Our Company Timeline Moving. Growing. Personal.
“Our strategic focus at FORMAT?
To automate foreign trade, customs and shipping processes with intelligent software solutions, and to make supply chains transparent — with and for everyone involved.
That requires being open to continuous change and having a visionary mindset — which we have, now in our second generation. We’re especially proud of that!” Horst Scharf, our Managing Director
Our Milestones
2024
Forward‑Looking Technology
All communications with ATLAS applications (starting in 2023 with ATLAS Import) will be carried out exclusively in a fully digital, media‑break‑free manner via ZELOS. As the first software provider, since 2024 we have been certified for all import procedures using the ATLAS communication tool ZELOS.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to make inroads at FORMAT. Our in‑house AI team has developed not only an ChatGPT for internal use, but also advanced a best‑in‑class tool for determining commodity codes: NIC (Navigator for Intelligent Classification). In addition to proposing the correct commodity code, NIC provides a detailed justification. It can also read image files, technical drawings and PDFs for classification at the touch of a button.
Moving. Growing. Personal. Then and now.
New ideas. New directions.
We started out with three people in three small rooms. Today, a team of 100 is driving our growth. Great ideas need space — so, at the end of 2021, we moved to a larger building in Dreieich. Some of our earliest team members are still with us, a sign of stability and a great place to work.
In 2022, we launched FORMAT‑SCM, our web‑based supply chain management solution. It brings together data from multiple systems and service providers and gives you clear, end‑to‑end visibility across your supply chain.
2021
2015
Expanding the product portfolio
Two further software highlights are coming to market: FORMAT‑TCT — the Tariff & Classification Tool for classifying goods — and FORMAT‑WUP for determining origin of goods and preferences. These forward‑looking products are ideal for internationally oriented customers and integrate seamlessly with existing systems.
To ensure these interfaces continue to work optimally with a wide range of system integrators, we are further expanding our partner management programme.
ATLAS‑AES launches
From 1 July 2009, export declarations could only be submitted electronically via ATLAS.
Three years earlier, we’d already built ATLAS‑AES, a certified participant solution, so our customers could choose to file their customs declarations on paper or online.
The switch to fully electronic submissions was completed smoothly across our customer base.
2009
2003
Greater security with the Sanctions Monitor
The terrorist attacks in the US in 2001 changed the world. Later that year, new EU regulations were introduced. With tighter compliance rules, screening all business contacts became mandatory. We responded immediately and quickly brought the FORMAT‑SAM sanctions monitor to market. Thanks to its sophisticated algorithms, the required screenings are automated and straightforward.
Subsequent product development added a service that remains unique: our FORMAT Content Team. By cross‑checking electronically provided information against the legally binding Official Journal, the team delivers significantly higher quality and assurance. They perform the validation and provide corrected data to our customers.
Introducing FORMAT‑IVEAS
As Windows replaced the widely used MS‑DOS, we launched the new FORMAT‑IVEAS product family — short for Import, Shipping, Export and Foreign Trade System. At the time, integrating supplier declarations and preferential origin calculation into the goods movement module was a first for the industry.
Our customers also benefited from FORMAT‑EZT, which lets you look up customs duty rates at the touch of a button.
Customs processes for imports were being modernised as well. Electronic procedures such as ALFA, DOUANE and ZADAT were phased out and folded into the new ATLAS e‑filing system, with data now exchanged electronically with the customs authorities.
2000
1994
Strategic Focus
We already serve more than 200 customers across industries, including well‑known apparel manufacturers. Our focus areas include outward processing, imports and exports. Horst Scharf, together with Heinrich Meier, handled sales of the products and later took on responsibility for commercial management.
Alongside automatic printing for customs clearance on official customs forms — or, alternatively, in list format — we also implemented the ZADAT electronic filing procedure. With the completion of the EU single market a year earlier, customs duties between EU member states were set to be abolished, making various customs forms, such as the Single Administrative Document, redundant.
Great service was already a core part of the FORMAT brand at that time. All our customers received regular software updates — on floppy disks sent by postal service.
Founding FORMAT
Back in 1988, export processing meant days of paperwork — especially for outward processing in the textile industry. Heinrich Meier, then Head of IT at a clothing manufacturer, had a clear vision: automate customs processing. So the software to enable it was built.
Together with Malcolm Howlett, he brought in the right partners to develop software for generating export documents. Verzollungsbüro Butz GmbH contributed both their expertise and their import software.
They went on to found FORMAT Software Service GmbH — the name inspired by “formatted data capture”, a program Malcolm Howlett was writing at the time for ICL mainframes. With Heinrich Meier as Managing Director, they secured their first offices and got underway.
1988