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A hair's breadth away from the curve
Hupac aims to shift more freight back to rail by increasing the use of the left bank of the Rhine corridor and digitally transforming the intermodal transport chain. The company has now closed its 2025 financial year with a profit of CHF 3.5 million, and transport volume increased by 4.3 percent.
Top retrofit of the «World Cup camp»
In 2007, the German women's national football team won the World Cup and Apple presented its first iPhone. For KWM Weisshaar, the year was also marked by the construction of a new multi-story production hall equipped with Kasto's Unigrip buffer storage system. A retrofit was now underway, which was implemented smoothly.
New building with a signal effect
Not a "lighthouse" in the true sense, but a construction project that has a signal effect in its dimensions, architectural design as well as its future function, is now being created with the groundbreaking ceremony for the doubling of the office capacity of TGW Logistics for around 50 million euros at the main site in Marchtrenk.
GS1 Excellence Day at StageOne
Prominent speakers from across the world of logistics, business, science, and technology will converge on June 18th at the GS1 Switzerland Excellence Day at StageOne in Zurich-Oerlikon . The focus will be on data-driven intelligence and sustainable supply chains.
Opposite in Duisburg
Directly opposite its European headquarters, Clark is celebrating the expansion of its direct sales operations in Duisburg with the official opening of its premises in the Asterlagen business park. The "Western Branch" is intended to serve as an "exclusive interface" to drive market potential in the region.
A new hunt for record times
The StaplerCup season is starting again at Linde Material Handling in Germany. Experienced forkliftoperators and enthusiastic newcomers can now register to qualify at over 20 venues both in Germany and abroad. The final will be held in Aschaffenburg in October.
Kemaro establishes US subsidiary
“The USA is no longer an experiment; it is our next major revenue driver”says Kemaro, the Eschlikon-based manufacturer of cleaning robots. The company has already sold over 1,500 robots to more than 600 industrial customers worldwide. With $5 million in fresh capital, it now aims to enter the next phase of its expansion.
SVTL meets in a historic setting
The general assembly of the Swiss Association for Temperature-Controlled Logistics will take place on May 8th Castle and Lenzburg , in addition to the usual agenda items, personnel management, modern advertising for skilled workers on social media and the question of whether humanoid robots will one day be helpful .
Logistics expert: "Masters at balancing uncertainties"
The days of unlimited supply chains are over. Global just-in-time supply chains are now on new leadershipThe 20th Logistics Day of the Kühne Logistics University (KLU) in Hamburg focused
New opportunities with «GreyMatter»
"Fifty Shades of Grey" is a moderately boring movie about teen fantasies concerning first sexual experiences with the opposite sex. "Grey Orange" be more exciting for some: a global provider of AI-powered software for warehouse control and inventory management, whose "GreyMatter"software Dematic now wants to profit from.
"Advantage on" in after-sales service
"Advantage on" in after-sales service
Every second vehicle worldwide is equipped with parts from automotive supplier Mahle. A current focus is on electromobility and thermal management to reduce CO2 emissions. The spare parts and service division "Aftermarket" has been modernized with a high-performance lithium-ion battery fleet from Still.
The time savings are said to be enormous, thanks to the elimination of maintenance and battery replacements, as well as faster charging processes. While this almost sounds like a cliché, it also offers significant advantages by eliminating the need to handle acids and providing a space-saving charging infrastructure that frees up valuable storage space.
Photos: G. Knehr
In 2022, the Swabian company generated over €12 billion in revenue with approximately 72,000 employees at 152 locations and 12 research and development centers in 30 countries. The "Aftermarket" division, with over 1,900 employees, supplies workshops and wholesalers with original equipment manufacturer (OEM) quality products and service solutions. Around 80,000 products are made available worldwide as quickly as possible.
At the distribution center in Schorndorf, approximately 20,000 items await delivery in a 43,000 square meter warehouse. 1,200 pallets leave the shipping area daily, while 1,000 pallets of new products arrive at the receiving area. Seventy-six Still industrial trucks are used for the standard supply chain processes and are maintained under a full-service leasing agreement with the Hamburg-based intralogistics company.
Mirko Strobel, International Key Account Manager at Still in Stuttgart: “To maximize the availability of the forklift fleet in Schorndorf, we have equipped most of them with lithium-ion batteries.” All voltage classes are used: 24 volts for warehouse vehicles, 48 volts for electric forklifts, and 80 volts for the large narrow-aisle forklifts.
Depending on the available energy infrastructure, Still's chargers achieve a charging current of up to 375 amps, ideal especially for shorter charging times. This allows for quick and frequent top-ups during breaks – directly at the work site. Fabrizio Ruggiero, Head of Operations, explains: "Still has adapted the capacity and size of the lithium-ion batteries to our energy grid." The plant manager emphasizes that even with a low battery charge, full power is always available.
According to the company, Still's lithium-ion batteries deliver twice the energy of comparable lead-acid batteries – and always at full power. This makes them more energy-efficient and eliminates the need for complex maintenance. Furthermore, the batteries can remain in the vehicle during charging and, unlike lead-acid batteries, do not need to be replaced.
With a separate charging access point (as a customer option) on the large MX-X narrow-aisle forklifts, the battery door no longer needs to be opened for charging. Ruggiero: "By eliminating the need for exchangeable batteries, we no longer require ventilated exchange zones. The entire charging process is safer and simpler without the acids and their emissions. This has allowed us to effectively save operating costs and a significant amount of time."
Holger Betz, Regional Service Manager at Still: “We always offer batteries and chargers as pairs. This ensures that charging is never done incorrectly. The lithium-ion battery and charger form a perfectly matched system.” The lithium-ion battery communicates with the charger how the charging process should proceed. If limit values are reached or present, the charging process is either interrupted or not started at all.
“Thanks to efficient and gentle charging processes, our lithium-ion batteries achieve up to 4,000 full charge cycles,” says Betz. Thanks to the large battery capacities, a single charge is sufficient for an entire shift. Chargers are installed decentrally and in a space-saving manner – entirely without battery swap rooms or corresponding accessories. Furthermore, the innovative
Still's lithium-ion technology enables up to 30 percent greater energy efficiency. This significantly reduces charging time and operating costs. Ruggiero: "After an intensive planning and integration phase for fire protection, I am now very satisfied with Still's new lithium-ion technology. We have already set our sights on further projects, such as modernizing our automation with industrial trucks."
Gerd Knehr
