüdinger Spedition from Krautheim as the winner. “It was a neck-and-neck race, and the jury did not have an easy decision to make,” explains Perisa.

The Eco Performance Award honors companies that combine ecological, economic, and social responsibility with innovative ideas in their business models. It is considered a leading award in the logistics industry and highlights sustainable concepts as a key driver for the future. The evaluation is divided into the categories of innovation, start-ups, small businesses, and large companies.

Rüdinger won the multi-stage application process with a well-founded concept for the economic use of battery-powered trucks. For Roland Rüdinger, one thing is clear: “By 2030, we will be driving purely electric vehicles in local transport.” With a total of eight battery-powered trucks, the Eco Performance Award winner is already one of the leaders in Germany. The vehicles are used in local transport and supply the region. The entrepreneur wants to build on this. The next step is to further electrify groupage transport.

For decades, the Rüdinger team has been working on the optimal and environmentally friendly use of trucks as a resource: "Every combustion engine truck that rolls down the road causes CO₂ emissions. We have long made it our mission to optimize vehicles and vehicle technology in such a way that CO₂ emissions are as low as possible. For example, the use of double-deck technology allows for even better utilization of the cargo space. By using long trucks, we save up to 50% CO₂ immediately. “The use of battery-powered trucks enables locally CO₂-neutral transport,” explains Rüdinger.

What sounds so simple also entails a lack of experience and extreme cost increases. An electric truck is 200% more expensive than a diesel model. Added to this is the construction of the necessary charging infrastructure, which also involves high costs. Nevertheless, Rüdinger is looking resolutely toward the future and offering regional companies the opportunity to handle their transport electrically. This allows companies to remove these transport services from their CO₂ balance sheet because there is no longer any CO₂ consumption.

Brilliant ideas and their implementation are the keys to the success of the Krautheim freight forwarder. The perfect bundling of transport flows is one of the main goals and generates economic advantages as well as reduced CO2 emissions. The most recent example: the bundling of groupage freight for seven middle-class cooperations. No other freight forwarder in Germany dares to take on this complexity, which leads to the highest possible efficiency in local transport thanks to high digital competence and a well-trained permanent staff.

Another milestone is the showcase of the 15-meter trailers. A total of 80 orange 15-meter trailers are in use, including special technologies that are not found in any other fleet. Due to the permanent development of vehicle technology, Rüdinger has one of the most versatile fleets under tarpaulin.

Together with a strong team, the Krautheim freight forwarder turns ideas into action and ensures innovations on the transport market. In this context, the issue of sustainability always plays an important role. For this innovative strength, Team Orange was awarded TOP 100 Innovator 2023 by compamedia. This award honors particularly innovative, medium-sized companies for their innovative strength. The competition is based on a scientific selection process. The team led by Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke selects the award winners on the basis of more than 100 criteria from five categories: Top management that encourages innovation, Innovation Climate, Innovative Processes and Organization, External Orientation/Open Innovation and Innovation Success. Of particular importance is whether a company's innovations are just a random product or are systematically planned and thus repeatable in the future. 550 medium-sized companies had applied.

The repeated award shows the sustainable innovative strength of Rüdinger freight forwarders.