Month: September 2020

The eQart® concept, launched in the fourth quarter 2019, is a customizable, smart, and motorized cart based on the patented FlexQube building block system. In the continued development of the eQart® concept, FlexQube has partnered with BlueBotics to integrate the Swiss company’s state of the art autonomous navigation technology into its next generation of eQart®.

By using natural, permanent features in the environment to navigate, the eQart® will be able to navigate with high precision and robustness in dynamic and changing environments. The first eQart® product integrated with BlueBotics’ ANT® technology will be launched in the fourth quarter 2020 and with sales starting early 2021.  

FlexQube CTO Per Augustsson said, “we have been evaluating the BlueBotics ANT® system for a while, and it is great to see that we now have reached a successful integration with our eQart® robot platform. Going forward we can offer the eQart® with an entirely natural navigation solution, which is a great complement to our vision-based line following navigation. It will enable the eQart® to handle even more use cases at our customers and is aligned with our motorized cart vision. Partnering with BlueBotics enables us to reach the market faster with an experienced partner alongside our team, a partner whose navigation technology already drives more than 2,000 vehicles globally. This partnership also provides us with great new opportunities in terms of distribution and sales since there are numerous types of automated ANT® driven vehicle available on the market, which makes it easy for potential customers to add new ANT® driven vehicles to their fleets, like the eQart.”

Dr. Nicola Tomatis, the CEO of BlueBotics, added, “we are delighted to partner with FlexQube to help bring the new generation of eQart® to life. This intelligent, modular system is a game changer for customers with specific and evolving material handling needs. And the eQart’s flexibility mirrors that of our ANT® technology, which requires no permanent on-site changes (no tape on the floor or reflectors for triangulation) and ensures accurate, repeatable vehicle operations time after time.”

Bohus is Norway’s leading furniture and interior decoration chain. The company operates 60 branches throughout Norway as well as a successful online shop. In order to adapt to the major changes in trade, the furniture chain is currently investing in innovative IT and network solutions as well as in forward-looking warehouse logistics.

The company has commissioned Jungheinrich with the construction of a new central warehouse in Lillestrom near the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The project involves comprehensive automation solutions including a high pallet racking warehouse, miniload, conveyor systems and software. Operation of the warehouse is scheduled to begin in 2021.

When designing the warehouse, it was Jungheinrich’s goal to guarantee Bohus as much handling flexibility as possible for its wide variety of product categories and load sizes. Therefore, the solution includes a manual warehouse with room for up to 2,000 pallets, a fully automatic high-bay warehouse with 10,000 rack storage locations in three lanes for euro-pallets, and 1,200 further rack storage locations for special pallets measuring 2,600 mm x 1,260 mm in two additional lanes. Stacker cranes with telescopic forks by Jungheinrich subsidiary Mias take over the loading and unloading. Two Jungheinrich STC 2B1A miniloads will be used in an automated miniload warehouse with a total of 22,000 rack storage locations. All subsystems will be controlled by Jungheinrich’s WCS, which is connected to the customer’s SAP system.

“The furniture industry is a conservative and challenging sector. Over the past 50 years, Bohus has developed into Norway’s leading national furniture chain. We sell shape, colour and design, and not all our products fit into rectangular boxes, so we were looking for a flexible solution that is capable of meeting our needs. Jungheinrich worked out a unique solution with us, and we’re enthusiastic about it,” says Håkon Bredde-Prytz, Managing Director of Bohus Logistikk AS.

“This project represents a milestone for Jungheinrich Norway. Here we can demonstrate that we are a full-service provider of intralogistics. Bohus is getting everything from our single source, from material handling equipment to a fully automated high-bay warehouse,” notes Arild Drageset, Managing Director of Jungheinrich Norway.

After 88 years the historic four-masted barque PEKING returned to its home port. Monday morning, the former sailing cargo ship left the shipyard ‘Peters Werft’, where it was successfully restored on behalf of the Hamburg Maritime Foundation (Stiftung Hamburg Maritim). At her interim berth at Bremerkai, the PEKING will be converted into the main attraction of the future German Port Museum by the Hamburg Historical Museums Foundation (Stiftung Historische Museen Hamburg).

The steel-hulled four-masted barque was launched in 1911 by Blohm+Voss in Hamburg. The PEKING is one of the so-called ‘Flying P-Liners’ of the traditional Hamburg shipping company F. Laeisz, which were known worldwide for their safety and speed. Together with her eight sister ships, the PEKING was mainly used in the saltpeter trade with South America, making 34 trips around the legendary Cape Horn in her time. After a conversion in 1932, the PEKING was used as a boarding school under the name ARETHUSA. In 1974, the freighter was purchased by the South Seaport Museum in New York, where it served as a museum ship for over 40 years before being taken over by the Hamburg Maritime Foundation in 2015.

Starting in the summer of 2021, the PEKING will be accessible to visitors as a new highlight of the German Port Museum, which is scheduled to open in Hamburg in 2025. Even though the historic saltpeter-route Hamburg-Chile is no longer served by traditional sailing vessels, the Port of Hamburg is well positioned in South American trade. A total of eleven liner services connect Germany’s largest universal port with South America, four of which regularly call at the ports of Arica, Iquique, Puerto Angamos, San Antonio and Valparaiso in Chile.

Saltpeter has since been replaced by chemical fertilizers for the most part, which are handled at Hamburg’s numerous bulk terminals. Even amid the difficult economic conditions of recent months, the Port of Hamburg achieved an 8.1 percent increase in the handling of fertilizers.

Safety company Pyroban has launched Red Ex Line™ explosion proof perimeter lights for ATEX lift trucks operating in Zone 1, 2, 21 and 22 hazardous areas. The compact, ready-to-fit lights are suitable for use with lift trucks of any age or make.

“For production or storage applications where pedestrians work in close proximity to trucks handling flammable materials, there are clear safety implications,” explains Darren Boiling, Materials Handling Sales Manager for Pyroban. “Red Ex Line helps minimise risks for all of those working in Zoned hazardous areas by providing a perimeter marking warning system around a truck. It is particularly effective in increasing safety where visibility is poor, such as in warehouse aisles or crossings where IBCs or drums containing flammable material are being handled,” he continues, explaining that the system is well suited to applications storing or handling chemicals, solvents, waste, paints, whisky, foodstuffs, and more.

Red Ex Line is ATEX* EX II 2G/D compliant for operations in Zone 1, 2, 21 and 22 hazardous areas, making it suitable for use where spillage or accidental release of flammable material may create an explosive atmosphere. “The new Red Ex Line lights can be easily fitted in the field to lift trucks from any EX manufacturer,” says Boiling. “We can also supply factory-fitted Red Ex Line lights with any new Pyroban conversions.”  The compact Pyroban Red Ex Line perimeter light is built for the challenging conditions of hazardous areas, with a 50,000-hour light life span and diecast aluminium construction, as well as being dust tight (IP6X). Each light is extremely compact and suitable for use in ambient temperatures from -20 to +40 degrees C and can be connected to a 12-48V DC source.