Day: 24 September 2020

The EMEA division of Hyster-Yale Group has announced that Harry Sands will retire as the Company’s Senior VP and Managing Director, EMEA, from 30 September 2020, after almost 40 years of service.

Harry Sands has served as the Senior VP and Managing Director, EMEA, for Hyster-Yale Group since 2015. He joined the company in 1980 working for Hyster as Craigavon Factory Manager then becoming Plant Manager in Craigavon for Hyster-Yale Group in 1989. In 1998, Sands transferred to Nijmegen to assume the role of Plant Manager. In 2001 he was appointed VP European Manufacturing and Logistics before becoming the Managing Director of EMEA in 2015.

During his tenure as EMEA Managing Director, Sands has developed a strong team and enhanced the performance and results of the EMEA organisation across many disciplines. Over his extensive career with the company, he has consistently built strong relationships and partnerships both internally and externally.

Stewart D. Murdoch, who joined Hyster-Yale Group on 9 September 2020 as the incoming Senior VP and Managing Director, EMEA, will assume full responsibility for the position on 1 October 2020. Murdoch brings with him over 25 years of international experience in bulk material handling and industrial process automation and has held Executive Management and operational leadership positions in Europe and the UK as Vice President of the Schenck Process Group, Germany, and UK Managing Director/GM & Head of EMEA North and Australasia for the Habasit Group, Switzerland.

Commenting on his new role, Murdoch said: “The Hyster-Yale Group is a fantastic, agile business. With its deep pool of talent and capabilities, broad customer base, strong product families, global footprint and distribution network and powerful brands, I am truly honoured and excited about this opportunity to lead the Group’s EMEA region into the next stage of its strategic development.”

Pallet pooling business, LPR (a division of Euro Pool Group), has announced the opening of its second depot for 2020 – this time in the south of England.

The former brown belt site has been extensively renovated into a 4 acre, purpose built, development for LPR. The Grays depot will support the business in pallet sortation and repair and enable the business to service and grow its customer base around the M25.

LPR’s Grays depot has the ability to process 4million pallets per year, as well as offering heat treatment facilities to support its preparation for the end of the Brexit transition period.

The latest depot opening has again been led by Operations Director for UK & Ireland, Simon Wood. Simon, and his team, were responsible for the identification of the site, masterminding its redevelopment and finally, overseeing its opening. Simon said “I’m really proud to be able to announce the opening of this latest development at LPR. This new site, and the further additional capacity it provides, will reinforce our ability to service our customer’s needs”.

Adrian Fleming, LPR Managing Director Region North, comments on the new site: “It is great to see this latest depot opening – I couldn’t be prouder of our team here at LPR for once again putting us in the position to be meeting our key aims – being located near our customers and ensuring that we are prepared to support their growth plans. This latest depot, which will be operated by our partners XPO, demonstrates this. I look forward to seeing the positive impacts of both this, and our Coventry depot, on our network!

The world is evolving, and along with it, so are the needs in industry, logistics and e-commerce. That is the reason given for B2A Technology becoming the Alstef Group. Following the acquisition of the New Zealand company Glidepath and the appointment of Nicolas Breton as Chief Operating Officer, the group has chosen a new name to address these new challenges and drive its development. This new name is part of a new corporate project which focuses on meeting customers’ needs, providing a wider range of solutions and mobilizing all its teams worldwide.

Alstef Group has increased the global scope and scale of skills between its different entities to better support its customers in their challenges. The ability to share in a greater pool of resources
may permit the company to be closer to its customers, more responsive, and to take on larger-scale projects. “The historic commercial success achieved with the automated baggage handling system of Santa Lucia Airport in Mexico is symbolic of Alstef Group’s new strength. By having our teams in France and New Zealand working together, we will succeed in delivering the largest project in our history within a record time,” says Pierre Marol, President of Alstef Group.

In line with this new strategy, the product range for airports will be rationalized to keep only the best products from each entity providing customers with an optimized solution. Customers need the best software solution to improve their productivity, meet their deadlines and adapt to a fast-changing world. So additionally, Alstef Group is accelerating its own investment in IT by strengthening its teams and committing to the redesign and harmonization of its software suites. In doing so Alstef Group is working towards more intelligent management of its customers’ facilities.

As a reputable provider of automated turnkey solutions for airport, intralogistics and healthcare markets, Alstef Group has recently – significantly – expanded its range of solutions and is not
planning to stop there. Robotic and automated order picking is a major challenge for industrial and logistics players today, and Alstef Group has demonstrated its ability to design and implement intelligent systems for many customers. “The COVID crisis has highlighted the competitive advantage of customers for whom we have installed robotic solutions. A 3PL customer told me recently that they would not have been able to handle the incredible volume fluctuations of the last few months without our installation,” said Nicolas Breton, Chief Operating Officer of Alstef Group.
As a key player in the heterogeneous pallet preparation, Alstef Group continues its expansion in the world of parcels and articles thanks to its partnership with Autostore, and has the clear ambition to provide solutions to e-commerce operators.