Shimano Europe, a company specializing in the manufacture of cycle and fishing accessories intends equipping its European distribution centre in the Netherlands with Savoye's famous PTS (Picking Tray System). It should be remembered that this order preparation system is composed of autonomous powered shuttles that will find products on the racks and transport them to the packers. It's no longer a question of a man going to the merchandise but the merchandise going to the man, which means that repetitive tasks are avoided and productivity is increased. At Shimano the system will be able to store up to 15,000 tubs split between 5 aisles in a rack 40 meters long and 9 metres high. The installation will use 20 shuttles. This investment corresponds to a desire to absorb strong and consistent growth. The manufacturer wanted to improve the efficiency of its platform with a flexible solution and one that was adapted to its business. According to Marc van Rooji, President of Shimano Europe: "The new PTS will enable us to continue developing our business while reducing costs and improving our efficiency". For its part, Savoye is to be congratulated on this new installation outside France that enables the division of the Legris Industries Group to confirm its strong international development. JPG

FM Logistic announces the opening of a warehouse in Olszowa in Poland. Located in the district of Ujazd, the unit is completely dedicated to "Fast Moving Consumer Goods" with Cadbury Polska, a first customer for which the logistics company is providing a co-manufacturing service. In fact, in 2007 Cadbury decided to build a new factory in Skarbimierz to supply a large part of its European production. Cadbury's strategy being to focus on production and sales, the company had decided to differentiate its products (different packaging according to the brands and countries) with the contractor.
To do this, FM Logistic had acquired a 20 hectare plot of a land close to the factory. And in November 2008 the first box of chewing-gum was produced. In the first phase of operation, the Olszowa platform foresees production of several hundreds of millions of boxes per year, in different formats. To date, 10,000 m² of warehousing and production space has been built; 60% of the production lines are working and about one hundred staff have already been recruited. In the end, the platform will be composed of 18 cells with a total area of 120,000 m². JPG

The British logistics contractor Wincanton announces an increase of 9% in its turnover for the 2008/2009 financial year. This increased to £2,361 as compared with £2,164 last year. Operating income is up by 13.5% but profits are down by 1.2%. Graeme Mc Faull, President, considers that the group has "a capacity to resist and is capable of quick development in the short term". Western Europe, which includes the French and Benelux markets, has according to him enjoyed a dynamic year with the launch of the transport offering. This now completes its warehousing, co-packing and co-manufacturing services. Wincanton also reports new contracts, including InBev, Daikin, Bledina, Total and Goodyear. JPG

Since the beginning of 2009 SDF Ibérica (a subsidiairy of Stef-TFE) is the operator in charge of the Carrefour Group's new cross-dock platform in Begonte in Spain. This new site devoted to consumer food products is used for the just in time supply of 17 hypermarkets and 8 supermarkets in the Asturias, Galicia, Leon and Pontferrada regions. It is multi-temperature and multi-flow and covers an area of 10,600 m². SDF Ibérica manages 2 of the 5 temperature controlled platforms used by the brand in Spain. JPG