Month: September 2020

Goodyear is delighted to announce a five-year partnership with Bretts Transport. As part of this deal, Bretts Transport will be supplied with premium tyres from the FUELMAX GEN-2 range, and be supported by TruckForce, under the Goodyear Total Mobility offering.

Bretts is a Warehousing and Distribution specialist, founded in 1933, located in North Cambridgeshire. The company’s 246 vehicles will be fitted with the Goodyear FUELMAX GEN-2 tyre range. These steer and drive tyres deliver high fuel efficiency combined with enhanced mileage, for fleets engaged in inter-regional and long-haul operations, just like Bretts Transport. The range also benefits from enhanced traction and reduced road noise emissions. FUELMAX GEN-2 tyres provide up to 10% improved mileage, 30% all-weather capability and less noise, but with the same high level of fuel efficiency as previous FUELMAX tyres.

These tyres also include radio frequency identification (RFID). An RFID tag is embedded inside the tyre to allow for identification and connectivity to tyre management and tracking systems. This increases tyre management efficiency, also acting as a deterrent to thieves as the tyres are easily traceable. As well as tyre supply, Bretts will benefit from Goodyear’s national commercial vehicle support network, TruckForce. TruckForce technicians carry out thorough onsite tyre checks every quarter, and are on hand 24/7, 365 days a year, to provide roadside assistance and reactive tyre maintenance through Service Line 24hr. As a network, it specialises in the complete lifecycle management of commercial truck tyres, from preventive maintenance and tyre replacement, to regrooving and retreading.

Simon Brett, Managing Director at Bretts Transport, comments: “At Bretts, we have a large fleet of premium vehicles, and we aim to provide consistently high levels of service to our customers to enable them to grow with us. This partnership with Goodyear will enable us to continue with that, minimising down time and keeping us where we need to be for longer – on the road.”

Kate Norton, Sales General Manager Commercial UK & Ireland at Goodyear, comments: “We are delighted that Bretts Transport have chosen to use Goodyear’s premium tyres and services to improve their fleet productivity over the next five years. Goodyear Total Mobility is an offering that enables us to support national businesses like Bretts, reducing downtime with proactive monitoring and reactive maintenance.”

Complete supply chain transparency, unprecedented security, and the transactional capacity to serve the needs of even the largest Fortune 500 and Global 500 companies are all now possible following the launch of ShipChain Mainnet.

This launch is a significant milestone toward achieving a modular system across the entire supply chain. With all the uncertainties in the world today, it gives supply chain decision-makers
the incentive to move from considering how blockchain might be used in global supply chains to realizing its evident promise across transport modes and continents. “Put simply, we can now fully deliver on blockchain’s promise to enable those in the business of trade and logistics to do business with anyone or anything in the world at any transaction size and without an intermediary,” said John Monarch, CEO of ShipChain.

U.S.-based ShipChain has long been established as a world-class provider of a trustless end-to-end logistics platform that delivers full visibility to the global supply chain via the blockchain
platform Ethereum, with a sidechain built on Loom for scalability. Adding on to that solid foundation, the launch of ShipChain Mainnet, a public delegated Proof of Stake sidechain of the Ethereum network, means that ShipChain’s blockchain system is now fully developed and deployed, with blockchain transactions now being broadcast, verified, and recorded with full transparency.

“ShipChain Mainnet vastly increases our transaction capacity, which is essential in an industry such as transportation and logistics,” said Monarch. “This means ShipChain can now support the supply chain tracking and transaction needs of the largest Fortune 500 and Global 500 level enterprises in the world, with capabilities that significantly exceed other alternatives. “And this is supported by our Track and Trace blockchain-based system, which brings complete transparency and visibility to the supply chain.”

ShipChain Mainnet reduces costs by avoiding the congestion and higher pricing users encounter when using the Ethereum mainnet. It also moves the cost of deployment and contract use away from end-users, simplifying and improving the blockchain user experience. ShipChain Mainnet also uses a public blockchain rather than a private blockchain. “The lack of trust across companies and actors in shipping today partly stems from a fractured environment – there are no unified systems to truly bring the industry together on one independent platform without competitive risk,” said Monarch. “We believe a public blockchain is safer than operating on a private network controlled by competitors. ShipChain Mainnet provides a protected, permanent ledger of transactions that everyone has their eyes on all at once.

“That doesn’t mean everyone knows exactly what you’re doing – corporations can still preserve privacy on public blockchains very easily. It just increases trust between your company, suppliers, vendors, and even regulatory bodies if needed. “ShipChain’s public blockchain ecosystem also removes the risk of antitrust legal threats, as well as creating a level playing field for all involved.”
Another noteworthy benefit of ShipChain’s Mainnet launch is the opportunity it gives to developers to build on top of the ShipChain platform rather than directly on the Ethereum blockchain. This opens up new possibilities for digital freight marketplaces using smart contracts, tokenized inventory management, and robust document management.

“ShipChain, Inc. will continue to develop for and enhance the offerings on the Mainnet and encourages others to develop and work collaboratively to make it better and more secure every
day,” added Monarch. ShipChain already has key partnerships with industry leaders, including ScanLog, CaseStack, Zinnovate, ParcelLive, KeepTruckin, DistiChain, GTX Corp, and the World Economic Forum. More key partners will shortly be announced, said Monarch. “ShipChain Inc. is constantly developing new partnerships, pilots, and customers,” he added. “We’ve had a steady flow of new partners, and we hope to be able to announce more soon, including an upcoming deal with a significant Global 500 company, which will significantly expand our modular capabilities even further. We are very excited to begin this next chapter and watch the logistics industry fully embrace the public blockchain.”

Logistics services provider GROUP7 gained its GDP certification recently, when the German testing company DEKRA certified the company’s ‘good distribution practice’ for its logistics and forwarding services as well as the e-commerce segment. After the successful audit of its operating and management processes, which apply to international transports, logistics and e-commerce of pharmaceutical products, GROUP7 received confirmation that the services it offers its customers from the pharmaceutical industry meet the highest standards.

“The GDP certificate is a milestone for GROUP7 and boosts our activities in pharma and healthcare logistics,” commented GROUP7 Managing Director Günther Jocher. From now on, GROUP7 can transport sensitive pharmaceutical products worldwide even under the most stringent conditions. For example, the provider can organize the shipment of goods that require a consistent temperature of -20° Celsius along the entire length of the cool chain.

GROUP7 is no newcomer to the pharmaceutical industry. Even before the GDP certification, the logistics service provider was active in all parts of the supply chain from pre-carriage, air and ocean freight to onward carriage and distribution for customers in the medical sector. The products handled so far included accessories, dressing materials and medical products. “The inquiries of our customers and worldwide partners have prompted us to take this new step. At the same time, ensuring the cold chain across several stations means a great responsibility for us. Standing up for the health of many people motivates us to do our best. I noticed this during the project,” says Jocher about the reasons for the GDP certificate.

14-page quality agreements with subcontractors, risk analyses, process instructions, cleaning concepts, emergency plans: the certificate demanded high standards. The project lasted one year, including all preparations such as further training for the employees. “To be well prepared for the audit, we put together a 6 member team for the challenge GDP. This team will continue to ensure the transfer of know-how throughout the company,” explains Thomas Wiederspahn, Head of Quality Management at GROUP7.

Rite-Hite, the loading bay safety business, has signalled a major investment in its European operations by commencing manufacture of its Global Wheel-Lok system in Germany to provide customers outside of the US with just-in-time delivery of a range of solutions to support the warehousing, logistics and distribution industries.

The manufacturing facility in Volkmarsen, in the centre of Germany, has been upgraded with the latest equipment including robotic welding systems to dramatically accelerate the rate of production to satisfy a growing European and international demand. The technology is supported by a lean manufacturing process to provide optimum efficiency and productivity, minimising the use of energy while reducing waste.

Thorsten Mauritz, the Marketing Manager for Rite-Hite in Europe, says that when it comes to Loading Bay safety, Rite-Hite can rightfully claim to be an expert: “Our Global Wheel-Lok system is part of a range of solutions designed and proven to improve safety, security, productivity, energy savings and environmental control within a logistics environment. By further investing in our global manufacturing capabilities, we are making a clear signal of our ongoing commitment to our European customers, and the opportunity to further raise awareness not only of the Global Wheel-Lok but also our total industrial safety portfolio.”

The Global Wheel-Lok is designed to secure any type of trailer to the loading bay, preventing well-known incidents such as vehicle creep (‘dock walk’), and accidents caused by a vehicle leaving its bay too early. Mauritz says that traditional wheel chocks are unreliable, especially in poor weather conditions: “They are also not strong enough to prevent a vehicle from pulling away unexpectedly and require someone to put them in place,” he explains.

“With Rite-Hite’s system, the driver simply reverses their vehicle to the Bay where wheel guides ensure accurate positioning onto the Global Wheel-Lok. As the tyre crosses the locking arm, the barrier rises and, using the energy of the trailer, follows the tyre until the trailer stops against the dock bumpers. The tyre is then locked in place, and a simple ‘green/red’ lighting system indicates to the driver – and the Loading Bay workers – that it is safe to continue.”

When loading/unloading is completed, the loading bay worker presses the ‘unlock’ button to release the locking teeth, and a green light is displayed to the driver. The locking arm follows the trailer tyre back to its original resting position, and the vehicle is safe to leave. Mauritz says that since Global Wheel-Lok is self-powered and has only four main components, the system is extremely reliable and easy to maintain: “It is also particularly robust, capable of resisting up to 14,500kg of pull out force. Perhaps not surprisingly it is recognised as Europe’s only restraint to exceed the requirement for an FEM Class 3 vehicle restraint on both empty and full trailers.”

Rite-Hite, the loading bay safety business, has signalled a major investment in its European operations by commencing manufacture of its Global Wheel-Lok system in Germany to provide customers outside of the US with just-in-time delivery of a range of solutions to support the warehousing, logistics and distribution industries.

The manufacturing facility in Volkmarsen, in the centre of Germany, has been upgraded with the latest equipment including robotic welding systems to dramatically accelerate the rate of production to satisfy a growing European and international demand. The technology is supported by a lean manufacturing process to provide optimum efficiency and productivity, minimising the use of energy while reducing waste.

Thorsten Mauritz, the Marketing Manager for Rite-Hite in Europe, says that when it comes to Loading Bay safety, Rite-Hite can rightfully claim to be an expert: “Our Global Wheel-Lok system is part of a range of solutions designed and proven to improve safety, security, productivity, energy savings and environmental control within a logistics environment. By further investing in our global manufacturing capabilities, we are making a clear signal of our ongoing commitment to our European customers, and the opportunity to further raise awareness not only of the Global Wheel-Lok but also our total industrial safety portfolio.”

The Global Wheel-Lok is designed to secure any type of trailer to the loading bay, preventing well-known incidents such as vehicle creep (‘dock walk’), and accidents caused by a vehicle leaving its bay too early. Mauritz says that traditional wheel chocks are unreliable, especially in poor weather conditions: “They are also not strong enough to prevent a vehicle from pulling away unexpectedly and require someone to put them in place,” he explains.

“With Rite-Hite’s system, the driver simply reverses their vehicle to the Bay where wheel guides ensure accurate positioning onto the Global Wheel-Lok. As the tyre crosses the locking arm, the barrier rises and, using the energy of the trailer, follows the tyre until the trailer stops against the dock bumpers. The tyre is then locked in place, and a simple ‘green/red’ lighting system indicates to the driver – and the Loading Bay workers – that it is safe to continue.”

When loading/unloading is completed, the loading bay worker presses the ‘unlock’ button to release the locking teeth, and a green light is displayed to the driver. The locking arm follows the trailer tyre back to its original resting position, and the vehicle is safe to leave. Mauritz says that since Global Wheel-Lok is self-powered and has only four main components, the system is extremely reliable and easy to maintain: “It is also particularly robust, capable of resisting up to 14,500kg of pull out force. Perhaps not surprisingly it is recognised as Europe’s only restraint to exceed the requirement for an FEM Class 3 vehicle restraint on both empty and full trailers.”