Welcome to the August 15th issue of Warehouse & Logistics News. We hope you’re having a good summer, wherever you’re reading this.
Normally at this time of year we talk cheerily in this column about holidaymakers holding up the traffic on our roads. But as we went to press the queue going nowhere on the M20 wasn’t down to families and coaches going to Dover Castle or the white cliffs. Instead it was trucks loaded with freight, stuck due to the crippling combination of the striking French workers and the crisis over the migrants trying to get here from Calais via ferries and the Eurotunnel. A lorra, lorra lorries, as dear old Cilla might have said, costing cash while they’re sitting there not going anywhere.
It’s the holiday season, but in today’s business environment you have to keep your operations going all year round, and focus on maximising effectiveness. To help you do just that, our features in this issue take in fork trucks, warehouse flooring and conveying & sortation. ‘Warehouse Flooring’ includes floor preparation, maintenance, mezzanine floors and area markings. ‘Conveying & Sortation’ covers automated materials handling equipment and systems, robotics and AGV.
As reported on our front page, access to accurate and real-time data is an absolute necessity for supply chain specialists like DB Schenker. In a recent project DBS has deployed Honeywell scanning solutions and WMS PHI data solution at their warehouse in Willebroek, near Antwerp, to enable the seamless registration that is key for efficient food logistics. DB Schenker’s Willebroek facility is fully equipped as a food warehouse, from which DBS provides distribution for multiple customers in the Benelux region. The need for accountable traceability within the complex food logistics industry means accurate and efficient track and trace of goods is of uttermost importance, and having the right equipment is essential. Geert Vanderoy, DBS’ Willebroek Branch Manager, acknowledges that the search for reliable scanning equipment did not take long. In his words, “In the continuous pursuit of higher delivery quality and product availability, the combination of the scanning equipment from Honeywell and SAP is second to none. The quality of the Honeywell products and the service that PHI DATA provides is excellent and we really appreciate this.”
Returning to the problems on the M20, the blockage was bad enough to make the TV headlines. The Calais migrant crisis is very serious and needs work to tackle it. But in the warehousing and logistics world, the impact on business from this episode also flags up the need for our government to look urgently at how to ease the pressure on our Southern ports and improve Britain’s overloaded logistics network. Let’s hope they get on with it.
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