CEVA logistics announces new COO

Hoofddorp, The Netherlands, 02 July 2009 – CEVA Logistics has today announced the appointment of Matthew Ryan in the newly created role as Chief Operating Officer. This role will focus on ensuring CEVA continues to provide industry leading operational and supply chain service excellence.

Until last year Mr Ryan was Executive VP of World Wide Operations and Logistics at Flextronics International, having spent 15 years as part of a management team that built a vast Electronics Contract Manufacturing Service company. Since 1995, Mr Ryan held numerous operational, supply chain and customer management roles with Flextronics. As COO at CEVA, he will help galvanize and integrate all the operational, “bottom line” elements of the global business and will assume overall responsibility for the FM network, global procurement and the Global Operations team.

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UKWA chairman warns that fuel prices could lead to UK 3PL migration

The Government’s failure to reduce the high cost of fuel in Britain could lead many companies to relocate their major UK-based warehouses and distribution centre hubs to mainland Europe with many hundreds of jobs lost as a result.

That was the message from Derrick Potter, national chairman of the United Kingdom Warehousing Association (UKWA) in his address to UKWA members at the Association’s Annual General Meeting, held recently at the Dorchester Hotel, London.

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2009 sees worst-ever decline in the West European trailer market

The last severe downturn in the trailer market was in 1993 - this one will be worse. In 92/93 the demand for trailers fell by 31% or 37,000 trailers. In 2008/9 the fall will be 37% or 77,000 trailers.

Back in 1993 the peak demand for trailers before the downturn was 120,000 units. This time the market reached 208,000 in 2007 and is forecast to fall to 131,000 in 2009. This is serious enough for the trailer manufacturers, the leading three of which are the German firms of Schmitz, Krone and Kögel, but it is also horrendous for the more familiar names of the component manufacturers that supply them.

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New plus points when weighing with RDS

RDS Technology recently gave the new Liftlog 100+ its industry launch at the SHD South West Regional Show. The Liftlog 100+ is the latest addition to the successful line up of cost-effective, affordable and easy-to-use onboard weighing systems for forklift trucks.

Following in the footsteps of the popular Liftalert and Liftlog 100, the Liftlog 100+ expands on the functionality of the range by 20, offering a load-totalising feature in addition to the weighing and overload 20 monitoring functions. This makes the Liftlog 100+ ideal for use in vehicle loading or unloading applications 20 where multiple pallets are to be check weighed or where weight limits are to be respected. Negating the need to travel to a floor-mounted platform scale often sited in a remote part of the warehouse, the Liftlog 100+ provides a time efficient means of check weighing.

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UKWA’s new look

The United Kingdom Warehousing Association (UKWA) chose the occasion of its annual Awards to reveal a new brand identity.

Roger Williams, the Association’s chief executive officer, comments, “We believe our new logo is modern, fresh and inspired. The logo is a symbol for our organisation and because UKWA is changing we felt that we needed a different symbol.”

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ShD puts MHE under the hammer

A new online auction site for materials handling equipment is set to go live this summer. Materials Handling Exchange, in association with ShD, will offer buyers and sellers a marketplace where new, used and surplus equipment can be bought and sold. A unique aspect of the auction is that it offers for sale goods from a variety of brands across numerous industry sectors.

The Materials Handling Exchange will offer a global marketplace for a wide assortment of warehouse handling equipment, from fork lift trucks and racking to scissor lifts and conveyors. Bi-monthly online auctions – the first of which ends on 23rd July – allow buyers to place bids and purchase equipment from anywhere in the world.

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Four Soft gives you cool runnings

Software solutions and IT consultancy service provider Four Soft recently welcomed Calderhead Refrigerated Transport UK as the latest customer to require its ‘software as a service’ WMS delivery option.

Four Soft (4S), one of the global leaders offering software solutions for transportation and logistics, has recently announced that it has signed a contract with Calderhead Refrigerated Transport UK, to implement its warehouse management system – 4S eLog, in Calderhead’s temperature controlled warehousing operation.

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A better view by Brigade Electronics

Even small machines present risks, and, as mobile site plant gets bigger, so does the potential for accidents, injuries and fatalities due to restricted visibility.

Brigade Electronics has been leading the the campaign for improving site safety, and has been instrumental in introducing vehicle reversing alarms and sensors, in-cab CCTV for all-round visibility, and, now, the latest in its stable of advanced technology, the night-piercing FLIR.

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Crime stoppers

The current severe downturn is having more than just a financial effect – it is also raising the level of crime affecting businesses. A new survey suggests that, as a result, there is now a significant increase in the spend on manned guarding and in expenditure in technologies such as CCTV.

 Yet more evidence has emerged of British industry expecting a rise in crime due to the recession. A new survey conducted by Reliance Security and Storage Handling Distribution magazine suggests that more than three quarters of the warehousing and logistics sector believes that the current severe downturn will raise the level of crime affecting their businesses.

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Clark: Young at heart

Sung Hak Baik is a name in Europe that is known only to those familiar with the forklift sector. But in South Korea, it is associated with a genuine corporate legend. The 70 year-old owner of the forklift manufacturer Clark, has every reason to look back with pride in 2009. This is because Baik's South Korean conglomerate Young An, which took over Clark in 2003, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

Elegant, and yet modestly dressed. With a winning friendliness. And always ready to discuss the latest developments in materials handling technology in fluent English with interested parties, customers and partners of Clark Europe GmbH. This is how Sung Hak Baik came across at the Clark stand of the 2008 logistics trade fair CeMAT in Hanover. Yet only a handful of his business contacts are aware of Sung Hak Baik's meteoric rise to become chairman of an international corporation.

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Traka’s secure key cabinet system is bulletproof

Even though manufactures of industrial vehicles are now building significant levels of safety equipment into their machines, they can be rendered ineffective should an untrained or unauthorised operator climb on board. Traka’s solution to restrict or prevent access to potentially dangerous equipment aims to ensure accidents can’t happen.

Established in 1995, Olney, Buckinghamshire-based business Traka was formed as a result of keys going missing at BA. The airline’s ground support vehicles are critical to its efficient operation, but keys were often not where staff expected them to be. A solution was devised, the software behind it developed, and Traka was born.

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Well done Darius

Darius Januskevicius of third party logistics provider Century Logistics was a worthy winner of the Warehouse Person of the Year Award at UKWA's recent annual awards ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel. Hailing from, as he put it, Lithuania's "seventh-biggest city", 'Darek' cut an impressive figure as he strode up to the stage to collect his award. His smart appearance and cultured manner stands him...