Warehousing operators need to be fused with truck pick-ups to improve efficiency of stock movement, according to one conveyor supplier
Warehousing operators need to be fused with truck pick-ups to improve efficiency of stock movement, according to one conveyor supplier which is promoting its ‘warehouse on wheels’ solution.
Industrial Conveying Managing Director Done Erskine says road freight carriage should be the primary source of storage, making it a mobile warehouse.
“Very few companies are utilising this train of thought — in fact they are not even recognising the potential for this to be done,” he says.
“But when you study official figures on Australian road transport it is quite obvious that trucks move the majority of the country’s freight, so business managers and owners may need to be just their thinking completely.
“They must consider making trucks the main source of storage and consequently setup materials handling and loading to service it accordingly.”
According to Erskine, an optimised materials handling system allows companies to abandon storing stock on the premises for an indefinite period and will rarely have to see their goods.
“Instead, they use a clever materials transfer system on their site that instantly moves goods from incoming to outgoing without storage, or they have equipped their transport carrier with appropriate systems to load and unload palletised or non-palletised product and transport it directly to their clients without warehousing,” he says.
“This new approach is bettering supply chain standards and eliminating double handling and storage time that costs business in so many ways.”
He says not only are smart conveyor systems less costly as floor charges escalate, the reduction in multi-handling of stock also reduces time and operating costs and ensures smoother movement of product from manufacturing base or bond store to the customer.
In the case of perishables, reduction in supply chain steps can only be of benefit to handlers of product with limited shelf life, Erskine says.
“Our involvement in this type of materials handling solution was sparked by a growing call from industry that warehouse consolidation alone does not adequately reduce running costs,” Erskine says.
“It was clear a step had to be taken out of the materials handling sequence to provide a leaner level of operation for many Australian companies.
“That has allowed us to develop fixed and purpose-built systems for a demanding market serious about making transport systems a de-facto storage solution.”
Using its existing product and technologies alongside solution-specific developments, ICA is currently developing several turnkey projects for Australian companies undertaking this cultural change.
The projects include automated transport loading and unloading systems, pallet handing systems such as multi-lane palletising equipment to organise truck loads ready for dispatch, and elevators and spiral conveyors for non-palletised goods transfer between different floor levels, powered roller conveyor and lift tables.