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Day: 3 February 2021

Increase Efficiency of Storage and Production Processes

Posted on by David Priestman

FAUN Umwelttechnik GmbH & Co. KG is one of the leading manufacturers of waste collection vehicles and sweepers in Europe. The medium-sized company operates eleven plants in which around 2,000 employees produce a wide variety of special vehicles. At the company headquarters in Osterholz-Scharmbeck, production takes place on a total of 15 assembly lines, which are supplied with components from an indoor warehouse and an outdoor warehouse. In order to optimise the logistical processes between production and warehouse, FAUN decided to introduce a professional warehouse management system with EPG | LFS. LFS has been in use since October 2020 and already ensured an increase in picking performance at the Kardex towers after a very short time.

From huge steel sheets to tanks and pumps to the smallest screws – FAUN Umwelttechnik requires a wide range of individual parts for the production of waste collection containers. They are kept at the Osterholz-Scharmbeck site on a total of 6,500 square metres of storage space so that the assembly lines can access them at the right moment. In 2019, the company decided to introduce a professional warehouse management system to better organise the items. The new solution should above all bring more transparency with regard to the inventory and warehouse processes – as a basis for subsequently being able to optimise them.

Online research and online training

The company researched suitable warehouse management systems with the help of an online tool from the Fraunhofer Institute. During the subsequent discussions with system providers, it quickly became apparent that EPG, with more than 30 years of experience, best met the client’s desire for a professionally positioned provider. FAUN particularly appreciates the modular design of the LFS warehouse management system, which promises plenty of scope for future expansions. Another decisive factor was the innovative training offered by EPG | ACADEMY, which teaches users how to use the system correctly. “We were very pleased with the fast and professional organisation of the online training in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic,” says Ronny Lößner, who was responsible for the implementation at FAUN Umwelttechnik. “So despite the circumstances there was no delay in our project and we were able to start with LFS as planned.”

Simon Reininghaus, project manager at EPG, praises the constructive cooperation during the implementation: “The project team has excellent process knowledge and was thus able to integrate the processes into the LFS quickly during customising. “ As a result, FAUN was able to record positive effects on employee performance just two weeks after the system was introduced: The picking performance was already higher than before the introduction.

More efficiency through new picking strategy

A large part of the increased efficiency was due to the conversion of order picking to multi-order picking. This allows FAUN employees to process several individual orders in parallel. This saves distances and significantly increases the picking performance. “Picking at the four towers used to be our bottleneck,” explains Katharina Beck, Head of Logistics at FAUN. “The employees could only process orders one after the other and had to go from tower to tower. With LFS, it is now possible to combine several individual orders that are intelligently controlled. In this way, the employees manage more orders in the same amount of time.” In order to make the best possible use of this potential, FAUN has installed two new Kardex towers in which the trays can be controlled automatically by telegram exchange and manual input at the panel is no longer necessary.

Further projects already planned

Beck assumes that performance will continue to increase as FAUN exploits all the possibilities of the warehouse management system. For example, new dashboards will soon be added to make it easier to evaluate key figures. This enables staff to identify weak points in processes and optimisation potential more quickly. In the area of inventory management, transparency has increased significantly: The storage location of individual components can now be determined precisely. In addition, short-term orders from the assembly lines are immediately visible in the system due to the real-time bookings. For the future, FAUN would like to see this transparency in other areas as well. An additional module has already been acquired to map not only the warehouse processes but also the flow of goods between the machine groups. The transport control system is to be implemented as early as next year.

Increase Efficiency of Storage and Production Processes

Posted on by David Priestman

FAUN Umwelttechnik GmbH & Co. KG is one of the leading manufacturers of waste collection vehicles and sweepers in Europe. The medium-sized company operates eleven plants in which around 2,000 employees produce a wide variety of special vehicles. At the company headquarters in Osterholz-Scharmbeck, production takes place on a total of 15 assembly lines, which are supplied with components from an indoor warehouse and an outdoor warehouse. In order to optimise the logistical processes between production and warehouse, FAUN decided to introduce a professional warehouse management system with EPG | LFS. LFS has been in use since October 2020 and already ensured an increase in picking performance at the Kardex towers after a very short time.

From huge steel sheets to tanks and pumps to the smallest screws – FAUN Umwelttechnik requires a wide range of individual parts for the production of waste collection containers. They are kept at the Osterholz-Scharmbeck site on a total of 6,500 square metres of storage space so that the assembly lines can access them at the right moment. In 2019, the company decided to introduce a professional warehouse management system to better organise the items. The new solution should above all bring more transparency with regard to the inventory and warehouse processes – as a basis for subsequently being able to optimise them.

Online research and online training

The company researched suitable warehouse management systems with the help of an online tool from the Fraunhofer Institute. During the subsequent discussions with system providers, it quickly became apparent that EPG, with more than 30 years of experience, best met the client’s desire for a professionally positioned provider. FAUN particularly appreciates the modular design of the LFS warehouse management system, which promises plenty of scope for future expansions. Another decisive factor was the innovative training offered by EPG | ACADEMY, which teaches users how to use the system correctly. “We were very pleased with the fast and professional organisation of the online training in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic,” says Ronny Lößner, who was responsible for the implementation at FAUN Umwelttechnik. “So despite the circumstances there was no delay in our project and we were able to start with LFS as planned.”

Simon Reininghaus, project manager at EPG, praises the constructive cooperation during the implementation: “The project team has excellent process knowledge and was thus able to integrate the processes into the LFS quickly during customising. “ As a result, FAUN was able to record positive effects on employee performance just two weeks after the system was introduced: The picking performance was already higher than before the introduction.

More efficiency through new picking strategy

A large part of the increased efficiency was due to the conversion of order picking to multi-order picking. This allows FAUN employees to process several individual orders in parallel. This saves distances and significantly increases the picking performance. “Picking at the four towers used to be our bottleneck,” explains Katharina Beck, Head of Logistics at FAUN. “The employees could only process orders one after the other and had to go from tower to tower. With LFS, it is now possible to combine several individual orders that are intelligently controlled. In this way, the employees manage more orders in the same amount of time.” In order to make the best possible use of this potential, FAUN has installed two new Kardex towers in which the trays can be controlled automatically by telegram exchange and manual input at the panel is no longer necessary.

Further projects already planned

Beck assumes that performance will continue to increase as FAUN exploits all the possibilities of the warehouse management system. For example, new dashboards will soon be added to make it easier to evaluate key figures. This enables staff to identify weak points in processes and optimisation potential more quickly. In the area of inventory management, transparency has increased significantly: The storage location of individual components can now be determined precisely. In addition, short-term orders from the assembly lines are immediately visible in the system due to the real-time bookings. For the future, FAUN would like to see this transparency in other areas as well. An additional module has already been acquired to map not only the warehouse processes but also the flow of goods between the machine groups. The transport control system is to be implemented as early as next year.

Pallet and Parcel Transport Growth

Posted on by David Priestman

In 2020 EURODIS, the international transport network for parcels and pallets in 36 European countries, reached a record annual growth. The number of transported shipments increased by 15 percent. “The Corona pandemic dominated the year 2020 and was a huge challenge. Nevertheless we were able to benefit from the increasing e-commerce business which brought large numbers of new shipments to our network” says Jens Reibold, Managing Director of EURODIS GmbH. The company based in Weinheim, Germany is steering the European network which includes members like Bonafide (Switzerland), Ciblex (France and Belgium), Österreichische Post (Austria), PostNL (Netherlands), Redur (Spain/Portugal), SDA (Italy) or trans-o-flex (Germany).

Since introducing the possibility to send 2C shipments in 2015, the formerly pure B2B-network has increased its 2C-volumes steadily and at high growth rates. “In 2020 nearly one out of three EURODIS shipments was marked as 2C”, Reibold adds.

“Personally I am very proud that our network proved to be highly reliable in these challenging times and that, in my first complete year as Managing Director, we reached unprecedented growth numbers together. A big thank you to everyone who worked to make this possible ”, states the 42-years old Managing Director. “To react properly to the crisis we had daily conference calls with our members during the first lockdown phase in early 2020. This enabled us to manage the constantly changing situations in the different countries and at the borders and to act fast. I am happy that the negative impact of the pandemic on our operations was limited to single postal code areas and short periods.”

Reibold is confident that EURODIS will again deliver positive results and growth in 2021 although there are some uncertainties remaining caused by the Corona situation and the Brexit. “All shippers have to follow the new documentation-needs for shipments to and from the UK to ensure smooth processes at customs“, emphasises Reibold who’s general outlook for the year is positive: “As EURODIS proved to go smoothly through the pandemic so far, our customers are very content and together with continuously improving plans to further strengthen our network this will again lead to increasing volumes.”

Pallet and Parcel Transport Growth

Posted on by Keith McKinley

In 2020 EURODIS, the international transport network for parcels and pallets in 36 European countries, reached a record annual growth. The number of transported shipments increased by 15 percent. “The Corona pandemic dominated the year 2020 and was a huge challenge. Nevertheless we were able to benefit from the increasing e-commerce business which brought large numbers of new shipments to our network” says Jens Reibold, Managing Director of EURODIS GmbH. The company based in Weinheim, Germany is steering the European network which includes members like Bonafide (Switzerland), Ciblex (France and Belgium), Österreichische Post (Austria), PostNL (Netherlands), Redur (Spain/Portugal), SDA (Italy) or trans-o-flex (Germany).

Since introducing the possibility to send 2C shipments in 2015, the formerly pure B2B-network has increased its 2C-volumes steadily and at high growth rates. “In 2020 nearly one out of three EURODIS shipments was marked as 2C”, Reibold adds.

“Personally I am very proud that our network proved to be highly reliable in these challenging times and that, in my first complete year as Managing Director, we reached unprecedented growth numbers together. A big thank you to everyone who worked to make this possible ”, states the 42-years old Managing Director. “To react properly to the crisis we had daily conference calls with our members during the first lockdown phase in early 2020. This enabled us to manage the constantly changing situations in the different countries and at the borders and to act fast. I am happy that the negative impact of the pandemic on our operations was limited to single postal code areas and short periods.”

Reibold is confident that EURODIS will again deliver positive results and growth in 2021 although there are some uncertainties remaining caused by the Corona situation and the Brexit. “All shippers have to follow the new documentation-needs for shipments to and from the UK to ensure smooth processes at customs“, emphasises Reibold who’s general outlook for the year is positive: “As EURODIS proved to go smoothly through the pandemic so far, our customers are very content and together with continuously improving plans to further strengthen our network this will again lead to increasing volumes.”

Menzies Aviation Strengthens Cargo Team

Posted on by David Priestman

Menzies Aviation has announced it will further strengthen its cargo team with five new appointments.

The global aviation logistics specialist has appointed Rory Fidler in the newly created role of VP Cargo Technology and will be responsible for driving forward digital innovation across Menzies’ global cargo operations. Rory has extensive experience in designing and executing digital transformation programmes as former Head of Technology and Innovation for the Cargo Division at Etihad Airways.

Another new addition to Menzies’ cargo team is Colin Baldwin, who is assuming the position of Head of Cargo Africa. Based in Johannesburg, Colin has deep market knowledge and over 30 years’ industry experience, 20 of which he spent as SVP Cargo Africa for Swissport.

In the US, Adam Cooper joins as Air Menzies International Head of Sales from United Airlines, where he was Senior Manager of Cargo Sales Strategy. Adam brings a wealth of cargo sales expertise to the role and will lead the team responsible for developing go-to-market strategies to support growth in the US market.

Alongside these new hires, Menzies has made two internal appointments. James Wong will assume the position of VP Cargo for the Americas region, whilst Karl Aldwinckle will become Head of Cargo Operations at London Heathrow Airport, to strengthen the operations team as part of an ongoing transformation process for London Heathrow Cargo.

Robert Fordree, Executive Vice President, Cargo said: “I am delighted to welcome Rory, Colin and Adam to Menzies Aviation, who will all be huge assets to our cargo team, each bringing with them a unique skill set and significant cargo expertise. VP Cargo Technology is a brand-new position, and I have every confidence that Rory will make a success of this role. With three new recruits and two internal appointments, our cargo business is well positioned to capitalise on new opportunities as we look to the year ahead. I look forward to working closely with our refreshed team as we focus on pursuing our sustainable growth strategy.”

Menzies Aviation is expanded across Europe in the last couple of years after several contract wins in Scandinavia and the Czech Republic.

 

Menzies Aviation Strengthens Cargo Team

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Menzies Aviation has announced it will further strengthen its cargo team with five new appointments.

The global aviation logistics specialist has appointed Rory Fidler in the newly created role of VP Cargo Technology and will be responsible for driving forward digital innovation across Menzies’ global cargo operations. Rory has extensive experience in designing and executing digital transformation programmes as former Head of Technology and Innovation for the Cargo Division at Etihad Airways.

Another new addition to Menzies’ cargo team is Colin Baldwin, who is assuming the position of Head of Cargo Africa. Based in Johannesburg, Colin has deep market knowledge and over 30 years’ industry experience, 20 of which he spent as SVP Cargo Africa for Swissport.

In the US, Adam Cooper joins as Air Menzies International Head of Sales from United Airlines, where he was Senior Manager of Cargo Sales Strategy. Adam brings a wealth of cargo sales expertise to the role and will lead the team responsible for developing go-to-market strategies to support growth in the US market.

Alongside these new hires, Menzies has made two internal appointments. James Wong will assume the position of VP Cargo for the Americas region, whilst Karl Aldwinckle will become Head of Cargo Operations at London Heathrow Airport, to strengthen the operations team as part of an ongoing transformation process for London Heathrow Cargo.

Robert Fordree, Executive Vice President, Cargo said: “I am delighted to welcome Rory, Colin and Adam to Menzies Aviation, who will all be huge assets to our cargo team, each bringing with them a unique skill set and significant cargo expertise. VP Cargo Technology is a brand-new position, and I have every confidence that Rory will make a success of this role. With three new recruits and two internal appointments, our cargo business is well positioned to capitalise on new opportunities as we look to the year ahead. I look forward to working closely with our refreshed team as we focus on pursuing our sustainable growth strategy.”

Menzies Aviation is expanded across Europe in the last couple of years after several contract wins in Scandinavia and the Czech Republic.

 

Looking Forward to an Innovative 2021 for Retail

Posted on by David Priestman

Edward Hutchison, Managing Director of BITO Storage Systems, applauds the UK Retail Sector for meeting 2020’s challenges and looks forward to supporting it through innovative intralogistics installations in 2021.

Retailers innovate to survive – but never more so than now, as the sector was challenged by the Covid-19 pandemic throughout 2020 and into 2021. As a significant supporter of the UK’s Retail Sector in terms of providing the order picking, storage and intralogistics solutions designed to make retail more efficient, BITO applauds the achievements of the retailers the have overcome these challenges and seized opportunities for future growth.

In addition to enforced closure of non-essential shops, pandemic restrictions have resulted in more people working from home and have accelerated the shift from the high street to shopping on the Internet and home delivery.  According to the latest ONS (Office for National Statistics) retail sales figures for Great Britain, 2020 saw the retail sector suffer its largest annual fall since records began of 1.9%. However, the amount spent in online retail sales increased by 46.1% when compared with 2019 as a whole. This represents the largest annual increase since 2008.

Retailers have been handling a surge in online order volumes, for broader mixes of SKUs and often with shorter lead times. This places enormous pressure on intralogistics operations to improve order-picking productivity. At BITO we are seeing a particular trend towards lower cost solutions to help improve fulfilment operations and meet the need for flexibility. These might include multi-tier shelving, adapting pallet racking for picking small items, installing live storage flow shelves to improve pick face density, investing in bins and containers for efficient storage and delivery, and adopting technology that allows staff to spend their time more productively picking orders – driverless internal transport to move goods from pick zones to the packaging area is a good example.

The Retail Sector’s response to the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns and restrictions is inspiring and heroic. We anticipate working on numerous innovative order picking and storage solution designs in the coming year. We find that designing solutions to successfully overcome a specific operational challenge can often be transferred successfully to a broader base, thus driving a sector-wide uplift of service levels.

As the vaccination programme against Covid continues to roll out during 2021, we expect the economic bounce back to carry on. Shoppers will continue to enjoy the convenience of online retail and local stores but we also expect pent up demand will see shoppers returning to the high street as soon as allowed, where they will perhaps see new names and have new retail experiences.

Retailers will need to invest in intralogistics systems that help fulfil orders as efficiently as possible – either to retail stores or direct to consumer. They will seek systems that are efficient, reliable and have the flexibility to adapt easily to changing business circumstances and to meet peaks in demand. At BITO, we have a team of experts with a tremendous amount of experience in providing one stop shop intralogistics solutions for all kinds of retailers – whether it is for small-scale installations or large distribution centre integrations.

 

Looking Forward to an Innovative 2021 for Retail

Posted on by David Priestman

Edward Hutchison, Managing Director of BITO Storage Systems, applauds the UK Retail Sector for meeting 2020’s challenges and looks forward to supporting it through innovative intralogistics installations in 2021.

Retailers innovate to survive – but never more so than now, as the sector was challenged by the Covid-19 pandemic throughout 2020 and into 2021. As a significant supporter of the UK’s Retail Sector in terms of providing the order picking, storage and intralogistics solutions designed to make retail more efficient, BITO applauds the achievements of the retailers the have overcome these challenges and seized opportunities for future growth.

In addition to enforced closure of non-essential shops, pandemic restrictions have resulted in more people working from home and have accelerated the shift from the high street to shopping on the Internet and home delivery.  According to the latest ONS (Office for National Statistics) retail sales figures for Great Britain, 2020 saw the retail sector suffer its largest annual fall since records began of 1.9%. However, the amount spent in online retail sales increased by 46.1% when compared with 2019 as a whole. This represents the largest annual increase since 2008.

Retailers have been handling a surge in online order volumes, for broader mixes of SKUs and often with shorter lead times. This places enormous pressure on intralogistics operations to improve order-picking productivity. At BITO we are seeing a particular trend towards lower cost solutions to help improve fulfilment operations and meet the need for flexibility. These might include multi-tier shelving, adapting pallet racking for picking small items, installing live storage flow shelves to improve pick face density, investing in bins and containers for efficient storage and delivery, and adopting technology that allows staff to spend their time more productively picking orders – driverless internal transport to move goods from pick zones to the packaging area is a good example.

The Retail Sector’s response to the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns and restrictions is inspiring and heroic. We anticipate working on numerous innovative order picking and storage solution designs in the coming year. We find that designing solutions to successfully overcome a specific operational challenge can often be transferred successfully to a broader base, thus driving a sector-wide uplift of service levels.

As the vaccination programme against Covid continues to roll out during 2021, we expect the economic bounce back to carry on. Shoppers will continue to enjoy the convenience of online retail and local stores but we also expect pent up demand will see shoppers returning to the high street as soon as allowed, where they will perhaps see new names and have new retail experiences.

Retailers will need to invest in intralogistics systems that help fulfil orders as efficiently as possible – either to retail stores or direct to consumer. They will seek systems that are efficient, reliable and have the flexibility to adapt easily to changing business circumstances and to meet peaks in demand. At BITO, we have a team of experts with a tremendous amount of experience in providing one stop shop intralogistics solutions for all kinds of retailers – whether it is for small-scale installations or large distribution centre integrations.

 

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