Day: 1 October 2019

Norwegian clothing manufacturer Helly Hansen operates most of its company fleet at its European distribution centre in the Dutch town of Born. The fleet has been upgraded in close cooperation with UniCarriers, its main forklift truck supplier. Helly Hansen thus benefits from a modern fleet which meets its requirements and provides an optimum logistics framework for the coming years.

In 2011, Helly Hansen moved from its existing European distribution centre (EDC) in Echt in the south-eastern Netherlands to a new, larger facility in neighbouring Born as a result of sustained company growth. “We were bursting at the seams at our old location. We had also centralised our warehouses at the time,” states Hans Heijdeman, EDC Operations Manager at Helly Hansen. Workwear stocks were warehoused at a separate distribution centre in Sweden until 2011, but they are now stored together with sports clothing at the Born EDC. Spread over 20,000 m2, the EDC boasts 60,000 storage spaces and houses 24,000 stock-keeping units. The centre holds a total of 2.5 million items in stock. Helly Hansen ships around 320,000 packages and 17,000 pallets to customers throughout Europe and Russia from its EDC every year. Growth continues unabated. The company recently expected an increase in turnover between 10 and 15 percent for sports and work clothing alone.

Excellent partnership
Helly Hansen has placed its trust in UniCarriers handling equipment to manage all incoming goods and orders for many years. “We have an excellent working relationship. We work together with our key account manager at UniCarriers to optimise our fleet on a continuous basis. Our partner is also highly flexible if we need additional forklifts to deal with spikes in orders, for example. The UniCarriers service technician who has assisted us on site for years is equally as important, if not more. He’s a true specialist, a perfect fit for us on both a professional and personal level. He is pro-active, deals with problems, no matter how small, and is now highly familiar with our specific wishes and requirements,” declares Heijdeman. In view of this experience, it was only natural for the operations manager to turn to UniCarriers again when it came to upgrading the fleet. The forklift manufacturer supplied more than 40 new vehicles for the upgrade. Consisting of five reach trucks, two electric forklifts and 36 low-, medium- and high-level order pickers, the fleet has been leased for a time period of 72 months, including service agreements and battery management. Helly Hansen and UniCarriers have also agreed to hold a six-monthly review, during which they talk about the use of the forklifts and any damage.

In-house transport scrutinised
“We took a close look at our in-house fleet when we replaced our forklifts,” states Denis Rutten, Supervisor at the EDC. “We worked together with UniCarriers to study aspects such as how we could make our employees’ workstations as ergonomic as possible. This not only involves control systems, but also things like having enough storage space.” Helly Hansen attaches great importance to sufficient space in the vehicle not only for a wide variety of tools and resources, but also for empty packaging. A great deal of packaging from incoming goods is reused for both reasons of cost and, of course, environmental concerns. “The extremely large storage compartments and flat vehicle body parts in trucks are ideal for us,” declares Rutten.

Smooth fleet operation
If nothing else, the new vehicles are significantly quieter and more comfortable. They are equipped with all the necessary scanners plus the Blue Spot optical warning system, which ensures maximum safety in the warehouse. Blue Spot projects LED light spots onto the warehouse floor to warn employees of approaching vehicles. The reach trucks also feature colour cameras which guarantee an optimum view for drivers, even when they are placing goods in storage at a great height. Thanks to the new fleet and the associated leasing agreement, there is now no stopping smooth in-house transport operations over the coming years. “We now have an optimum logistics set-up and plan to stay at this location for another six years at least. The company is expanding and we will continue to rely on support and assistance from UniCarriers for this growth,” stresses Heijdeman.

Yale Europe Materials Handling says it enjoyed a successful IMHX 2019, which took place from 24 – 27 September at the NEC in Birmingham. Yale worked closely with its UK partner, Briggs Equipment, to deliver an event that showcased a range of materials handling solutions, as well as the benefits of a close manufacturer-partner-customer relationship in driving productivity.

Taking place every three years (and biennial from 2021), IMHX is the UK’s largest event for logistics and supply chain professionals with tens of thousands of visitors estimated to have passed through the exhibition’s doors.

Yale Brand Manager, Iain Friar, said: “We’ve thoroughly enjoyed our return to IMHX for another fantastic event. We’ve demonstrated a wide range of solutions for boosting productivity, from robotics and alternative power solutions, to pallet and Very Narrow Aisle trucks – as well as the customer success stories of our longstanding partnership with Briggs Equipment.”

Close partnership
“At Yale, we pride ourselves on the close relationship we enjoy with Briggs Equipment, who help to deliver our company philosophy of “People. Products. Productivity.”, said Iain. “Our combined understanding of our customers’ industries and the challenges they face, enables us to offer the ideal solution for their application, coupled with the ongoing support of a knowledgeable, experienced dealer.”

Marston’s is a prime example of this close partnership. As a trusted supplier, Briggs was invited to Marston’s West Thurrock facility to advise on how to make the best use of their warehouse space. Briggs quickly grasped the challenges of the brewery’s site and supplied a range of customised Yale® equipment, including LPG forklifts with keg clamps, low level order pickers, and reach trucks. Marston’s is no stranger to Yale products, and its nationwide fleet now stands at over 200 Yale trucks, all of which are serviced and maintained by Briggs engineers.

To demonstrate the success of this ongoing partnership between Briggs, Marston’s and Yale, Marston’s kegs were the load of choice for the Yale® MP20 pedestrian pallet truck on display at IMHX. This proved to be a useful icebreaker with new prospects looking to find out more about how the pedestrian pallet truck and precision control tiller head can help optimise productivity in their operations.

A pallet of sweet treats, kindly provided by another Yale customer, could also be spotted on the Yale MTC13 Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) truck. Capable of lifting up to 17m, Yale VNA trucks offer greater cube utilisation by optimising pallet storage and retrieval at high levels and in very narrow aisles. This allows warehouse managers with limited space to fully utilise it and increase storage density.

UK debut for Yale robotics
Yale displayed its robotic MC15 counterbalance stacker for the first time in the UK. Visitors watched as the counterbalance stacker autonomously lifted a pallet from racking and carried it across the stand, simulating a warehouse application.

“The robotic counterbalance stacker generated a great deal of interest. Visitors were particularly curious about how the Driven by Balyo technology enables it to operate without the need to install additional infrastructure, and were impressed to hear how easily the truck can switch between manual and autonomous modes” said Iain.

Yale robotic trucks are a cost-effective solution for applications seeking increased uptime and productivity, without the additional cost of installing and maintaining a dedicated physical infrastructure. The trucks use existing structural features to generate their own map of the working environment, so there is no need to bury wires in the floor or mount reflectors on the walls.

The current Yale robotics fleet includes a counterbalance stacker, tow tractor, and low-level order picker, all of which can integrate fully with existing Warehouse Management System (WMS) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, allowing real-time adjustments to be made.

Going green
Alternative power solutions continues to be a growing topic within the materials handling industry and Yale industry experts were on hand to discuss the most appropriate energy solutions for specific applications at IMHX. This year the Yale stand featured an all-electric line-up, including a lithium-ion powered MP20 pedestrian pallet truck.

Iain Friar concluded: “It was a pleasure to speak to both new and existing customers at IMHX and have the opportunity to demonstrate how the close partnership we have with our dealers can benefit them. We are passionate about providing tailored solutions, helping operations maximise their productivity and efficiency, without compromising on ergonomics or total cost of ownership. We are already looking forward to returning to the next IMHX!”

 

FourKites, a leader in predictive supply chain visibility, and Ocean Insights, the leader in ocean freight intelligence, today announced an exclusive partnership to transform container visibility. The strategic partnership creates a plug-and-play deployment model that integrates Ocean Insights’ superior ocean freight tracking data with FourKites’ real-time visibility platform to offer domestic and international logistics professionals true end-to-end visibility, from global seaports to final destinations worldwide.

By combining FourKites’ unparalleled network of more than 260 global shippers with Ocean Insights’ real-time container tracking capabilities globally, import and export teams can now rely on a single system for door-to-door tracking.

Through real-time visibility and advanced analytics, FourKites and Ocean Insights customers can now better manage detention and demurrage costs. And by utilizing FourKites’ comprehensive dashboards, they can improve operational performance and reduce operational costs.
“We’re excited to now offer true door-to-door capabilities to our customers via the integration of our superior ocean data, together with FourKites’ over-the-road data and powerful predictive platform,” said Dr. Felix Richter, CEO of Ocean Insights.

“This partnership gives FourKites and Ocean Insights customers powerful new capabilities to track cargo and notify downstream supply chain stakeholders of potential delivery disruptions,” said Mathew Elenjickal, CEO of FourKites. “Now, supply chain professionals can better manage their operations and unlock value through a single, consistent visibility platform, regardless of international and domestic responsibilities.”

Since launching five years ago, FourKites has pioneered the industry shift to real-time visibility, enabling shippers to improve on-time delivery and optimize their supply chains based on actionable data and predictive intelligence. With a network that now includes more than 260 of the world’s top shippers, including 18 of the top-20 food and beverage companies and nine of the top-10 CPG companies, FourKites tracks more than 600,000 shipments every day.

Operating on a global scale, Ocean Insights collates millions of data points and provides actionable insights into ocean freight for the logistics industry to improve visibility, transparency, and efficiency. Ocean Insights has pioneered the integration of carrier information and actual vessel whereabouts, providing carrier-neutral, real-time information of all shipments across all major international and regional ocean carriers, as well as container status updates and predicted ETA. Logistics teams all around the globe can get insights into freight movement and overall supply chain transparency that enable them to improve their day-to-day and long-term strategies.