NEW LOGISTICS PRODUCTS & SERVICES
EDITED BY DAVID MALONEY
rollouts
In the swing of things:
Designed for narrow-aisle applications, the 9000 Series Swing-Reach lift trucks from The
Raymond Corp. now offer ener-gy-saving features. These features include AC technology for
longer battery run times, regenerative lowering that automatically recharges the battery, and
LED compartment lights.
Raymond’s ACR System,
which combines AC drive motor and AC lift motor, provides quicker acceleration, smoother direction changes, and quiet, precise
traction and lift. The ACR System also delivers more run time per
battery charge and minimizes performance drop-off as the battery
discharges, for greater reliability.
Regenerative lowering recharges the battery when the forks are
lowered, which allows for longer battery life. When lowering the
forks with a load, the motor generates energy that is fed back into
the battery, maximizing battery efficiency and providing a more
consistent lifting and lowering speed.
The 9000 Series lift trucks can be used for both pallet handling
and case picking for flexibility in changing warehouse environments. The new Swing-Reach trucks can elevate up to 45 feet, can
handle loads up to 60 inches deep or 108 inches wide, and can
operate in aisles as narrow as 66 inches.
The twin tubular mast design of the 9000 Series lift trucks provides optimum rigidity when traveling with the forks loaded and
elevated. Dual I-beam construction and a wide footprint keep the
operator’s platform rock solid, even at the highest elevations. (The
Raymond Corp., (800) 235-7200, www.raymondcorp.com)
Two tiers are better than one: Layer Saver has introduced an
innovative pallet-shipping vessel. The two-deck patented vessel is
a collapsible shipping unit designed to maximize the space in a
truck, railcar, or land/sea container. Customized to fit each customer’s shipping requirements, the Layer Saver unit protects product against damage and crushing, while allowing the shipper to
stack or cube out the container.
The Layer Saver shipping vessel is made to withstand more
weight than conventional wood or plastic pallets. Its unique design
allows for the first tier to hold several rows of corrugated product,
just like a traditional pallet. Then, with its easy-to-extend Layer
Saver second tier, the pallet expands its capacity to hold from 25
to 50 percent more product, all within the footprint of a standard
pallet. All standard wood and plastic pallets fit on the vessel, which
can also accommodate slipsheets.
By allowing shippers to fill a truck or container without worry of
damage claims, Layer Saver enables them to cut down on the
number of trucks they use, thereby reducing their carbon footprint
as well as their fuel and transportation costs. (Layer Saver,
www.layersaver.com)
Intercontinental: American Airlines’ Cargo Division (AA Cargo)
has expanded its Priority Parcel Service (PPS) Heavyweight
offering to include shipments from the United States to 10
European cities.
PPS Heavyweight was introduced in November 2008, upping the
per-piece weight limit from 32 to 46 kilograms (70 to 100 pounds)
for parcel service within the United States, including San Juan, Puerto
Rico. As of the beginning of April, the service is now available from
the United States to London and Manchester, England; Paris;
Brussels, Belgium; Dublin, Ireland; Frankfurt, Germany; Barcelona
and Madrid, Spain; Milan, Italy; and Zurich, Switzerland.
For more than 30 years, Priority Parcel Service has provided same-day counter-to-counter service throughout the United States and
many parts of the world. Available through American’s ticket counters, cargo terminals, and designated PPS facilities, the service offers
flight-specific shipping and highest boarding priority, with no advance
booking required. (American Airlines Cargo, www.AACargo.com)
Muy bueno: UPS Freight, the heavy-freight arm of UPS, is now
offering door-to-door service to and from Mexico. The service also
features customs brokerage capabilities and single invoicing for all
services between the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Freight moving to and from Mexico will be expedited by using
five border crossings, including three in Texas: Brownsville/McAllen-Matamoros, El Paso-Ciudad Juarez, and Laredo-Nuevo Laredo.
Other border crossings will be at Otay Mesa, Calif.-Mexacali and
across the Mexico-Arizona border at Nogales.
UPS technology provides visibility for shipments coming into
Mexico, enabling the identification of goods as soon as they enter
the UPS network. That helps expedite clearance at the border
since the customs paperwork is readied in advance of a shipment’s arrival at the border.
Truckload services are available over both borders, with UPS
Freight providing dedicated carrier, dry-van equipment, and con-tainer-on-flatcar service for long-haul intermodal movements.
(UPS Freight, UPS.com)
New choice in voice: Vocollect, a company that offers voice systems for improving supply chain performance, has introduced
more human-sounding voice options for mobile workers in distribution centers and warehouses. With these enhancements,
Vocollect now offers 43 voices in 26 unique languages.
These new voice options and the ability to configure the voice
system to automatically load voices based on worker preference
provide companies with additional flexibility for their workforces.
The new voice options have a more human sound, which
improves worker job satisfaction. Many of the system voices are
available as male or female speakers.
Over half of the new voices provide natural-sounding options to
workers who speak simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Czech,
Danish, Netherlands Dutch, United States/United Kingdom/
Australian English, Finnish, French, French Canadian, German,
Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese,
Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Latin American Spanish,
Swedish, and Turkish. (Vocollect Inc., www.vocollect.com)
