Network expands from Hungary into Slovakia

The Palletways Group, part of Imperial Group and Europe’s largest and fastest growing express palletised freight network, has expanded its Hungarian network to now include Slovakia.

This expanded network will operate from Hungary’s hub in Biatorbágy in the Western suburbs of Budapest, as its prime location means it is well-positioned to perform as a cross-dock platform for the Hungarian-Slovakian cross-border traffic but also for handling domestic consignments.

The network will offer Palletways’ full range of domestic and international services including a domestic next day Premium service, Economy service and AM delivery, all with full Track and Trace.

Marek Ondrejcak, area manager who will head up the Slovak area, comments: “Slovakia shares a 655km long border with Hungary and there are strong cultural, commercial, and economic ties between the two countries so expanding the already successful Hungarian operation is a logical step to increase Palletways’ geographical footprint in Eastern Europe.

“We’ve already recruited nine independent transport providers that bring with them a combination of industry experience, technical and operational excellence and an unwavering motivation to expand Palletways’ services and we’re looking forward to seeing what we achieve as a collective over the coming months.”

Peter Kovacs, managing director at Palletways Hungary and Slovakia, adds: “Slovakia has an advanced high-income economy. It has grown with an above-average rate compared with the overall EU average and it’s a rapidly growing market. As the world’s 35th largest exporter in the world, the value of Slovakian exports accounts for 89% of GDP and our international service will be a crucial element of this new network.”

Luis Zubialde, Palletways’ group chief executive officer, concludes: “We launched the Hungarian network couple of years ago so to expand into Slovakia so quickly is a significant achievement. The expansion presents a fantastic opportunity for Palletways customers and members who can now deliver to even more European destinations. It also sends out a strong message to the marketplace about our unwavering commitment for ongoing growth.”

With this expansion into Slovakia, the Palletways Group now covers 24 European countries, with over 450 local member depots.

 

Online event showcases packaging automation

The key benefits of packaging automation took centre stage at Sealed Air’s recent PackForum event, with delegates from across Europe finding out more about how systems can maximise efficiencies, minimise downtime and improve product protection.

Professionals from fast-moving sectors including e-commerce, fulfilment, industrial, pharmaceuticals and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) joined the online event to address some of the biggest packaging challenges facing their industries.

Steve Dougan, EMEA Fulfilment Platform Director at Sealed Air, said: “Recent global events have affected businesses in many different ways. From unpredictable demand trends to labour shortages and social distancing in workplaces, companies have faced challenges that can affect operational performance and productivity.

“Such issues have been particularly relevant to packaging processes, with risks of Work-In-Progress (WIP) quickly bottlenecking and slowing down whole production lines and supply chains. The automation event looked at how full and semi-automatic packaging systems can overcome these complexities to optimise uptime, efficiencies and reliability.”

The Automation event focused on a number of Sealed Air’s solutions including Autobag and looked at how packaging automation can improve consistency, reduce overpackaging and minimise defects.

Dougan added: “Some repetitive packaging tasks are prone to fatigue, which can lead to inconsistencies and errors. The accuracy of automated systems avoids this, while also specifying optimal-fit packaging solutions that better protect products and use less materials. This delivers further added value by maximising transportation space to help save costs and carbon emissions.

“In addition, the space-saving performance of packaging automation can help operators address social distancing challenges and also create opportunity to reduce the overheads associated with the larger space required for manual packaging lines. More working area and staff resource can instead be focused on core revenue-generating parts of businesses.”

Event delegates also learnt how to spot the tell-tale signs that packaging lines are ready to be automated, with Sealed Air’s team pinpointing ‘eight signs of waste’.

“The eight signs of waste are all linked to downtime,” explains Dougan, “and are clear indicators that manual packaging lines are no longer keeping pace with wider operational performance or customer demands. Acting sooner, rather than later and switching to automated packaging solutions can help operators to stop counting the costs of these wastes, whether that’s growing waiting times for customers or holding too much stock inventory. Implementing an automated system can often prove a low-capital change that delivers quick returns in terms of improving overall performance and productivity.”

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