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Day: 12 August 2019

New Dachser Facility in Neumunster

Posted on by Paul Hamblin

The logistics provider Dachser is starting the construction of a new branch in Neumünster in the far north of Germany. Dachser is building a transit terminal for industrial goods and food at Isarstrasse on the industrial estate south of Neumünster. This investment is worth some EUR 17.4 million. Construction is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2020. Around 30 employees will work in the new logistics center.

The groundbreaking ceremony was held on the grounds at Isarstrasse and attended by Dr. Olaf Tauras, Mayor of Neumünster, and Alexander Tonn, Managing Director European Logistics Germany, on August 7, 2019. Tonn is responsible for the German branches of the European Logistics business line (overland transport and contract logistics for industrial goods).

Construction work on the 57,000-square-meter plot of land will start at the beginning of September. The total area of the terminal is 6,700 square meters. Of this floor space, 5,000 square meters will handle industrial goods, with the remaining 1,700 square meters cooled and devoted to food transit. The facility will have 76 docking bays for the loading and unloading of trucks. An office building of 1,000 square meters will complement the terminal.

“Neumünster will become another key terminal for Dachser in the far north of Germany. This new location will connect directly into our extensive European overland transport network,” Tonn says, adding that “the new construction complies with the latest standards and offers secure and sustainable jobs in logistics within the region.”

Dachser’s new terminal in Neumünster will replace its long-standing partner, 17111 Transit Transport & Logistik. In the future, this site will serve almost the whole of Schleswig-Holstein, but for now the collaboration will continue until the Dachser branch has been completed. The new location has good transport connections, situated directly on the B205 highway with direct access to the A7 highway.

Exoskeletons Tested in Warehouses

Posted on by David Priestman

DB Schenker has intensively and successfully tested the use of exoskeletons at several logistics locations. The logistics service provider is thus continuing its efforts to relieve warehouse staff of physically-demanding tasks.

Exoskeletons, also known as outer skeletons or support robots, are electro-mechanical support structures carried on the body. In addition to ergonomically-designed workstations, they are designed to support the warehouse employees during lifting and rotating movements of the body. In particular, this protects the lumbar vertebrae and the back muscles. The strain on these parts of the body is often the cause of illness and inability to work.

“Here at DB Schenker, our employees are our most important and valuable asset. I am therefore very pleased that we are taking another important step towards testing better and, above all, healthier working conditions for our employees,” says Thomas Schulz, CHRO at Schenker AG. “This brings us closer to our strategic target of being the employer of choice as an innovative and leading logistics service provider.”

The focus of the pilot project was the order picking and sequencing of packages weighing up to 15 kilograms. Employees equipped with an exoskeleton removed the packages from storage racks and then placed them on pallets. The exoskeleton supported the movement sequences. As part of the Graduate Summer School at the University of Dortmund, DB Schenker invited around 20 doctoral students from various faculties to Cologne. Here, they took part in the practical test for the exoskeletons at the supplier park of a renowned automobile manufacturer.

Gerald Mueller, Head of Process and Efficiency Management at Schenker Deutschland AG, says: “The feedback from the doctoral students and DB Schenker employees after the test was very positive and once again confirmed that the long-term use, in conjunction with ergonomically optimally-designed logistics processes, can improve the health of the employees. In the coming months, we will now be analyzing the results in detail and checking whether the exoskeletons will then be included in the area of process optimization at DB Schenker.”

Even in highly-automated warehouses, employees are still indispensable for many activities, such as lifting loads from their packaging. While general lifting operations are performed by machines such as forklifts or robots, lifting out is still too complex for the control technology of the machines. Here, an exoskeleton combines the power of the machine with the human motor competence, providing the perfect solution.

Exoskeletons Tested in Warehouses

Posted on by Keith McKinley

DB Schenker has intensively and successfully tested the use of exoskeletons at several logistics locations. The logistics service provider is thus continuing its efforts to relieve warehouse staff of physically-demanding tasks.

Exoskeletons, also known as outer skeletons or support robots, are electro-mechanical support structures carried on the body. In addition to ergonomically-designed workstations, they are designed to support the warehouse employees during lifting and rotating movements of the body. In particular, this protects the lumbar vertebrae and the back muscles. The strain on these parts of the body is often the cause of illness and inability to work.

“Here at DB Schenker, our employees are our most important and valuable asset. I am therefore very pleased that we are taking another important step towards testing better and, above all, healthier working conditions for our employees,” says Thomas Schulz, CHRO at Schenker AG. “This brings us closer to our strategic target of being the employer of choice as an innovative and leading logistics service provider.”

The focus of the pilot project was the order picking and sequencing of packages weighing up to 15 kilograms. Employees equipped with an exoskeleton removed the packages from storage racks and then placed them on pallets. The exoskeleton supported the movement sequences. As part of the Graduate Summer School at the University of Dortmund, DB Schenker invited around 20 doctoral students from various faculties to Cologne. Here, they took part in the practical test for the exoskeletons at the supplier park of a renowned automobile manufacturer.

Gerald Mueller, Head of Process and Efficiency Management at Schenker Deutschland AG, says: “The feedback from the doctoral students and DB Schenker employees after the test was very positive and once again confirmed that the long-term use, in conjunction with ergonomically optimally-designed logistics processes, can improve the health of the employees. In the coming months, we will now be analyzing the results in detail and checking whether the exoskeletons will then be included in the area of process optimization at DB Schenker.”

Even in highly-automated warehouses, employees are still indispensable for many activities, such as lifting loads from their packaging. While general lifting operations are performed by machines such as forklifts or robots, lifting out is still too complex for the control technology of the machines. Here, an exoskeleton combines the power of the machine with the human motor competence, providing the perfect solution.

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