Jungheinrich helps Vaillant switch to lithium-ion

Aiming to continue business growth through a full upgrade and replacement of its warehouse fleet and a warehouse construction project, Vaillant Industrial, part of Vaillant Group, has prioritised a focus on sustainability in line with business objectives to design and deliver systems and manufactured products that use renewable energy.

With plans to become a carbon-neutral plant by 2025, it partnered with lithium-ion specialist Jungheinrich to introduce a new 26 vehicle lithium-ion fleet to operations.

Through this collaboration, Vaillant is now able to fully retire its lead acid fleet and become a 100% lithium-ion site whilst also gaining economic and operational benefits including a more stable and efficient power source that is faster and easier to use.

The lithium-ion batteries are longer-lasting and more efficient, resulting in a reduction of maintenance costs and reduced risk of dangerous acids or gases being emitted. The new fleet has increased the capacity on some of its larger trucks from 2.5t to 3.5t through a combination of ETV 216i reach trucks and conventional counterbalances, allowing the vehicles to cater for the pressed steel works and tools. The ETV 216i is the core product in the new fleet and is the first reach truck in the world with an integrated lithium-ion battery, aiding the progression towards sustainability goals.

The first five trucks and all tow tractors have now been operational for a month with great reception from employees. During the transition, Vaillant also was able to take advantage of Jungheinrich’s ‘Power By The Hour’ initiative – a flexible way to pay for only the hours the truck is used for – to ensure it remained operational. With the new fleet, Vaillant have been able to eliminate battery change from its operations by utilising opportunity charging through lithium-ion technology.

The new lithium and rapid interim charging times enable a virtually continuous operation on a 24/7 basis and pickers on site have seen improvements in productivity and efficiency as manual handling is reduced with increased uptime. Additionally, Jungheinrich integrated Vaillant’s fleet with automated scales and increased gadgetry on trucks for improved safety.

Vaillant also completed a full warehouse construction upgrade project with Jungheinrich which introduced a new logistics and racking system that optimised storage up to 11m and can accommodate the new ETV 216i trucks. This new and optimised warehouse has increased capacity from 1,100 pallet locations to 4,000.

Training has been a key part of the warehouse upgrade. Vaillant now has six qualified instructors on site that went through the Jungheinrich training at one of the dedicated training centres across the UK. This has allowed Vaillant to assess and validate current employees as well as temporary labour to operate at the extended heights of above 7m that it is now moving into.

It also trialled Jungheinrich’s Virtual Reality Simulator on-site, with a view to be able to provide a safe environment to train and assess employees. Using this VRS, drivers will experience a real-life situation in an environment that holds no risk in the warehouse and non-drivers can gain an appreciation of the role as well as Vaillant benefiting from a digital footprint of operations.

Following on from these vast sustainable improvements and progression of business objectives, Vaillant plans to expand its fleet for 2022 and become 100% lithium-ion powered and plans to use Jungheinrich as its main provider for all types of vehicles including production.

Adrian Ancliff, Head of Production Logistics and Scheduling, Vaillant Industrial, commented: “We have certainly achieved what we wanted to from our partnership with Jungheinrich, and the end design, construction, and way our new warehouse operates is fantastic and has exceeded our expectations. The team was very responsive and excelled to keep us operational throughout.

“Being able to become a 100% lithium-ion site is superb and helps us move much closer to our sustainable goals. Looking to 2022, we plan to expand the fleet and will continue to use Jungheinrich as our main provider. The future is bright, and the future is yellow!”

Neil Warren, Region One Business Director at Jungheinrich, said: “We are thrilled that we can play a role in Vaillant Group’s move to more sustainable operations by transitioning fully from lead-acid gas to lithium-ion technology. This provides huge environmental and economic benefits including efficiency and productivity gains.

“We are very passionate about providing sustainable solutions for our customers that also complement business objectives and so it has been a pleasure to work alongside Vaillant on the upgrade and renewal of its warehouse fleet. We have thoroughly enjoyed our partnership and look forward to an ongoing relationship with Vaillant.”

Labour crisis to extend beyond Christmas

As labour shortages across the supply chain hit the front pages in the UK, the cry goes up from the more excitable elements of the media to ‘save Christmas’. Unfortunately, as businesses and politicians are beginning to realise, the skills and labour crisis is of long standing and won’t be properly resolved in three months by any number of quick fixes. By Jo Bradley (pictured), Business Development Manager, Sparck Technologies (formerly Packaging by Quadient).

If the Prime Minister is right in his aspiration for a high skill, high wage, high productivity economy, that must require business to close the gap on our competitors in the application of automation – as the Chancellor has recognised by supersizing Capital Allowances.

Nowhere is this more true than in the fulfilment and distribution operations of e-commerce, which now represents over a quarter of retail activity and is being afflicted by shortages not only of drivers but of pickers and packers as well. Judicious application of automation to packing stations is an essential element in resolving the labour crisis, not just in the warehouse, but on the road.

No one would claim that packing goods into cardboard boxes is a highly skilled career, but nor is it straightforward. The task is physical, repetitive, boring and is usually conducted under considerable pressure to achieve the required throughput. What’s more, it is often poorly paid and involves working unsocial hours at hard to reach locations.

Unsurprisingly, staff retention for such tasks as packing is low and it can take some time for new hires to get up to speed with the complexities. Meanwhile, the resulting package is the retailer’s principal touch-point with the customer. A shoddily-assembled and sealed box, perhaps over-sized and mostly containing redundant or ineffective void fill, can really irritate consumers and doesn’t encourage repeat business.

Packing has its complexities. The packer has to assess a pile of assorted goods of differing shapes and sizes and select an appropriate box pre-form from a limited range of shapes and sizes. Guess too small and you have to start again, and throughput takes a hit. Pick a safe over-size, and the resulting package is largely composed of polystyrene, bubble wrap, crumpled paper or even other, smaller, cartons.

The box has to be erected, filled (including any void-fill), sealed neatly and effectively, and labelled accurately and securely, all at speed. This sequence of operations is an obvious candidate for automation but, even in distribution centres that have made significant investment in automating storage and retrieval, packing is often still a largely manual process.

Probably, this is because the high variability of boxes and of contents, and the need to make frequent judgement calls, makes the operation seem too complex for automation. But this isn’t the case.

Automated packaging solution

CVP Automated Packaging Solutions from Sparck Technologies – the new name for Packaging by Quadient – create ‘right-size’ boxes in seconds by scanning and measuring the goods, whether they be single or multi-item orders, cutting to size and erecting the box, sealing, weighing, and labelling automatically.

With CVP Impack, one or two operators can pack up to 500 parcels an hour; with the CVP Everest, two operators can pack 1,100 an hour. On average this replaces up to 20 manual packing stations, which in tight times for staffing means not just savings on packer and supervisor wages, but recruitment, training and HR costs too.

The labour benefits of automated packing can be felt not just in the distribution centre but out on the road as well. Less wasteful, more compact packages mean a higher density of saleable goods, rather than fresh air, on the vehicle, be this a 44-tonner on a trunk route or, more acutely, the small vehicles that are commonly used on last mile and urban delivery.

Ideally, a vehicle on a delivery round would leave the depot with all the packages to be delivered in a full shift. But very often this isn’t possible, and the driver has to make several trips back to ‘restock’. That is a lot of empty running, creating unnecessary congestion and emissions. It works against efficient delivery routing, it means that a significant part of the driver and vehicle day is unproductive and, in those operations where staff are paid per delivery a significant part of their day is effectively unpaid, which doesn’t encourage retention of conscientious staff.

Right-sizing the boxes through automated packaging systems can achieve significant gains in labour and vehicle utilisation – reducing the volume of a given quantity of goods by around 50% on average or, potentially, doubling the productivity of the delivery driver.

Sparck Technologies’ packaging solutions can make a real contribution to resolving the labour availability problem now and in the longer term. But it isn’t just a ‘defensive’ investment. Cardboard usage is reduced by around 30% and if external carriers are being used, freight charges can be cut by a third, as most carriers charge at least partially on volume. And the brand benefits inestimably as consumers appreciate a well-constructed, right-sized package reflecting a company that cares about resource usage and environmental impact.

Labour crisis to extend beyond Christmas

As labour shortages across the supply chain hit the front pages in the UK, the cry goes up from the more excitable elements of the media to ‘save Christmas’. Unfortunately, as businesses and politicians are beginning to realise, the skills and labour crisis is of long standing and won’t be properly resolved in three months by any number of quick fixes. By Jo Bradley (pictured), Business Development Manager, Sparck Technologies (formerly Packaging by Quadient).

If the Prime Minister is right in his aspiration for a high skill, high wage, high productivity economy, that must require business to close the gap on our competitors in the application of automation – as the Chancellor has recognised by supersizing Capital Allowances.

Nowhere is this more true than in the fulfilment and distribution operations of e-commerce, which now represents over a quarter of retail activity and is being afflicted by shortages not only of drivers but of pickers and packers as well. Judicious application of automation to packing stations is an essential element in resolving the labour crisis, not just in the warehouse, but on the road.

No one would claim that packing goods into cardboard boxes is a highly skilled career, but nor is it straightforward. The task is physical, repetitive, boring and is usually conducted under considerable pressure to achieve the required throughput. What’s more, it is often poorly paid and involves working unsocial hours at hard to reach locations.

Unsurprisingly, staff retention for such tasks as packing is low and it can take some time for new hires to get up to speed with the complexities. Meanwhile, the resulting package is the retailer’s principal touch-point with the customer. A shoddily-assembled and sealed box, perhaps over-sized and mostly containing redundant or ineffective void fill, can really irritate consumers and doesn’t encourage repeat business.

Packing has its complexities. The packer has to assess a pile of assorted goods of differing shapes and sizes and select an appropriate box pre-form from a limited range of shapes and sizes. Guess too small and you have to start again, and throughput takes a hit. Pick a safe over-size, and the resulting package is largely composed of polystyrene, bubble wrap, crumpled paper or even other, smaller, cartons.

The box has to be erected, filled (including any void-fill), sealed neatly and effectively, and labelled accurately and securely, all at speed. This sequence of operations is an obvious candidate for automation but, even in distribution centres that have made significant investment in automating storage and retrieval, packing is often still a largely manual process.

Probably, this is because the high variability of boxes and of contents, and the need to make frequent judgement calls, makes the operation seem too complex for automation. But this isn’t the case.

Automated packaging solution

CVP Automated Packaging Solutions from Sparck Technologies – the new name for Packaging by Quadient – create ‘right-size’ boxes in seconds by scanning and measuring the goods, whether they be single or multi-item orders, cutting to size and erecting the box, sealing, weighing, and labelling automatically.

With CVP Impack, one or two operators can pack up to 500 parcels an hour; with the CVP Everest, two operators can pack 1,100 an hour. On average this replaces up to 20 manual packing stations, which in tight times for staffing means not just savings on packer and supervisor wages, but recruitment, training and HR costs too.

The labour benefits of automated packing can be felt not just in the distribution centre but out on the road as well. Less wasteful, more compact packages mean a higher density of saleable goods, rather than fresh air, on the vehicle, be this a 44-tonner on a trunk route or, more acutely, the small vehicles that are commonly used on last mile and urban delivery.

Ideally, a vehicle on a delivery round would leave the depot with all the packages to be delivered in a full shift. But very often this isn’t possible, and the driver has to make several trips back to ‘restock’. That is a lot of empty running, creating unnecessary congestion and emissions. It works against efficient delivery routing, it means that a significant part of the driver and vehicle day is unproductive and, in those operations where staff are paid per delivery a significant part of their day is effectively unpaid, which doesn’t encourage retention of conscientious staff.

Right-sizing the boxes through automated packaging systems can achieve significant gains in labour and vehicle utilisation – reducing the volume of a given quantity of goods by around 50% on average or, potentially, doubling the productivity of the delivery driver.

Sparck Technologies’ packaging solutions can make a real contribution to resolving the labour availability problem now and in the longer term. But it isn’t just a ‘defensive’ investment. Cardboard usage is reduced by around 30% and if external carriers are being used, freight charges can be cut by a third, as most carriers charge at least partially on volume. And the brand benefits inestimably as consumers appreciate a well-constructed, right-sized package reflecting a company that cares about resource usage and environmental impact.

Faller Packaging opens Hungarian plant

In mid-October 2021, Faller Packaging officially dedicated its plant in Hungary. Faller, which specialises in pharmaceutical packaging, had acquired Pharma Print Kft., located in Debrecen, back in November 2019. The Hungarian company for years has manufactured package leaflets for the pharmaceutical and healthcare markets. With this step Faller packaging has further expanded its international presence.

After a delay of almost 23 months caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Faller Packaging celebrated the dedication of its new plant in Hungary. The team in Debrecen is now officially part of the Faller family and will operate under the visual brand of the German packaging specialist. On the day of the opening ceremony, the Hungarian version of Faller’s website also went online. It included a new image film that was shown on this occasion to the public in Debrecen for the first time.

Before the acquisition, Pharma Print was already a successful supplier of package leaflets for the pharmaceutical and healthcare markets in eastern Europe and beyond. With its 70 employees, the family business is thus a perfect addition to the Faller Packaging portfolio, which focuses on tailor-made, full-range pharmaceutical packaging solutions. Users obtain folding cartons, labels and package leaflets from a single source.

“Pharma Print offers excellent quality, is a reliable supplier and is highly regarded by its customers,” says managing partner Dr Michael Faller. “Our Hungarian plant will give us additional capacity for the production of package leaflets, allowing us to serve our customers faster, more completely and more reliably. We are happy to welcome this new location to the Faller Packaging family.”

With this acquisition, the company’s European network now includes seven locations. They cover the entire value chain for pharmaceutical packaging, including development services, print data management, manufacturing of packaging material and sophisticated supply chain solutions for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.

CLICK HERE to view the new film.

Faller Packaging opens Hungarian plant

In mid-October 2021, Faller Packaging officially dedicated its plant in Hungary. Faller, which specialises in pharmaceutical packaging, had acquired Pharma Print Kft., located in Debrecen, back in November 2019. The Hungarian company for years has manufactured package leaflets for the pharmaceutical and healthcare markets. With this step Faller packaging has further expanded its international presence.

After a delay of almost 23 months caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Faller Packaging celebrated the dedication of its new plant in Hungary. The team in Debrecen is now officially part of the Faller family and will operate under the visual brand of the German packaging specialist. On the day of the opening ceremony, the Hungarian version of Faller’s website also went online. It included a new image film that was shown on this occasion to the public in Debrecen for the first time.

Before the acquisition, Pharma Print was already a successful supplier of package leaflets for the pharmaceutical and healthcare markets in eastern Europe and beyond. With its 70 employees, the family business is thus a perfect addition to the Faller Packaging portfolio, which focuses on tailor-made, full-range pharmaceutical packaging solutions. Users obtain folding cartons, labels and package leaflets from a single source.

“Pharma Print offers excellent quality, is a reliable supplier and is highly regarded by its customers,” says managing partner Dr Michael Faller. “Our Hungarian plant will give us additional capacity for the production of package leaflets, allowing us to serve our customers faster, more completely and more reliably. We are happy to welcome this new location to the Faller Packaging family.”

With this acquisition, the company’s European network now includes seven locations. They cover the entire value chain for pharmaceutical packaging, including development services, print data management, manufacturing of packaging material and sophisticated supply chain solutions for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.

CLICK HERE to view the new film.

Gaining an edge through (digital) values

Sustainability and digitalisation – these two topics are currently the most important drivers in logistics. This is the conclusion following the successful premiere of Thesen am Tresen – the STILL Logistics Talk during the German Logistics Congress in Berlin. The Hamburg-based intralogistics company STILL is already planning a continuation of the hybrid talk show format for 2022.

Globalisation, digitalisation, environment, automation and security. Those five trend topics were the focus of 40-minute talks for investment decision-makers and logistics enthusiasts during the 38th edition of the German Logistics Congress (20th-22nd October) organised by the German Logistics Association (BVL) e. V. at the InterContinental Hotel. For this new format, STILL transformed the gourmet restaurant “Hugos” on the 14th floor of the hotel into a recording studio with the Berlin skyline as background. Those who were not present at the logistics summit were able to follow the clips live on the internet hosted by logistics journalists Anita Würmser and Thilo Jörgl.

“We received a very positive response both in the recording studio and in social media,” said Frank Müller, Senior Vice President Brand Management & Sales & Service Steering at STILL EMEA. “The audience was not only thrilled by the fact that renowned experts from business and science candidly analysed the current situation in logistics and defended their theses. The relaxed discussion of pointed theories at the bar also proved to be a highly interesting and entertaining format.”

Among the theses discussed were:

  • Can we do without China? How the Corona crisis is changing value chains.
  • Anything but exhaust fumes: This is what the forklift truck of the future looks like.
  • The warehouse is dead. Long live the warehouse! How artificial intelligence is changing logistics.
  • A digital dump is still a dump: How to avoid automating the wrong way.
  • Mostly cloudy: How cloud applications prevent accidents in the warehouse.

“After the successful premiere of these opinionated talks at television level, we have decided to continue the format. Where we will set up the bar again and which theses we want to discuss will be announced in 2022,” says Müller.

Especially well received were the sessions on digitalisation and automation. Kevin Kufs, CEO at Hermes Fulfilment, underlined the importance of functioning high-performance logistics for the economic success of a CEP service provider. “The end customer does not forgive broken promises,” Kufs emphasised. For this reason, Hermes Fulfilment is planning further investments in digital tools but also in several automated logistics centres here in Germany. The time-consuming preparations are already underway.

“A major obstacle to innovative security concepts based on biometric data is data protection legislation,” stated Ansgar Bergmann, Technology & Innovation – CTR, Project Manager of the CTO at the KION Group. In connection with digital projects, Erik Wirsing, Vice President Global Innovation at DB Schenker, warned that companies underestimate the damage caused by hacker attacks: “Without data security, there is no business anymore these days,” was his thesis.

Jakub Piotrowski, CIO/CDO at BLG Logistics, took up the cudgels for cross-company cooperation in data projects because “digitisation will be expensive and the algorithm will determine success”. In the talk on digitalisation, he appealed to companies to act together on simple software projects for economic reasons. In this context, he referred to the topic of open source, so that not every company pushes ahead with the same elaborate software projects, but instead falls back on already existing, accessible programming. This is why BLG Logistics has also joined the Open Logistics Foundation.

In this context, Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Michael ten Hompel, Executive Director of the Fraunhofer IML, referred to the situation in the USA. A large part of the corporate assets generated on the other side of the Atlantic in 2020 were intangible assets, i.e. patents, algorithms and the like. This should be the way to think here in Germany, too. The chances for European companies to lead in the field of material handling in the future are good, according to the scientist.

“Europeans are at the forefront of intralogistics,” said Prof. ten Hompel. In his opinion, more companies should put the two trend topics of swarm intelligence and simulation-based artificial intelligence at the very top of their agendas.

Forging alliances and entering into partnerships – according to contract logistics expert Harald Seifert, this is also the right approach for logistics service providers and shippers to be successful in the future. In the sequence on globalisation, the chairman of the advisory board of Seifert Logistics Group stated that due to supply chain disruptions such as pandemics, strikes or environmental disasters, business-critical items should again be increasingly produced and stored in Europe – even if this is more expensive.

Ralf Düster, board member at Setlog, only partially agreed with him. He predicted that certain sectors, such as the fashion industry, would continue to produce goods largely in Asia. “This is the only way that importers and traders can continue to offer their goods at low prices and remain competitive,” said Düster.

In this context, Christine Mezger-Behan, Vice President Logistics System at KION ITS EMEA, emphasised that dual sourcing is becoming increasingly important for supply chains. In her view, strategically important parts will increasingly be purchased in Europe in the future, while the rest will be purchased in countries with low wage levels: “Each industry must decide for itself what is purchased in Europe and what is not,” said Mezger-Behan.

In addition to digitalisation, sustainability will also be a key issue in the global world of tomorrow. This was the tenor of the sequence on environment and climate. All experts agreed that the share of electric forklift trucks sold worldwide will continue to increase.

Nevertheless, Daniel Küster, Supply Chain Director of Warsteiner Group, does not want to immediately phase out forklift trucks with combustion engines from his fleet. For high-performance applications in the beverage industry in day and night operation, he considers his highly developed combustion engines to be more efficient than electric forklifts. However, like the scientist Prof. Dr. Thorsten Schmidt from the Technical University of Dresden, he expects significantly more powerful energy storage systems to come onto the market in the coming years.

These must, however, also remain affordable, says Küster. “We don’t need show cases but use cases,” Küster demanded at the bar. Rolf Beckmann, Director Engineering at Fiege Logistik Stiftung, added that the current development results of new battery types with sodium-ion technology are promising.

Anyone who missed the live streams can watch the recorded sessions HERE.

Gaining an edge through (digital) values

Sustainability and digitalisation – these two topics are currently the most important drivers in logistics. This is the conclusion following the successful premiere of Thesen am Tresen – the STILL Logistics Talk during the German Logistics Congress in Berlin. The Hamburg-based intralogistics company STILL is already planning a continuation of the hybrid talk show format for 2022.

Globalisation, digitalisation, environment, automation and security. Those five trend topics were the focus of 40-minute talks for investment decision-makers and logistics enthusiasts during the 38th edition of the German Logistics Congress (20th-22nd October) organised by the German Logistics Association (BVL) e. V. at the InterContinental Hotel. For this new format, STILL transformed the gourmet restaurant “Hugos” on the 14th floor of the hotel into a recording studio with the Berlin skyline as background. Those who were not present at the logistics summit were able to follow the clips live on the internet hosted by logistics journalists Anita Würmser and Thilo Jörgl.

“We received a very positive response both in the recording studio and in social media,” said Frank Müller, Senior Vice President Brand Management & Sales & Service Steering at STILL EMEA. “The audience was not only thrilled by the fact that renowned experts from business and science candidly analysed the current situation in logistics and defended their theses. The relaxed discussion of pointed theories at the bar also proved to be a highly interesting and entertaining format.”

Among the theses discussed were:

  • Can we do without China? How the Corona crisis is changing value chains.
  • Anything but exhaust fumes: This is what the forklift truck of the future looks like.
  • The warehouse is dead. Long live the warehouse! How artificial intelligence is changing logistics.
  • A digital dump is still a dump: How to avoid automating the wrong way.
  • Mostly cloudy: How cloud applications prevent accidents in the warehouse.

“After the successful premiere of these opinionated talks at television level, we have decided to continue the format. Where we will set up the bar again and which theses we want to discuss will be announced in 2022,” says Müller.

Especially well received were the sessions on digitalisation and automation. Kevin Kufs, CEO at Hermes Fulfilment, underlined the importance of functioning high-performance logistics for the economic success of a CEP service provider. “The end customer does not forgive broken promises,” Kufs emphasised. For this reason, Hermes Fulfilment is planning further investments in digital tools but also in several automated logistics centres here in Germany. The time-consuming preparations are already underway.

“A major obstacle to innovative security concepts based on biometric data is data protection legislation,” stated Ansgar Bergmann, Technology & Innovation – CTR, Project Manager of the CTO at the KION Group. In connection with digital projects, Erik Wirsing, Vice President Global Innovation at DB Schenker, warned that companies underestimate the damage caused by hacker attacks: “Without data security, there is no business anymore these days,” was his thesis.

Jakub Piotrowski, CIO/CDO at BLG Logistics, took up the cudgels for cross-company cooperation in data projects because “digitisation will be expensive and the algorithm will determine success”. In the talk on digitalisation, he appealed to companies to act together on simple software projects for economic reasons. In this context, he referred to the topic of open source, so that not every company pushes ahead with the same elaborate software projects, but instead falls back on already existing, accessible programming. This is why BLG Logistics has also joined the Open Logistics Foundation.

In this context, Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Michael ten Hompel, Executive Director of the Fraunhofer IML, referred to the situation in the USA. A large part of the corporate assets generated on the other side of the Atlantic in 2020 were intangible assets, i.e. patents, algorithms and the like. This should be the way to think here in Germany, too. The chances for European companies to lead in the field of material handling in the future are good, according to the scientist.

“Europeans are at the forefront of intralogistics,” said Prof. ten Hompel. In his opinion, more companies should put the two trend topics of swarm intelligence and simulation-based artificial intelligence at the very top of their agendas.

Forging alliances and entering into partnerships – according to contract logistics expert Harald Seifert, this is also the right approach for logistics service providers and shippers to be successful in the future. In the sequence on globalisation, the chairman of the advisory board of Seifert Logistics Group stated that due to supply chain disruptions such as pandemics, strikes or environmental disasters, business-critical items should again be increasingly produced and stored in Europe – even if this is more expensive.

Ralf Düster, board member at Setlog, only partially agreed with him. He predicted that certain sectors, such as the fashion industry, would continue to produce goods largely in Asia. “This is the only way that importers and traders can continue to offer their goods at low prices and remain competitive,” said Düster.

In this context, Christine Mezger-Behan, Vice President Logistics System at KION ITS EMEA, emphasised that dual sourcing is becoming increasingly important for supply chains. In her view, strategically important parts will increasingly be purchased in Europe in the future, while the rest will be purchased in countries with low wage levels: “Each industry must decide for itself what is purchased in Europe and what is not,” said Mezger-Behan.

In addition to digitalisation, sustainability will also be a key issue in the global world of tomorrow. This was the tenor of the sequence on environment and climate. All experts agreed that the share of electric forklift trucks sold worldwide will continue to increase.

Nevertheless, Daniel Küster, Supply Chain Director of Warsteiner Group, does not want to immediately phase out forklift trucks with combustion engines from his fleet. For high-performance applications in the beverage industry in day and night operation, he considers his highly developed combustion engines to be more efficient than electric forklifts. However, like the scientist Prof. Dr. Thorsten Schmidt from the Technical University of Dresden, he expects significantly more powerful energy storage systems to come onto the market in the coming years.

These must, however, also remain affordable, says Küster. “We don’t need show cases but use cases,” Küster demanded at the bar. Rolf Beckmann, Director Engineering at Fiege Logistik Stiftung, added that the current development results of new battery types with sodium-ion technology are promising.

Anyone who missed the live streams can watch the recorded sessions HERE.

New classification enhances use of EPAL pallets

Under what conditions can an EPAL Euro pallet no longer be exchanged? Is the quality of a Euro pallet reduced by wood splintering or residual labels? How do you know if a pallet is suitable for a high-bay racking system? What is the optimum quality for automated processes? These and many other queries are answered in the EPAL Quality Classification and Terms of Exchange. The new edition of the Quality Classification and Terms of Exchange has now been approved by the EPAL Board.

The European Pallet Association e.V. (EPAL) has revised the Quality Classification and Terms of Exchange in close collaboration with retail, hauliers, pallet service providers and repairers. The new edition of the EPAL Quality Classification still includes the distinction, commonly recognised in the market, between new EPAL Euro pallets, and class A, B and C used EPAL Euro pallets. The new group ‘Unsorted pallets’ covers pallets which are mixed by participants in the EPAL exchange pool and are exchanged one-to-one without having been previously sorted.

The Quality Classification offers EPAL Euro pallet users an easy way of agreeing delivery of a defined quality of used EPAL Euro pallets when buying or exchanging EPAL Euro pallets corresponding to the individual user’s specific requirements. This increases the effective deployment of used EPAL Euro pallets.

Jean-Philippe Gaussorgues, President of EPAL France and Vice President of EPAL, said: “One of the significant strengths of the EPAL Euro pallet exchange pool is the flexible use of EPAL Euro pallets of all ages and quality classes to suit the various needs of different sectors and companies. The new EPAL Quality Classification makes this even easier and even more effective.”

The EPAL Quality Classification has become more and more important in recent years. Originally drafted for the German market in 2011 by EPAL Deutschland and GS1 Germany, the EPAL Quality Classification has been adopted by many National Committees. The increasing number of user enquiries has also been a clear indicator for EPAL of the growing popularity of the Quality Classification.

EPAL has taken the opportunity provided by these enquiries from the market to make the criteria for distinguishing between the quality classes more precise and clearer and to focus more strongly on practical demands and the international use of the Quality Classification. The new edition of the Quality Classification and the Terms of Exchange will be available in more than twenty languages by the end of 2021. The Quality Classification will also be included in the new EPAL app at the start of 2022 to make it even easier to use in practice.

Roman Malicki, President of EPAL Polska and member of the EPAL Board, said: “Cross-border supply chains and the increase in digital pallet management mean the conditions for the use and exchange of EPAL Euro pallets need to be the same in every country and easily understood by all users. The new edition of the Quality Classification and Terms of Exchange approved by all EPAL national committees improves pallet exchange throughout Europe.”

The EPAL Terms of Exchange and the Quality Classification are now published in one document with a new contemporary layout. Smooth exchange of EPAL Euro pallets and certified repair of damaged EPAL Euro pallets need clear rules. The way the EPAL exchange conditions are laid out in the new edition suits these requirements even better.

Pierre Clénin, Managing Director of EPAL Suisse and member of the EPAL Board, added: “The EPAL Euro pallet exchange pool has the EPAL Terms of Exchange at its foundations. Nothing has changed in this respect with this new edition of the Quality Classification and Terms of Exchange. The EPAL Terms of Exchange alone will still apply in the future even if it is not possible to agree a specific quality class according to the EPAL Quality Classification.”

The EPAL Quality Classification and Terms of Exchange are already available to download in many languages from the EPAL website.

 

New classification enhances use of EPAL pallets

Under what conditions can an EPAL Euro pallet no longer be exchanged? Is the quality of a Euro pallet reduced by wood splintering or residual labels? How do you know if a pallet is suitable for a high-bay racking system? What is the optimum quality for automated processes? These and many other queries are answered in the EPAL Quality Classification and Terms of Exchange. The new edition of the Quality Classification and Terms of Exchange has now been approved by the EPAL Board.

The European Pallet Association e.V. (EPAL) has revised the Quality Classification and Terms of Exchange in close collaboration with retail, hauliers, pallet service providers and repairers. The new edition of the EPAL Quality Classification still includes the distinction, commonly recognised in the market, between new EPAL Euro pallets, and class A, B and C used EPAL Euro pallets. The new group ‘Unsorted pallets’ covers pallets which are mixed by participants in the EPAL exchange pool and are exchanged one-to-one without having been previously sorted.

The Quality Classification offers EPAL Euro pallet users an easy way of agreeing delivery of a defined quality of used EPAL Euro pallets when buying or exchanging EPAL Euro pallets corresponding to the individual user’s specific requirements. This increases the effective deployment of used EPAL Euro pallets.

Jean-Philippe Gaussorgues, President of EPAL France and Vice President of EPAL, said: “One of the significant strengths of the EPAL Euro pallet exchange pool is the flexible use of EPAL Euro pallets of all ages and quality classes to suit the various needs of different sectors and companies. The new EPAL Quality Classification makes this even easier and even more effective.”

The EPAL Quality Classification has become more and more important in recent years. Originally drafted for the German market in 2011 by EPAL Deutschland and GS1 Germany, the EPAL Quality Classification has been adopted by many National Committees. The increasing number of user enquiries has also been a clear indicator for EPAL of the growing popularity of the Quality Classification.

EPAL has taken the opportunity provided by these enquiries from the market to make the criteria for distinguishing between the quality classes more precise and clearer and to focus more strongly on practical demands and the international use of the Quality Classification. The new edition of the Quality Classification and the Terms of Exchange will be available in more than twenty languages by the end of 2021. The Quality Classification will also be included in the new EPAL app at the start of 2022 to make it even easier to use in practice.

Roman Malicki, President of EPAL Polska and member of the EPAL Board, said: “Cross-border supply chains and the increase in digital pallet management mean the conditions for the use and exchange of EPAL Euro pallets need to be the same in every country and easily understood by all users. The new edition of the Quality Classification and Terms of Exchange approved by all EPAL national committees improves pallet exchange throughout Europe.”

The EPAL Terms of Exchange and the Quality Classification are now published in one document with a new contemporary layout. Smooth exchange of EPAL Euro pallets and certified repair of damaged EPAL Euro pallets need clear rules. The way the EPAL exchange conditions are laid out in the new edition suits these requirements even better.

Pierre Clénin, Managing Director of EPAL Suisse and member of the EPAL Board, added: “The EPAL Euro pallet exchange pool has the EPAL Terms of Exchange at its foundations. Nothing has changed in this respect with this new edition of the Quality Classification and Terms of Exchange. The EPAL Terms of Exchange alone will still apply in the future even if it is not possible to agree a specific quality class according to the EPAL Quality Classification.”

The EPAL Quality Classification and Terms of Exchange are already available to download in many languages from the EPAL website.

 

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