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Day: 2 April 2024

Stoecklin Logistics Announces New CEO

Posted on by David Priestman

Stoecklin Logistics, a leading provider of automated material handling and warehouse storage systems, announced the company’s new CEO, Juerg Frefel, at MODEX 2024 in Atlanta recently. Appointed for his expertise as a natural scientist and engineer, Frefel (pictured) is passionate about supporting Stoecklin’s efforts in achieving sustainability and reducing its overall environmental impact.

For nearly 30 years, Urs Gruetter has successfully led Stoecklin Logistics, developing it into the international systems provider it is today. Now, in the company’s 90th year, Gruetter continues to support Stoecklin as Chairman of its Board of Directors, while Frefel takes the reins as CEO.

“I’m honoured to have been appointed to the position of CEO at Stoecklin Logistics,” said Frefel. “Stoecklin is a family business with dedicated employees, specialists, and solution-oriented engineers. With Urs still by my side, I’m excited to shape the future of Stoecklin Logistics together and create the next generation of innovative solutions.”

As an automation partner, Stoecklin Logistics is helping manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and wholesalers revamp warehousing operations through efficient sustainable product handling solutions.

Notably, Stoecklin’s green automation and robotic solutions combine intelligent software with automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), pallet conveyor systems, shuttles, and more to help companies efficiently move products and preserve the environment through reduced waste and less emissions. And, with continuous routine maintenance, Stoecklin ensures its customers operations are running smoothly and in accordance with ESG targets.

“In this new generation of technology, we plan to continue to focus on providing automated solutions that not only meet today’s needs, but needs for the unprecedented future. Our vision is to become the champions of automation, and I believe that our end-to-end, intelligent solutions are capable of achieving this,” Frefel added.

As a natural scientist, engineer with an MBA, and CEO, Frefel sustainability efforts will involve reducing environmental impacts in product development, production, building infrastructure and internal sustainability management to achieve a significant reduction in overall CO2 footprints.

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Stoecklin Logistics Opens New North American Headquarters

 

Reusing Pallets Essential to Sustainability Goals

Posted on by David Priestman

The Chairman of the UK National Association of Pallet Distributors (NAPD) has called for supply chain businesses to ensure they have a ‘reuse first’ policy in place for pallets.

As new legislation will be introduced in the UK and EU in 2024, environmental reporting will be mandatory for large businesses and is expected for SMEs by 2026. NAPD Chairman Paul Tait said the many companies that supply products such as food, drink, and pharmaceuticals can make the transition more straightforward by reusing their pallets, which will cut the carbon impact of their supply chains.

“Reuse is a central part of a circular economy and enables businesses to make sizeable savings in their emissions and move closer towards their increasing sustainability obligations,” said Tait. “Wooden pallets are a naturally sustainable product and companies that reuse them in their supply chains extend the environmental benefits further.”

Used pallets are exempt from packaging waste regulations, so businesses using them also cut down administration and cost.

Reusing Pallets

Saleh Hijazi, press officer for NAPD, said: “With regulations including the Sustainability Disclosure Standards (SDS) and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in the UK, and CSRD in Europe, coming into force in the months ahead, it’s imperative that everyone involved in goods supply chains works together to mitigate environmental impact and make businesses greener. Sustainability-focused strategies for supply chains are no longer a ‘nice-to-have’; they are essential to meeting legislative obligations and the demands of our customers.”

NAPD is the UK association for companies that repair pallets for reuse to a high standard. Its members are bound by a code of conduct and provide additional supply chain services to customers.

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European business reusing more wooden pallets

 

 

Reusing Pallets Essential to Sustainability Goals

Posted on by David Priestman

The Chairman of the UK National Association of Pallet Distributors (NAPD) has called for supply chain businesses to ensure they have a ‘reuse first’ policy in place for pallets.

As new legislation will be introduced in the UK and EU in 2024, environmental reporting will be mandatory for large businesses and is expected for SMEs by 2026. NAPD Chairman Paul Tait said the many companies that supply products such as food, drink, and pharmaceuticals can make the transition more straightforward by reusing their pallets, which will cut the carbon impact of their supply chains.

“Reuse is a central part of a circular economy and enables businesses to make sizeable savings in their emissions and move closer towards their increasing sustainability obligations,” said Tait. “Wooden pallets are a naturally sustainable product and companies that reuse them in their supply chains extend the environmental benefits further.”

Used pallets are exempt from packaging waste regulations, so businesses using them also cut down administration and cost.

Reusing Pallets

Saleh Hijazi, press officer for NAPD, said: “With regulations including the Sustainability Disclosure Standards (SDS) and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in the UK, and CSRD in Europe, coming into force in the months ahead, it’s imperative that everyone involved in goods supply chains works together to mitigate environmental impact and make businesses greener. Sustainability-focused strategies for supply chains are no longer a ‘nice-to-have’; they are essential to meeting legislative obligations and the demands of our customers.”

NAPD is the UK association for companies that repair pallets for reuse to a high standard. Its members are bound by a code of conduct and provide additional supply chain services to customers.

read more

European business reusing more wooden pallets

 

 

Galvanised Clad Rack High-Bay Warehouse

Posted on by David Priestman

Renova, a European consumer products brand in the tissue paper products segment, has automated its intralogistics operations with the opening of a new clad rack high-bay warehouse in Torres Novas, Portugal, where its head office is based too. The manufacture, design, calculation and installation of the structure was the responsibility of the storage solutions specialist AR Racking, who also carried out the project management.

“The internationalisation of our activity and presence of the Renova brand in foreign markets requires us to streamline and improve the competitiveness of our operations: faster and more precise to achieve more volume,” said Luis Saramago, Marketing Director at Renova. “We knew that AR Racking’s experience in projects of this scale would offer us the service, quality and deadline completion guarantee, hence our decision to work with them”, he added.

Clad rack warehouses

The clad-rack structure, whose particularity is that the racking supports the entire building, is completely galvanised and, therefore, extremely resistant to corrosion and extreme environmental conditions. The warehouse occupies an area of 6,532 m² and is 34 m above floor level. The racking has a storage capacity for 27,360 europallets, which will be loaded and unloaded by double-deep stacker cranes.

AR Racking brings high-quality standards in its industrial racking and structures, which are the result of its continuous engineering development activity and knowledge of the raw materials with which it works. In this case, the structure has been designed with earthquake-resistant calculation, for greater warehouse and customer safety.

Regarding the solution installed for Renova, “automation and exploitation of space in height will give Renova a far more agile operating flow, with more capacity for more products and greater control of references”, explained Bernardo Sopeña, International Key Account Manager at AR Racking. Clad rack warehouses provide high load density resulting in significant savings due to lower investment.

AR Racking is part of Grupo Arania, an industrial group of companies with extensive experience and scope, and with a multi-sectoral activity based on the transformation of steel that dates back more than 80 years. AR Racking provides the market with a wide range of solutions with high certified quality standards and a comprehensive project management service. AR Racking’s industrial storage systems stand out for their innovation, reliability and optimum efficiency.

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Warehouse capacity and efficiency increased

 

More Customer Appointments with Routing Solution

Posted on by David Priestman

Descartes Systems Group, a global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, announced that the British kitchen retailer, Wren Kitchens, is using Descartes’ dynamic appointment scheduling, route planning and optimisation solution to improve surveyor productivity allowing them to complete 56% more customer appointments and significantly reduce its overall ‘cost per appointment’, which has saved the company £2million annually. The solution has dramatically improved the productivity of Wren’s surveyors, who typically visit a customer’s home to provide estimates for kitchen or bedroom renovation projects.

“As the business expanded, we outgrew our legacy in-house system. We wanted a more robust tool with the ability to book appointments with 2-hour time slots and optimize who, where and when a surveyor visits to carry out customer estimates,” said Lee Holmes, Transport and Logistics Director at Wren Kitchens. “With Descartes, now when a customer books an appointment, the comprehensive solution works in the background to automatically optimise surveyor schedules and travel routes to appointments. This enables us to increase the number of appointments per day in an area, which not only lowers mileage and fuel consumption but also drives down the cost per appointment. Working with Descartes, we’ve saved 13% on annual fuel costs, which equates to approximately 354,000 fewer miles driven.”

Routing Solution

Descartes’ routing solution is part of its cloud-based last mile delivery solution suite, which helps distribution-intensive companies improve operational efficiency and customer experience. It supports dynamic delivery requirements, including same-day delivery, by offering flexible, efficient and cost-effective time windows and delivery options. Using advanced optimisation technology, the solution reduces the distance driven per delivery to maximize delivery capacity and optimize the productivity of mobile resources. With an integrated GPS-based mobile application, the solution coordinates drivers, dispatchers and call centers to ensure routes are executed according to plan and exceptions are handled efficiently. Electronic proof of delivery (ePOD) captures delivery details and streamlines the delivery process, and self-service customer engagement allows customers to track orders in real-time. Additionally, the solution improves delivery sustainability through increased route productivity, which lowers CO2 emissions per delivery, drives fuel savings and eliminates paper manifests and documents.

“We’re pleased that our routing solution is helping Wren achieve even higher standards of customer service excellence and exceptional productivity gains, which are driving compelling bottom line benefits,” said Gary Taylor, VP Sales, EMEA, Descartes. “For companies with service-driven vehicle fleets, like Wren, efficient routing is critical in overcoming the challenges associated with rising customer demands and labour shortages. Descartes’ route planning and execution solutions help companies of all sizes in diverse industries transform operational performance and heighten the customer experience.”

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Bathroom and Kitchen Specialist Unveils Worcester Six plans

 

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