Auto industry provides blueprint for other sectors

KEVIN MAYHEW THE LESSONS learnt in the high value motor vehicle component sector provide a blueprint for the future of consolidations and warehousing in many other sectors. According to GM Hellmann Automotive Logistics, Keith Domoney, the trend in this sector starkly illustrates the challenge to consolidators worldwide by ocean, air, rail or road to extend further along the supply chain as it provides many advantages. “In the past the shipper optimised his processes, but now it is the pull on the consignee’s supply chain requirements that have to be met to provide the right material at the right quality at the right place and time,” he explained. This new principle enables the consignee to manage his in-bound material more cost effectively and – if done professionally – also more reliably for his production. Hellmann Automotive Logistics – an industry solution for OEMs and TIER 1 suppliers – today offers regular consolidations of automotive parts from all around Europe into South Africa for various first class suppliers to the local automotive industry. Consolidation platforms are maintained in Bremen and Duisburg, Germany, as well as in Barcelona, Spain. The right configuration of a container-load is crucial to achieve full utilisation of space in a container. This is often hampered by cargo dimensions that are not suitable for overseas containers. Hellmann Automotive Logistics has developed its own cardboard box solutions to meet industry standards in optimised container utilisation, fill grades of the boxes and safe handling from door to door.