The Interroll Group is the world’s leading provider of material handling solutions. Founded in Germany in 1959, it has been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange since 1977. With headquarters in Northampton, Interroll UK supplies system integrators and equipment manufacturers with a comprehensive range of platform-based products and services. Its main categories are Rollers, Conveyors, Sorters and Pallet Handling. Interroll solutions are used in express and postal services, e-commerce, airports, food & beverage, fashion, automotive and many other industries, supporting leading brands such as Amazon, Bosch, Coca-Cola, DHL, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Siemens, Walmart and Zalando.
Managing Director at Interroll Ltd
Hilton Campbell, Managing Director of Interroll Ltd spoke to Warehouse & Logistics News.
What are your best-known products?
Interroll is a trusted and proven materials handling solutions partner, supplying conveyor rollers, drum motors, conveyors, sorters, and various products for optimising material flow in logistics and industrial applications. Our products are modular and platform-based. This means we can supply products and sub-systems to full internal logistics systems that can handle anything from poly bags to fully loaded pallets.
How is industry sector performance?
As our end-users are based in many different sectors, our performance often mirrors the fluctuations in these individual markets. Like most global businesses, we are still in a period of adjustment after the pandemic. Ongoing topics like the global cost of living challenge, as well as conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, have introduced a layer of uncertainty and volatility into the global economic landscape.The fallout from such geopolitical events has ripple effects across various industries, and we have seen this affect consumer sentiment and purchasing behaviours in specific localities.
On the flip side, albeit slower than in previous years, we predict that the demand for smart solutions within e-commerce will come back to a high level, with the re-engineering of current processes being a focus area.
Which industry sectors are your customers in?
Interroll’s customers encompass a diverse range of industries, including logistics and distribution centres, e-commerce, food and beverage, automotive manufacturing, airports, industrial manufacturing and courier, express and parcel. These customers rely on our materials handling and automation solutions to optimise the flow of goods, enhance efficiency, and improve processes. Interroll’s adaptability and versatility enable us to serve a broad customer base to help them reach their full potential.
What sets your company apart as a supplier?
Strong and enduring partnerships are instrumental in helping companies make the most of their business opportunities. Our customers’ success is our success. That’s why we consistently strive to expand our international leadership position as a neutral provider of material flow solutions. Our financial stability, global presence, and profitable growth deliver significant value to our customers, system integrators, OEMs, and solution users.
We would never refer to ourselves as a supplier. Our ethos is to be a partner. We bring a wealth of knowledge in solutions, specially tailored to your industry, which can greatly assist in every stage of the project, from planning to execution, and after-sales service when required. This promotes a partnership of equals, allowing challenges to be mastered much more easily.
What are your most recent innovations?
Our latest innovation is the AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robots) Top Module. Here, we are bridging the gap between static and mobile conveying solutions. The AMR Top Module is part of a complete Light Conveyor Platform (LCP) and consists of two parts. First, there is the conveyor module on the AMR, which has been developed based on Interroll’s extensive and long-standing experience with conveyors. It has been optimised on weight, service, and flexibility.
The second part is the AMR adaptor, which serves as the connecting piece between the top module and the AMR. This adaptor follows the design lines of the individual AMR and contains the communication controls for optimum docking and handling of the objects being conveyed.
2023 also saw us extend our product portfolio with the launch of our high-performance conveyor platform (HPP) for courier, express and parcel service providers. It includes an intelligent diverter module which means it can be used for preliminary sorting in conjunction with powerful sorting systems, or as an autonomous mini-sorter. The clever design allows for the rapid yet gentle sortation of goods including cardboard boxes, small packages, padded envelopes, manila envelopes and polybags with a throughput of above 7,000 items per hour, depending on the product.
What are the major trends affecting your customers, and how are you responding?
A growing shortage of labour as well as sharply rising logistics costs are driving demand for automation solutions. Industry 4.0 represents a fundamental shift in the way products are designed, manufactured, and delivered. This next-generation smart manufacturing marries physical production and operations with digital technologies such as AI, machine learning, cloud computing and big data to create a more holistic, seamless ecosystem for companies focused on manufacturing and supply chain management. For around seven years, we have been anticipating these changes, investing in R&D to push the boundaries of technology and deliver future-proof solutions.
What is your strategy for success and growth in 2024?
Long-term thinking, openness to innovation and partnerships with other technology leaders determine our future. We aim to be two steps ahead of the competition in terms of quality and innovation to bring the highest customer comfort and confidence. This applies to our solutions and services in equal measure. Furthermore, Interroll continues to invest with cautious optimism in both capacity and productivity gains. This too supports our medium to long-term growth ambitions.
Do you invest in staff training and skills development?
Absolutely. Employees are the most important success factor for our business. Staff training and education is a central component of our personnel development concept. For Interroll, “very good” is not good enough. We commit to excellence in which our employees can develop their competence and skills in the best way possible. Success comes from being prepared to learn new skills and meeting change head-on. In 2023, Interroll UK invested heavily in both product training and professional sales skills. Furthermore, all leaders – including me as Managing Director – will participate in a new leadership course. One is never “too established,” and an attitude of “continuous improvement” is our key differentiator.
How are you helping customers boost the level of automation in their business?
Automation and robotics are key technologies for greater competitiveness, quality and sustainability in industrial production. This applies not only to the supply of materials to assembly lines or robots but also to the seamless connection of storage and picking areas with incoming and outgoing goods.
The sorting and conveying technology that we have provided since early 2000 is already optimised to work in automated environments. Interroll’s automation solutions include software and control systems that enable customers to manage and control their material handling equipment efficiently. These systems can integrate with warehouse management and control systems to streamline operations.
Our DC platform bus interface also offers data transparency, for example, users can receive general information about the current operating state of their line and the operating load of the individual drives. Auto-generated reports let systems engineers know when any maintenance is required and in some cases, faults are self-diagnosed.
Do you help customers maximise the use of their existing warehouse space?
With the rocketing costs of real estate, every inch needs to be utilised. Interroll’s Layouter Tool helps OEMs and system integrators optimise the warehouse space they are working with and streamlines the planning and design of conveyor solutions.
Users can virtually configure their space, creating custom conveyor layouts, visualising how the system fits within set parameters and potentially simulating material flow for optimisation. The tool also aids in selecting the right Interroll components and estimating project costs. The Layouter Tool makes engineers’ and planners’ lives easy. It works as a plug-in into Emulator 3D and we can also provide training on how to use it. How would you sum up Interroll in three words?
Quality, Speed, Simplicity.
INTERROLL LTD
01536 312770
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