11 minute read
ALS Logistic Solutions
Reinforcing a legacy of providing premium specialist automation solutions
Leaving an indelible mark with the latest technologies in Materials Handling, Cargo and Car Park Systems
With its remarkable track record and stellar performance, ALS Logistic Solutions is now well on course to expand its operations with planned new subsidiaries across the GCC and localizing some of its products to meet regional demands and requirements.
Walid Khoury is the Group Managing Partner & Senior MHS Consultant, ALS Logistic Solutions, based in Dubai. Walid Khoury graduated with a ‘Master of Science in Engineering (MScEng)’ degree from St. Petersburg State University and has over 20 years of experience in the Logistic & Aviation industries, including Project Management and Equipment Fabrication, airport systems and design consultancy for Automation Projects. Walid Khoury was appointed as General Manager in 2001 and is currently managing all major business in the ALS network from its Dubai operation with upgraded offices to accommodate the growing number of staff, plus other offices in Germany & Malaysia & Singapore.
There is now increasingly an accepted consensus and principle that processes and functions that involve handling materials, logistics and supply chain should and must be automated when possible.
Over the past several years, there has been virtually an exponential growth in technology and sophistication in robotics, automation and materials handling. These innovations will improve operational efficiency, increase responses, deliver consistency and predictability, and importantly result in substantially lower operating cost.
With more than three decades of trail-blazing experience, pioneering services provider ALS Logistic Solutions has reinforced its expertise in ergonomic spacesaving solutions for warehouses and parking areas among many other professional products and services.
To get the lowdown on the range and extent of its operations and performance, Global Supply Chain conducted an exclusive interview with Walid Khoury,
Group Managing Partner, ALS Logistic Solutions.
Global Supply Chain (GSC): To begin with, briefy what are the core activities, offerings, and specializations of ALS Logistic Solutions?
Walid Khoury (WK): ALS Logistic Solutions, founded in Germany over 30 years ago with branches in UAE, Malaysia, Singapore, and Germany is one of the leading suppliers of logistics automation with a worldwide footprint.
Our material handling and automation portfolio covers a full range of solutions from manual operations to fully automated solutions, consisting of, but not limited to systems for Air Cargo Handling, Modular Warehouse Equipment, Industrial Facility Automation, Express Handling, and Car Parks.
Our dedicated cross- disciplinary consulting team designs and implements solutions that adapt to the customer needs and market requirements providing optimal material flow that increases efficiency and productivity across various industries.
GSC: How is ALS evolving in the shadow of Covid-19? How have your priorities changed during the pandemic?
WK: During the Pandemic, we continued to support all the businesses and clients across our network and managed to keep every member safe and healthy. Being a global solution provider with regional and local presence differentiated our offering as we were quickly able to respond to the customers’s needs especially with the difficult travel and workplace restrictions that continue to date.
ALS is very well positioned to help customers in their logistics journey helping them reduce costs and improve service levels.
GSC: In these times do you have a sense of greater gravitation by companies and LSPs (Logistics services providers) towards automation/digitalization?
WK: Automation will play a vital role in enabling organizations to meet evolving intralogistics complexity. As customers’ demands for choice and speed continue to grow, along with environmental concerns, trends such as anticipatory demand will
GSC: Do you see a greater focus and orientation towards Automation going forward?
WK: Workforce shortages required companies to look for opportunities to automate processes and reduce human involvement. Furthermore, the pandemic accelerated investments that many organizations had already made in automation. Companies are looking to automate a larger share of their processes and automation, once limited to larger facilities is now being implemented in warehouses and facilities of all sizes.
Automation is the best way to improve reliability and efficiency and to match the ever-growing expectations of end customers. The cost of automation solutions has also decreased over recent years, and effectiveness has improved, leading to large, fully automated systems being deployed in a variety of industries beyond the historical courier express companies and airport baggage handling.
GSC: How is technology and automation meeting working / operational protocols in these pandemic times?
WK: Companies are now exploring the growing importance of technologies, such as augmented reality and artificial intelligence, and the role these platforms may play in evolving operational challenges.
Well-structured organizations will improve their technology level, but new implementations might not work without the strict implementation of certain operational basics. Partial improvement will surely increase the efficiency but will not change the processes drastically if the changes are not implemented across the board.
GSC: Air Logistics is an important component of your operations and ALS has a strong footprint in this sector. Please elaborate.
WK: We are an engineering specialist in the automation of operations and processes in Air Cargo Terminals since ALS’s inception. Our large network within the industry and our collaboration with international airlines and airports enable us to design and implement efficient solutions based on the latest trends and developments in cargo handling in the aviation industry. With ISO 9001 standards, ALS qualified engineering and project are experts in Project Design Planning, Air Cargo Terminals design, Planning Design Simulation, full or partial IT for automation, Installation / Training, and After Sales Support.
GSC: What are some new technologies that have emerged in recent times that are essentially a game-changer for LSPs in Covid-19 times?
WK: Since the pandemic started, many LSPs decided to implement full or partial automation process handling in response to the labor shortages and to handle the increase in customer demands which most companies were not ready for.
The improvements in handling do not only apply to the automated storage and retrieval processes but are also
related to labor efficiency and the implementation of IT packages that deliver value stream and process improvements that target these challenges.
GSC: What are your short and/ or long-term expansion plans for the region?
WK: The Middle East is an interesting place to invest. The region is diversifying beyond oil, and economies are much stronger than before. From Saudi Arabia’s vision 2030 to more specific and targeted initiatives in Egypt and the GCC, ambitious and cutting-edge projects are becoming a reality.
The commitment of the countries remains strong and the increased infrastructure upgrade in the GCC countries will help the regional economy in the long run. We are planning to open new subsidiaries in the region, starting in Saudi Arabia, which is a very dynamic and exciting market for us.
We are exploring localization of some of our products which will help improve service levels and reduce lead times. ALS is also interested in expanding our business in Asia further, with India being our next focus area since we see many opportunities in Material Handling and Storage Systems’ Automation. This follows our successful Asian expansion in Malaysia and Singapore.
GSC: What opportunities in store and challenges do you foresee going forward?
WK: For many years, the fully automated intralogistics facilities were the large sortation hubs of courier express due to the volume handled and the relative uniformity of goods’ sizes that involve handling materials, logistics and supply chain should and must be automated when possible.
Nowadays, with convenience and customer experience at the forefront of retail logistics trends, warehouses and distribution centers have had to adapt to the evolving consumer landscape. The recent sharp rise of e-commerce has played a huge role in shaping the way warehouses operate, as have consumer expectations for speed of delivery, customization, and product availability.
To meet the demands of fast-paced, e-commerce-driven retail operations, warehouses will continue to automate their processes.
GSC: An E-commerce surge as we are witnessing now is clearly a boom for your business. Is that the case with ALS? Please elaborate.
WK: Trends that were emerging before the Pandemic–ordering more online, smaller order quantities and faster fulfillment needs–have accelerated enormously because of customer behavior that was forced from going to the store to ordering online. The surge in demand for e-commerce services creates a good opportunity for our company.
ALS and our partners have been working with many pharmaceutical and food retailers to help them match the right automation system to their distribution model. With the Micro Fulfillment Center (MFC), we can offer an e-commerce solution connected to pharmacies and supermarkets.
This turnkey system provides a complete solution for a relatively lower cost than the rebuilding of the entire supply chain. Orders are rapidly processed and ready for pick up or delivery within minutes. Last-mile costs are also comparatively low with our system due to the pick and pack strategy.
There are clear signs that consumer expectations are evolving. The focus is no longer exclusively on next-day delivery, if not on the same day. ALS provides the most suitable fulfillment solution for e-commerce for online groceries, wholesale retail, pharmaceutical, and fashion industries.
GSC: Describe your partnership with Germany’s Goldhofer Airport Technology?
WK: ALS has a long-standing partnership with Goldhofer the global leader in heavy-duty aircraft and apron handling special vehicles. Goldhofer offers a complete range of aircraft tow tractors for handling aircraft in every weight range.
In response to the recent increases in demand for airport logistics in the Middle East & Africa region, ALS and Goldhofer opened a joint representative office and regional logistics center in Dubai in 2018.
From their new representative office, Goldhofer provides customers with more intensive local support including a dedicated parts store that allows them to attend GCC and Africa clients at the maximum speed. The new sales and service center is located in our office in Dubai.
Our partnership with Goldhofer Airport Technology is a long-term relationship based on mutual trust and commitment and we are very happy to support them to be the market leaders in the Middle East and Africa.
GSC: What trends do you foresee in intra-logistics automation for the region?
WK: Companies are looking to transform efficiency through highly focused collaboration between automated systems, IoT IT solutions, and an increasingly skilled workforce. The workforce of the future will no longer be required to undertake repetitive mundane activities.
These tasks will be handled by automated systems, potentially 24/7; staff instead will require new skills and expertise to undertake far more complex and valuable roles throughout the supply chain. Automation will play a vital role in enabling companies to meet evolving intralogistics complexity.
As customers’ demands for choice and speed continue to grow, along with environmental concerns, trends such as anticipatory demand will be facilitated by the current shift away from manual processes towards the smart, fully automated warehouse and facilities.
GSC: Are you planning to take on new partnerships and representations?
WK: ALS is open to partnership with leading companies within the Air cargo, Car Park, and Material Handling Industry. We have long-term fruitful cooperation with our existing partners, and we believe it turned out successful for all of us. Exploring business opportunities with ALS will help companies market the products in the Middle East, South East Asia, and Europe.
Recently we have partnered with Australian Turntables, a world-recognized ISO accredited company specializing in rotational movement systems. They provide turntables to a wide range of industries. ALS expert engineers will support Australian Turntables from the initial concept design of a project through to completion and beyond.
GSC: How big is the ALS footprint in the pharma / food / cold chain sector?
WK: ALS is abreast with regulatory requirements in the region with specific regulated industries like pharmaceutial, cold chain, and food. Shipments of Pharmaceutical and sensitive products require specific equipment and automated storage facilities. Transporting healthcare products by air demands a rigorous logistical approach. If mishandled, the intactness of these products can be compromised by temperature changes during transportation. ALS designs storage facilities for sensitive items, where material handling systems are connected with smart technology allowing us to weigh, dimension, and scan the items and share the information with all parties including regulatory authorities.
Companies like Al Dawaa Pharmacies in Saudi Arabia benefited from this expertise already and currently, they are the market leader in Pharmaceutical distribution in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We have also partnered with KNAPP for the Micro Fulfillment Centers for Carrefour in the region and working on other similar large
clients to fulfill their ambition in automating their processes.
GSC: How did ALS currently fare in 2020 and what is your outlook for 2021?
WK: 2020 was a year of unique challenges in terms of health and the economy, however, ALS continued its growth trajectory across all divisions and regions. Despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, we had market success and positive momentum provided by the global economic recovery. For 2021, we remain positive in the overall outlook towards ALS growth and we will continue to pursue opportunities and business diversity to make sure we grow stronger.
