NEW LOGISTICS PRODUCTS & SERVICES
EDITED BY SUSAN LACEFIELD rollouts
Shipping crate: Advisory firm CarrierDirect and One Stop
Critical, a specialist in cold chain transportation, have introduced
the Critical Cube. This new shipping crate uses liquid carbon
dioxide and a digital controller to maintain temperatures as low
as - 30 degrees Fahrenheit for up to five days.
With the Critical Cube, shippers can now move their less-than-truckload (LTL) temperature-sensitive freight on dry van carriers.
They no longer have to wait for a refrigerated LTL carrier to consolidate loads or pay for a dedicated truck.
The Cube has 77 cubic feet of loadable space, making it large
enough to fit any standard-sized pallet up to 60 inches, but compact enough to allow two units to sit side by side in a trailer. (One
Stop Critical, www.onestopcritical.com/)
Yard truck rentals: YardLink Services Inc. has introduced a new
network of yard truck rental locations throughout the United
States and Canada. Yardtruckrentals.com will leverage the
Autocar Distributor network to provide more than 50 locations
that can respond to rental requests and local service needs while
also cost-effectively delivering the trucks to the customer.
The program will be supported by experienced equipment specialists and a separate website, www.yardtruckrentals.com.
(YardLink Services, www.yardtruckrentals.com)
Spiral conveyor: Conveyor
manufacturer Ryson has
released a new super-compact
spiral conveyor. Designed to
handle small loads, Narrow
Trak Spiral has 5-inch-wide
slats. The new slat design
allows the conveyor to end-transfer small cartons and
packages or side-transfer small
bottles and containers in single
file or en masse.
The Narrow Trak Spiral features a low-friction chain slat
arrangement, which allows it to
handle high capacities at a high
speed and assures low energy
consumption, low maintenance, and a long life. This
compact unit has an outside
diameter of only 45 inches,
meaning it can also save space.
Ryson expects that the new
Narrow Trak Spirals will, in
many cases, replace gripper
conveyors because the spirals
do not need to be adjusted for varying product sizes and require
much less maintenance. This new model will be especially beneficial for pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, personal care, and food
products companies, according to the manufacturer. (Ryson
International, www.ryson.com)
Weighing, labeling, and sortation system: The new Weighing, Labeling, and
Sortation System from Integrated Systems
Design (ISD) automatically weighs, labels,
and sorts packages, boxes, and envelopes
of a wide range of sizes.
According to ISD, the system saves
floor space as it takes up less space than
manual weighing and routing sequencing operations. The company also says
the system can reduce labor requirements by up to 90 percent.
The system, which includes a high-accuracy scale, label printer, and an integrated conveyor system
(plus controls and software), evenly spaces each order for accurate weighing. It also automatically validates expected and actual weight to eliminate unnecessary postage and shipping costs.
Every order is dual scanned to validate the correct shipping destination and carrier, reducing routing errors.
The system’s high-speed printer can label and manifest up to
60 cartons per minute and be programmed to run slower or
faster to meet different throughput requirements. Orders can be
automatically sorted and routed by zone, route, carrier, cut-off
time, and other simple user-defined and -configured preferences
and parameters. (Integrated Systems Design, www.isddd.com)
Supply chain design software: Software company LLamasoft
has introduced “multiobjective optimization technology” that
enables businesses to better analyze the trade-offs between multiple supply chain objectives and make better supply chain design
decisions.
In the real world, there are multiple, often-competing goals
driving supply chain design. Multiobjective optimization is an integrated tool within LLamasoft’s Supply Chain Guru supply chain
modeling software that allows users to quickly view the trade-offs
between these objectives in order to select the best solution.
Using a simple user interface, the tool automates the analysis
of trade-offs across 19 available objectives. Multiobjective optimization automatically provides insight into any two best solutions, such as lowest cost and best service, then quickly presents
the trade-off analysis between the two. (LLamasoft, www.llama-soft.com/multi-objective-optimization)
Lights for pick-to-light: Banner Engineering introduces the EZ-Light K30 Touch, a smaller version of the company’s K50 Touch.
This compact and rugged device is designed for machine activation and pick-to-light operations.
The K30 Touch button provides simple, precise performance,
easily changing from green to red with the touch of a finger,
hand, or whole palm. Workers can either use their bare hands or
work gloves.
Featuring an ergonomic design, the K30 Touch requires no
physical pressure to operate, preventing stress on hands and wrists
from constantly pressing buttons to actuate machines or verify correct picks. (Banner Engineering, www.bannerengineering.com)
