MHD October 2021

OCTOBER 2021

COVER STORY

E-COMMERCE LEADER CEMENTS COMMITMENT TO AMR Catch.com.au expands its partnership with Körber at its new NSW facility

CREATING AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE

Prological talks getting an edge on the competition

GLOBAL EXPERIENCE WITH LOCAL DELIVERY

enVista on end-to-end service and its APAC expansion

A NEW SUSTAINABILITY AGENDA Colliers on its integrated strategy

ReImagine 5 – 8 October 2021

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MHD FROM THE EDITOR

MHD Supply Chain Solutions CONTACT MHD Supply Chain Solutions is published by Prime Creative Media 11-15 Buckhurst Street, South Melbourne VIC 3205 Telephone: (+61) 03 9690 8766 Website: www.primecreative.com.au

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FOR ADVERTISING OPTIONS Contact: Beth Jarvis beth.jarvis@primecreative.com.au

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT MHD Supply Chain Solutions magazine is recognised by the Australian Supply Chain Institute, the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Australia, the Supply Chain and Logistics Association of Australia and the Singapore Logistics and Supply Chain Management Society.

GAINING AN EDGE

T

he Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reports that the gross value added (GVA) to the Australian economy at the close of the June quarter rose by 0.9 per cent.

Breaking down the GVAs of major components in our economy, the ABS notes that the second biggest overall growth by industry was in the Transport, Postal and Warehousing sector, with 3.7 per cent growth in GVA. This is heartening news for supply chain, and testament to how companies in our industry have pressed on and used the pandemic season as an opportunity to rebuild and update their systems and processes to hit the recovery-road running.

This month, the MHD team has talked to experts in supply chain data analysis, sustainable development, scenario-planning, materials handling, warehouse optimisation, and cultural transformation, to understand the myriad ways in which they’re innovating to gain an edge on the competition.

One supply chain professional told me that the pandemic has forced Australia to leap ahead five to 10 years in its distributional capabilities. Another said that with everyone taking great leaps forward, the real edge will be seen at the margins – much as a tenth of a second can be the difference between first and last finishers in the Olympic 100m sprint.

This edition of MHD Supply Chain Solutions sees companies and consultants set their eyes squarely on the future, and is full of fascinating ideas for jacking up supply chain and logistics capabilities through novel innovations and solutions.

Edward Cranswick Editor edward.cranswick@primecreative.com.au

ARTICLES All articles submitted for publication become the property of the publisher. The Editor reserves the right to adjust any article to conform with the magazine format.

COPYRIGHT MHD magazine is owned by Prime Creative Media.

All material in MHD is copyright and no part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical including information and retrieval systems) without written permission of the publisher. The Editor welcomes contributions but reserves the right to accept or reject any material.

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information Prime Creative Media will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published. The opinions expressed in MHD are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by the publisher unless otherwise stated.

MHD Supply Chain

MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 3

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OCTOBER 2021

ISSUE #9 VOLUME 52

THIS ISSUE COVER STORY

10 Catch flexes with Körber Supply Chain

SUPPLY CHAIN 15 How culture and systems create NTI’s safety culture 25 The digital supply chain ecosystem 29 C.H. Robinson’s Customs Intelligence making all the difference

COVER STORY

10

29

32 Prological creating an unfair advantage 34 Challenging the supply chain talent gap 50 Global experience with local delivery 53 Communications Task Force on enhancing customer engagement

INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY 46 Colliers’ integrated sustainability strategy

MATERIALS HANDLING MHD SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS

17 Toyota forklifts help to raise the bar

OCTOBER 2021

38 Jungheinrich’s DC solutions off the rack OCTOBER 2021

48 Sustainability built into materials

COVER STORY

E-COMMERCE LEADER CEMENTS COMMITMENT TO AMR

handling

Catch.com.au expands its partnership with Körber at its new NSW facility

WAREHOUSING 08 uTenant optimising warehouse space 21 No two warehouses are the same 36 Doubling capacity with first stage CREATING AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE

automation

Prological talks getting an edge on the competition

GLOBAL EXPERIENCE WITH LOCAL DELIVERY

enVista on end-to-end service and its APAC expansion

41 Bluesky’s continuous DC improvement

A NEW SUSTAINABILITY AGENDA Colliers on its integrated strategy

44 Manhattan Associates on the

r visit crown.com

warehouse of the future

ON THE COVER

DEPARTMENTS AND REGULARS

Catch Group has strengthened its partnership with Körber Supply Chain and will roll out the largest deployment of AMRs in ANZ at its new DC in Sydney.

06 Industry News

34

54 Industry Associations 61 Products 62 People on the move MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 5

MHD NEWS

Chinese port closure disrupts Australian trade

C

hina’s partial closure of a major container port, paired with restrictions on air cargo flights, put pressure on Australian importers in September. A key terminal at the Ningbo-Zhoushan port closed for eight days after a worker contracted COVID-19.

Ships bound for the world’s third busiest port were diverted to Shanghai and Hong Kong, worsening congestion affecting shipments to and from Australia.

Australian importers say China’s zero-case COVID-19 strategy means a single infection can close an entire port, while strict regulations covering

food products such as dairy transported via cold chain are creating further logistics bottlenecks.

Paul Zalai, Director of the Freight & Trade Alliance, says importers are still adjusting to delays at Yantian, where similar health concerns resulted in extensive delays for several weeks up until mid-June.

“Even ports at Singapore and Hong Kong that set the benchmark in best practice in normal times are experiencing several weeks of delays in transhipping containerised cargo via their terminals,” Paul says.

“The downstream impact is being felt hard locally, with shipping

lines daily advising our industry of port omissions across Australia’s container terminal.”

Lars Jensen, Chief Executive of Consultancy Vespucci Maritime, says the shutdown in Ningbo was due to just a single positive case in a port worker.

“The risk, therefore, remains that other Chinese ports could see the same if we are unlucky. That, in turn, would make a challenging situation even worse,” Lars says.

China has recently also tightened requirements for international flight crew and airport staff in a move expected to reduce air cargo movement in and out of the country.

Western Sydney’s first large-scale multistorey warehouse

F

avco Industrial Park has begun a new era in logistics management amid the South Western Sydney industrial market boom.

Colliers has introduced Western Sydney’s first multistorey industrial opportunity located at 28 Yarrunga Road, Prestons, on behalf of private developer Favelle Favco.

A long-term business in South Western Sydney, Favelle Favco specialises in crane technology for heavy lifting and super high-rise buildings.

Fab Dalfonso, National Director Industrial for Colliers says there’s been a heightened demand for inner city distribution centres and last mile hubs that allow retailers to position inventory much closer to the end consumer.

“We are honoured to present Western Sydney’s first two-level industrial facility,” Fab says. “Favco Industrial Park is a state-of-the-art warehouse, logistics and office facility featuring multiple tenancies.”

The Favco Industrial Park will deliver world-class logistics facilities with tenancies over two levels ranging from 6842sqm to 30,592sqm. Standout features include super-high internal clearance,

6 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

truck access with B-Double compatibility across two levels, and multiple recessed loading docks. The tenancies are available nine to 12 months from signing the lease.

Rino Gazzera, Director Industrial for Colliers says the facility is positioned in one of the most well-located industrial precincts in NSW. “The area delivers outstanding access to arterial roads, alongside key national infrastructure including Moorebank Intermodal and the under-construction Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek,” Rino says.

Favelle Favco says it saw an opportunity to introduce a new and more efficient way of managing industrial warehousing needs in Australia.

“With Favco Industrial Park, we are adopting the same approach and are steadfast in our commitment to developing this landmark multistorey warehouse.,” Favco says.

“By bringing a sleek new offering to the warehouse model we believe Australia will embrace the efficiencies. The flexible warehouse space takes full advantage of the 30m height limit by cleverly threading a series of ramps, which provide seamless B-Double access to all levels.”

Award-winning architects Bureau SRH, responsible for Favco Industrial Park’s world-class design, believes multi-storey warehouse design is pivotal to any future A-grade industrial development given demand for convenient Sydney-based warehouse solutions continues to soar.

Current warehouse demand is exceeding supply and has pushed South Western Sydney vacancy rates under 4.3 per cent. This combined with land shortages across Sydney is likely to see multistorey warehousing shape the next phase of industrial property.

The warehouse utilises vertical space.

Paul Brown National Operations Manager, Logistics at Sigma

A Prescription for Success Automation drives a healthy competitive advantage for Sigma.

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MHD WAREHOUSING

STRATEGIC DESIGN FOR WAREHOUSE SPACE MHD talks with Chanika Dias, Head of Supply Chain Solutions at uTenant, and Anna Sukharnyk, Senior Consultant Project Lead with Logivations, about the best strategy for designing and optimising warehouse layouts.

C

hanika Dias, Head of Supply Chain Solutions at uTenant, says that the warehouse’s role has expanded from a simple storage function to playing a key role in the entire supply chain.

“The warehouse has two key roles to play now,” Chanika says. “The main role is to minimise the cost of operation and to enhance utilisation opportunities. The second role is to distribute more efficiently and flexibly, such that businesses can get their products to customers in timely fashion and so retain customer loyalty.”

Anna Sukharnyk, Senior Consultant Project Lead at Logivations – with whom Chanika has developed a strong working relationship over his career, and which he brought with him to uTenant – adds that with so many participants connected to the modern warehouse, any inefficiencies in warehouse management have knock-on effects in terms of delayed delivery times, associated price increases, and general wastage.

“The objective of the warehouse process is to provide safe stock storage, get orders out at the scheduled time, and without incurring any additional costs,” Anna says.

STRATEGIC ISSUES FACING WAREHOUSES Chanika says that there are many strategic issues to consider when designing a new warehouse.

“The modern warehouse has to be considered in relation to ongoing market and industry trends,” he says.

“With changes to buying patterns and technological development always in progress, a warehouse must be built 8 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

With Logivations W2MO digital twin customers can scenario-plan their warehouse with sophisticated, datadriven simulations.

with an eye to what is new and what is coming over the horizon – otherwise it may not be sustainable when it comes time for operation.”

Chanika says that account must also be made of the corporate objectives of each client – market positioning, staff policies, investment payback period, and so forth.

“On top of those corporate objectives, we need to consider the business plan of the client,” he adds. “This will include factors such as new markets, sales projections, and the level of uncertainty or certainty that can be ascribed to those projections.”

It is essential to understand these factors too, so that warehouses can be designed with appropriate flexibility for expansion, and so that scenarioplanning can be undertaken if necessary to accommodate for possible variations in the business plan.

LOGIVATIONS’ DIGITAL TWINS FOR WAREHOUSE PLANNING To execute on warehouse design strategy, uTenant works with

Logivations and its W2MO digital twins solution. A digital twin is a virtual representation of actual warehouse processes that utilises historical and real-time data to scenario-plan for warehouses facing various potential circumstances.

“W2MO stands for ‘web to modelling and optimisation’,” Anna says. “With our W2MO digital twin you can understand bottlenecks and potential losses in advance and conduct a route cause analysis to solve potential issues before they arise.

“The tool is an all-in-one solution that provides an environment in which we can observe all objects in 2D and 3D view. By working with the best in data analysis, modelling, as well as customer-inputs, we can come to a holistic picture of the warehouse in operation, and how it will operate under various potential conditions. It’s a great capability for strategic design of warehouses, and Chanika has worked with Logivations in the past to deliver great results – something we’ll continue to do with uTenant.” ■

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MHD COVER STORY

CATCH FLEXES WITH KÖRBER SUPPLY CHAIN Catch Group has strengthened its partnership with Körber Supply Chain and will roll out the largest deployment of AMRs in ANZ at its new distribution centre in Sydney. MHD finds out more.

A

s an early adopter of flexible and mobile automation, Catch partnered with Körber Supply Chain, the leading international technology group, to deploy more than 100 autonomous mobile robots at its Victorian distribution centre (DC) last year.

After seeing significant growth throughout 2020, Catch will grow its logistics network by building a new fulfilment centre in Moorebank, south-west Sydney.

The 45,000 sqm facility will be Catch’s first DC outside of Victoria and is the third DC in Australia for the leading online retailer. According

to Richard Whetton, Head of Fulfilment at Catch, this investment is essential to Catch being able to meet growing consumer demand throughout the nation.

“Over the past 12 months, the needle has moved. Customers expect their goods much faster than they did before and we simply cannot compete by having all of our product in Melbourne.

We need to be closer to the customer and this new facility in Sydney is our first step on this journey,” Richard says.

As the site is a Brownfield site, the Körber automation solution was a perfect fit for the retailer as it is modular and can be moved if needed.

The facility will be Catch’s first DC outside of Victoria and is the third DC in Australia for the leading online retailer.

10 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

“We’re going heavy with our commitment to AMR,” Richard adds.

“At our new site in Moorebank, we will roll out 368 of the same robots that we have been utilising in Melbourne.

For us, this solution really is the bestin-class worldwide and helps us to service our customers as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

“This large-scale mobile automation commitment from Catch really is a testament to how the market is changing and how leading retailers are starting to look at automation,” Nishan Wijemanne, Managing Director APAC at Körber Supply Chain says.

“We’re starting to see a real shift

MHD COVER STORY in the retail space as organisations turn to new age technology solutions to improve efficiency and speed to market. This new site for Catch will be a regional showpiece for what is possible in mobile automation.”

MATCHING GROWTH WITH INVESTMENT While Catch has been using automation for a long time, the e-commerce player has been on an accelerated commitment to flexible and mobile automated solutions over the past year.

“We’ve been using various fixed automation since 2014, but in the last 12 months we have shifted our focus to flexible, mobile automation,” Richard says.

Traditional fixed automation usually requires long lead times and a high level of capital upfront, and there’s also the challenge of acquiring expertise in-house to operate and repair this kind of highly technical machinery.

For Richard, another challenge with largescale fixed automation is deployment times.

“You need to look at a three-year horizon before you even start to use it. Furthermore, once it’s installed it’s not very flexible. When

“

Over the past 12 months, the needle has moved.

Customers expect their goods much faster than they did before... We need to be closer to the customer and this new facility in Sydney is our first step on this journey.

”

Richard Whetton, Head of Fulfilment at Catch. you start exploring these kinds of solutions you need to have a very good understanding of what your business will look like in three years’ time, and in this current climate, not many people do,” he adds.

According to Richard, if you don’t have perfect vision of what the future looks like, AMR is a great solution as it allows you to expand, change and move.

A further advantage of AMR is that it’s quick to deploy, as Catch was able to roll out more than 100 robots at its Truganina site in Melbourne last year in less than three

Nishan Wijemanne says the new site for Catch will be a regional showpiece for what is possible in mobile automation.

MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 11

MHD COVER STORY months. It’s also highly configurable.

“One thing we’ve seen is that the average size of what we’re shipping has got bigger, and I’ve heard this is common across the industry,” Richard says. “The great thing about AMR is we have already configured the technology we deployed last year to cater for this shift in demand. This is something you definitely can’t do with fixed automation.”

From a financial perspective, with flexible automation you can match your investment to your growth, Richard adds.

“When you think about fixed automation, it’s really expensive,” he

The new site in Moorebank will roll out 368 of the same robots Catch has been utilising in Melbourne.

Nishan Wijemanne, Managing Director APAC at Körber Supply Chain.

adds. “It’s a high capital cost and you have to commit a huge investment well ahead of when you will actually start to utilise the equipment. You also want that investment to last seven-10 years, so you’re essentially trying to anticipate what your business will look like in 10-13 years’ time. But with AMR, you can take smaller steps to match your growth. Therefore, you take less risks and deploy less capital.”

AUTOMATING THE GOODS-IN-PROCESS In addition to the AMRs, Catch will also be the first business in the region to roll out a new solution from Körber’s growing automation portfolio.

The Geek+ Double Deep Bin-toPerson C200M robot has just been launched in Australia by Körber, and is the world’s first extended depth, bin to person robot. The robot is designed to operate in narrow aisles, reach new heights, and increase storage capacity.

“With the rise of e-commerce, the logistics and supply chain landscape has 12 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

Such a large-scale deployment creates exciting new opportunities for people to shift their skillset and move into technology and robotics, where there are many new roles being created.

MHD COVER STORY fundamentally changed, and Catch was on the lookout for an innovative goodsreceiving solution that could be nimble and adaptable to address the constantly changing order profile,” Rizan Mawzoon, Head of Transformation at Körber Supply Chain says.

“Körber’s agile and mobile technology solutions are perfect for us as we are constantly adapting to the needs of our customers,” Richard Whetton says.

The robots can also adapt depending on where the demand is, if they are experiencing an increase in a certain product or line, they can very quickly change their processes and prioritise

getting those products into the warehouse and ready for dispatch.

“This new technology enables Catch to take receipt of goods and have them listed online for sale within 30 to 45 minutes. E-commerce retailers like Catch don’t receive goods in pallet-loads, so they need a dynamic innovative solution to help process goods in the warehouse as quickly as possible and the C200M does exactly that,” Rizan Mawzoon says.

CREATING JOBS FOR THE FUTURE Körber has deployed a significant amount of mobile automation

Catch’s NSW-based site is a Brownfield site, making the Körber automation solution a perfect fit for the retailer as it is modular and can be moved if needed.

projects and tech innovation for some of the ANZ region’s largest and most prominent retailers including Chemist Warehouse, Kmart and Adore Beauty. With every tech deployment comes an opportunity for operators to expand their skill sets and create new career pathways.

“We’re really passionate about building skills for the future,” Nishan Wijemanne says.

“A large-scale deployment like this one creates some really exciting new opportunities for people to shift their skillset and move into technology and robotics, where there are many new roles being created.” ■

Rizan Mawzoon, Head of Transformation at Körber Supply Chain.

Catch says the investment is key to meeting growing consumer demand.

MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 13

Accelerating success.

MHD SUPPLY CHAIN

HOW CULTURE AND SYSTEMS CREATE SAFETY National Transport Insurance has brought in Kelly McLuckie and Paul Gaynor – experts in cultural transformation and safety systems, respectively – to help clients ensure their supply chain workers are safe, accountable, and productive.

The pair talk to MHD about their complementary roles in NTI’s safety agenda.

K

elly McLuckie, Customer Culture and Transformation Manager (NZ/AU) at National Transport Insurance (NTI), says that the insurance specialist is continually pushing initiatives that go beyond the traditional role of an insurer. Not only does NTI assess, manage, and protect customer assets against risks in the transport industry – it takes proactive measures to lessen those risks and improve overall supply chain safety. “A major component of NTI’s strategy is to make Australia safer and more sustainable,” Kelly says.

NTI has long provided safety services to its customers – including trauma counselling, on-scene accident assistance, and vehicle repairs – and in the past year has expanded its client offering to include Chain of Responsibility (CoR) management and safety culture transformation.

To do this, NTI looked externally for the top experts in these fields and brought them under the NTI umbrella.

In 2019 NTI acquired consultancy firm, Success Formula, to handle the cultural transformation side of safety.

In August 2021 NTI acquired Logistics Safety Solutions (LSS), a leading provider of Chain of Responsibility (CoR) management systems.

Australia’s Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) is undergirded by CoR laws that identify parties within supply chains who exercise influence or control over transport tasks. If a breach of the HVNL occurs, CoR laws may assign responsibility for the

breach beyond the vehicle drivers in question to parties including employers and consignors of goods.

The aim of the CoR laws is to enforce holistic accountability throughout the supply chain, rather than placing the onus solely on heavy vehicle operators.

Paul Gaynor, General Manager of LSS, says that NTI invested in his company and the LSS CoR-Safe system because it provides a range of services – including process manuals, on-line training, and self-audits – enabling customers and their supply chains to understand and manage their CoR duties.

The LSS CoR-Safe system utilises internal and external audits – in combination with other metrics – to assign CoR management scores to clients and supply chain partners.

“It brings clarity to our clients and anyone within our clients’ supply chains,” says Paul. “Not only can they verify that safety protocols are being observed, but through individual task scores the system highlights areas that need improvement.”

But Paul notes that the LSS system is only effective if there is cultural buy-in from those using it. “We can provide a logistics safety system, but without the right organisational culture it’s not going to stick,” he says. “And that’s where Kelly comes in.”

Kelly’s job with customers is to foster the cultural preconditions that allow safety management systems to take hold.

“One of the big capability gaps within transport and logistics is that

often teams lack the leadership, planning, and strategic skills to effect cultural transformations that prioritise safety,” Kelly says.

“Oftentimes the organisational will is there to create a good safety culture, but leadership doesn’t know how to achieve it. With so many competing priorities in front of them, people fall back to what they know, which is the technical work of transportation – despatching trucks or solving loading problems – while safety concerns fall by the wayside.”

To remedy this, Kelly works with organisations from top-to-bottom to implement proper planning, coach personnel in effective communication, and establish channels through which staff and leadership can convey messages around safety.

Paul adds that Kelly’s work in conducting cultural surveys allows him to get a “cultural temperature check” before, during, and after the implementation of safety management systems – and to more accurately measure the degree to which cultural attitudes are aligning with formal CoR obligations. For Paul, culture and systems are obverse sides of the same safety coin.

“A good culture equals a good business,” Kelly says. “A profitable business is one that doesn’t waste time dealing with avoidable accidents, and where people feel psychologically safe to speak up and raise concerns directly.” ■ For more information visit www.cor-safe.com & www.nti.com.au MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 15

.au Magic Quadrant for Warehouse Management Systems, June 30, 2021 by Dwight Klappich and Simon Tunstall

MHD MATERIALS HANDLING

TOYOTA FORKLIFTS HELP TO RAISE THE BARS A Western Australian company creating free-standing backyard playground equipment has taken its business to new heights with the help of Toyota Material Handling Australia products.

P

erth-based business Funky Monkey Bars, makers of freestanding backyard playground equipment, has enlisted the help of Toyota Material Handling Australia (TMHA) to grow its expanding business.

Operating a recently opened showroom in Fremantle and a manufacturing hub in the Perth suburb of Yangebup, the range of locally constructed Funky Monkey Bars play sets has resonated with customers, particularly during the pandemic, where play at home is more relevant than ever.

With its recent growth, Funky Monkey Bars needed additional warehouse machinery, and the key pillars for which TMHA products are renowned – iconic reliability, worldleading safety, and more uptime – ensured that Toyota was at the top of the list when the time came for a new purchase.

Having recently bought two Toyota 32-8FG25 forklifts, one 32-8FGJ35 forklift, and one RRE160H reach forklift with 7000mm lift height, Funky Monkey Bars Director Colin Burdle says that, with around 70 per cent of its business done through online sales, the performance of its warehouse equipment is vital to the success of the business.

“We need equipment that’s fit for purpose and won’t let us down, and we’ve had nothing but really good feedback on our TMHA equipment,” Colin says. “The whole business is reliant on loading and unloading, moving stock, moving containers, unloading containers to loading vehicles, to unloading steel lorries.

It’s the full lot, so our forklifts play a very important role.”

Funky Monkey Bars Director Colin Burdle says the reliability of TMHA forklifts has been vital to the success of the business.

Another reason why the TMHA forklifts have been well received has been the dual-fuel capability, with Funky Monkey Bars able to run their forklifts for longer by alternating between petrol and gas power, helping to save time otherwise spent on repeated refuelling.

“With dual-fuel we can click over from petrol to gas,” Colin says. “We’ve got a couple of big workshops here, and quite a big distance between them. So dual-fuel is a great function for me – it’s made a massive difference for us in not having to drag gas cylinders all over the workshop.”

Colin adds that Manufacturing Manager Glenn Brittain’s experience with TMHA equipment at a previous workplace meant that when the time came to buy new forklifts, Toyota was the clear choice.

“Glenn had other forklifts at the

last place he worked at before it was recommended he buy Toyota forklifts,” Colin says. “And he never looked back.

He absolutely loved them, they’re really good machines – easy to operate, easy to run, everything is at your fingertips, everything just works.

“When we were looking at buying new machines, Glenn recommended Toyota straight away, and showed the products to myself and Director Shane Roberts,” he says. “We loved all the safety systems. It was just a no-brainer, virtually.”

TMHA area sales manager Danny Carbery also played a pivotal role in securing the sale, providing two separate product demonstrations and conducting site visits to display the multiple advantages of Toyota equipment, which helped convince Funky Monkey Bars that Toyota forklifts are the best in the business.

MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 17

MHD MATERIALS HANDLING The recently purchased forklifts include Toyota’s newest Gen II products, offering valuable features such as a digital weight gauge, steering angle indicator and tiltangle indicator projected via the dash display – read-outs that are valuable for the operation of the Funky Monkey Bars business.

The new features form just one facet of the Toyota Advantage, with a dedication to safety that includes the pioneering System of Active Stability (SAS), which helps to protect workers and products alike by making thousands of calculations per second to ensure advanced load-handling performance and safety.

“I like the fact that all the weights are easy to see,” Colin says. “Whereas before we had a hydraulic-type system and you had to hold a button to view the weights, now all this detail is just given to you straight away.”

Legendary Toyota reliability has been another important factor in Funky Monkey Bars making the switch to TMHA, with Colin noting that the forklifts previously used by the business were proving costly due to consistent need for repair and servicing.

Funky Monkey Bars has sung the praises of TMHA’s Danny Carbery, who helped facilitate the easy sale of the new equipment.

Danny says TMHA’s impeccable reputation and superior servicing – all part of the Toyota Advantage – were significant factors in the company changing its forklift supplier.

“

When we were looking at buying new machines, Glenn recommended Toyota straight away, and showed the products to myself and Director Shane Roberts. We loved all the safety systems. It was just a no-brainer, virtually.

”

“The performance of our equipment meant that it was an easy decision to bring more on board at Funky Monkey Bars,” Danny says. “The new TMHA equipment has been received extremely well by warehouse staff and front office alike, allowing them to pick, pack and deliver quickly and efficiently to support their growing business.”

Capitalising on the reality of families spending more time at home, Funky Monkey Bars has seen its business grow throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

With a greater reliance on freight loading to despatch orders around the country, and even internationally, Director Shane Roberts says the company needed to expand its forklift fleet – resulting in the adoption of its TMHA equipment.

“We need to load lots for our orders, and our improved loading results in an increase to all our operations,” Shane says. “Hence the reason the fleet of forklifts has grown – because our business is growing.”

With the business showing no signs of slowing down, there may come a time when Funky Monkey Bars will need to expand further. The resounding opinion from the company is that when the time comes for new products, TMHA will be the first supplier it calls. ■ For more information freecall Toyota Material Handling Australia on 1800 425 438 or visit online at www.toyotamaterialhandling.com.au

(L-R) Colin Burdle, Danny Carbery, and Shane Roberts, together with Funky Monkey Bars’ new fleet of trusty forklifts.

18 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

FASTPICK High operator efficiency and easily scalable for unpredictable growth Through multidirectional movement and sequencing, Vanderlande’s shuttle-based automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS), ADAPTO, delivers goods in the appropriate order to the correct picking station. This makes order fulfilment fast and accurate, enabling same-day deliveries.

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MHD WAREHOUSING

NO TWO WAREHOUSES ARE THE SAME MHD talks to Philip Artlett, Solutions Development Manager at Dematic, about the value of its consultative approach in working collaboratively with customers before, during, and after the implementation of specific warehouse solutions.

S

olving warehouse problems involves assessing multiple strategies to compare and contrast how they would apply to a particular warehouse, according to Philip Artlett, Solutions Development Manager at Dematic.

Dematic’s broad portfolio of products and technologies allows for this exploration, which is underpinned by a consultative and commercial approach.

“The consulting process begins with working with the customer to establish the solution requirements, what we call the ‘design level’,” Phil says. “This helps to identify potential growth parameters for the future, and is backed by extensive data analysis.”

“From there, the process works a little like a funnel, because we initially take three or four concepts that make the most sense. We then talk to the customer and provide them with a return on investment model for each of these concepts to determine how much money can be invested in different levels of automation inside the distribution centre.”

By zooming in on different concepts, Dematic can further refine the design level.

“We can analyse order line data from a company’s sales history to identify what system would be best suited for now, and for ten years down the track,” Phil says. “This information, paired with product characteristics from product master data, forms the basis of our next decision.”

Before solutions are designed, manufactured and installed in the warehouse, Phil asks the customer, and himself, ‘What is the biggest pain point?’

“It’s amazing the varied answers we get – and sometimes the biggest problem is something really simple that can easily be missed,” he says.

“We’ve seen businesses over the years spend huge amounts of money completely redesigning their supply chains, or at least their warehouses, and then they still have those pain points – because they weren’t addressed at the outset.”

As every stone is unturned,

Dematic gets to know its customers’ operations meticulously.

Consultative selling is part and parcel of the solution provider’s sales and go-to-market strategy, communicating with its customers’ senior management as well as with warehouse managers and operators on the ground to establish a rounded understanding of operations.

“We don’t just want data and spreadsheets,” Phil says. “As well

Dematic’s batch pick and sort system processes both retail and online orders together.

MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 21

MHD WAREHOUSING

“

We can help onsite with more than 100 staff across software, project management, mechanical, controls, structural, and systems – on top of more than 270 local customer service employees.

”

Dematic Goods-to-Person solutions handle wholesale, retail, and e-fulfilment – all in the one system. as very sophisticated quantitative analysis, we want to talk to the people on the floor. We want to go to the site to talk to the workers driving forklifts and running the warehouses to see what specific sort of problems our customers are facing.”

Phil says one of the most common pain points comes from failing to adjust to smaller, more frequent orders in the e-commerce era.

“Often a warehouse or a system’s design is for a certain number of orders per day,” he says. “When those orders become half as big and twice as many – that’s a real problem.”

Despite a rapid rise in online order fulfilment during the lingering pandemic, there are very few pure e-commerce companies operating in Australia. Bricks and mortar remain essential and – in some cases – the backbone of many Australian businesses.

Dematic’s Goods-to-Person picking solution takes this into account by integrating wholesale B2B picking fulfilment and retail replenishment with e-fulfilment – all in the one system.

“Developing an omnichannel system allows us to get the balance right between retail and e-commerce channels for our customers,” he says.

“As one goes up and the other goes down, which can happen day by day, 22 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

the system can still cope with the varying mix of those channels.”

Dematic’s recent work with an established apparel company illustrates the transition many businesses are facing. The brand’s retail sales form the majority of its business, but its e-commerce sales have been rapidly increasing in the past twelve months.

Keeping flexibility in mind for a changing business profile, Dematic proposed a batch pick and sort system to pick both retail and online items in one wave.

“The Crossbelt Sorter distributes items either to large chutes for packing to cartons for the store, or to smaller chutes where individual orders can be sorted,” Phil says.

“Using the one piece of equipment at the heart of a system means it is flexible, with any mix of online and retail replenishment.”

Dematic’s Crossbelt Sorter can handle a range of items including plastic totes, cardboard cartons, trays, stuffed envelopes and poly bags with throughputs as high as 80,000 items per hour.

“In order to address the potential problem of the company’s changing profile, we reserved a portion of the sorter for future expansion,” Phil adds. “Depending on how the business is moving, more units can be picked and sorted for

retail or online.”

Once a solution is chosen, Dematic’s software, systems, mechanical, and electrical engineers help the customer ramp up to go live with the product.

“We’re in a unique situation where we have so many Australia and New Zealand-based engineers available to support our projects right through from start to finish, and later with ongoing support and maintenance,” he says. “We can help onsite with more than 100 staff across software, project management, mechanical, controls, structural, and systems – on top of more than 270 local customer service employees.”

The consultative strategy works most effectively when a customer chooses Dematic as a partner early, according to Phil.

“We respect the tender process, but inevitably, the most successful projects have been those where the customer has made an early call as to who they want to work with and embarked on a partnership and collaborative phase with us early on,” he says.

“The customer then has all of the critical information at the source, supported by decades of consulting experience, a deep understanding of industry drivers, and the broadest range of solutions and technologies on the market.” ■

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MHD SUPPLY CHAIN

TMX is now offering customers a digital supply chain overlay to complement its end-to-end solutions.

THE DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN ECOSYSTEM

TMX has recruited Matthew Jackson as Head of Digital Supply Chain, spearheading the consultancy’s digital services as part of TMX’s end-toend supply chain offering. He explains why a focus on digital supply chain is a must for all major organisations.

M

atthew Jackson, who has recently joined TMX has its Head of Digital Supply Chain, says while TMX is already well established in Australia and the broader Asia Pacific as a leader in supply chain network strategy and implementation, it is now offering customers a digital supply chain overlay to complement and round out its end-to-end solutions.

“TMX is renowned for its solutions in supply chain design and implementation, including major functions like warehouse automation,” Matthew says. “The new digital supply chain team – comprised of people

recruited internally from TMX, as well as externally, like me – provides an offering that touches on all of TMX’s established pillars of expertise, as well its new integrated business planning (IBP) pillar. The goal is to enrich our customers’ end-to-end supply chain through digitalisation.”

Matthew says that TMX avoids “cookie cutter” approaches when approaching its clients’ supply chain objectives. Although TMX does much of its own software development, Matthew says the new digital team will work with the best on offer in the marketplace solutions-wise, and

continuously work to improve and develop solutions in concert with a client’s evolving strategy. “We are going to be bringing forward a lot of our newly developed partnerships and alliances in the digital area,” he says.

“For us it’s about moving away from any linear approaches, and instead fostering a solutions ecosystem that aligns with a modern data ecosystem.”

HARNESSING DATA & DEVELOPING STRATEGY “Data is at the heart of the digital supply chain,” Matthew says. “Without data, there is no digital element.”

MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 25

MHD SUPPLY CHAIN In the past, he says, supply chains were very linear, and organisations operated on projections necessarily limited by the informational constraints imposed by time and space.

Modern methods of disseminating, organising, analysing, and instantaneously responding to data – bolstered using artificial intelligence and machine learning – have changed all that.

“Imagine a retail organisation saying, ‘We want to have this much of X product’ and instantly the manufacturer already knows to either shift to the customer based on inventory levels, or produce it – that’s what we’re talking about,” Matthew says. “It’s that data enabling capability to make the right decisions across your supply chain. Then organisations can reduce their required inventory levels and they don’t have unnecessary inventory occupying valuable warehouse space. They’re getting the right inventory levels and can ‘flex’ those levels up or down as required – which is especially important with the constraints that COVID-19 is putting on current local and global supply chains.”

He adds that there are myriad and ever-evolving ways of using data to improve decision-making. “Through technologies such as digital twins, personalised dashboards and control towers for conveying data to personnel, AI-enabled scenario-based planning, and paperless environments – all of these can improve our end-to-end supply chains right now.”

A key advantage that TMX’s new digital team will bring to the table is the ability to draw all the threads of digital supply chain thinking together in devising overall strategies, or roadmaps, for organisations.

“This ties in really well with TMX’s already established strengths in network strategy development and assessment,” Matthew says. “We will be going into an organisation to assess their supply chains and ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and ‘Where are the key challenges?’. Then, from a digital point of view, we can point to actual digital and technology solutions and explain the value it would bring to the organisation. So, whether it’s improved planning, improved OEE [Overall Equipment Effectiveness] within the make environment, sustainability, or 26 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

safety within the logistics process and warehouse – we will work to identify all these different elements that can be assigned an actual value. Because, the reality is, you don’t want to put in new technology just for the sake of putting in technology. You want that technology to drive towards some form of value in each component of the supply chain.”

He says that being able to assign value to individual components is essential, because CFOs are often reluctant to sign off on projects that don’t have a clear value associated with them. Providing end-to-end assessment and assigning precise values to proposed initiatives creates

“

Imagine the ability to scenario-plan all elements of the build and maintenance of a proposed automated warehouse, and to test the technologies and processes that are playing through them at all times.

”

buy-in across the whole organisation, which is essential in formulating a realistic roadmap.

Matthew says that using digital twins – virtual representations of realworld processes, based off real-time data – is extremely helpful in testing and demonstrating how different solutions will work ahead of their actual implementation.

“Imagine the ability to scenarioplan all elements of the build and maintenance of a proposed automated warehouse, and to test the technologies and processes that are playing through them at all times,” he says. “We can ensure we’re maintaining costs and not having cost overruns in different

components of the warehouse, as well as ensuring the maintenance of that warehouse is as high as possible.”

THE AUSTRALIAN OPPORTUNITY Australian supply chain in general – and businesses in particular – have an opportunity to take the next step in technological and digital optimisation, Matthew says.

“Australian governments are giving out a lot of funding for the digitalisation of supply chains; a lot of money to try and improve organisations,” he says. “From this point of view, some of the elements that businesses have an opportunity to really improve on are things like visibility, gaining market share, and gaining more growth out of alreadyexisting processes. If Australian businesses don’t take advantage of this opportunity, they will be lagging behind.”

In this connection, Matthew says that TMX can help organisations with scenario-based planning, smart manufacturing, and smart warehousing. He says that so many opportunities have opened up over the past decade in supply chain due to lower and lower costs of technology implementation.

“I’ll be honest, five to 10 years ago I could not have imagined doing things of this nature in Australia because of the associated costs,” he says. “The reality is that now these costs are much less significant. For instance, an IoT device that might once have cost you $100 now costs hardly anything at all, and at the same time the abilities of that device are 11 to 15 times more powerful than when they first came on the market. And the value of the data collected from IoT devices is immense in terms of informing better decision-making.

“The linear supply chain of the past is no longer relevant – it’s the digital supply chain ecosystem that will enable Australian supply chains to succeeed as we move into the future. Whether we’re talking about supply chains in mining or in oil and gas – or whether its hospitals waiting for shipments of COVID vaccinations – a focus on digital supply chain is indispensable. And TMX provides that ecosystem.” ■

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MHD SUPPLY CHAIN

CUSTOMS INTELLIGENCE MAKING ALL THE DIFFERENCE MHD talks to Andrew Coldrey, Vice President Oceania for C.H. Robinson, about how Australian businesses can save thousands every year on import duty.

A

ccording to a report prepared for the Australian Department of Human Affairs and Trade, the average tariff rate applied in Australia has fallen from more than 7 per cent to less than 1 per cent over the past 30 years.

Andrew Coldrey, Vice President Oceania for C.H. Robinson says complacency over such reductions can be the Achilles’ heel of importers who overspend on import duty.

“The import rates are less of an issue, but they still exist and can remain a big cost for businesses,” Andrew says.

To challenge this unnecessary expense, C.H. Robinson spent around 18 months developing a Customs Intelligence (CI) program here in Australia to zero in on where clients are paying too much duty so they can claim back the excess.

Launched this year, C.H. Robinson’s CI program partners its customs expertise and tech power to automate the process in a way that’s easy to identify clear opportunities to cut down on import costs and mitigate threats of non-compliance.

“We saw the opportunity to develop our own proprietary tech to enable our incredibly valuable customs experts to better leverage large amounts of data in order to identify cost-saving opportunities,” Andrew says. “This year we’ve had clients be refunded over a million dollars. It’s possible to go back four years to get duty refunds, which can result in real windfalls.”

The process starts with a letter of authority from a client or prospective client authorising C.H. Robinson to

obtain records of import duty paid from Australian Border Force (ABF).

The CI allows C.H. Robinson’s customs experts to analyse the ABF data to identify opportunities to assess and recover excess duty paid by importers.

Andrew says this could be because of wrong assessments or through lacking a deep knowledge of free trade agreements and the various factors affecting import duty.

Basically, the program identifies opportunities within data that clients already have or data they have available to them, simply by accessing their ABF records.

“It enables us to aggregate opportunities,” Andrew adds. “There might be an added duty amount on a given import line, for example $100 might not seem like a lot but it becomes significant when it’s applied to say 5000 importations.”

The program also allows C.H. Robinson’s consultants to compare free trade agreements to get the maximum benefit from the various agreements in place today.

“No-one wants to pay more taxes or duty than they need to,” he says.

“By laying out the information CI can glean from ABF records in a simple

CI identifies opportunities within data that clients already have.

MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 29

MHD SUPPLY CHAIN

CI can save importers hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in import duty. dashboard, clients can see at a glance where they can improve efficiencies, make changes to suppliers or customs agents and claim back past overpayments.”

A variety of reasons can lead to Australian businesses overpaying on duty.

For example, an importer might bring in a product as a sample, and at the time decide it isn’t worth applying for tariff concession. But if the business decides to increase the volume of imports on a product, the classifications have to change with it, Andrew warns.

“Often people don’t go back and re-assess, so a small impact turns into a big impact a couple years down the track,” he says.

A supplier changing origin is another factor to account for, says Andrew. Free trade opportunities can be missed if a supplier moves factories to a different country where free trade exists.

“It’s pretty rare that we’ve ever had a set of data [where] we haven’t been able to find something,” he says. “The beauty of CI is having the technology in one piece [which] best utilises our experts who know exactly what to look for.”

First and foremost, C.H. Robinson concentrates on immediately recovering any financial loss from import duty for its clients.

The next part of the process is identifying how to close those setbacks and help businesses build for the future. Andrew says using multiple brokers can cause issues with 30 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

“

The beauty of CI is having the technology in one piece which best utilises our experts who know exactly what to look for.

”

different classifications.

“Usually we’ll recommend using a single broker,” he says. “But if there are reasons why there’s more brokers involved, we put a process in place for the customer so they have a common source of their tariff information.”

The program’s assessment can spark a supply chain review for businesses, which can lead to applying for tariff concessions, confirming product origin and free trade opportunities.

“If you imagine having multiple people doing your tax, you’d be worried you’re not receiving the right information all of the time,” Andrew says. “Often companies don’t realise that they’ve got multiple people involved, particularly in larger contract organisations.”

“That’s when we start bringing in the supply chain mapping so we can move forward by consolidating not only the decreased cost, but more importantly, decrease the risk of no-compliance for the business.”

The program can be easily altered to comply with any future legislative or regulatory changes and to take into account rules that were current at the time for any date over the previous four years.

The success of the program in Australia is helping C.H. Robinson overseas, too. In the US, importers provide the classification whereas the responsibility lies with the brokers in Australia, giving Australian brokers a higher compliance requirement.

“The actual tools that we’ve built have been really helpful in the US and Canada,” Andrew says. “To export our expertise within an American company is testament to how well the technology works, and how proud I am of the team behind the CI program.” ■

The CI program ensures that clients are using tariff classifications correctly.

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MHD SUPPLY CHAIN

CREATING AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE Peter Jones, Founder of Prological, explains how the logistics consultancy is reinterpreting the supply chain rulebook to give its customers a competitive edge.

Peter Jones, Founder of Prological.

B

ack in 2003, LG Electronics (LGE) had just rebranded from Lucky Goldstar and required an overhaul of its national supply chain operations. Founder of Prologocial, Peter Jones and his team of conusltants were tasked by Tony Harris, National Supply Chain Manager for LGE, with creating solutions to support the company’s businesses aspirations in the Australian market.

In parallel with setting up new distribution facilities around Australia was a total redesign for LGE’s freight operations. After several months of work, transport options were narrowed down to two candidates: the established McPhee Transport and a relatively new business unit within TNT, known as Speciality Services.

To help Peter’s team make this decision, LG sent its head of supply chain for APAC, Leonardo Kim to Australia. Leonardo’s name was born from his first expat role in Spain, and it was proudly displayed on all of his business cards.

“McPhee Transport, having worked with Sony, Panasonic and several other White and Brown goods brands was a known entity we could take to the bank without risk,” Peter says.

32 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

“TNT Speciality Services was more of an up-and-coming business without the maturity of McPhee within this sector, but under Andrew Lysaght’s leadership was able to do things advantageous to LGE.” After carefully examining all processes from both transport companies, Peter came to a decision.

“I said to Leonardo, ‘I know McPhee transport is a very low risk proposition,’ but he had a different approach all together,” Peter says.

“Leonardo turned to me and said, ‘If we go the same way as everybody else, the best we can be is the same as everybody else and we can never be better than that.’”

TNT Specialty Services’ work for LG made up 20 per cent of its business unit volume, at the time allowing the emerging business unit to develop unique capabilities off the back of LG’s volume, according to Peter.

Combined with an equally unique approach with Allied Express for national metropolitan distribution, LG Electronics Australia quickly grew to 8 per cent of LGE global sales.

“Life was Good for LGE customers as well as us consumers who bought the products by the ship load,” Peter adds.

The success of this project birthed Prological’s philosophy of “creating an unfair advantage,” that is, implementing supply chain solutions which place customers ahead of their market competitors.

SOLUTIONS TO TODAY’S PROBLEMS Peter draws inspiration from engineer and designer of Formula One racing cars Gordon Murray when assessing solutions to modern day supply chain problems.

Working with the Brabham team, which was owned by Bernie Ecclestone

at the time, Murray designed the BT46 “fan car.” The vehicle was driven by a complex series of clutches running from the engine to a large single fan at the back of the car, so the faster the engine ran, the stronger the fan would suction. The car won its debut race at the Sweden Grand Prix in 1978 but so superior was this innovation that Brabham themselves withdrew it from the rest of the season amid concerns over their “unfair advantage” ruining the competition.

“It’s an example of someone remaining within the rulebook but

MHD SUPPLY CHAIN creating something far superior to anything else on the market,” Peter says.

Prological facilitated a process that led to the development of an extra-large, 148 cubic metre single semi-trailer for an Insulation manufacturer in collaboration with Mike Cahill M.D of Cahill’s Transport.

Justin Hollis, GM of the business at the time said the benefits of the new transport solution combined with other associated and integrated business changes led to a 20 per cent increase in market share in the following 12 months.

Working with another transport provider who developed a 210 cubic metre B-double was considered. This was also a brand new unprecedented configuration at the time.

Despite being extremely cost effective, the size of the vehicle had too many constraints with sites combined with limited gazetted pathways, whereas the 148 cubic metre ‘super-single’, while still a PBS vehicle had much more flexibility including the ability to do direct deliveries.

“By developing a fleet of 148 cubic metre single vehicles, we had almost as much capacity as the many B-doubles,” Peter says. “Once we understood the dimensions

“

By looking at the rule book and seeing something very different to everyone else, we create a new reality for our clients, which becomes their new unfair advantage.

”

Prological implements supply chain solutions which place its customers ahead of their market competitors.

of the trailer, we designed it to load as much product as possible and from this created the unfair advantage for our client.

Creating an unfair advantage isn’t limited to the transport side of supply chains, Peter adds, with game-changing gains to be had in inventory control and management.

“Everyone has the same rulebook, but the key is revisiting the rulebook to identify the opportunity to maximise efficiency,” Peter adds.

Penske Australia approached Prological with the idea of upgrading their 13,000 sqm parts distribution warehouse in Brisbane.

However before “pulling the trigger on a new 20,000 sqm warehouse,” the truck distributor wanted to confirm the existing facility was in fact too small.

Prological used sophisticated tools to work out the warehouse reconfiguration, “a big game of Tetris with over 35,000 stock keeping units ranging in size from small washers to whole truck cabins in over 50,000 locations,” Peter says. “The warehouse needed to be relayed within a live environment and quite a few processes modified to deal with the much higher demand than the original design and layout was intended to deal with.”

Sophisticated redesign tools enabled Prological to work out how to reclaim approximately 25 per cent of the warehouse capacity back, but that was the easy part, according to Peter. “The key to the success was having the people on the floor who knew how to execute our plans,” he says.

“Identifying the problems is always the easy part, planning how to solve it is a little harder, but the execution of solutions is what separates a good consulting firm from outstanding firms.”

Mike Hickey’s (Penske’s National GM - Parts & Supply Chain) team, working with Prological’s consultants and redesign, reconfigured 80 per cent of this complex warehouse in a fully operational environment. This will give Penske at least another decade of operations without major rework or outlaying millions on a new facility.

Peter and Prological’s history is full of stories of bringing an unfair advantage to its clients. The firm is passionate about supporting Australian and New Zealand manufacturers to be successful locally and globally.

“By looking at the rule book and seeing something very different to everyone else, we create a new reality for our clients, which becomes their new unfair advantage.” ■ MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 33

MHD SUPPLY CHAIN

CHALLENGING THE SUPPLY CHAIN TALENT GAP FuzzyLogX on how the continued growth of warehouse automation requires a new and improved approach to attracting and upskilling talent to drive supply chain innovation.

F

uzzy LogX is no stranger to warehouse automation, with decades of experience designing automated systems from the ground up – and always with an eye to “futureproofing” their clients’ warehouses.

But with Australian businesses increasingly adopting automated solutions, new intralogistical skills and expertise are required to implement and work effectively with Industry 4.0 technologies, says Katie Walacavage, Fuzzy LogX’s Portfolio Manager.

Katie says that supply chain will remain very people-dependent, even as we enter this next phase of industrial revolution. But with the industry having suffered a talent-gap for years already, the uptake of automation means businesses will have to work even harder to bring the quality and quantity of industry talent up to speed to match the pace of technological development.

“Without a national framework that actively fosters these new technological skills, the onus is on businesses to invest in long-term training right now, because automation and robotics are changing so quickly,” she says.

“Every week there’s a new AGV or AMV, new softwares and IoT devices – so upskilling must be an ongoing, longterm strategic investment. Workers and supply chain leaders must commit to lifelong training, or they’ll be left behind.”

But with great technological change comes great opportunities, too.

A McKinsey & Company report found that with the current trajectory of automation adoption, roughly $1.2 trillion could be added to the Australian economy by 2030. Deloitte Access Economics forecasts that, by 2025, 34 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

there will be 156,000 more technology workers in the Australian workforce than in 2019.

“You can’t just consider single movements of the warehouse in isolation anymore – with click and collect and rapid turnaround you have to be thinking of the global supply chain as well,” Katie says. “That involves a lot of IT systems and data, and people analysing and managing that information. Businesses need people who understand how connected everything is and the larger scope of their job.”

Traditional warehouses based on manual solutions don’t require the analytical skills an automated warehouse does, but swapping excel spreadsheets for dynamic dashboards with KPIs available in real time isn’t an overnight lesson for warehouse staff.

As well as an investment in the automation infrastructure itself, businesses cannot underestimate sourcing, upskilling and retaining human capital in the new Industry 4.0 environment, warns Katie.

“Factoring in labour and skill requirements before going live with your automated warehouse is a must,” she says. “The people element needs to be front-of-mind when developing a strategic business plan.”

Upskilling also needs to occur across all levels of the warehouse, according to Katie.

“Warehouse pickers traditionally use general RF scanners, handheld or in-ear. Now they have to transition these skills to suit an automated environment, where picking is done at goods-to-person picking stations,” she says. “Health and safety managers need

to be trained to work in a facility with zoning, robotics and automation.”

Warehouses are often grouped in suburbs outside of CBDs, bringing job opportunities with them. A new Amazon distribution centre in Kemps Creek is set to bring 1500 jobs to the region. Katie notes there’s tremendous opportunity for new job creation if businesses are willing to invest in upskilling workers.

“It’s a win-win because companies get more value from their workers, who in turn can command higher pay with their improved skillsets,” she says.

“People worry that automation will take away jobs, but they’re forgetting the new jobs that accompany automation.

And by incentivizing workers to upskill and be more adaptable, automation will help build an agile and resilient culture.

“Automation opens up myriad new and exciting job opportunities.

If businesses put the resources and energy into developing their people – and advertise supply chain to the new generation of possible recruits as a dynamic and exciting industry to be in – then we might finally succeed in filling the talent gap.” ■

Fuzzy LogX primary goal is to “future-proof” warehouses.

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MHD WAREHOUSING

DOUBLING CAPACITY WITH FIRST STAGE AUTOMATION MHD talks with Michael Masulans, General Manager at ASICS Oceania, and Michael Jee, Sales Director Australia and New Zealand at Vanderlande, about their success in achieving the leading footwear supplier’s first phase of automation at its new facility in Sydney.

M

ichael Masulans, General Manager at ASICS Oceania, says that even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, ASICS in Australia was changing its operations and distribution model.

A leading maker and distributor of active footwear, ASICS has been distributing product via its Sydney base to Australia for 30 years.

“But during the last decade our business has changed from a pure wholesale business model, where we were doing primarily large orders, to more of a direct-to-consumer model, where there are a lot more smaller orders – and a lot more frequent orders, at that,” Michael says.

In September 2019, ASICS moved its primary Australian facility to a new build in Marsden Park in Sydney. As part of that process, Michael says that he and the ASICS team devised a multistep strategic plan – involving various forms of potential automation – to

The POSISORTER in action at ASICS’ facility.

36 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

be rolled out in order of priority. After assessing multiple providers for its first stage of automation, ASICS decided that Vanderlande was the best choice, with its POSISORTER solution.

WHAT IS POSISORTER? Michael Jee, Sales Director Australia at Vanderlande, says the POSISORTER is a sliding shoe sorter combining advanced conveyance technology with careful product handling. In the ASICS facility it is sorting 2500-3600 parcels per hour, and can reach even higher numbers depending on how it is utilised.

“It’s been a product that Vanderlande has been selling for more than 30 years,” he says. “Over the years it has continuously developed, and as technology has improved it goes faster and is able to divert quicker. But its core technology has been used across various businesses – from e-commerce solutions to food retail to postal to warehouse automation.”

ACHIEVING AUTOMATION From inception to implementation, Michael Masulans estimates Vanderlande was able to install the POSISORTER in the new Marsden Park facility in about 18 months.

He says that previously ASICS’ system was still very manually oriented.

“In our business there will always be a very large manual component,” he says.

“From ASICS’ perspective it’s a matter of combining manual operations with automation to strike the right balance for us and our workers.”

The POSISORTER means that the ASICS team can batch multiple orders to pick at one time, instead of picking individually, reducing travel time in the warehouse, as well as processing more efficiently in general.

“Now we pick multiple wholesale orders and thousands of e-commerce orders at once,” Michael Masulans says.

Empirically speaking, the results speak for themselves, he adds.

“The POSISORTER has reduced our average cost per unit, and effectively doubled our capacity. Whatever we were doing prior to automation, we now have capacity to do twice as much.”

This is the first phase of ASICS’ projected automation roll-out, and Michael Masulans has been impressed with Vanderlande’s work.

Michael Jee says that whatever ASICS’ next steps are in automation, he and the Vanderlande team will be with them every step of the way.

“That’s what Vanderlande’s success has been built on – fostering and maintaining great partnerships with great companies.” ■

Need a clearer view of your logistics and warehousing needs?

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MHD MATERIALS HANDLING

DC SOLUTIONS OFF THE RACK The e-commerce boom is leading to more DCs being developed across Australia, highlighting the need for quality racking and material handling solutions.

Christian Wurzinger, Director of Logistic Systems for Jungheinrich Australia, tells MHD why racking is a core function of the warehouse.

An example of Jungheinrich’s Multi-bay racking.

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ungheinrich is one of the world’s largest intralogistics and materials handling equipment providers, leveraging its success and knowledge from working in over 40 countries with more than 18,000 employees, and with partners from more than 100 countries, to provide logistics solutions for both international and local businesses.

As part of the Jungheinrich global network, Jungheinrich Australia offers a comprehensive range of market leading material handling equipment including forklifts, pallet jacks, order pickers, stackers, warehousing racking, automated guided vehicles, systems, short and long term rental solutions, and outstanding service support focused on customer satisfaction.

Christian Wurzinger, Director of Logistic Systems for Jungheinrich Australia, says storage is a fundamental of warehousing.

“You don’t just work in the docking area where you can get the product in one end and out the other,” he says.

“Operations fall apart if you don’t have an effective way of storing product.”

Jungheinrich’s product portfolio of

38 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

multi-bay, drive-in and narrow aisle racking solutions gives options for differently designed DCs. Multi-bay racking for wide aisles is the most commonly used racking system. Pallets are stored on each level between two uprights. Standard heights for multi-bay racking run from eight to twelve metres in high-bay warehouses and up to 45 metres in automated operation environments.

“Multi-bay has the advantage of being set up as selective racking – you have direct access to each individual pallet, without moving a separate second pallet,” he says Narrow aisle racking systems are a major alternative to multi-bay racking systems. They offer all the performance features of multi-bay racking for wide aisles at heights above ten metres and are freestanding in the warehouse.

Christian says narrow aisle racking systems present a potential growth area in the Australian market. Their advantage is they use less floor space by utilising the vertical space of the warehouse.

“If you envision a regular warehouse

with wide aisles and then you modified it to a very narrow application, you gain 30 to 40 per cent more storage capacity for the same space,” Christian says.

A narrow aisle set-up allows customers moving into new warehouses to choose a smaller footprint, saving on land costs. “You could half your warehouse,” he adds. “From a design point of view, narrow and very narrow aisle racking can also unlock tremendous growth to increase pallet positions.”

A narrow aisle racking systems will be utilised in Jungheinrich’s upcoming 18,000 pallet racking project with Dutch convenience store chain SPAR when upgrading its Brisbane DC. SPAR Australia will use the 13,400 sqm warehouse specific, purpose-built facility to bring all parts of the business under one roof.

“Their chiller and freezer temperature-controlled warehouses were outsourced, and were managed by a 3PL company in Brisbane,” Christian says. “Now, the big efficiency gain is bringing all their core areas into one facility.”

Jungheinrich’s racking solutions can be applied under any temperature, which is perfect for the minus-32° freezer and the ambient temperature space.

There’s no one-size-fits-all in the racking game, says Christian, which is why Jungheinrich worked closely with SPAR and the assigned construction company to allow for racks at different heights to store different groups of products.

Pre-existing obstacles, like the location of sprinklers and building ducts, are design factors that can negatively impact efficiency. So Jungheinrich’s customisation capacity is essential.

“We customise the entire system together with the customer’s operations

MHD MATERIALS HANDLING team in order to maximise their storage capacity,” Christian says. “This ensures that the racking is done as per the customer’s exact requirements.”

Christian expects the e-commerce trend to continue in the Australian market, regardless of the global pandemic, which will in turn necessitate greater flexibility as well as economy of size for warehouses and DCs. As demand for DC space continues to grow in Australia, automation is a way for companies to reduce their costs and improve efficiency and safety.

“In the coming years, the automated market will grow tremendously, especially towards Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and racking systems,” he says.

“AGVs can bring one pallet and drop it into racking. AGVs and narrow aisle trucks will gain more traction with customers in the future because of cost savings and less warehouse space necessary for narrow aisle trucks to operate in. Well-designed automation and racking systems will become the centrepiece of future DCs.” ■ For more information on Jungheinrich Australia’s solutions go to www.jungheinrich.com.au

“

We customise the entire system with the customer’s operations team in order to maximise their storage capacity. This ensures that the racking is done as per the customer’s exact requirements.

”

Jungheinrich’s market leading ETX VNA forklift.

MHD WAREHOUSING

CONSUME, CONSOLIDATE, OPTIMISE: CONTINUOUS DC IMPROVEMENT Donald Hastie, Group CEO of BlueSky Creations, explains the company’s new Optimize solution, and how it harnesses integrated data to drive constant improvement in distribution centres.

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lueSky Creations started out four years ago with the ambition of providing companies with complete solutions aimed at automation and optimisation – bringing to bear the best in data analysis, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

While BlueSky’s solutions cover many areas – including solutions aimed at management of international rugby teams – the company has recently launched its Optimize solution with an eye to precisely address the challenges and opportunities of modern distribution centres.

What Optimize does, says Donald Hastie, Group CEO of BlueSky Creations, is bring all the separate components of DC management – from labour management, to tracking incoming and outgoing units, and more – under one module such that data can be interlinked, understood, and acted upon in a comprehensive manner.

“But we also appreciate that many organisations already have discrete solutions for different components,” Donald says. “So, we don’t want them to lose the benefits of Optimize just because they don’t wish to replace

one component – if they don’t want to replace their current time and attendance solution, for example. And that’s why we knew we had to build a very strong API integration model that can seamlessly gel with the solutions already in place.

“Completeness is critical, as is the ability to integrate. The secret sauce comes in where we apply the very latest mathematics, with IBM solvers, to concurrently view data and view multiple constraints at the same time to make better decisions.”

Donald says that for those wanting

With Optimize users can now see exact costs – per task, per individual.

MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 41

MHD WAREHOUSING

The Optimize Dashboard allows for sophisticated but accessible forecasting. to optimise their DCs, the main thing they’re after is a way to better plan and better understand in advance the volume they’re going to manage, and how to match labour requirements precisely to the job in a flexible and dynamic environment. Greater visibility in advance as well as greater live tracking of how expectations are or are not being met.

“Many traditional planners are exceptional individuals and spreadsheet wizards, but there’s only so far that they can go without integrated data and a complete solution,” he says. “Better planning requires mathematically determining your roster in terms of constraints – constraints that might involve, for instance, unexpected roadworks on the M1 which will make your truck half an hour later to the store. The ability to make those changes – to start half an hour early to get the pick on time – and manage those constraints is key.”

On top of that, the ability to react to what’s happening on a DC floor in real time is crucial, Donald says.

“For example, our solution allows you to know that at 11:00am your team was supposed to have picked 93,500 cartons, while in reality at 11:05am 84,500 have been picked,” he says. “We are able to present that information, graphically, to the team leaders on the DC floor, such that they can ask: ‘What are our opportunities to deal with this latest 42 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

information?’ The team leaders are only blind for five minutes, other than that they have full clarity. Full clarity on where people are working on tasks they shouldn’t be, or where their labour is being taken up by indirect tasks – which can be a nightmare for DCs. “Optimize can integrate with WMS systems harmoniously, so we know that the forklift driver, reporting from the voice unit on his truck, has picked 500 units – that kind of information is being supplied every five minutes and the DC operators are completely up to date.”

Donald says that BlueSky’s Optimize solution recently reaped dividends for a major retail distribution centre.

“They were finding it very difficult to get proper visibility of their operations, and they didn’t want to rely just on industry standards – but they lacked the

Distribution centre team leaders can track their success in reaching KPIs in real time, for better informed, flexible decision making.

integrated data-focused capability to do anything else,” Donald says.

Using BlueSky’s Optimize they were able to assess DC operations in all their variability to come to an objective answer as to which DCs were working better than others, and why.

This included granular analysis of costs. “What we could do is tell the DC at 11:05am exactly the dollar amount – to the cent – they had spent. And the numbers could further be broken down by task, by employment type, and so forth. We were able to show them how much was spent on labour hire, on fixed staff – the true costs including on-costs and payroll taxes. With Optimize they could now see the exact cost per task, per individual.”

Naturally, this meant that labour could be better allocated depending on the comparative advantages of individual workers performing different tasks.

“This organisation got a significant uplift in overall work rate,” Donald says.

“But what we’re now going to see are small, incremental changes. It’s about continuous improvement, by pointone of one per cent at a time. Because – like in the 100m sprint – it’s the tiny improvements at the margin that make the difference.”

Donald says that BlueSky’s Optimize is the only solution that is truly complete and offers the possibility of mathematically fine-tuned, integrated, data driven decision making.

“At the end of the day, it’s about visibility. It’s about forward planning. It’s about continuous improvement. Consume real-time data, consolidate on what’s working, optimise what’s not. Consume, consolidate, optimise. Consume, consolidate, optimise – rinse, repeat!” ■

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MHD WAREHOUSING

WAREHOUSE OF THE FUTURE: SPEED, INNOVATION AND PROACTIVITY Raghav Sibal, Managing Director, ANZ at Manhattan Associates explains the essential tools and strategies to future-proof warehouses as we emerge from the challenges of the pandemic.

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fter the pandemic hit, many companies were simply not prepared for the increase in online orders experienced during the aftermath. Pandemic aside, the challenges presented to brands over the past 12 months have raised a number of questions around longer-term strategies, including questions as to what the warehouse of the future might look like, and how it might manage inevitable supply chain distributions in the future.

In order to build a resilient warehouse equipped for the future, there are four key areas of focus that warehouses of the future will need to consider: fast fulfilment, automation, gamification, and innovation.

SMALL & FAST ORDER FULFILMENT IS KEY Now that many companies are slowly emerging from the challenges of the past 12-20 months, new questions are taking centre stage around how brands can prepare for future disruptions. Which processes and systems are needed? What does the warehouse of the future look like, and what role do people have to play in it?

The biggest challenge facing warehouses today and, in the future, is how to process online orders that often only consist of one or two pieces. Most warehouses have been traditionally employed to work at a pallet or box level. However, picking, packing, and shipping the small orders that have resulted from the boom in e-commerce represent something 44 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

Raghav Sibal, Managing Director, ANZ at Manhattan Associates. entirely different. Throw into the equation the increasingly prolonged next day cut-off times that many websites now offer, and the challenge just gets steeper.

Gone are the days when warehouses would have three days to process an order. Over the course of 2020, and throughout this year, same or next-day shipping has become the default expectation for many consumers.

In fact, warehouses that do not adjust their processes accordingly to meet this new consumer expectation risk becoming obsolete – losing out to competitors entirely.

SYNCHRONISE MAN & MACHINE Automation and robotisation of processes offer warehouses extra order fulfilment capabilities and, additionally, the potential to increase warehouse storage capacity. They are also becoming

an increasingly important tool for a faster, more reliable, and efficient fulfilment process.

There are high hopes for the positive impact robotics and automation will bring to warehouse environments. The big advantage of using robotics is that companies can increase capacity in the warehouse in a flexible way, without having to commit themselves to advanced or large-scale automation systems with limited capacity and questionable ROI. Whether companies opt for greater automation, more robotics or both, people will always play a crucial role in the warehouse of the future – as there are simply some operations that cannot be performed as well by machines or robots as by people. For example, human beings provide flexibility and evaluative thinking when handling large or fragile products. Workforces can also quickly be scaled up in the event of peaks – meaning unexpected increases in orders can be absorbed quickly – so it’s always going to be important for both man and machine to work in cohesion.

GAMIFICATION TAKES CENTRE STAGE One of the key questions that presents itself to leaders in the warehouse and distribution centre space is how to make roles attractive and engaging to existing and potential employees. After all, how much fun is order picking when a robot is your closest colleague?

On this note, there arises the vital concept of ‘gamification’ within the warehouse environment. In a similar

MHD WAREHOUSING way to fitness apps RunKeeper or Strava, we can now give employees in warehouses new challenges and reward them as they take up and complete challenges successfully.

Furthermore, you can compare employee performance in real-time and managers can also set up team challenges, too. For example, moving a pallet can’t be compared to moving a box or a loose item. If performance is good, employees and teams can earn points towards a gift or extra time off, all while keeping the work engaging and challenging, thus maintaining the motivation of teams and individuals along the way.

‘ALWAYS ON’ INNOVATION IS PARAMOUNT Aside from robotisation and gamification, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are two other key components that will play leading roles in the warehouse of the future. For example, if you want to be able to process and ship that last minute order on time, the marginal gains that both can provide

within the warehouse environment can make all the difference in ensuring a customer experiences a positive brand journey.

You can increase the picking density in a warehouse by merging orders into batches, but then you must sort the picked items by order again, and that takes up valuable time. AI and ML can help streamline this process to ensure that all orders are despatched on time and customer promises are adequately met.

At their core, AI and ML help increase operational efficiency. Another great example of this is comparing today’s order profile with order profiles from the past. Intelligent, self-learning systems can predict with greater accuracy what products will be ordered where and when, and how much time will be needed to process an order at the warehouse stage of the product’s journey.

As we increasingly move towards versionless, cloud-based software, more companies will have the ability to access the latest innovations. In an ‘always on’ microservices-architected,

cloud-first environment, costly and slow upgrades are a thing of the past. That also means that innovations in AI & ML are also more accessible and available to a wider business and vertical audience.

Over the past year we have witnessed first-hand that the speed with which organisations implement innovation determines their level of success and the happiness of their direct customers.

If the processes and systems within an organisation cannot follow the speed of change at a macro-economic and customer level, a company or warehouse will struggle to navigate the winds of future change.

While certainly challenging, the past 20 months also unprecedentedly accelerated the pace of change across many areas of business. With supply chains and warehouses now occupying such an important position in boardlevel thinking and strategy, it’s crucial that the warehouse teams of today keep one eye on what the warehouses of tomorrow will look like too – so as to build resilience and strength for whatever challenges lie ahead. ■

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MHD PROPERTY FOCUS

COLLIERS’ INTEGRATED SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY Two of Colliers’ top experts – one in sustainability, the other in industrial real estate – discuss the company’s integrated sustainability strategy, as well as the challenges, opportunities, and solutions for sustainability in industrial property.

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ccording to Lisa Hinde, Head of Sustainability at Colliers for Real Estate Management Services Australia, Colliers has embarked on a course of reconfiguring its overall Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) practices to put it ahead of the curve in responding to emerging challenges in the sustainability space – broadly construed – and to amplify its already wellestablished reputation for integrity as well as excellence in real estate generally and industrial real estate specifically.

“This year Colliers followed up the publication of its Global Impact Report with the appointment of a dedicated Global ESG lead, and the formalisation of an Asia Pacific ESG Committee, led by our APAC Chief Financial Officer,” Lisa says.

“In terms of Colliers’ executive level buy in, it’s a tremendous commitment made by the organisation. To enrol not just the CFO, but also the APAC Chief Operating Officer, Regional Director | People and Performance, and General Counsel & 46 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

Company Secretary in that committee – it really demonstrates our commitment to lead from the top and have our key decision makers focusing strategically on these issues.”

The purpose of the committee, she says, is to gather information from Colliers’ various departments across countries in the APAC region, filter such insights and data back into the company’s overall strategy – for application in its internal operations – and better serve clients on ESG issues.

“There are endless opportunities in applying sustainability principles within our business,” Lisa says. “Whether it’s energy efficiency, investor reporting, or green rating schemes – our role is to monitor these trends and ensure we are seamlessly integrating these initiatives as a market leader. From a social perspective, we are focused on how to more effectively build health and well-being into the picture for everyone who works for or with Colliers. On the scale we’re looking

to embed these principles, it can be challenging to determine which activity to prioritise – you can do the best in terms of environmental metrics, but there’s a risk the people element can get left behind in that process. As for governance, obviously one of the standout concerns is how best to manage data and ensure data security, so that we’re serving our clients responsibly.”

Lisa says that the formation of the APAC ESG Committee, and the renewal of Colliers’ overall sustainability strategy – an “integrated strategy” – is part of an exciting series of new developments emerging from Colliers.

ESG REPORTING & METRICS Daniel Shafferman, National Director, Industrial Real Estate Management Services at Colliers, says that the move to greater focus on ESG is a natural evolution for Colliers. “As Colliers has continuously grown over the years, its core property management role has expanded to

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Colliers is doubling down on its commitment to sustainability, with the formation of an Asia Pacific ESG Committee.

meet the changing demands of the industrial property market,” he says.

“Although we are dealing with Australian properties, it’s important to note that the financial backing often comes from overseas,” Daniel says. “So, it’s paramount that we stay on top of global ESG expectations to deliver the most all-encompassing Property Management offering. If we can help our local asset managers provide the necessary reporting and metrics through automated processes we essentially gain both our clients and ourselves more time and energy to direct at tenant retention or future planning for the asset.”

Of particular significance in this connection is the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), a reporting tool that provides a measurement scale for ESG allowing firms to target areas of improvement, and compare different portfolios and assets on a standardised scale It is viewed as the ESG survey of choice for investors.

Daniel says that because Colliers has such a depth of experience in managing portfolios nationally – especially some of the largest Industrial portfolios under external management – investment groups now come to Colliers to get targeted practical advice on how to ensure their properties are in keeping with key sustainability metrics.

“The considerations we’re talking about to meet GRESB reporting requirements aren’t that complex, but it’s a matter of ensuring buildings have the hardware to supply essential ESG data – and that that data is communicated and managed effectively,” he says. “Everyone has been aware of the importance of sustainability,

health and well-being for a long time, but it has been a balancing act between financial outcomes and how much was truly committed to ESG – that focus has now shifted and they are of equal importance in most of our clients’ strategies moving forward.

“For example, one essential component of GRESB reporting is around energy usage. Existing industrial assets may not have meters capable of reporting the data that is required to monitor energy usage. At what point do you retrofit something that will allow this to be monitored, if your tenant will allow it? If you are building a new product, are you installing the right metering to allow you to track this data moving forward? Is your lease written so that you can collect additional information from the tenant so that you can include them in targeted sustainability improvements?”

Daniel points to other major sustainability considerations within the ESG context, including asset recycling, changing geographies and locational highest and best use, waste management, climate change emissions metrics, and data management. The myriad considerations that come under the rubric of “ESG” are constantly adapting and expanding. Colliers, in turn, is upskilling existing teams and onboarding experts to manage this new expectation of what a traditional industrial real estate management team service encompasses.

ENTER MEASURABL Lisa says that there is growing competition between funds to perform well in a “sustainability Olympics”, because every fund is trying to improve on each other in ESG stakes in the race to accessing capital.

To ensure that clients are staying on top of this competition, Colliers recently launched a global partnership with Measurabl, a widely adopted ESG data management solution for commercial real estate. Measurabl helps manage, disclose and act on environmental, social and governance (ESG) data – and ultimately support investors to achieve sustainability goals in partnership with their real estate management teams.

“Measurabl’s platform collects and syncs data for each asset under our management,” Lisa explains. “What that means is that, once we sync directly with a utility, we load up our Colliersbased policies, our clients’ policies, any

Daniel Shafferman, National Director, Industrial Real Estate Management Services at Colliers.

Lisa Hinde, Head of Sustainability at Colliers for Real Estate Management Services Australia. information that they’re looking to report on for certain metrics – Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reporting, for instance – and it is automatically available for clients to review. It also syncs into those reporting frameworks.”

Colliers’ implementation of Measurabl worldwide underwent a pilot phase, and formally launched in September.

“A strong testing and piloting phase is essential when you’re, in effect, trying to onboard a global footprint of assets under management,” Lisa says. “But in addition to ensuring a seamless and safe transition, it gives us an opportunity to tailor its usage to different geographies and asset classes. We’re Australianising the tool by working with local utility providers, and approaching other partners such as the Green Building Council of Australia and NABERS. “It’s a really amazing tool – and once it’s localised for the Australian market, I know it’s something our clients will really respond well to.” ■ MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 47

MHD MATERIALS HANDLING

SUSTAINABILITY BUILT INTO MATERIALS HANDLING Combilift has been ramping up its sustainability objectives over the past several years – from increasing its range of electric equipment to its own sustainable manufacturing facility. Chris Littlewood, Country Manager Australia for Combilift, explains how.

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hris Littlewood, Country Manager Australia for Combilift, says that implementation of sustainability into the company’s operations is not simply a matter of corporate social responsibility.

“Yes, we do take very seriously our obligations to the environment and broader society,” Chris says. “But it’s more than that. Sustainability is actually fundamental to our value proposition as a business.”

He notes the powerful follow-on benefits that materials handling equipment can have for sustainability.

“When you think about what Combilift do, we provide materials handling solutions that can increase your storage by up to 50 per cent or more,” Chris says. “This of itself can reduce an organisation’s footprint massively.

When you reduce your physical footprint, you are reducing your carbon footprint – by reducing your energy cost as well as other associated costs such as

Sustainability features were built in to Combilift’s new production facility, built in 2018.

48 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

heating, lighting, and maintenance. It all adds up and makes a big impact.”

Combilift’s focus on sustainability starts at the core of its operations – as evidenced by its new factory in Ireland, officially opened in 2018. Chris says that sustainability was a paramount consideration during the design and build of the facility.

“Everything from biomass fuel in our paint lines to minimise gas usage and take 473 tonnes CO2 out of our production in doing so; to generating 10 per cent of our total daily energy requirements from solar panels which – by the way – in Ireland is saying a lot.”

Chris adds that the facility also engages in rainwater harvesting and that 30 per cent of its roof space is covered in skylights to minimise electricity usage. “Sustainability is also literally built into our machines,” he says. “You could, if you wanted, recycle 95 per cent of a standard Combilift machine.”

BY POPULAR DEMAND Chris says that Australia is unlike most of the other 85 markets in which Combilift operates in that it demands relatively little on a regulatory level to push businesses to adopt more environmentally friendly machines. The demand for more sustainable equipment is spearheaded by the customers themselves, rather than by the Australian government, and is testament to the growing culture of eco-awareness among many businesses.

Further benefits of electric power are reduced maintenance costs and longer service intervals, as there is no longer need to check and top up fluids, lubricants, coolants or oils. Noise pollution is also no longer an issue – and drivers, the workforce and visitors on site also appreciate the quiet operation, as do neighbouring residents and businesses, particularly in urban areas.

“Around 50 per cent of the machines we manufacture for Australia are now electric,” he says. “We now offer our multidirectional forklifts in electric up to 12-tonne lift capacity, combining emission free operation with powerful performance; we manufacture electric straddle carriers which have the capacity of lifting 35 tonnes; and nearly 100 per cent of our warehouse equipment range – including the Aisle Master articulated reach trucks and our pedestrian reach and counterbalance stacker – are electric.”

The uptake of lithium-ion battery electric units has gathered pace this year, Chris says.

“Our new Aisle Master OP or Aisle Master Order Picker comes lithiumready as standard, and customer demand

Combilift offers a range of battery powered electric straddle carriers. has pushed us to build our articulated range that can work in even narrower aisles. With Australian pallets that means in aisles 1.8m or narrower. I really cannot see us going backwards with electric from here on in.”

Sustainability improvements are not limited only to Combilift’s electric range, however.

“In our non-electric trucks, we have changed most of the engines in our C-Series and CB multidirectional range to Tier 4 or above,” Chris says. “This is going to have a major impact on indoor air quality as well as sustainability. This is a global, customer-led change. Our customers are demanding a lower C environmental and health impact, and Combilift – and, in turn, M our suppliers – are listening.”

COMBILIFT’S GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY PUSH

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CM

Chris notes that Ireland, where all Combilift products are MY manufactured, is a signatory to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which identified 17 sustainable CY CMY development goals.

“Combilift are not going to change the world on our own,” K Chris says. “But we did choose five of those goals where we thought we might be able to have a small impact. These included Health, Education, Innovation, Responsible Consumption and Production, and Partnerships.”

He says that the company is constantly working to improve and make more robust its supplier qualification process to improve the sustainability of its manufacturing.

“A good example of this is from our paint line, where we only use water-based paints which have no petroleum content,” Chris says. “By doing so we have cut our VOC [volatile organic compounds] emissions by 73 per cent. This is a win for both the environment and for our employees’ health.”

For its environmental management initiatives, Combilift has been awarded with ISO 14001 recognition – an internationally agreed standard setting out the requirements to improve an organisation’s environmental management system.

“This means we are recognised for complying with the most stringent rules governing industrial waste and environmental damage,” Chris says.

“I can say with confidence that sustainability concepts are really in our DNA,” Chris says. “Our machines are 95 per cent recyclable, the water utilised in our facility is harvested rainwater, the energy we use is drawn from the sun, our drying rooms are powered by biomass, and our machines are fundamentally designed to reduce warehouse space – thereby reducing energy usage and building materials. It all adds up to an impressive sustainability commitment.” ■

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MHD SUPPLY CHAIN

GLOBAL EXPERIENCE WITH LOCAL DELIVERY End-to-end supply chain consultancy enVista prides itself on its empirical, outcomes-focused approach to solving supply chain problems. Peter Kendall, Managing Director APAC, tells MHD why accountability is crucial to the company’s success – and how enVista’s recent expansion into the APAC region will benefit local companies.

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ccording to Peter Kendall – Managing Director APAC at the international supply chain consultancy and software firm enVista – the group has always maintained steadfast focus on delivering results.

With the vast majority of the enVista team comprised of people with strong industry experience, enVista does not engage in boosterish sales talk.

“For us, it’s all about actionable outcomes,” Peter says. “We’re not big on fancy PowerPoint presentations and big glossy reports. At least 85 per cent of the actions that we recommend on client projects will be actioned within six months of that project finishing.”

He says that enVista’s fundamental business model is to grow the company by delivering value, proving that value to clients, and earning the right to do more for them.

“Give us a problem, and we’ll help you with it,” is how Peter summarises the enVista approach. “If we do a good job on that, it earns us the opportunity to do more to help our customers.

We’ve got a more-than 97 per cent client retention rate, which I think speaks to the efficacy of our mode of operation.”

and breadth of experience across a broad range of industries. Since the bulk of our people come from industry, they’ve actually worked in the areas they now advise on. They have learnt the lessons of those industries – both good and bad. And this strong institutional knowledge is indispensable for guiding practical, actionable outcomes.”

Because of the depth of consulting talent at enVista, Peter says the firm rarely outsources responsibilities when it takes on a project. “We have the capabilities end-to-end to take a project from start to finish,” he says.

“The acronym for our model is ‘CIO’ – ‘consult, implement, operate’. We take total accountability for the project.

The buck stops with us. We’ll identify the problem, solve the problem, and then implement the solution – often

TOTAL ACCOUNTABILITY, FROM END TO END enVista was formed in 2002 and is headquartered in Indianapolis in the United States. Its core focus has always been supply chain consulting and working with clients on technological solutions.

“Our customers are retailers, manufacturers, distributors, and 3PLs,” Peter says. “Over nearly two decades we’ve built a depth 50 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

Peter Kendall, Managing Director APAC at enVista.

a technology or process solution.

We won’t recommend a solution we ourselves can’t implement.”

FIERCELY INDEPENDENT enVista develops some of its own software in-house – in such areas as ‘Unified Commerce’, order management systems, and transport optimisation. But while the company seldom passes responsibility for any part of a project to third-parties, Peter says this doesn’t mean enVista is averse to implementing the best technologies on offer in the market to achieve project objectives.

“We’re independent,” Peter says.

“We know all of the key technologies across WMS, TMS, LMS, ERP, and e-commerce systems. The value for those working with us is access to our deep experience and expertise,

MHD SUPPLY CHAIN developed over decades of working with different technologies and fostering relationships with key vendors. We understand the solutions on offer as well as the vendors do, in most cases.”

He says that, when working with a client, enVista will tell them what solution or technology it thinks is best, but will also run through a selection of competing alternatives as well. That way the client fully understands the broader context of what’s on offer and how enVista came to form its recommendation in an independent, impartial manner. “We know that we must always be prepared to run a system for our clients in the initial phase of implementation – so we’re not going to recommend something unless we’re confident it’s the best fit.

Otherwise, we’d look foolish trying to run a system that wasn’t chosen based on an objective assessment. We wouldn’t be able to deliver actionable outcomes and quantifiable results. It just wouldn’t be in our best interest – let alone the client’s – for us to do that.”

NETWORK STRATEGY AND OPTIMISATION Everyone is, by now, familiar with the large macro-changes that have affected supply chains, domestically and globally, Peter says (e-commerce, the repercussions of the pandemic, international trade disputes, and so forth).

He notes that when it comes to devising a supply chain network strategy for clients, instead of working off the traditional linear model of goods moving from, say, China to Australia on a ‘just in time’ basis, it is now imperative to strategise for a more resilient model – one less susceptible to the disruption that comes with putting all your eggs in one distributional basket.

But how to achieve this?

An essential key, he says, is to conceptualise the supply chain process in reverse – beginning with the question, ‘What is the customer demanding?’ and then moving backwards and outwards to determine the conditions and processes that must be in place to ensure those demands will always be met.

“After a proper assessment of the

By delivering tangible results enVista has achieved a more-than 97 per cent client retention rate.

customer demand profile, we’ll then reverse the traditional supply chain sequence from a strategic perspective – considering the gameplan in terms of consumer-to-business, instead of starting with business-to-consumer,” Peter says. “We will then ask questions that follow on from that customer profile: ‘Based on your customer demand, where do you need different facilities in your supply chain? Where’s the best place to put them to service target markets? What capabilities and capacities will be needed at those facilities?’”

He adds that the Australian context is unique, owing to its geography, sheer land mass, and a relatively small population that clusters primarily on the coastal perimeter.

In this connection he cites work enVista did with a telecommunications company that was blanket-buying the inventory necessary for its infrastructure, without taking stock of what precisely was needed and in what quantities. The upshot, Peter says, was that the company was wasting money building up a backlog of “exposed and obsolete inventory”.

The solution, he says, was again to work backwards from the specific – conceptualising the supply chain and procurement system by formulating demand profiles of the SKUs [stock keeping units] involved, and then determining how – and how often – each SKU needed to be used. The next

step was to zoom-out to determine the best method for ordering each type of SKU as well as the suppliers best positioned to accommodate the company’s inventory needs.

ENVISTA’S APAC EXPANSION While enVista has long done projects in Australia and the Asia Pacific, in late 2019 it was decided that the company needed to establish a local presence with local personnel and expertise.

“We have amazing breadth and depth of global experience, but we wanted to combine that with local knowledge and execution in the APAC region,” Peter says. “It’s a culturally diverse region, and we wanted to provide our APAC customers with a service attuned to local issues and objectives. We need to speak the local language, establish on-theground credibility, and frame our objectives in ways that resonate with local experience.”

After the 2019 decision to expand, enVista first established permanent offices in Singapore and Sydney, and is continually expanding its presence, with offices in Bangkok, Auckland, Melbourne, and Perth. enVista’s vision for the region is a simple one, Peter says. “In a phrase, what we’re bringing to the table is this: ‘Global experience combined with local knowledge and execution’. Delivering on that simple idea is what enVista is all about.” ■ MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 51

MHD SUPPLY CHAIN

SMOOTHING STORMY SEAS Julie Skerman, Director of Communications Task Force, discusses strategies for enhancing customer engagement and brand image amid supply chain disruption.

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ccording to a recent White House report, manufacturing, construction, retail and wholesale trade are the industries most impacted by the pandemicinduced global supply chain disruption.

Frustratingly though, many companies in Australia are experiencing record demand alongside a diminished ability to supply. However, this could be your opportunity to improve customer engagement and elevate brand image to prepare for the time when supply lines become more fluid.

The current supply chain issues are not only attributable to the semiconductor chip shortage. (Have you tried to buy a Play Station 5 lately?)

Worker shortages and transport disruptions are major impediments to service delivery – and for those affected, it’s easy to get bogged down in the internal mechanics of finding solutions to these issues.

But this is a time for companies to also focus on their customers and innovation beyond the immediate problems – to prepare for a competitive advantage and to come out of the crisis even stronger.

Here are five sure-fire ways to enhance customer engagement and brand image during ongoing supply chain disruption.

1. COMMUNICATE PROACTIVELY WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS. It’s critical you own the narrative. Stay active and involved, rather than letting customers, competitors or the media make assumptions on your behalf.

Be honest with your customers about delays and don’t make them work to find answers that you can supply.

Strive to prevent misinformation from entering the conversation.

Develop your key messaging ASAP and ensure that everyone in your organisation knows and understands it – especially your salesforce and customer-facing employees.

Don’t be afraid of admitting you don’t have all the answers. Because of the pandemic, the public’s tolerance of uncertainty has increased. Just don’t make promises you can’t keep, and resist the urge to tell people only what they want to hear. Be factual.

Be positive.

2. IDENTIFY NEW SUPPORT CHANNELS FOR CUSTOMERS. Especially critical for B2Bs, listen to your customers to understand how the supply issue impacts their business, then identify other means of support or value-add to help them. In the case of manufacturing, for example, can you offer deals on repair and maintenance programmes to extend the lifecycle of current assets? Can you redirect resources from manufacturing new items to upgrading second-hand products, or reconditioning parts?

3. KEEP YOUR CUSTOMERS CLOSE. Never has it been more important for your salesforce to maintain close contact with your customers, even if they can’t sell a product to them, or if the customer has been forced to buy elsewhere. Give your customers an ear to complain to. Better yours than a competitor’s.

4. CONTINUE MARKETING AND ADVERTISING. Don’t stop promoting your products and business. Instead, redirect focus to available products and promote your brand quality and values. Build demand and increase aspiration.

Julie Skerman, Director of Communications Task Force.

5. SHARE YOUR GOOD NEWS STORIES. Take every opportunity to promote your corporate social responsibility agenda and activities. Also, communicate the ways your company is adapting to support staff and customers in the current environment. This reinforces your company’s longterm commitment to employees, customers, the industry and the broader community.

Remember, you are a critical part of your customer’s story. ■ For more advice on what strategies to implement in your business during the supply chain disruption, contact Communications Task Force by visiting www.communicationstaskforce.com.au/ contact MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 53

MHD ASCI

SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION FOR SUPPLY CHAIN INDUSTRY H

Hayley Jarick, CEO at the Supply Chain Sustainability School, talks about its work informing the industry on sustainability practices through partnerships with organisations like ASCI.

ayley Jarick, CEO at Supply Chain Sustainability School, says that the top two areas where Australia can up its game in supply chain sustainability are climate change and circular economy.

“In the absence of strong national government leadership on climate change in Australia, I think companies have already started to set climatebased targets and look for ways to reduce emissions,” Hayley says. “And it’s not just a matter of philanthropic enterprise or corporate social signalling.

Businesses understand there are real market drivers at work, and if they don’t change and adapt to a realworld problem, the world is going to change around them.”

Hayley says that businesses must engage in sustainable practices to preserve the sustainability of their longterm business operations.. And if setting those targets and agendas are the first area for improvement, the second is closely related.

“I think there is a push towards returning to a circular economy,” she says. “In a way, it’s common-sense economics – don’t waste assets and see where unwanted assets can be onsold or recycled. Instead of only sourcing virgin raw material supplies, businesses should continue to explore ways to source recycled supplies. There is a clear financial opportunity for companies to onsell their unwanted resources to progressive organisations to use, preventing them from becoming waste.”

Hayley says the Supply Chain Sustainability School works for people in supply chains in Australia and New Zealand. Supported by organisational Fellows, the School researches in collaboration with 54 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

industry to produce information and accessible educational materials – free for all – that enable better business practices and sustainable solutions towards social, environmental, and economic outcomes.

“We’ve got over 600 resources available to educate yourself and your business,” Hayley says. “The way we can offer this for free is that we have a membership model whereby our Fellows step up to pay annual fees to keep it going. Then, they collaborate with us to create resources that are industryrelevant. That means we stay relevant because it’s people from the industry asking for resources to be created.”

While the resources are free for all, she says that the School always welcomes more Fellows and Members, because there might be topics of importance that new perspectives can bring to the table and help educate the industry.

“And by having a single point of information, with educational experiences tailored to different learning stages and styles, it means organisations have to do less of the uphill work in educating industry themselves,” Hayley says. “And because we focus on topics that are in the best interests of industry – eliminating modern slavery from our supply chains, for example – our Fellows and Members want to contribute to an ecosystem that raises awareness.

You don’t want potential supply chain partners not living up to best practice standards because, through the chain of responsibility, that can negatively affect your business.”

The Supply Chain Sustainability School has benefited from ASCI’s exposure, networks, and advocacy.

Hayley Jarick, CEO at Supply Chain Sustainability School.

“To take just one example, throughout COVID ASCI has done a great job boosting the profile of procurement as a viable profession,” she says.

“ASCI’s accreditation programs are industry treasures, and by boosting the profile of procurement professionals, they’ve shone a light on an unjustly underpromoted yet essential profession for sustainability.

“There are immense sustainability opportunities in procurement, from procurement with a circulareconomy mindset through to social procurement – integrating a diverse range of suppliers into networks such as innovative eco-friendly businesses, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses, women-owned businesses and social enterprises.

“We’ve been proud to work with ASCI because ASCI’s work complements and amplifies our own.” ■

MHD ASCI

ASCI UPDATE

The latest information and updates from the Australasian Supply Chain Institute.

ASCI CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP ASCI corporate membership is available for any group, organisation, industry body institution or business that wants to join ASCI and demonstrate its commitment to best practice and excellence, whilst ensuring its team’s proficiency in the

AUSTRALASIAN SUPPLY CHAIN INSTITUTE CONTINUED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT UPCOMING EVENTS AND PROGRAMS • 20 October 2021 Leadership Series: Global Ethics Day | 1 CPD Webinar | online To address Global Ethics Day, ASCI is running an online panel discussion and corresponding luncheon events on the international theme which is in line with our annual theme “Decade for Action”.

• 27 October 2021 ASCI Webinar: What is DDBRIX and DDMRO and why has DDMRO become so successful in the past 5 years to model, plan and manage supply chains? | 1 CPD Webinar | online This webinar will cover how DDMRO reduces the supply chain and manufacturing stress and how to start motivating your organisation to use DDBRIX

• 3 November 2021 Impacts of Cyber Attacks of Supply Chain Websites |1 CPD Webinar | online This webinar will cover real case studies from large organisations experiences at a 3PL and customer impacts level of cyber security attacks.

ASCI2022 Supply Chain Vision in the decade for Action | 20 CPD • N EW DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON Conference (hybrid format - face to face/virtual) Program and tickets to be released soon www.asci-2021.com.au For more information or to register for the above events visit www.asci. org.au/events

supply chain industry.

ASCI membership provides access to professional pathways including complimentary practitioner registrations, global best practice knowledge, industry involvement and networks.

ASCI corporate members receive individual benefits for employees, including ASCI plus VIP prices for certifications, courses, complimentary tours and networking events and early bird releases.

For more information or to become a member visit ASCI website www.asci.org. au or contact enquiries@ asci.org.au.

Join ASCI and take the steps towards your professional career pathway now and for 2022. Membership starts at $275 with concessions available upon evidence of your employment situation or membership to another association. For more information on membership benefits please visit www.asci.org.au/join.

MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 55

MHD SCLAA

UPLIFTING OPPORTUNITIES Samantha Martin-Williams, a Director for both the SCLAA and Newcastle Airport, discusses the success of Newcastle Airport, and how projected upgrades to it and the region will boost connectivity and the region’s supply chain capabilities.

A

s challenging as the conditions of the last couple of years have been, they have also served to prompt new thinking and tap into previously unrealised potential across the nation. Amid the tumult of the past 18 months, the resilience and diversification of Newcastle Airport’s is a shining example.

With a global pandemic continuing to wreak havoc on national and global economies, the aviation sector has been harder hit than most. Despite this, Newcastle Airport emerged

with a best-in-class recovery in passenger numbers, and a stronger, more diversified, and more valuable business. Its aspirations are bolder and its influence greater, cementing its role as a regional leader that will shape the future growth of the Hunter and northern NSW, including in the freight and logistics sector.

Significantly, in May this year, the Prime Minister announced $66 million in funding to upgrade the airfield at Newcastle Airport, which is a Federal Defence asset. This upgrade,

to be completed by late 2023 will see the airfield attain Code E status, allowing wide-bodied, long-haul aircraft to utilise the port.

Complementing this infrastructure upgrade is the development of a Special Activation Precinct (SAP) at Williamtown, which will have the airport at its core. This SAP is one of six in regional NSW and was announced after extensive advocacy from the airport in conjunction with key regional organisations. The SAP comes with significant government

Samantha Martin-Williams, Director for both the SCLAA and Newcastle Airport.

56 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

MHD SCLAA

investment and a fast-tracked planning regime to drive economic outcomes for the state.

The NSW Government has committed to spending $1billion on the six SAPs it has announced across NSW. This indicates government investment in Williamtown in the order of $100million-plus over the course of the development. The Williamtown precinct is also expected to generate 5000-plus highly skilled jobs.

While many of these will be in the Defence and aerospace sector, there is no doubt that demand for freight out of Newcastle Airport will lead to supply chain growth.

These significant government announcements are true game changers for northern NSW, unlocking huge potential and possibilities. Modelling undertaken by the airport indicates an economic benefit of $12.7 billion to the region over the 20-year life of the runway. Of this, $6.5billion will be derived from increased freight activity.

Investing in Williamtown and the upgraded runway also supports the NSW Government’s Hunter Regional Plan, which positions the Port of Newcastle and Newcastle Airport as global gateways, through improved interregional links and infrastructure for freight movements as a key goal.

The Federal Government’s funding commitment, coupled with the NSW State Government’s announcement of a Special Activation Precinct will see Williamtown well placed to drive the region’s evolution to one of our nation’s key freight and export hubs. Some of the export opportunities that will present themselves seem clear, given the proximity of the Port Stephens-based airport to aquaculture, beef, and mining technology industries – to name a few. However, it is

“

These significant government announcements are true game changers for northern NSW, unlocking huge potential and possibilities.

Modelling undertaken by the airport indicates an economic benefit of $12.7 billion to the region over the 20-year life of the runway.

”

the opportunities that are not yet apparent that harbour most potential.

In terms of freight projections, there is the potential, based on existing production levels, for a total of 20,519 tonnes of freight to be exported through Newcastle Airport annually, at a total value of approximately $2.1 billion. Considering the expected stimulation driven by international connectivity this is predicted to rise further to potentially 48,700 tonnes, valued at $4.7 billion, by 2039.

To further flesh out these opportunities and the catalytic growth that will come with international connectivity, Newcastle Airport has been a driving force behind the organisation of a regional Summit to be held in early 2022. A collaborative effort, this Summit will be driven by the 10 local Hunter Councils and draw on the skills of the University of Newcastle, Hunter Business Chamber, and Committee for the Hunter. It will connect key industry representatives along with Federal, State and Local Government agencies and development organisations. Its intent is to embed a united regional approach to driving practical outcomes on the back of the airport’s capacity enhancement. ■ Samantha (Sam) Martin-Williams is a Director of both the Supply Chain and Logistics Association of Australia (SCLAA) and Newcastle Airport (NAPL) and has previously worked as General Manager and Company Secretary of the Hunter Valley Coal Chain Coordinator.

To find out more contact: Peter Wych Executive Manager Property and Commercial pwych@newcastleairport.com.au 0431 380 507

MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 57

MHD SUPPLY CHAIN

DON’T BOX US IN – INDUSTRY NEEDS ROOM TO MOVE

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Australia’s urban areas are growing, and so is the industry’s urban freight task. ALC explains why the preservation of prime industrial real estate is more important than ever.

ustralia’s urban areas are growing, and so is the industry’s urban freight task.

The future looks bright to some – with new homes, increased amenities, and everything from your shoes to the kitchen sink soon able to be ordered and delivered online (if they’re not already). But there is a storm on the horizon. And it takes the shape of a poorly planned, overdeveloped city brought to its knees by an inability to deliver its essential supply chain functions.

Australia’s national freight task is estimated to be 725 billion tonne-km, increasing by over four-fold in the last

The preservation of industrial land supply and locations is fundamental to future-proof supply chain.

58 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

45 years. Between 2018 and 2040, it is forecast to increase by 25 per cent to 962 billion tonne-km, meaning planning now will determine how that task is met.

The preservation of industrial land supply and locations is fundamental to the future communities aspire towards.

Tension between industry and government over the protection of industrial lands is not a new phenomenon. ALC has long advocated for the preservation of freight corridors and industrial land, resulting in the development and adoption of the National Urban Freight

Planning Principles. These principles were endorsed by the Infrastructure Transport Ministers Meeting earlier this year. These principles form part of the National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy and are integral to ensure government planning properly considers the continuous movement of freight as our cities grow.

However, these principles are not mandatory, and industry regularly finds itself in the position of defending use of the very land it uses to service those communities surrounding it. This was recently exhibited by the Industrial Lands Policy Review by the Greater Sydney Commission, on whether the current ‘Retain and Manage’ policy for industrial lands should be changed to permit rezoning and more ‘flexible use’ of such lands. Such ‘flexible use’ might allow residential and other non-industrial services on current industrial zoned lands in Greater Sydney.

ALC CEO Brad Williams believes the protection and preservation of industrial lands in markets, both national and local, are fundamental to the future operating capabilities of supply chains.

“The assured supply of industrial land, close to population centres and separated from residences, is essential to managing the cost of moving freight and the efficiency and productivity of supply chains,” Brad says.

Long term thinking and common sense is needed to avoid poor planning decisions that will allow encroachment of residential areas on industrial lands, placing pressure on critical supply chains,” he says.

MHD SUPPLY CHAIN Land use planning and development approvals that inadequately consider noise, vibrations, and other amenity impacts of freight facilities, can ultimately see inappropriate zoning – placing industrial areas and transport corridors next to residential land. In addition, further restrictions that are sometimes imposed – such as delivery curfews, and limitations on areas of operation and vehicle types – further dampen sector productivity, decreasing economic competitiveness and increasing costs.

As a result, increased congestion in our cities restricts efficient access to freight facilities and impacts the predictability of deliveries. Last-mile delivery is already growing at a rapid pace, servicing consumer demand in metropolitan areas. Growth in business-to-customer, just-in-time, and on-demand delivery – driven by the continued rise in e-commerce and home delivery services – is resulting in increased pressure on kerb-side space and growing interaction between vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists.

“

The assured supply of industrial land, close to population centres and separated from residences, is essential to managing the cost of moving freight and the efficiency and productivity of supply chains.

”

Poor land use planning is contributing to congestion in our fast growing cities. Congestion impacts liveability and the economy.

Australian congestion costs equalled $19 billion in 2016 and are expected to rise to $39 billion annually by 2031. The cost of congestion is lost productivity to business and individuals, environmental and health concerns from air and noise pollution, safety for pedestrians and cyclists, impact on footfall in retail precincts, and impacts on the public space available to communities.

If we take a common sense and long term approach, through adherence to and application of the National Planning Principles, we can avoid some of the problems we are seeing now as well as contribute to increasing the liveability of our cities. Getting the process right today – and educating the community of the need to co-exist with the supply chains that provide our food, groceries and consumer goods in a timely and efficient manner – might mean that storm brewing on the horizon doesn’t come to pass. ■

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MHD OCTOBER 2021 | 61

MHD PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE A monthly wrap up of the latest appointments in the supply chain, materials handling and logistics industry.

DEMATIC APPOINTS NEW DIRECTOR Dematic has appointed Lee Koutsos as Director of its Real Time Logistics division.

Lee brings to Dematic experience and knowledge from a rich history of Account Management, Strategic and General Management, together with significant Leadership and Change Management skills.

TMX PROMOTES NEW DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Natalie Liang has been promoted to Director of Marketing & Communications at business transformation consultancy TMX. As Director, Natalie will be spearheading TMX’s content marketing, digital marketing, internal and external communications, CSR campaigns and public relations across Australia and APAC.

NEW SOLUTIONS CONSULTING MANAGER AT DEMATIC

DEMATIC APPOINTS SOLUTIONS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

David Lamb has moved into the role of Solutions Consulting Manager for Dematic in Australia and New Zealand.

David brings his solid knowledge of

Dematic has promoted Philip Artlett to be Solutions Development Manager in Australia and New Zealand. The new

systems design – overlaid with sales and commercial acumen – to the role.

role will build on Philip’s 11-year career with Dematic, where he will oversee Consulting, Design & Estimating, Simulation and Graphic Design in the Dematic ANZ Integrated Systems Group.

Do you have career news to share? Email Edward Cranswick at Edward.Cranswick@primecreative.com.au to be featured.

62 | MHD OCTOBER 2021

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