Exporta launches new technologies

Exporta has installed two new pieces of technology at its Kinross manufacturing facility in the UK, which it says will be of huge benefit to its customer base.

Digital Printing Machine

Exporta says product branding is key to its customers – this could be five Euro Containers with a logo on the side or thousands of pallets with a logo and sequential numbering. Exporta has long been offering this service, but has installed a new digital printing machine in-house, meaning it can provide product printing quicker and to a higher standard.

Head of technology and product development, John Wilkin, has been involved with this project from the start and is delighted to see his plans come to fruition: “We know how important branding can be, so to make it easier for customers to get this from Exporta has been an important goal. This investment is something that will immediately add value to our offering.”

The new machine, installed at the end of June 2022, is up and running and ready to go. It’s designed to work on any plastic product with a large enough surface area to print on, meaning it will work with the majority of products in the Exporta range.

The benefit of branding goods include brand exposure, identification, and the prevention of lost or stolen goods. Sending out goods within branded containers or pallets provides a strong opportunity for additional advertising and brand exposure. Details such as a phone number and a web address can also be added. This also helps to ensure goods aren’t lost or stolen as they are clearly marked. In terms of identification, printing can be used to add things like sequential numbering or colour coding to products to aid in picking and general warehouse operations.

Pallet Load Testing

How often have you been on the cusp of purchasing a new pallet for your system, but you’ve been unsure how the pallet will perform with your standard goods load? This no longer needs to be a concern, as Exporta has installed a load testing machine to test your load on a potential pallet.

Exporta claims that this is a unique offering to the UK market and something that has taken months of planning. The system allows Exporta to measure the performance of a pallet on racking and on a forklift. The width of the racking can be tailored to match the racking the pallet will be used on. Exporta can test both racking pallets as well as testing nestable pallets for their dynamic load and it can then provide an approved report on the results to give you confidence when you’re purchasing a pallet for your warehouse or shipping system.

Exporta measures the deflection of the pallet with your load over a 24-hour period, and then measures the time it takes to return to its original form once the load has been removed. It can then ensure that the pallet meets the regulation deflection tolerance as required by ISO8611.

 

 

Imperial Logistics celebrates 50 years at Fürth

Imperial Logistics, owned by DP World, has marked 50 years of logistics services and transport operations at the port of Fürth in Germany. The port is a handling centre for construction materials and agricultural goods for well-known companies in the region. Imperial is set to continue its role that started with the arrival of the first goods via the Main-Danube canal, north-west of Fürth, 50 years ago, on 15 July 1972.

The port of Fürth is mainly a handling centre for construction materials and agricultural goods such as granite, sheet metal, timber and fertilisers.

Mohammed Akoojee, Group Chief Operating Officer, Logistics at DP World and Group CEO at Imperial, said: “I would like to congratulate the Imperial team at the port of Fürth on this significant milestone anniversary. The port and our business location have been a reliable partner for 50 years when it comes to handling bulk commodities and steel products on inland waterway vessels, railway wagons and trucks.”

Rashid Abdulla, CEO of DP World Europe, said: “With 50 years of experience in the logistics industry in Europe, it’s clear that Imperial Logistics not only has the skills but also the tenure and track record of being a supply chain leader. As a key part of the DP World Logistics business, Imperial provides comprehensive infrastructure that helps us to create the supply chain solutions that make it faster, cheaper and easier for businesses to get their products to their customers. I congratulate the business and all my colleagues on reaching 50 years at Fürth, and look forward to the next 50 together.”

The business site in Fürth is part of the industrial business, in which Imperial, an integrated provider of logistics and market access services, has combined its services for sectors such as the steel and construction industries as well as engineering and plant construction.

Imperial handled some 160,000 tonnes of different bulk commodities at the port of Fürth last year. Inland waterway services accounted for about 46,000 tonnes of this figure, trucks for more than 95,500 tonnes and the warehouse building, which measures 8,000 sq m, handled more than 18,000 tonnes.

Imperial Logistics celebrates 50 years at Fürth

Imperial Logistics, owned by DP World, has marked 50 years of logistics services and transport operations at the port of Fürth in Germany. The port is a handling centre for construction materials and agricultural goods for well-known companies in the region. Imperial is set to continue its role that started with the arrival of the first goods via the Main-Danube canal, north-west of Fürth, 50 years ago, on 15 July 1972.

The port of Fürth is mainly a handling centre for construction materials and agricultural goods such as granite, sheet metal, timber and fertilisers.

Mohammed Akoojee, Group Chief Operating Officer, Logistics at DP World and Group CEO at Imperial, said: “I would like to congratulate the Imperial team at the port of Fürth on this significant milestone anniversary. The port and our business location have been a reliable partner for 50 years when it comes to handling bulk commodities and steel products on inland waterway vessels, railway wagons and trucks.”

Rashid Abdulla, CEO of DP World Europe, said: “With 50 years of experience in the logistics industry in Europe, it’s clear that Imperial Logistics not only has the skills but also the tenure and track record of being a supply chain leader. As a key part of the DP World Logistics business, Imperial provides comprehensive infrastructure that helps us to create the supply chain solutions that make it faster, cheaper and easier for businesses to get their products to their customers. I congratulate the business and all my colleagues on reaching 50 years at Fürth, and look forward to the next 50 together.”

The business site in Fürth is part of the industrial business, in which Imperial, an integrated provider of logistics and market access services, has combined its services for sectors such as the steel and construction industries as well as engineering and plant construction.

Imperial handled some 160,000 tonnes of different bulk commodities at the port of Fürth last year. Inland waterway services accounted for about 46,000 tonnes of this figure, trucks for more than 95,500 tonnes and the warehouse building, which measures 8,000 sq m, handled more than 18,000 tonnes.

White paper: is hydrogen the future for cargo?

The H2Accelerate collaboration has published a new whitepaper in support of the use of hydrogen in long-haul trucking, based on focus group discussions with truck end-users and logistics providers. The paper sets out the conclusions of a series of focus groups with companies such as Amazon, Nestle Waters, DB Schenker, and Kuehne-Nagel, who have the potential to drive significant market demand for hydrogen trucks and the growth of the sector.

In the paper, the H2Accelerate collaboration sets out the needs and expectations of trucking end users and logistics providers as these organisations look to decarbonise their operations. They also outline how hydrogen can enable end users to achieve their decarbonisation targets while maintaining operations, especially amidst mounting regulatory pressure.

The whitepaper follows two others published last year setting out the need for hydrogen trucking and expectations for the growth of the fuel cell truck market. The group also published a policy position paper stating the requirements from the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation in February 2022. Further whitepapers are expected this year to inform end users, policymakers, and regulators of the benefits of hydrogen trucking and policy needs to enable the roll-out of trucks and infrastructure.

Understanding customer requirements for fuel cell trucks

The H2Accelerate collaboration has been formed by truck manufacturers Daimler Truck, IVECO, and Volvo Group, and hydrogen infrastructure providers Linde, OMV, Shell, and TotalEnergies. The central objective of the collaboration is to enable a commercially viable, pan-European hydrogen trucking system in the post-2030 period. As fleet operators and drivers are a crucial component of a successful rollout of hydrogen trucking, their needs and expectations ought to be well-understood and met as the system is being deployed. This will be achieved through consistent communication between hardware suppliers (such as those within the H2Accelerate collaboration) and end user groups.

“The findings of this study confirm what we have been hearing from industry partners and customers for the past year or so: the heavy-duty transportation sector is on board with using hydrogen to effectively replace fossil fuels,” said David Burns, VP Clean Energy Development at Linde, a H2Accelerate member. “We know that the technology is there – we have delivered over 200 fuelling stations around the world and successfully fuelled more than 1.5 million vehicles. Together with the H2Accelerate members, we are now working on scaling up the technology and building a robust infrastructure to enable the heavy-duty transport sector to operate with zero emissions, reliably and at a competitive cost.”

The whitepaper found that the organisations, which have public-facing decarbonisation targets, understand that hydrogen freight will be a required complement to battery vehicles in order to achieve full decarbonisation of their operations. This is particularly true not only for long-haul applications, where

the advantage of fast refuelling over battery electric alternatives was stressed, but also for transport in grid-constrained areas or in applications where vehicles are double shifted.

With regards to the cost and operation of the vehicles, end users were willing to accept that in the early stages of roll out, vehicles are likely to be more expensive and infrastructure more limited that the incumbent diesel trucking system. Several end users stated that while they would be happy to pay more in the short term to trial a small number of fuel cell trucks, their business model requires that in the long term, scale improvements and supportive policy allow hydrogen trucks to achieve parity with diesel. Similarly, it is expected that in the long term, network design, station availability, and vehicle maintenance develop to allow end users to achieve similar operational convenience and flexibility to diesel.

CLICK HERE to download the full whitepaper.

 

White paper: is hydrogen the future for cargo?

The H2Accelerate collaboration has published a new whitepaper in support of the use of hydrogen in long-haul trucking, based on focus group discussions with truck end-users and logistics providers. The paper sets out the conclusions of a series of focus groups with companies such as Amazon, Nestle Waters, DB Schenker, and Kuehne-Nagel, who have the potential to drive significant market demand for hydrogen trucks and the growth of the sector.

In the paper, the H2Accelerate collaboration sets out the needs and expectations of trucking end users and logistics providers as these organisations look to decarbonise their operations. They also outline how hydrogen can enable end users to achieve their decarbonisation targets while maintaining operations, especially amidst mounting regulatory pressure.

The whitepaper follows two others published last year setting out the need for hydrogen trucking and expectations for the growth of the fuel cell truck market. The group also published a policy position paper stating the requirements from the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation in February 2022. Further whitepapers are expected this year to inform end users, policymakers, and regulators of the benefits of hydrogen trucking and policy needs to enable the roll-out of trucks and infrastructure.

Understanding customer requirements for fuel cell trucks

The H2Accelerate collaboration has been formed by truck manufacturers Daimler Truck, IVECO, and Volvo Group, and hydrogen infrastructure providers Linde, OMV, Shell, and TotalEnergies. The central objective of the collaboration is to enable a commercially viable, pan-European hydrogen trucking system in the post-2030 period. As fleet operators and drivers are a crucial component of a successful rollout of hydrogen trucking, their needs and expectations ought to be well-understood and met as the system is being deployed. This will be achieved through consistent communication between hardware suppliers (such as those within the H2Accelerate collaboration) and end user groups.

“The findings of this study confirm what we have been hearing from industry partners and customers for the past year or so: the heavy-duty transportation sector is on board with using hydrogen to effectively replace fossil fuels,” said David Burns, VP Clean Energy Development at Linde, a H2Accelerate member. “We know that the technology is there – we have delivered over 200 fuelling stations around the world and successfully fuelled more than 1.5 million vehicles. Together with the H2Accelerate members, we are now working on scaling up the technology and building a robust infrastructure to enable the heavy-duty transport sector to operate with zero emissions, reliably and at a competitive cost.”

The whitepaper found that the organisations, which have public-facing decarbonisation targets, understand that hydrogen freight will be a required complement to battery vehicles in order to achieve full decarbonisation of their operations. This is particularly true not only for long-haul applications, where

the advantage of fast refuelling over battery electric alternatives was stressed, but also for transport in grid-constrained areas or in applications where vehicles are double shifted.

With regards to the cost and operation of the vehicles, end users were willing to accept that in the early stages of roll out, vehicles are likely to be more expensive and infrastructure more limited that the incumbent diesel trucking system. Several end users stated that while they would be happy to pay more in the short term to trial a small number of fuel cell trucks, their business model requires that in the long term, scale improvements and supportive policy allow hydrogen trucks to achieve parity with diesel. Similarly, it is expected that in the long term, network design, station availability, and vehicle maintenance develop to allow end users to achieve similar operational convenience and flexibility to diesel.

CLICK HERE to download the full whitepaper.

 

Nissan renews partnership with Port Of Tyne

The Port of Tyne has extended its commercial partnership with Nissan to facilitate the import and export of new vehicles for a further five years.

As one of the port’s largest customers and of economic importance to the region, this agreement marks the dawn of a new era for both parties as the move to net zero transportation accelerates.

The Port of Tyne handles 600,000 vehicles per year, making it the country’s second largest car handling port.

Nissan first began producing cars in Sunderland in 1986. Since 1994, the Port of Tyne has played an integral part in transporting Sunderland-built models to over 130 worldwide markets.

The new deal follows Nissan’s EV36Zero announcement last year. Nissan EV36Zero will supercharge Nissan’s drive to carbon neutrality and establish a new 360° solution for zero-emission motoring. The transformational project is comprised of three interconnected initiatives, electric vehicles, renewable energy and battery production with Nissan’s battery partner Envision AESC.

This development is closely aligned with the Port of Tyne’s sustainability vision to be net zero by 2030 and all-electric by 2040.

“The Port of Tyne has been an integral part of our supply chain for many years. As it continues to grow as a clean energy and green distribution hub it will continue to play a vital role in Nissan’s vision for a carbon neutral future,” says Michael Simpson, Vice President of Supply Chain Management, Nissan.

“We are incredibly proud to be supporting one of the UK’s biggest car manufacturer and having the opportunity to make a major contribution to the adoption of electric vehicles globally,” commented Matt Beeton, CEO at the Port of Tyne. “This agreement demonstrates Nissan’s long-term commitment to the port and its importance to the wider region.”

 

Nissan renews partnership with Port Of Tyne

The Port of Tyne has extended its commercial partnership with Nissan to facilitate the import and export of new vehicles for a further five years.

As one of the port’s largest customers and of economic importance to the region, this agreement marks the dawn of a new era for both parties as the move to net zero transportation accelerates.

The Port of Tyne handles 600,000 vehicles per year, making it the country’s second largest car handling port.

Nissan first began producing cars in Sunderland in 1986. Since 1994, the Port of Tyne has played an integral part in transporting Sunderland-built models to over 130 worldwide markets.

The new deal follows Nissan’s EV36Zero announcement last year. Nissan EV36Zero will supercharge Nissan’s drive to carbon neutrality and establish a new 360° solution for zero-emission motoring. The transformational project is comprised of three interconnected initiatives, electric vehicles, renewable energy and battery production with Nissan’s battery partner Envision AESC.

This development is closely aligned with the Port of Tyne’s sustainability vision to be net zero by 2030 and all-electric by 2040.

“The Port of Tyne has been an integral part of our supply chain for many years. As it continues to grow as a clean energy and green distribution hub it will continue to play a vital role in Nissan’s vision for a carbon neutral future,” says Michael Simpson, Vice President of Supply Chain Management, Nissan.

“We are incredibly proud to be supporting one of the UK’s biggest car manufacturer and having the opportunity to make a major contribution to the adoption of electric vehicles globally,” commented Matt Beeton, CEO at the Port of Tyne. “This agreement demonstrates Nissan’s long-term commitment to the port and its importance to the wider region.”

 

UPS expands sustainable operations in Europe

As the logistics industry looks to operate more sustainably amid increasing demand from e-commerce, UPS is electrifying its ground fleet, using cleaner fuels and powering facilities with renewable energy. A new development is the use of duo-trailers in Spain that operate between Madrid and Barcelona five days a week.

These duo-trailers, operated and owned by Grupo Carrasco, feature two full-sized trailers pulled by a single truck. This combination emits less carbon per kilometer than if two vehicles were travelling individually, lowering the carbon intensity per package. Current records show it can reduce CO2 emissions by more than 30% per road journey.

“We are committed to delivering more while reducing the carbon intensity of our operations,” said Daniel Carrera, UPS Europe president. “These duo trailers demonstrate how we are relentlessly innovating and collaborating to create efficiencies in our network and build a sustainable future for our customers and the communities where we live and work.”

UPS has already deployed EcoCombi of a similar design in six countries within its European network. “EcoCombis” are currently permitted in 18 countries worldwide, yet they are a vital part of UPS’s goal to shrink its carbon footprint while increasing efficiency. Eco-trucks carry larger loads and reduce CO2 emissions by consuming less fuel. The new duo trailer design represents the next step in this evolution by connecting two full-sized trailers.

Delivering more with less environmental impact: With a global footprint and customers in more than 220 countries and territories, UPS sees how climate change, air quality and other socioeconomic challenges intersect, and has set a clear roadmap to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. This includes:

40% alternative fuel in ground operations by 2025

25% renewable electricity in facilities by 2025

As part of its rolling laboratory approach UPS has deployed more than 13,000 low-emission and alternative-fuel vehicles around the world and is always exploring ways to reduce carbon in its ground fleet.

 

UPS expands sustainable operations in Europe

As the logistics industry looks to operate more sustainably amid increasing demand from e-commerce, UPS is electrifying its ground fleet, using cleaner fuels and powering facilities with renewable energy. A new development is the use of duo-trailers in Spain that operate between Madrid and Barcelona five days a week.

These duo-trailers, operated and owned by Grupo Carrasco, feature two full-sized trailers pulled by a single truck. This combination emits less carbon per kilometer than if two vehicles were travelling individually, lowering the carbon intensity per package. Current records show it can reduce CO2 emissions by more than 30% per road journey.

“We are committed to delivering more while reducing the carbon intensity of our operations,” said Daniel Carrera, UPS Europe president. “These duo trailers demonstrate how we are relentlessly innovating and collaborating to create efficiencies in our network and build a sustainable future for our customers and the communities where we live and work.”

UPS has already deployed EcoCombi of a similar design in six countries within its European network. “EcoCombis” are currently permitted in 18 countries worldwide, yet they are a vital part of UPS’s goal to shrink its carbon footprint while increasing efficiency. Eco-trucks carry larger loads and reduce CO2 emissions by consuming less fuel. The new duo trailer design represents the next step in this evolution by connecting two full-sized trailers.

Delivering more with less environmental impact: With a global footprint and customers in more than 220 countries and territories, UPS sees how climate change, air quality and other socioeconomic challenges intersect, and has set a clear roadmap to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. This includes:

40% alternative fuel in ground operations by 2025

25% renewable electricity in facilities by 2025

As part of its rolling laboratory approach UPS has deployed more than 13,000 low-emission and alternative-fuel vehicles around the world and is always exploring ways to reduce carbon in its ground fleet.

 

Six trends impacting the warehouse automation industry

Warehouse and distribution centres (DCs) are grappling with a significant and ongoing labour shortage. Increased wages and benefits haven’t been enough to reverse the trend. Ever-increasing demand for faster delivery, and ongoing macro supply chain disruption add to the challenge. Warehouse safety issues also remain a problem for recruitment and retention of workers.

“Amidst a ‘perfect storm’ type of environment, warehouse and DC operators are aggressively seeking ways to digitise operations, add automation technology and integrate those technologies with software systems,” said Keith Fisher, president, Honeywell Intelligrated. “The goal is to increase efficiency, reduce the human labour requirement and create safer, more productive workplaces. As a result, we’re seeing some developing trends heading into the second half of the year.”

Specifically, Honeywell sees six trends emerging in the warehouse and DC industries.

Increasingly aggressive adoption of proven automation technologies

Moving into the second half of 2022, we’re seeing heightened interest in long-proven warehouse automation systems that pick, pack, sort and carry packages throughout the facility. There is also increasing investigation into how to integrate this automation into warehouse software systems, such as warehouse management and warehouse control systems (WCS), to extract more value from automation.

Regardless of the labour shortage or where companies currently sit on the automation spectrum, SKU proliferation, widely varying order profiles and seasonal demands are making some degree of automation a necessity. For many operations, order picking or putting are the entry point to digitalisation and automation. For those further down the path, integrating these technologies into operations means trained coordination between workers, automated systems and software to drive high-speed, high-volume warehouse execution.

Newer forms of automation are being evaluated and adopted with increased urgency

There are also signals that newer forms of automation, such as robotic palletising/depalletising and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), are beginning a path toward significant adoption. For example, a recent Interact Analysis report showed the mobile robot market is expected to grow from $3.6bn in 2021 to $18bn in 2025. Honeywell is seeing surging interest as the industry begins to prioritise investment designed to increase efficiency and productivity along with employee safety and overall satisfaction by integrating automation.

AMRs provide significant productivity benefits by, for example, automating the movement of carts used to transport picked orders or returns. Instead of spending more than half the day walking, workers can park carts in pickup locations and call robots to retrieve them. Additionally, robotic palletisers and depalletisers limit the need for heavy and/or awkward lifting by humans. While these and other advanced forms of automation handle the repetitive, difficult and often time-consuming tasks, scarce labour resources can be shifted to higher-value jobs and, in-turn, increase employee satisfaction.

Persistent labour shortage, new technical skills gap becomes problematic, training required

The number of warehouses globally is forecast to rise from nearly 150,600 in 2020 to 180,000 by 2025, according to Interact Analysis. Without more automation, an additional 3.5 million warehouse workers need to be added to cover current needs and that expansion. However, a willing workforce is proving very difficult to find and competition for these resources is high.

As a result, warehouse and DC operators will look to expand automation, but this creates another fast-developing issue. Technical skills are needed to plan for, utilise, maintain and optimise warehouse automation, and they’re in short supply. Operators will aggressively look to outsource automation-related training – to train up a new army of technically skilled workers and realise far faster benefits from automation.

This promises to make warehouse jobs more attractive intellectually and drive higher compensation, thus making the overall market more compelling for job seekers and those seeking upskilled career transitions.

The use of digital twins will accelerate to help automated warehouse planning

Digital twins deliver virtual representations of a physical environment – proving extremely helpful in the warehouse industry. With a digital twin, new automation technology can be tested virtually, without downtime or rearrangement of physical assets. Automation efforts can be tested, and impact can be reviewed.

By using digital twins and synthetic data modelling, warehouse operators can close the loop between planning, training and implementation on the floor. With this technology, what used to equate to months of automation implementation can now be accomplished in days. In short, warehouse performance can be improved far more quickly and cost-effectively than in the past.

Human health and safety will begin to take root as a business case for automation in the new, pristine warehouse environment

Regardless of whether there are health and safety issues at a particular warehouse, the overall industry suffers from a health and safety image problem. It’s well documented that concerns in these areas are either keeping workers away from the industry entirely or causing problems with existing employee satisfaction.

Automation can help. Repetitive movement-related injuries and those due to heavy and/or awkward lifting, as well as worker fatigue, can be greatly mitigated by robotics and automation. Increased use of these technologies can lead to far fewer work-related injuries, keep workers on the job and earning for their families, and mitigate insurance premiums and worker’s compensation claims for the employer. By prioritising happier, healthier workforces, we should see an uptick in retention and warehouse job appeal.

Accelerated dark warehouse research & development, forward-looking companies begin path

Dark warehouses promise to be nearly fully automated and autonomous, operating virtually free from human intervention – aside from planning, maintenance and ongoing optimisation. They will operate 24/7/365 in no light (thus, the term dark warehouse) and in extremely cold or warm conditions, thus saving energy and related costs. They promise to help solve the labour shortage and drive incredible efficiency. However, full concepts are still at least two years away and live implementations are at least three years away. Breakthrough technologies in robotics, sensing and control, and IT are still needed. But demand is so strong that it’s beginning to drive more aggressive R&D investment to achieve these breakthroughs faster.

Meanwhile, forward-looking warehouse operators are starting the journey to dark warehouse by not only putting automation piece parts in place as described above, but also tying technologies together via software, such as Warehouse Execution Systems, allowing all the technologies to communicate.

As promising as it is, the brave new world of dark warehouses will also contribute to the developing technical skills gap referenced above. Operators will need to plan for that as well as determine what types of warehouses and industries are most appropriate for the early days of dark warehouses.

“These trends showcase a collective theme: automation is increasingly paving the way for better safety, productivity and workforce retention in the warehouse industry,” said Fisher. “From what we see, the number of operators currently using automation technology and aggressively moving to expand it looks to be growing rapidly heading into the second half of 2022. These are smart investments to help weather the current labour crisis – and help minimise the need for future capital expenditures.”

 

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