Conveying more Vanderlande Industries

CONVEYING MORE

Vanderlande Industries is a global market leader in the design and manufacture of handling systems for airports, warehouses and government distribution centres. The company has been setting new standards with its latest innovative, high-tech handling systems. Philip Yorke looks at a company that continues to outperform its competitors and extend its global footprint.

Vanderlande Industries was founded in Veghel, the Netherlands in 1947 and began by manufacturing conveyer systems for the loading of agricultural produce onto ships, which were moored in the nearby canal. Following a period of consistent growth, the company today is a global operator and one of the largest and most technically advanced in the world. Its core businesses provide a wide range of fully automated material handling systems for baggage handling at airports, as well as for automation systems for warehouses and government postal services.

Vanderlande designs and installs material handling systems of all sizes, from local sorting depots to some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated distribution centres. All the company’s bespoke systems and services are designed to improve customers’ logistics processes, from the initial concept stage right through to total life-cycle support.

Vanderlande’s services range from logistics concept and design, through engineering, software development, supply chain management and manufacturing. This is in addition to project management, system integration and a wide range of customer services. In recent years Vanderlande has enhanced its reputation by extending its service concepts to customers. This is a growth area for the company as traditionally the focus has been on mechanical maintenance and spare parts and this has now been extended to include pro-active maintenance, remote monitoring and diagnostics with a clear focus on end-to-end process performance.

Transferable expertise

Vanderlande’s advanced postal sorting systems provide up-to-theminute solutions for postal hubs and depots of all sizes. With more than 500 systems installed, the company focuses on providing real- time process and systems intelligence using advanced IT solutions. These enable its customers to maximise the efficiency of their sorting processes and to continuously improve their operations. The company’s systems cover the entire door-to-door process, from arrival and unloading through sortation, right up to loading and departure.

Vanderlande is also able to transfer its diverse technologies and thus make it possible to overcome the challenges presented by the three main areas of its business. These are baggage handling, warehouse automation and postal sorting automation. For example, the logistics flow in airport baggage systems is very different from that of big warehouses, where very large numbers of individual units may need to be stored, picked and despatched.

Warehouses for supermarkets for example may handle more than 20,000 different products and sorting and picking on this scale is a big software challenge, which is where the company’s transferable technology plays a major part.

The wholly-owned company Vanderlande Warehouse Automation is one of the world’s foremost suppliers of automated logistics systems for warehouses and distribution centres, with a track record of providing advanced automation systems to more than 1000 facilities worldwide.

World’s first 3D shuttle concept

Increasing labour costs, limited space and many small orders with short delivery times are just a few of the challenges facing today’s warehousing and distribution centres. This means that there is a continuous search for solutions to reduce operating costs, increase productivity, maximise space and offer an elevated level of service. As a result of these evolving demands, Vanderlande has launched its innovative and unique 3D shuttle concept called ‘Adapto’.

Adapto is the next logical step in flexible warehouse automation. It is a storage, retrieval and transport concept that offers unique flexibility and availability, enabling warehouses to optimise their service levels.

The Smart Way of Data Capture

Camera-based reading systems automatically acquire data of conveyable items such as parcels and envelopes. Not only does this include the capturing of barcodes - the integrated solution DWS also precisely determines volume and weight in real time. Comprehensive and reliable data capture is becoming increasingly important for courier, express and parcel services to improve both operational efficiency and service quality. The same applies for the logistics and warehousing industry sectors, which are also endeavoring to further reduce their processing times required for data capturing and inspection of incoming goods. For efficiently identifying conveyable goods the Wiesbaden-based machine vision specialist VITRONIC has developed a smart solution – the Auto-ID system VIPAC DWS (Dimensioning, Weighing and Scanning). As an integrated solution, the certified DWS system automatically reads barcodes and 2D codes on up to five package sides while simultaneously determining the package volume and weight. This ensures a fully reliable and repeatable process of data acquisition, enabling internationally operating companies to establish consistent standards across their network. The data is transmitted to a sorter control system or a higher-level host system and stored in an alibi storage. This transparent and continually traceable data enables full process control and optimization. Even at high conveying speeds, the system prevents bottlenecks and there is no need for manual intervention. As the data capturing process is automated rather than manual, costs can be reduced and potential errors avoided. For customers, the DWS system offers three major benefits – they can rely on a complete solution that generates a comprehensive database which can be seamlessly integrated into their existing processes. For more information visit VITRONIC at CeMAT Hanover World leading trade fair for intralogistics & supply chain management May 31 - June 3, 2016, Hanover Hall 27, Booth C53

VITRONIC DWS system automatically captures barcodes and determines package volume and weight

Adapto is also offered in combination with Vanderlande’s highly successful and ergonomic ‘Pick@Ease’ workstations. The introduction of this new technology to the market a few years ago is further evidence of Vanderlande’s pioneering research and development programme and its leadership position within the industry.

Airtrax is another innovative and reliable product concept by Vanderlande for transporting, sorting and storing hanging goods. It delivers benefits throughout any operation, allowing significant volumes of goods to be moved over long distances while coping with changing elevations and complex pathways. It is ideal for highfrequency environments, including for example, goods on hangers that are specifically designed for the fashion industry.

This latest pocket-sorter solution is also perfect for handling nonhanging items and returns and is the optimal carton-carrier solution for efficient and user-friendly transportation. Airtrax contains just one base on to which all types of carrier modules can be fitted in order to facilitate various functions and enable 3D movements so that existing warehouse capacity can be optimised.

Advanced baggage handling system

In January 2016, Vanderlande was awarded a major contract when it was commissioned to supply a state-of-the-art baggage-handling system for Bahrain International Airport (BIA). The contract is for the design, manufacture and installation of an advanced baggage handling system that is capable of processing over 4700 bags per hour.

The announcement was issued by the Kingdom of Bahrain’s Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications (MTT), and is part of a major airport overhaul. The project is expected to revitalise much of the potential in Bahrain and the Northern Gulf region’s aviation industry. The Chief Executive Officer of Bahrain Airport Company, Mr Mohamed Yousif Al-Binfalah said, “We look forward to working hand-in-hand with Vandelande to deliver a state-of-the-art system which should fulfil our vision to create an exceptional passenger experience.” n

For further details of Vanderlande’s innovative handling systems visit: www.vandelande.com