Increased investment in technology will take centre stage in the warehousing sector over the next few years.According to Billy Meysel, GM of Jacobs Transport, the lesson that the pandemic has taught us is that the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is very much upon us.“The more visibility that can be offered on what is stored, the better,” he told Freight News.The company recently introduced a locally developed Warehouse Management System (WMS) developed by INControl.“We can now offer high activity and low activity storage areas. We can also help with staging to keep control of the whereabouts of stock in the warehouse and pick stock based on customer orders for just-in-time deliveries,” explained Meysel. “Our WMS integrates seamlessly with our transport planning booking system. This means better control of incoming and outgoing stock.”He said Jacobs Transport was also developing routes for freight movement to its northern neighbours as well as to Komatipoort on the Maputo Corridor. “Our company is known for its huge f leet of crane trucks and abnormal trailers, as well as sideloaders. We have recently become involved with the transport of 19-metre-long water pipes to a pipeline in Botswana and similar projects in the region.” He said the company had also invested heavily in its side tipper business. “We can transport chrome, manganese, magnetite, iron ore, and pig iron. Our tipper f leet consists of side tipper links, featuring state-of-the-art lightweight design, capable of super payloads up to 40 tons.”According to Meysel, a warehousing provider must become part of the customer’s supply chain. “This means that you must be able to trust in your service provider’s capabilities as a crucial link, one that won’t break. This is a huge responsibility. Relying on cutting-edge technology to manage the complexities in the various processes helps to minimise loss or value destruction,” he said. “Warehousing is not only space rented and stock control, but also completing the customer order perfectly, every time.”Meysel said South Africa was very much on par with best practices in the industry globally.“As an ISO 9001:2015-compliant company, Jacobs Transport has also introduced tested process f lows into the warehouse. Maybe there is a higher focus placed on the security of the facility here in South Africa than in other parts of the world.”Commenting on the area of distribution, he said the impact of the recent riots on the routes to the Durban port was worrying. “It would not be surprising if the Maputo Corridor, and specifically Komatipoort, gains ascendancy.”For Jacobs Transport, which specialises in the machine moving and rigging arena, Meysel explained that distribution was not usually to the end customer but rather maintenance or repair of the plant. “Often we will need to move a very heavy piece of machinery, like a huge 150-ton transformer, into place, or assist with the assembly of a plastic injection moulding machine on site. The heavy tonnages or abnormal loads often demand a highly specialised team to transport, store and move.”Overall Meysel is optimistic about the future, but emphasises the importance of ongoing investment in technology. “One has to continue to try to redefine the transport industry in the sectors one serves. Forecasting about mining ore for the side tipper division is not always easy as there is a lot of f luctuation due to commodity price cycles. Within the machine moving/project logistics side of the business, we forecast good growth with our northern neighbours. There has been good infrastructure development recently, like the opening of the Kazungula Bridge, and that bodes well for growth going forward.
