Month: March 2020

The Timber Packaging & Pallet Confederation (TIMCON) is today asking the Government to clarify urgently that workers in wooden pallet and packaging companies are included in its list of key workers during the coronavirus outbreak.

Last night (19th March) TIMCON asked its members to sign a letter calling for the clarification. Some 24 businesses signed overnight, with more expected to sign during today.

The letter reads as follows:

As timber packaging and pallet businesses, we write to stress in the strongest terms the importance of including supply chain workers in the Government’s definition of key workers, during the COVID-19 crisis.

The European Commission (EC) stated this week that, while protecting the health of European citizens, we must also ensure that that they still have access to essential goods, especially food and medicines, demand for which is currently incredibly high.

To do this, we absolutely need workers to be free to carry out the physical work that supports supply chains. This includes sawmill workers, pallet repairers and manufacturers, and drivers of lorries and forklifts.

These people cannot work from home. We need them to be there in person to keep goods moving from origin to consumers.
If this doesn’t happen, the pharmaceutical, food and drink supply chains upon which people rely, will fail.

With schools across the UK and Ireland now shut, we need assurance these staff will be included on the Government’s key worker list as a matter of urgency.

The Government has listed workers involved in ‘food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods’ and those ‘working on transport systems through which supply chains pass’. However, it has not specified which job roles are included.

Plastic Omnium are a global company whilst remaining an independent family-owned business, who are committed to delivering first class products in the fast moving and ever-changing automotive environment.

The challenge
Plastic Omnium wanted to reduce dust contamination and the over handling of moulded parts entering paint environments. Excessive handling causes issues at the paint line as the moulded parts could become contaminated with grease, and even suffer from electrostatic issues which attract dust and unwanted particles, potentially affecting the quality of paint finishes.

The solution
L.A.C. Conveyors and Automation were approached to help develop a conveying system that would reduce the manual handling of the moulds to a bare minimum. L.A.C.’s own in-house design team worked with the sales department and customer to develop a solution that fitted requirements. The final design allowed for parts to be placed directly by an operator from the moulding operation onto a 2000mm wide belt conveyor which was built in two tiers. Each tier would convey a left-hand and right-hand part from the moulding process to the paint workshop. Parts are manually loaded in rows of four. Instead of running continually, the conveyor has been configured to be indexed along. This is achieved by the operator who loads the parts pressing a button to move the conveyor forward. The conveyor can be indexed in both directions should there be a requirement to return parts. The overall length is 12000mm. The conveyor belt is made from PVC with a plastic mechanical joint, helping ensure the products are not damaged during transit. Altogether, a substantial and unusual bespoke conveyor solution.

To ensure that minimal contamination occurs within the activity, L.A.C. installed a brush strip and waste trap under the return element of the belt conveyor. The brush strip helps to keep the belt surface clean during operation, which reduces the potential for contamination of the parts destined for painting. The conveyor was also designed in a way that allows for the customer to bolt-on a system that helps remove static electricity.

The whole conveyor assembly has been mounted on castors to allow easy cleaning and maintenance operations to be supported.

to the structure being installed, a full F.A.T. was provided at L.A.C.’s own Nottingham factory. Once approved L.A.C.’s engineers ensured a seamless delivery and installation was provided whilst Plastic Omnium had a planned operations shutdown. This helped guarantee the customers production processes were unaffected.

www.lacconveyors.co.uk

Ground-Guards Ltd, a supplier of temporary access solutions, has launched an “advanced and cost-effective” ground protection system that provides warehouse and factory managers with, it says, improved usability and is suitable for a wide range of temporary and permanent flooring applications.

Made from 100% recycled PVC, Ground-Guard’s new FastCover PLUS features unique interlocking flanges for improved ease of use and a superior trip-free surface. It is suitable for a range of tasks, from permanent flooring in factories and warehouses, to surface protection for block paving and interior floors and temporary protection for paths and walkways.

Weighting 14.5kg per mat, FastCover PLUS can be laid directly onto concrete, grass, footpaths or stone bases, featuring an anti-slip surface for maximum health and safety, whilst built-in hand holes make the product easy to handle and ensure that lifting and transporting the system is simple.

In addition, interlocking lugs connect the mat securely together in straight runs as well as being able to create a brick-bond pattern, giving a more smooth, firm and trip-free surface. Built with durability and longevity in mind, FastCover PLUS features an innovative honeycomb underside, providing strong structural support and ultimately increasing the useable life of the product.

FastCover PLUS is ideal for use on an outdoor worksite all year round thanks to it’s improved ability to accommodate heat expansion. So much so that the innovative matting system can even be used effectively as temporary car parks over stone surfaces.

CBRE Global Investors has acquired, on behalf of its Logistics Venture Fund, a circa 120,000 sqm Italian logistics portfolio which includes a 40,000 sqm Grade A logistics warehouse and 194,000 sqm of land for an 80,000 sqm speculative development. The portfolio was acquired off-market from Techbau.

The Grade A warehouse is located in Turate (Como), North of Milan. The logistics single-dock asset is let for nine years to a well-known Italian retailer. Located close to the intersection between A9 (Milan-Como-Switzerland) and the new A36, it benefits from excellent connectivity within Italy and cross-border transportation.

The 194,000 sqm plot of land currently being developed for the 80,000 sqm logistics cross dock is located in Castrezzato, east of Milan. Benefitting from good transport links that serve the east part of the Lombardy Region (Milan, Brescia and Bergamo) as well as Venice and Verona, the distribution warehouse is expected to be delivered in Q3 2020.

The Italian logistics sector has a number of positive indicators such as low vacancy rates (below 3%), high takes-ups and low yields (a record low yield was achieved in 2019 at 4.5%). These factors, as well as the fundamentals of both assets in terms of location, scarcity of ready-to-go plots and a turnkey deal, make this italian logistics portfolio an attractive buy for the Fund’s investors.

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