User Experience Vital in 2020 Fulfilment, Says WMS Specialist

Warehouse management technology leader, SnapFulfil is predicting a new fulfilment year where demand for better ‘user experience’ will be as important as a company’s products and services.

It will also see the rise of the robot, taking man-to-good operations to the next level, says the company.

With ever increasing challenges to getting packages out on time and accurately, feedback from SnapFulfil’s customers shows that warehouse managers want and need WMS offerings with simplified user interfaces, allowing them to onboard temporary employees quicker – especially during peak seasons. Additionally, they are looking to invest in a system that allows for multiple licenses so temporary hires can use their systems immediately.

Digitally-driven warehouse managers will also be looking to collect much larger quantities of data throughout the fulfilment process during 2020, so they can create a baseline and systematically track improvements within the warehouse.

SnapFulfil MD Tony Dobson explained: “Our experience tells us that having a WMS that provides easily accessible information data to employees is paramount to improving efficiencies warehouse-wide. As businesses modify their processes to meet the challenges of today’s e-commerce, a best-of-breed WMS allows them to simply track progress and reconfigure changes to achieve the best results and most efficient fulfilment operations.

“Apart from facilitating much more educated decisions, it also eliminates costly, onerous and time-intensive paper-based processes in the warehouse, giving employees more quality time and flexibility to streamline procedures – creating a more rewarding and fulfilling working environment.”

The new year will also see more brands focus on implementing robots into their existing man-to-goods operations – rather than tearing the whole infrastructure down for machines – because investing in an Amazon-style goods-to-person robotics solution is simply too cost prohibitive for most small to medium sized businesses.

Solutions such as the autonomous mobile robot, SnapCart, which is due to launch in 2020, are set to fill that gap by introducing a cellular picking model that keeps pickers within a set zone and sends robots to them to pick up items. Cellular picking considerably reduces an employee’s physical strain and helps the warehouse move items from picking to packing much more efficiently and accurately.

Mr Dobson concluded: “We are in the final stages of SnapCart’s exciting development and it has been designed to deliver the most efficient picking methodology available, rather than replace warehouse operatives.
It features an easy-to-use interface, so staff can be trained within minutes, plus carts can be added as needed to manage start-up costs and scalability.

“What’s more, it costs less than a third of other robotic solutions currently available and being application led it has been specifically engineered for the demands of a featureless warehouse environment. At 48 totes, it also carries more than any other man-to-goods cart on the market.”

User Experience Vital in 2020 Fulfilment, Says WMS Specialist

Warehouse management technology leader, SnapFulfil is predicting a new fulfilment year where demand for better ‘user experience’ will be as important as a company’s products and services.

It will also see the rise of the robot, taking man-to-good operations to the next level, says the company.

With ever increasing challenges to getting packages out on time and accurately, feedback from SnapFulfil’s customers shows that warehouse managers want and need WMS offerings with simplified user interfaces, allowing them to onboard temporary employees quicker – especially during peak seasons. Additionally, they are looking to invest in a system that allows for multiple licenses so temporary hires can use their systems immediately.

Digitally-driven warehouse managers will also be looking to collect much larger quantities of data throughout the fulfilment process during 2020, so they can create a baseline and systematically track improvements within the warehouse.

SnapFulfil MD Tony Dobson explained: “Our experience tells us that having a WMS that provides easily accessible information data to employees is paramount to improving efficiencies warehouse-wide. As businesses modify their processes to meet the challenges of today’s e-commerce, a best-of-breed WMS allows them to simply track progress and reconfigure changes to achieve the best results and most efficient fulfilment operations.

“Apart from facilitating much more educated decisions, it also eliminates costly, onerous and time-intensive paper-based processes in the warehouse, giving employees more quality time and flexibility to streamline procedures – creating a more rewarding and fulfilling working environment.”

The new year will also see more brands focus on implementing robots into their existing man-to-goods operations – rather than tearing the whole infrastructure down for machines – because investing in an Amazon-style goods-to-person robotics solution is simply too cost prohibitive for most small to medium sized businesses.

Solutions such as the autonomous mobile robot, SnapCart, which is due to launch in 2020, are set to fill that gap by introducing a cellular picking model that keeps pickers within a set zone and sends robots to them to pick up items. Cellular picking considerably reduces an employee’s physical strain and helps the warehouse move items from picking to packing much more efficiently and accurately.

Mr Dobson concluded: “We are in the final stages of SnapCart’s exciting development and it has been designed to deliver the most efficient picking methodology available, rather than replace warehouse operatives.
It features an easy-to-use interface, so staff can be trained within minutes, plus carts can be added as needed to manage start-up costs and scalability.

“What’s more, it costs less than a third of other robotic solutions currently available and being application led it has been specifically engineered for the demands of a featureless warehouse environment. At 48 totes, it also carries more than any other man-to-goods cart on the market.”

UK Logistics Consultants Open Frankfurt Office

UK-based KAM Project Consultants has expanded into Europe with the opening of its first international office, KAM Project Consultants GmbH, in Germany.

Founded in 2013, the independent construction company of project managers and cost consultants has offices in Milton Keynes, Leicester and now Frankfurt.

KAM GmbH is located in the AGENDIS Business Center – just walking distance from Frankfurt Airport – providing convenient transport links to the rest of Germany and mainland Europe, which had a significant influence on the selection of the location.

Already working on a number of high-profile projects in Europe and with further developments in the pipeline, KAM has invested in a permanent presence in Frankfurt to better support its German and wider European client base.

Tobias Neumeier (above), director of project management and country lead for KAM business in Germany will be based at the Frankfurt office, focusing on leading and growing the KAM GmbH business in the country, supporting existing clients in mainland Europe and managing contracted consulting services.

Mike Wilcock, director and founder of KAM Project Consultants said: “We have enjoyed six years of growing the UK business, and have been continually successful in delivering logistics and distribution facilities for both developers and occupiers in the UK. Our expansion into mainland Europe is an exciting time for the business and we are looking forward to delivering projects in Germany and beyond.”

UK Logistics Consultants Open Frankfurt Office

UK-based KAM Project Consultants has expanded into Europe with the opening of its first international office, KAM Project Consultants GmbH, in Germany.

Founded in 2013, the independent construction company of project managers and cost consultants has offices in Milton Keynes, Leicester and now Frankfurt.

KAM GmbH is located in the AGENDIS Business Center – just walking distance from Frankfurt Airport – providing convenient transport links to the rest of Germany and mainland Europe, which had a significant influence on the selection of the location.

Already working on a number of high-profile projects in Europe and with further developments in the pipeline, KAM has invested in a permanent presence in Frankfurt to better support its German and wider European client base.

Tobias Neumeier (above), director of project management and country lead for KAM business in Germany will be based at the Frankfurt office, focusing on leading and growing the KAM GmbH business in the country, supporting existing clients in mainland Europe and managing contracted consulting services.

Mike Wilcock, director and founder of KAM Project Consultants said: “We have enjoyed six years of growing the UK business, and have been continually successful in delivering logistics and distribution facilities for both developers and occupiers in the UK. Our expansion into mainland Europe is an exciting time for the business and we are looking forward to delivering projects in Germany and beyond.”

Space-Saving Conveyor Innovation Set to Debut at LogiMAT

An innovative cellular conveying system is set to make its debut at LogiMAT in March.

Called ‘celluveyor’ by its makers, Bremen-based cellumation GmbH, the conveyor technology solution has already won the start-up contest at the German Logistics Congress 2018. The unique new devel-opment consists of small conveyor cells with omnidirectional drive wheels.

It’s all about space-saving – the makers claim that compared to conventional conveyor technology components, up to 95 percent of the required area can be saved, depending on the respective appli-cation.

The basis for this are small hexagonal conveyor modules, each with three specially arranged drive wheels. They allow the material to be conveyed in any direction. The conveyor modules with their hex-agonal structures can be conveniently clicked and joined together to form any number of conveyor system geometries. With the patented single wheel control, the drive wheels are driven individually. This allows packages to be moved completely freely on one level and all conveyor technology tasks to be carried out with one system.

Meet the team at LogiMAT 2020 in hall 3, booth B78.

Space-Saving Conveyor Innovation Set to Debut at LogiMAT

An innovative cellular conveying system is set to make its debut at LogiMAT in March.

Called ‘celluveyor’ by its makers, Bremen-based cellumation GmbH, the conveyor technology solution has already won the start-up contest at the German Logistics Congress 2018. The unique new devel-opment consists of small conveyor cells with omnidirectional drive wheels.

It’s all about space-saving – the makers claim that compared to conventional conveyor technology components, up to 95 percent of the required area can be saved, depending on the respective appli-cation.

The basis for this are small hexagonal conveyor modules, each with three specially arranged drive wheels. They allow the material to be conveyed in any direction. The conveyor modules with their hex-agonal structures can be conveniently clicked and joined together to form any number of conveyor system geometries. With the patented single wheel control, the drive wheels are driven individually. This allows packages to be moved completely freely on one level and all conveyor technology tasks to be carried out with one system.

Meet the team at LogiMAT 2020 in hall 3, booth B78.

UK Transport Firm Boosts Quotation Offering via New App

A UK transport firm has created a quotation tool from an innovative location-finder app, known as What3words.

“You can tell your pals exactly where you have pitched your tent at Glastonbury. You can tell the emergency services exactly where you are if lost in a forest or up a mountain. And when thinking logistics you can let your haulier know exactly where to place that delivery on your new construction site (which doesn’t have a road name yet),” says Damian Pulford, MD, Sussex Transport Limited.

What3words has divided the world into three-metre squares and has subsequently given each square a unique three word code which lets anyone provide an exact location by using these three words.

Sussex Transport operates a fleet of lorry loader, hiab and crane vehicles, as well as Moffett mounted forklift trucks which are continually lifting items from and onto sites across the UK. Sussex Transport also provide Storage and Shipping Container hire and sales through ST Containers. And with so many large items being moved on and off site on a daily basis Damian and his marketing team set about digging into the What3Words API to develop a tool to help the company and its customers.

“Of course you can use Google maps, plenty of phone calls, interpretations and annotations. You get drawings and mockups, and instructions like ‘just over that wall’. But that can and does lead to confusion, especially as the instructions often filter through multiple contacts before the driver finally gets to the destination,” he says.

The team at Sussex Transport have since created and launched a web-based quoting tool that allows their customers and prospects to run through a quote request and at the same time precisely advise the planning team of collection and delivery locations as well as upload additional images and files.

This gives the clients, internal lifting and internal planning teams matching information and exact locations that can be seen and agreed by all before the job takes place.

“Removing many of the risks associated with locations on certain sites coupled with the more accurate delivery point data has massively helped streamline the process. Some of our regular clients now don’t even need to be onsite when we deliver. They know we’ll be placing the units in the right place. Technology is so important to us and something we enjoy developing and investing in,” confirms Operations Director Nic Pulford.

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UK Transport Firm Boosts Quotation Offering via New App

A UK transport firm has created a quotation tool from an innovative location-finder app, known as What3words.

“You can tell your pals exactly where you have pitched your tent at Glastonbury. You can tell the emergency services exactly where you are if lost in a forest or up a mountain. And when thinking logistics you can let your haulier know exactly where to place that delivery on your new construction site (which doesn’t have a road name yet),” says Damian Pulford, MD, Sussex Transport Limited.

What3words has divided the world into three-metre squares and has subsequently given each square a unique three word code which lets anyone provide an exact location by using these three words.

Sussex Transport operates a fleet of lorry loader, hiab and crane vehicles, as well as Moffett mounted forklift trucks which are continually lifting items from and onto sites across the UK. Sussex Transport also provide Storage and Shipping Container hire and sales through ST Containers. And with so many large items being moved on and off site on a daily basis Damian and his marketing team set about digging into the What3Words API to develop a tool to help the company and its customers.

“Of course you can use Google maps, plenty of phone calls, interpretations and annotations. You get drawings and mockups, and instructions like ‘just over that wall’. But that can and does lead to confusion, especially as the instructions often filter through multiple contacts before the driver finally gets to the destination,” he says.

The team at Sussex Transport have since created and launched a web-based quoting tool that allows their customers and prospects to run through a quote request and at the same time precisely advise the planning team of collection and delivery locations as well as upload additional images and files.

This gives the clients, internal lifting and internal planning teams matching information and exact locations that can be seen and agreed by all before the job takes place.

“Removing many of the risks associated with locations on certain sites coupled with the more accurate delivery point data has massively helped streamline the process. Some of our regular clients now don’t even need to be onsite when we deliver. They know we’ll be placing the units in the right place. Technology is so important to us and something we enjoy developing and investing in,” confirms Operations Director Nic Pulford.

TSC/Printronix Auto ID Hires New UK/Nordics Sales Manager

TSC Auto ID Technology EMEA GmbH has appointed Dave Huckle to the position of Sales Manager for the UK and Nordics. He is no stranger to its products as he has supported them for nearly eight years as an application engineer.

This new role will see Dave visiting customers with channel partners or alone to demonstrate new products and discuss printer exchanges and upgrades. He will also support vendors and TSC, as well as Printronix Auto at trade shows and conferences.

“Dave has more than 20 years experience of printing solutions and application engineering; few people are better placed than him to advise on the best device for customers,” says Victoria Grobushkina, Sales Director, TSC Auto ID Technology EMEA GmbH. “He has sound knowledge of both Printronix Auto ID and TSC thermal printers, which makes him ideally placed to recommend the ideal solution.”

Dave has started his new position with immediate effect. He says: “Although many customers will know me for my engineering support, I spent several years before that selling internationally for some major IT manufacturers. I’m looking forward to working with our distributors and resellers to ensure our customers get the solution to match their needs.”

TSC/Printronix Auto ID Hires New UK/Nordics Sales Manager

TSC Auto ID Technology EMEA GmbH has appointed Dave Huckle to the position of Sales Manager for the UK and Nordics. He is no stranger to its products as he has supported them for nearly eight years as an application engineer.

This new role will see Dave visiting customers with channel partners or alone to demonstrate new products and discuss printer exchanges and upgrades. He will also support vendors and TSC, as well as Printronix Auto at trade shows and conferences.

“Dave has more than 20 years experience of printing solutions and application engineering; few people are better placed than him to advise on the best device for customers,” says Victoria Grobushkina, Sales Director, TSC Auto ID Technology EMEA GmbH. “He has sound knowledge of both Printronix Auto ID and TSC thermal printers, which makes him ideally placed to recommend the ideal solution.”

Dave has started his new position with immediate effect. He says: “Although many customers will know me for my engineering support, I spent several years before that selling internationally for some major IT manufacturers. I’m looking forward to working with our distributors and resellers to ensure our customers get the solution to match their needs.”

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