Month: July 2020

Air freight experts at Tim Consult have launched the special Market Intelligence Initiative ‘MII Pharma Air Cargo’, aimed at providing pharmaceutical industry specialists with a trusty guide through the labyrinthine world of temperature-controlled global air freight markets. With its regular market intelligence initiatives, Transporeon-owned Tim Consult has been giving shipping companies unique insights into complex logistics markets since 1999, both at regional and at global level, for all modes of transport, whether land, air or sea.

This latest special initiative addresses the critical and technically demanding field of global air cargo for the pharmaceutical industry. Participating companies will benefit from unique insights not only into pricing by lanes, airports, airlines and forwarders, but also into costs associated with special requirements, for example packaging solutions to avoid temperature variations.

“We’re very excited about this project,” remarked Oliver Kahrs, Managing Director of Tim Consult. “Pharmaceutical companies depend on air freight for speed and global reach, but have to comply with stringent regulatory demands. These call for specialist equipment, storage facilities and harmonised handling procedures across the entire supply chain. With freight space in scarce supply and a limited number of qualified service providers, choosing the right course of action through the maze of different rates and services can be hugely challenging. At Tim Consult we’re looking forward to playing our role in assisting this crucial activity.”

For this special benchmarking initiative, Tim Consult will be using the same proven methodology as successfully applied in other market intelligence initiatives. “Our analyses are based on the insights of a community of specialist market players,” explains Christoph Bruns, Manager MII Global Air Cargo at Tim Consult. “Participating companies – shippers only – entrust us with their freight data, derived from actual agreements and contracts in active use. So the data is fully grounded in the business. Of course, we have clear rules and processes to ensure confidentiality and compliance.”

Gazeley has announced that it is adopting the GLP brand name following its acquisition by the global investment manager in 2017. In addition, GLP announces that it has closed on the acquisition of Goodman Group’s Central and Eastern Europe logistics real estate portfolio.

GLP currently has US$7 billion of assets under management across the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands. The addition of this unique, high-quality portfolio spread across Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary expands GLP’s European presence to 11 countries placing it within a select number of logistics real estate investors with a truly pan-European platform.

Nick Cook, President, GLP Europe, said: “Since entering the market in 2017, GLP has strategically expanded its presence across Europe to meet investor demand and support its disciplined pan-European growth strategy. We believe attractive macroeconomics, urbanisation, e-commerce growth and proximity to major distribution hubs across Europe are helping to drive Central and Eastern Europe’s logistics real estate market.”

The acquired portfolio is concentrated on key logistics routes across the region with access to growing markets for e-commerce and distribution. It will bring a number of new customers into the business and allow it to better support existing customers with their expanding supply chain requirements across Europe. To support the acquired portfolio and the Company’s growth in the region, Goodman Group’s Central and Eastern European local teams will join GLP’s European business.

Over the last 30 years, Gazeley has built a strong reputation as one of the leading investors and developers of logistics warehouses across Europe. Initially starting as a merchant developer as part of Walmart, the business has expanded its presence across the UK and subsequently Europe under several ownership structures. Since GLP acquired Gazeley in 2017 to enter the European logistics real estate market, the European business has doubled in size from an AUM, geographic footprint and people perspective, strengthening the team with several significant and strategic hires along the journey.

By fully embracing what it means to be GLP, the business is uniquely placed to stay ahead of the market by opening up new opportunities, smarter innovations and accessing a larger global network. While the change will bring a number of benefits, it won’t change the values or how the company operates. The goal is to enhance its offer, simplify its communications and deepen the relationships that have been built.

Gazeley has announced that it is adopting the GLP brand name following its acquisition by the global investment manager in 2017. In addition, GLP announces that it has closed on the acquisition of Goodman Group’s Central and Eastern Europe logistics real estate portfolio.

GLP currently has US$7 billion of assets under management across the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands. The addition of this unique, high-quality portfolio spread across Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary expands GLP’s European presence to 11 countries placing it within a select number of logistics real estate investors with a truly pan-European platform.

Nick Cook, President, GLP Europe, said: “Since entering the market in 2017, GLP has strategically expanded its presence across Europe to meet investor demand and support its disciplined pan-European growth strategy. We believe attractive macroeconomics, urbanisation, e-commerce growth and proximity to major distribution hubs across Europe are helping to drive Central and Eastern Europe’s logistics real estate market.”

The acquired portfolio is concentrated on key logistics routes across the region with access to growing markets for e-commerce and distribution. It will bring a number of new customers into the business and allow it to better support existing customers with their expanding supply chain requirements across Europe. To support the acquired portfolio and the Company’s growth in the region, Goodman Group’s Central and Eastern European local teams will join GLP’s European business.

Over the last 30 years, Gazeley has built a strong reputation as one of the leading investors and developers of logistics warehouses across Europe. Initially starting as a merchant developer as part of Walmart, the business has expanded its presence across the UK and subsequently Europe under several ownership structures. Since GLP acquired Gazeley in 2017 to enter the European logistics real estate market, the European business has doubled in size from an AUM, geographic footprint and people perspective, strengthening the team with several significant and strategic hires along the journey.

By fully embracing what it means to be GLP, the business is uniquely placed to stay ahead of the market by opening up new opportunities, smarter innovations and accessing a larger global network. While the change will bring a number of benefits, it won’t change the values or how the company operates. The goal is to enhance its offer, simplify its communications and deepen the relationships that have been built.

ELOKON GmbH, developer of electronic assistance systems for forklift trucks and mobile robots, is looking back on 25 years of successful company history. To mark this occasion, a small group (due to Corona  restrictions) attended the presentation of the certificate on June 19^th by Dr. Paul Raab (left) from the IHK Kiel to the managing partner, Dr. Volker Auerbach (right). The roots of the company go back to the mid 80’s, when ELOKON was founded as an engineering office for the development of special electronics. The renaming to “ELOKON Sicherheitstechnik” and the change of legal status to a GmbH took place in 1995.

Over the years, ELOKON has developed into an internationally recognised brand with 4,250 customers in more than 40 countries, with subsidiaries in Great Britain, the USA and Poland and with seven major industry awards to its name. The company offers a wide range of innovative assistance and safety systems, all designed to increase employee safety and vehicle productivity in the warehouse. The backbone of its product portfolio consists of distance warning systems, mobile personal protection systems, fleet management systems, stationary warning and radar systems for speed reduction.

“A very special thank you goes to our customers who have relied on ELOKON for their orders day after day for more than three decades and with whom we cooperate very intensively in the further development of our product solutions,” said Dr. Auerbach. “A special thanks also goes to our employees – especially now in these extraordinary times – each of whom is doing a great job looking after our customers with great products and reliable service”.

“In the past three years, we have substantially expanded our R&D department to enable us to continue to increase our product portfolio and to grow into one of the leading international suppliers of safety and assistance systems – not only for forklift trucks, but also for driverless transport systems and mobile robots. ELOKON is looking forward to shaping the future of intralogistics together with our customers and partners in the next 25 years.”

Gartner evaluates vendors based on their ability to execute and for completeness of vision, and has positioned GEODIS in the Leaders quadrant in its 2020 Magic Quadrant for Third-Party Logistics, Worldwide.

According to Gartner, “Leaders rate well on the highly weighted criteria for both Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision. This means the leading providers have extensive service offerings and infrastructure and make them available across an expansive global footprint.” Furthermore, “Leaders also have well-structured strategies and business models to continue to expand their capabilities, regional coverage and industry specialization, and they are adept at offering services for different customer segments.”

“We particularly value this recognition because we believe it illustrates the spirit of success that we have in GEODIS. Behind great successes in business there is great logistics – at GEODIS that is what we aim to deliver every day, to every customer, from start-ups to global players”, says Marie-Christine Lombard, GEODIS Chief Executive Officer. “Our objective of sustainable growth encourages us to keep moving forward in an environment where the expansion of e-commerce, the growing need for on-demand services and the constant search for real-time visibility, coupled with high levels of corporate social responsibility, are paramount. In these circumstances we need to be even more agile in order to provide our customers with adapted and innovative solutions.”

With a direct presence in 67 countries and a global network that extends across more than 120 countries, GEODIS covers the entire supply chain through its five business lines: express courier and last mile delivery; full-truckload road transport; contract logistics; freight forwarding and supply chain optimization. This range of services allows GEODIS to provide its customers with comprehensive solutions enabled by its 41,000 employees, physical infrastructure, processes and information systems.

TGW is the key partner for the fully robotized fulfilment center for Picnic in the Netherlands. The online supermarket will use a FlashPick system, which is powerful but flexible at the same time, with three temperature zones and a shuttle system at the core of the solution.

Picnic was founded in Amersfoort in 2015 and has expanded rapidly in the Netherlands and Germany. Operating from eight distribution centres, the company delivers groceries to more than 130 cities to an ever growing number of customers. The only way to place an order is through an intuitive app. Those who order before 10 p.m. will receive their fresh, chilled and frozen food the next day. Fruit, vegetables, meat and dry goods are delivered by small eco-friendly electric vans without emissions.

Groceries for more than 150,000 families per week

The new distribution centre has 40,000 m^² of floor space and uses state-of-the-art technology to deliver groceries to more than 150,000 families per week. With TGW FlashPick, Picnic lays the foundation for the next year`s growth. The core automation element is a shuttle warehouse comprising almost 40 aisles and more than 200,000 storage locations. The system also includes an energy-efficient KingDrive conveyor network, as well as highly ergonomic PickCenter One picking workstations.

To ensure the best product quality, Picnic’s fulfillment center is divided into several temperature zones: ambient, chilled and frozen. This makes the planning and realization of this project particularly demanding. Most of the goods received will be stored in the shuttle. Customer orders start either in the Zone-Picking area or at one of the PickCenter One picking workstations. Then, orders are stored in the shuttle for consolidation. Thanks to the new solution, food waste as well as the use of packaging material can be reduced significantly. 20,000 m^² of solar panels will be used as power source. With this initiative, Picnic takes a big step in making the food chain more sustainable.

Picnic co-founder Frederik Nieuwenhuys underscores: “The robot-assisted distribution center in Utrecht, in combination with our electric cars, is the foundation of our unique “farm to fork” strategy where proprietary Picnic technology is used to provide consumers with ultra-fresh products and deliver groceries to their homes free of charge. The partnership with TGW as a global leader in automated fulfillment solutions brings together two teams with knowledge of the latest technology and software.”

Robot-assisted loading

To further improve ergonomics, Picnic and TGW Robotics are jointly developing an unique, robotized loading system for the Picnic delivery frames. “A challenging but also very exciting project is now becoming reality. The logistics center is a milestone and marks a new level of strategic collaboration between Picnic and TGW,” says David Hibbett, CEO of TGW Northern Europe.