Welcome to the November 1st issue of Warehouse & Logistics News. Congratulations to Medigold Health, a health business which is offering a free support package to SMEs in the logistics sector to help them protect their teams as they return to work from furlough and get Britain’s economy back on track. The package includes access to doctors and nurses both remotely and via its specialist clinics for employees with health issues, including those arising from COVID-19, and those who are self-isolating or shielding. Despite the rise in awareness of, and commitment to, employee health and wellbeing, eight out of ten SMEs currently do not have a support strategy in place and only three per cent of people working in SMEs have access to comprehensive occupational health advice.

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In readiness for change and the many challenges of Brexit, total supply chain solutions specialist Oakland International is set to increase capacity at its Dublin facility by over 60% as of January 2021. After launching in Ireland in 2009 and establishing a strong presence via a joint collaboration with Mark Caffrey, Oakland took the strategic decision in 2018 to expand and move to the ideal location of Food Central, which is adjacent to Dublin airport, has excellent motorway links, and is less than 10 minutes from the Dublin port tunnel, placing Oakland Ireland in the right place at the right time, our cover story reports.

The pallet network sector has shown a strong response to the Covid-19 outbreak, our pallet networks feature reports. Statistics released by the Association of Pallet Networks (APN) for the first six months of 2020 show that home delivery more than doubled. The first two quarters of 2020 saw pressure on pallet volumes, with a 10% drop in next day deliveries compared to the same period the previous year.

Warehouse operators will agree that flooring is one of the most important investments they have to make, says our warehouse flooring feature. Attempts to cut corners on flooring maintenance often end up costing more in the long run. This year, Covid-19 has challenged the availability of flooring contractors but the industry is making every effort to maintain normal services. The Association of Concrete Industrial Flooring Contractors (ACIFC) said it has strong continuity measures in place and is confident that as it adapts to the new norm, the service it provides members will not be adversely affected.

The demand for online shopping, already on the increase in recent years, has soared in 2020 thanks to the lockdown. Both the overall volume of online traffic and the demand for different sized packages has grown. One result of this trend is that sortation conveyors have become an even more important part of any warehouse business. Warehouse owners may feel at a loss when choosing a conveyor, as so many are on the market. Our conveying and sortation feature provides an overview of the sortation conveyors on the market.

Enjoy reading the issue.

James Surridge

Publishing Editor

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