Month: September 2020

Following the successful implementation of the ‘PSIwms’ warehouse management system from PSI Logistics GmbH, the decoration machine manufacturer Koenig & Bauer Kammann GmbH is running the processes for warehousing and production supply in an integrated IT infrastructure in the new central production site in Löhne, Germany.

More than 35,000 different assembly parts are stocked at the new location in Löhne, to which the company moved last October. The warehouse management system implemented for the process control of the material storage and picking as well as the supply of the assembly stations on time and in line with demand. Koenig & Bauer Kammann uses the PSIpenta ERP system as the superimposed software system for production planning and control. With the two PSI systems, the company now has an integrated, holistic IT infrastructure from materials receiving to production to shipping.

PSIwms has the relevant core and additional functions according to VDI 3601, as well as competition-differentiating functionalities such as event management, warehouse visualization and the modern PSI Click Design. It also offers interfaces to the enterprise resource planning system, to the material flow computer of the intralogistics provider Jungheinrich AG for controlling the semi-automatic narrow-aisle truck. In a second project step, 18 Kardex shuttles will be integrated into the process organization. Koenig & Bauer AG is a supplier of flexible, precise and efficient decoration machines for finishing glass, plastic and metal packaging using screen printing, hot stamping, digital printing and labeling.

Based on its own software products, PSI Group develops and integrates complete solutions for optimizing the flow of energy and material for utilities (energy networks, energy trading, public transport) and industry (metals production, automotive, mechanical engineering, logistics). PSI was founded in 1969 and employs 2,000 persons worldwide.

SnapFulfil chief executive UK & Europe, Tony Dobson, comments: “The stories of struggling high street retailers pre-dates Covid-19, but the pandemic has sped up the threat as our city centres become ghost towns.

“But that doesn’t mean we have fallen out of love with shopping. In contrast, online retail has soared as consumers were initially forced to stay at home – with sales rising from 20% in February, to 33% in May. And after stores reopened online retail still accounted for almost 32% of the total sales. With such a switch in retail dynamics, news that Amazon is in advanced talks with US mall owner Simon Property Group to turn JCPenney and Sears locations into hyper-local fulfilment centres, should come as no surprise. Such a deal would provide Amazon with small-scale ‘warehouse’ operations ideally located for same-day delivery.

“The fact is the face of retail and our city centres has changed for good, and retailers will have to become genuinely omnichannel to provide the choice, value and convenience customers expect. Therefore, traditional bricks and mortar stores may not disappear, but evolve to become micro-fulfilment hubs in terms of click & collect and product returns, which are both vital components of the e-commerce offer. But how can such a switch in operations be financially viable? Very few brands share Amazon’s cash pile and purchasing clout.

“Part of the answer is investing in an advanced, cloud-based warehouse management system (WMS) that can be quickly and cost effectively rolled out remotely across multiple sites. There are many misconceptions that you have to spend millions in order to achieve your micro-fulfilment ambitions. But this is not so. An industry leading cloud-based WMS system, such as SnapFulfil, has flexibility built in and can meet the changing needs of the modern e-commerce market without being time consuming (it can be up and running in just 45 days) and expensive to set in motion, or difficult to self configure.

“It is not only intuitive and scalable, it also has the capacity to adapt and evolve with customer service innovations that the top-tier of retailers are repeatedly introducing, such as optimal returns processing, distributed order managing, plus waveless and priority based order processing. Moreover, it uses rich functionality and real time management software to help retailers optimise inventory, space and labour. Users typically benefit from efficiency and productivity improvements up to 30%, which basically translates into the ability to do more for less with the same resources.

“Not only that, the capabilities of an intuitive and connected cloud-based WMS, provides valuable customer insight – essential if adopting an omnichannel strategy. Customer data is seamlessly gathered to create a single customer profile, which means understanding each customer’s buying journey from start to end and beyond. The pandemic hit the world overnight and has changed the way we live, work and shop forever. Investing in cost effective infrastructure and technology that can quickly adapt and change with your business is more critical than ever.”

Bixolon Europe GmbH, a leading global mobile, label and POS printer manufacturer, has announced the launch of the XT2-40 4-inch (up to 118mm) high performance, cost-effective direct thermal and thermal transfer industrial desktop label printer. The company claim it is ideal for high volume label and barcode printing for a variety of applications including warehousing.

The printer is available as XT2-40 (203dpi) and XT2-43 (300dpi) print resolution options. The printer’s standard model (XT2-40) supports print speeds of up to 6ips (152mm/s) to produce high quality text and graphics with 32MB SDRAM, 125MB Flash. Featuring a compact and intuitive design, the XT2-40 includes a rugged, anti-adhesive coated metal case, easy side loading for the media & ribbon, external label support and a 2.4inch full colour TFT LCD display. The XT2-40 allows printing customisation with the adjustable printer sensors.

Compatible with marketing-leading programming languages BZPL and BEPL, as well as operating systems such as Android™, iOS™ and Windows™, the XT2-40 offers USB 2.0, plus USB Host, Serial and Ethernet connectivity options. Offering a simple printer setup, the industrial printer can be added to existing applications without changing software or creating new command scripts. The XT2-40 also supports compatibility with label design software including Bixolon’s Label Artist™, Label Artist™ Mobile (iOS and Android) and BarTender® bundled with a 2 year warranty as standard.

“With the growing success of our XT5-40 Industrial Label Printer, Bixolon has decided to expand its industrial printing portfolio,” explains Charlie Kim, Managing Director, Bixolon Europe GmbH. “The XT2-40 offers a cost effective, entry-level printing alternative with impressive printing performance options for high volume label and barcode printing.”

After the initial shock to the European market due to the Coronavirus, the Teleroute Freight Exchange, that together with 123Cargo and Wtransnet form one of the largest European transport collaboration networks, confirms the return of activity with a notable upturn in the number of freight offers in recent weeks, placing the activity at pre-coronavirus level and even higher in the last weeks of July, exhibiting none of the typical seasonal slowdown.

The most difficult moment for the transportation industry due to the crisis took place in April, where the complete stoppage of industrial activity throughout Europe caused freight volume to drop dramatically. This period was then followed by a second disrupted supply chain period where freight forwarders and carriers, looking for new routes for new volumes, turned to Teleroute to manage demand and the number of new users on Teleroute grew by 1,200.

Speaking about this trend, Fabrice Douteaud, COO of Teleroute (pictured), said, “we are very proud of the resilience shown by the transport & freight forwarding companies by continuing their important work during these very difficult times. We have experienced an exceptional demand for our freight exchange during this crisis, a proof of the value we bring to the market: facilitating the collaboration of transport professionals.

“After the month of April with volume below average, we are in the middle of the summer with a very notable recovery of the freight offers on Teleroute with France as the country of origin, which has doubled. This leaves us with an activity in July that has far exceeded the monthly average number of published freight offers, mainly in the domestic market (90% of volumes) and in exports to Belgium, Germany and Spain in equal parts. On the other hand, if we look at imports, the numbers are even better, in the last two months we find volumes well above the usual and that shows the recovery of the main countries that send merchandise to France: Italy, which leads the ranking with 37% of freight offers; Germany (29%), Belgium (23%) and Spain (7%).

“Regarding the data obtained from the freight offers published on Teleroute originating in Italy, one of the countries most affected by the pandemic, we find a surprising recovery in July where the volume has doubled thanks to the reactivation of transactions with France, which account for 57% of Italian exports. Germany with 18% and Spain with 15% close the top 3. In relation to inbound freight, the transalpine country doubled the number of import offers in July compared to previous months, placing activity above the average in 2019 and only slightly lower than the months with the highest activity on the freight exchange. A comeback led by the flow of goods with France, with 40% of the freight offers published, and Germany (15%) as the main countries offering freight to the Italian market.

“Focusing on Germany, another of the European economy’s main drivers, we observed a strong rebound in activity in July with 25% above the monthly average in 2019, the domestic market’s upward growth, which was already palpable in June, and accounting for 50% of the freight offers with Germany as origin and/or destination. The other freight offers, are divided into 28% imports, mainly from Italy and France, and exports (remaining 22%) whose main destinations are France and the Netherlands. Numbers that, in accordance with the offers registered in Teleroute, place the European transport market that Teleroute serves, already back to normal in practically the entire region and, on the current trajectory, will be performing ahead of 2019 for the remainder of the year.”