As a system integrator, TGW take over planning, production, implementation and maintenance of distribution centres – including everything from mechatronics to control systems and software. TGW’s core industries are fashion and apparel, groceries and industrial and consumer goods, serving international brands from A as in Adidas to Z as in Zalando.
CSO at TGW Northern Europe
The roots of TGW go back to 1969, when Ludwig Szinicz took over a small metalworking shop in Wels, Austria. Today. TGW has subsidiaries in Europe, China and the US and more than 4,400 employees worldwide.
Innovations play an important role at TGW. The company has applied for a total of over 500 patents for its products and solutions so far. It continues to invest in innovation, with a focus on artificial intelligence, software and robotics. These technologies are also the basis for maximum automation of the processes in logistics centres that are most difficult to staff adequately.
Joel Garbutt, CSO at TGW Northern Europe spoke to Warehouse & Logistics News.
What products or services does your company offer?
We build on strong partnerships, including everything from planning to implementation to lifetime services.
Which industries do your customers operate in and which sectors are growing fastest?
Fashion & apparel
Grocery
Industrial and consumer goods
Do you have any examples of a project you have recently completed?
Since March 2022, the new distribution centre of Fource has been fully operational. Fource is part of US-based LKQ group and sells automotive spare parts, tools and components using a network of wholesalers. The new building, with 50,000 m² of floor space, bundles Fource’s logistics operation for the Netherlands at a single location. The heart of the solution is a FlashPick® system – with ten aisles and more than 180,000 tote storage locations. Some 200 energy-efficient Stingray shuttles provide the storage and retrieval mechanism. In combination with 12 goods receiving workstations and 16 high-performance picking workstations, PickCenter One, the shuttle system is the centrepiece of the solution. The TGW Software Suite is responsible for the warehouse management.
Fource continues to rely on TGW’s expertise. A team of Lifetime Services specialists work together with the customer’s technicians to ensure maximum availability.
What are your most recent product innovations?
We expanded our expertise in robotics with Quba, a comprehensive range of mobile robots. These intelligent and versatile robots can transport totes, cartons and pallets autonomously and handle a wide range of tasks, including supplying packing or returns workstations as well as automatic palletising and depalletising stations. Quba is a cooperation with AGV specialist SAFELOG.
What are the major trends and developments affecting your category and your customers, and how are you responding?
Rising costs, limited supplies and labour scarcity force businesses like ours to react and adapt in new and different ways. Innovative purchasing methods and “long-lead time item buying” are just a few ways TGW has adapted to ensure we meet the needs of our projects and the delivery promises to our customers.
The shortage of labour and the ever increasing demands of the consumer has led to more and more businesses looking at automation. In turn, automated solutions that require fewer operators and being fully operational in the shortest possible time has driven AMR and AGV technologies to the fore. The introduction of TGW’s Quba robots is testament to this.
How were business levels in 2022 compared to previous years?
TGW’s financial year runs from June to June. In the previous fiscal year, TGW once again registered growth. Order intake, revenues and EBIT generated strong results. Business in this calendar year remains positive although there are signs that the economic challenges caused by rising inflation and soaring energy costs may have a negative effect on certain markets and when and how businesses invest in capital projects.
What is your strategy for succeeding in the current climate?
The biggest challenges are the limited supply of chips and electronic components coming out of Taiwan and China and the rising costs in the supply chain. Constantly monitoring the situation allows TGW to mitigate the risks on a project-by-project basis. Some of our entities are using local companies for certain components to assist our central purchasing departments. Some of our customers – like the large apparel and sportswear companies – have some significant influence as well with their own supply chain. We’ve been able to work in partnership with them to get parts on time and keep the project on track.
The coming year will remain very challenging, but TGW has proven to be a trusted and established automation partner, having the necessary experience to guide companies through their automation transformation and support them with taking their operation go-live.
In what areas are you making technological advances?
Artificial intelligence, software and robotics.
What training do you provide for your staff?
TGW’s biggest challenge is finding the right people. We are competing for engineering-based labour, in a large variety of areas. But it is not only important to hire people, you also want to keep them. We have a post-graduate undergraduate scheme for people coming from universities and colleges so they can gain the necessary work experience. With our apprenticeship programme, we offer people that have finished school and are not going to university the chance to learn a skill and the guarantee of having a job with TGW when they finish their apprenticeship.
What is the company’s commitment to social responsibility?
Entrepreneurial action and social responsibility are inseparably linked at TGW. This is based on the philosophy of TGW founder Ludwig Szinicz: “Focusing on People – Learning and Growing”. He converted TGW into a foundation-owned company, meaning that TGW cannot be sold. Two-thirds of profits are re-invested in the company, in the employees and technologies of the future. In addition, at least ten percent of profits go to charitable projects.
TGW Northern Europe has recently introduced the social constellations concept, providing the environment and platforms for people to be more involved in living TGW’s values day to day. There are several informal groups that meet to work on a specific subject, learn from each other and build social bonds and also help the business to be better at what it does.
What improvements have you made to your customer service recently?
At TGW we are constantly reviewing the service level we provide our customers, old and new. We place great value on long-term partnerships with trustworthiness. To this end, TGW strives to improve the customer experience and derive higher levels of performance and efficiency through constant monitoring and system feedback data.
Are you helping customers boost the level of automation in their business?
Yes, that’s our core business. A state-of-the-art distribution centre must feature the right degree of automation to ensure that the requirements for quick delivery can be fulfilled and peaks are covered. But the degree of automation and application vary. Companies have different resources and skills at their disposal. That’s why TGW is individually tailoring its solutions to the needs of every customer. The more insight TGW has in historical data, business data and personnel levels, the better they can run a simulation that meets the planned investment and labour needs.
Do you help customers maximise the use of their existing warehouse space?
TGW also works together with its clients to find a cost-effective and high-performance alternative to a new purchase. TGW’s retrofit services include processes, software, control or mechanical systems. They range all the way from individual replacement units, minimal adaptations, modifications and updates to optimisation of processes and even comprehensive extensions of the system.
Will you be investing in your premises over the next 12 months?
TGW consistently reinvests in the business process, people and infrastructure annually.
How future proof is your business?
Signs are pointing to further growth. TGW is making massive investments into research and development, infrastructure as well as the education and training of our employees.
Will you be exhibiting at any major trade shows over the next year?
Intralogistex, 28-29 March 2023
Tomorrow’s Warehouse, 8 June 2023
How would you sum up your company in three words?
Focus on people – Learning & Growing – Reliable
TGW
01858 468855
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