Bombardier recently announced the appointment of Jeff Cole as Sales Director, Northeast U.S. With his vast experience and insight, Jeff looks to drive sales of Bombardier’s class-leading portfolio of business jets.
A seasoned professional with more than 25 years of experience in aviation sales, Jeff has held a number of key roles in his career, starting in Technical Marketing and Sales Support. He has worked in various positions of increasing responsibility, and built a solid track record specializing in new and pre-owned business jet sales. Jeff’s territory includes New York City as well as Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
“Jeff is an accomplished industry veteran who is well positioned to continue to grow Bombardier’s success in a key United States market. Given his leadership and experience, he will bring a strong sales focus on Bombardier Business Aircraft’s industry-leading products, which are renowned for their smoothest ride,” said Peter Likoray, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Marketing, Bombardier Business Aircraft. “We are delighted to welcome him to the team; he will be a valuable resource as we continue to grow the Bombardier brand and expand our customer reach in the USA.”
Global warehouse automation specialist, Swisslog, announced at Materials Handling Middle East (MHME), the region’s dedicated trade show for warehousing, intralogistics and supply chain solutions, that it has completed a major project for the Middle East’s leading telecom distributor for handsets and accessories, Axiom Telecom (Axiom).
Swisslog designed and implemented a new Dubai-based automated warehouse facility with AutoStore for Axiom Telecom.
Known as the region’s largest retailer and distributor, Axiom has more than 5,000 points of sale and 2,000 employees across the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. It is the retailer and distributor of many of the world’s leading technology brands in the telecom industry, and is expanding into new verticals on the basis of its unique market reach and operational excellence.
With a high volume of daily orders delivered across multiple channels and a demanding customer base, Axiom is expected to provide speed, accuracy, and a competitive service to ensure its future in the face of increased competition.
The move to a new facility was part of Axiom’s overall vision to continue to meet the changing customer demands, while driving down Cost Per Unit.
In reviewing its options, Axiom selected Swisslog’s AutoStore solution to deliver a higher level of automation compared to its conventional warehousing system. The solution deployed was designed to fulfill Axiom’s requirement of 25,000 deliveries and provided a compelling total cost of ownership.
The new warehouse located at Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO) includes a range of pioneering distribution solutions that will give Axiom enhanced operational flexibility and efficiency with less manpower.
As a leader in robotic, data driven and flexible automated solutions, Swisslog is dedicated to helping companies improve the efficiency, productivity and cost effectiveness of their intralogistics operations.
The Swisslog AutoStore solution consists of an automated storage and picking system AutoStore, motorized lights goods conveyor QuickMove and SynQ Warehouse Management Software. AutoStore is an innovative automated material handling solution that uses robots on top of an aluminium grid system to store and locate goods, efficiently delivering them to pick stations for processing.
For Axiom, the AutoStore system will consist of nine robots and five picking stations, providing storage space for 12,500 bins. Ten gravity-shipping lanes ensure efficient order consolidation for both store and home delivery.
“Swisslog is uniquely well-placed to deliver the technology convergence and deep integration necessary to facilitate omni-channel, multi-modal movements across the supply chain — of which warehousing is a critical component,” said Alain Kaddoum, general manager of Swisslog Middle East. “The recent installation is a testament to our dedication to innovation and has helped Axiom deliver an efficient and accurate service for its customers.”
“Our first Swisslog AutoStore solution went live in the region in June 2016, with number increasing to eight in just three years,” added Kaddoum. “The project for Axiom demonstrates the ongoing success of AutoStore in the region. At Swisslog, we tailor every warehouse solution to meet the needs of our customers. Our team of experts delivers warehouses management software solutions to provide facilities with the best inventory control and faster picking times.”
Zebra Technologies Corporation has expanded its printing product portfolio with new mobile and desktop printing solutions designed to meet varying customer needs across multiple industries.
Building on the success of the QLn420 mobile printer, Zebra’s new ZQ630 is designed for high-volume label and receipt printing applications in manufacturing, transportation and logistics and retail environments.
The ZQ630 mobile printer is also available with RFID options enabling businesses to print and encode RFID tags, as well as standard labels and receipts, at the point of application to reduce errors.
Offering an easy-to-read color display, backwards compatibility with QLn420 accessories and Zebra’s Print DNA suite of applications, utilities and developer tools, the ZQ630 provides a superior printing experience through heightened security, better performance and simplified remote management.
The new, ZD200 series four-inch value-class desktop printer builds on Zebra’s legacy of producing high-quality, reliable printers.
The ZD200 series was designed for small- and medium-sized businesses to print a variety of tickets, tags, passes, labels and receipts for transportation and logistics, light manufacturing, retail and healthcare applications.
The ZD200 series is also easy to install, available with wired and wireless connectivity options and ready to print right out of the box.
Zebra also enhanced the ZT600 industrial printer with a new color touch screen, providing a more intuitive user experience with interactive menus, an on-screen keyboard and embedded help animations to reduce training time and cost.
Nutanix, a leader in enterprise cloud computing, has announced that the Gulf Stevedoring Contracting Company (GSCCO), a port operator in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is leveraging Nutanix software to increase IT capacity to support growing operations across Saudi port facilities.
The deployment will also reduce IT management overheads. This includes successfully accommodating a 50% spike in container volumes with no impact on operational efficiency.
As the organization responsible for the management of three major port container and bulk terminals in Saudi Arabia, GSCCO is fully committed to supporting the government’s Saudi Vision 2030 agenda for economic diversification.
Scalable, reliable and easy to manage IT systems are recognized as key to delivering this agenda.
This has meant the company both virtualizing existing workloads and replacing its end-of-life physical infrastructure with a more flexible and scalable hyper converged software solution to cope with predicted increases in customer demand.
“We wanted a solution that would deliver linear scalability to handle rapid growth in container traffic,” explains Hossam El-Masry, information technology manager at GSCCO. “We were also looking for greater resiliency and the ability to upgrade and manage the infrastructure without any downtime or impact in any way on the level of service provided to staff and customers at the ports we manage.”
Following a comprehensive evaluation of hyper converged solutions from a number of vendors, the team at GSCCO decided on Nutanix, whose solution enables the company to reach a milestone of 50 percent growth in container traffic well ahead of schedule while significantly lowering operational overhead.
“The Nutanix software delivered fully on its promise of cloud-like scalability, enabling us to add additional nodes in hours rather than days or even weeks with the old hardware and software, and with no downtime. We now also have a much more resilient infrastructure allowing us to keep the ports running at all times with no disruption in service during maintenance and rapid failover to our recovery site to enable us to keep the ports working should we suffer a power outage or other problem,” said El-Masry.
Migration to Nutanix HCI software has led to a significant increase in performance and greater capacity, saving in rack space and a significant reduction in associated datacenter power and cooling overhead.
The implementation success has freed up time for the support team to manage all physical and virtual resources across two sites with just one Nutanix management console, thus enabling them to spend more time supporting users and planning for further developments.
“Not only have we saved on capital IT spending, we have also achieved a saving of around 15 percent in terms of OpEx,” added El-Masry.
Looking to the future, the company is evaluating the possible use of public cloud services, process automation and support for the Internet of Things (IoT), doing so confident in the knowledge that the Nutanix solution is uniquely equipped to enable them to take advantage of these and other new technologies and do so at minimal risk and expense.
IQ Fulfillment, the Middle East and North Africa region’s first robotic fulfillment center, has opened in Dubai.
Launched by IQ Holding, the center provides full back-end solutions using the latest in robotics, AI and software platforms to support the supply chain and logistics industry.
IQ Fulfillment supports the needs of small and medium enterprises, incubators, accelerators and e-commerce players, enabling them to accelerate their business growth.
Using the latest in technology and robotics to integrate seamlessly with clients’ online platforms, IQ Fulfillment delivers fulfillment, storage, package protection and other services.
“IQ Fulfillment fills a distinctive niche in the region, especially with the focus of the MENA region to build its e-commerce ecosystem,” says Fadi Amoudi, founder & CEO of IQ Fulfillment. “Today, the UAE is at the forefront in driving digital technologies and in supporting SMEs to achieve transformational growth. This presents a strong growth environment for innovative tech-companies such as ours.”
“We chose the UAE and Dubai for this pioneering initiative due to the strong digital infrastructure present here, and the focus of the leadership to drive digital transformation through forward-looking technology and innovation,” he adds. “With the city preparing for Expo 2020, we see the opening of IQ Fulfillment as meeting a need in the market to support SMEs and other enterprises to build their digital enterprises in the most cost-effective manner.”
Ensuring end-to-end services, IQ Fulfillment will help address logistical challenges experienced by SMEs such as large number of orders during seasonal peaks, which can lead to bottlenecks during that period. IQ Fulfillment helps address these gaps through their unique service.
Utilizing robotic and AI solutions, IQ Fulfillment assures many features to boost efficiency and productivity. The robotic technologies used at the centre help process 12,000 robotic orders daily, delivering a 99.9% accuracy rate, and 3 times the human output and the largest international companies, such as Ali Baba, use the same technology.
With a proof of concept (POC) warehouse spanning an area of 45,000 square feet, IQ Fulfillment deploys cutting edge technology from its global partners and is led by a team of expert and multicultural professionals.
Among the key features of IQ Fulfillment are robotic picking, seamless integration, end to end track & trace, full live visibility, intelligence storage, package protection, cross docking, quality control measures, return management and several customized value added services such as kitting and bundling, gift wrapping, seasonal packing. In short, everything an enterprise needs to build a thriving e-commerce enterprise.
According to the latest study by Dubai Economy and Visa, the UAE has the most advanced e-commerce market in the MENA region, with e-commerce transactions set to reach over AED59 billion this year and to grow 23 per cent per annum through 2022.
This presents a significant growth opportunity for IQ Fulfillment, as it is the only organization to offer the full range of digital and physical infrastructure- backed by robotics technology – to support the digital ambitions of businesses – both start-ups and established companies.
Essentially, SMEs only need to build an app or website based on their business model, and IQ Fulfillment, will support them with warehousing, order processing and delivery by taking all logistical aspects to the highest levels of efficiency.
Agility has invested US $18 million in green supply chain technologies so far through its corporate venture arm Agility Ventures.
The announcement came as part of Agility’s launch of its latest sustainability report, ‘Values into Action’.
It follows the news that Agility has committed to adopt science-based targets for greenhouse gas emissions reduction and achieved third-party certification for its shipment emissions reporting.
Agility is pursuing an ambitious environmental strategy. By 2025, it plans to cut its emissions by 25% from 2016 levels. To reach that goal, the company is implementing renewable energy pilots in large facilities across the world and building to green standards as it adds over 300,000m2 of facilities to its portfolio of warehousing and light industrial facilities across the Middle East and Africa.
Agility incorporates sustainability into business discussions with customers and offers emissions reports using a methodology certified to ISO 14064 standards. To drive green transformation across the industry, Agility Ventures has made green technologies one of its four core investment areas.
“Green technology is a major focus of our investment strategy, and we’re always on the lookout for dynamic new businesses that can revolutionize the supply chain to help protect the planet,” says Agility Chairwoman Henadi Al-Saleh.
“We are looking at innovative solutions that drive business value by reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and reducing energy consumption at the same time,” she adds.
Green technology start-ups benefitting from the US $18 million investment include Hyliion and TVP Solar.
Hyliion is a hybrid technology trucking industry that reduces fuel consumption and corresponding emissions by 30 percent. It achieves this by recycling kinetic energy from braking that would otherwise be wasted.
TVP Solar is a break-through, high-vacuum solar thermal technology serving the most energy-demanding applications, such as air conditioning, desalination, and process heat. Already deployed in the Middle East – including in Agility’s corporate headquarters – TVP solutions operate autonomously with no need for cleaning, directly replacing fossil fuels with cheaper, cleaner, solar heat.
Agility CEO Tarek Sultan said the company has strived to set high standards for corporate citizenship over the past decade, particularly in the areas of environmental responsibility, humanitarian relief logistics, and fair labour practices.
“We’ve invested heavily in our human rights approach over the years and tried to lead by example, especially in emerging markets. Our community outreach program has helped more than 1.6 million people in need and we’ve supported the education of over 36,000 students around the world in the last three years,” he says.
“In partnership with the humanitarian community, Agility has donated logistics expertise and services to more than 45 major humanitarian operations in countries ranging from Indonesia to Peru. Agility’s investments in the environment are the company’s new frontier,” Tarek adds.
DHL Express and DHL Global Forwarding have signed a new multi-year agreement with construction and mining business Komatsu.
DHL will import more than 1,000 tons of Komatsu machinery and spare parts to Australia and New Zealand each year.
The company will provide end-to-end airfreight imports for Komatsu, primarily from the US and Japan, to distribution centers in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth in Australia.
It will also manage the customs process, as trade compliance and regulations become increasingly crucial in optimizing global supply chains.
“DHL Express is proud to have been supporting Komatsu with time-definite international express services for more than a decade, and we are excited to continue our partnership,” said Gary Edstein, chief executive and senior vice president, DHL Express Oceania.
“Annually, we transact in excess of 1.5m stock keeping units (SKU) line sales in Australia,” said Sean Taylor, chief executive and managing director, Komatsu Australia Pty Limited.
“Often, exceptional customer service comes down to having products and parts precisely available when our customers need them. Logistics is a key component of our ability to deliver a first-rate customer experience ensuring that our supply chain is fully optimized,” he added.
ThyssenKrupp Materials Services, the distribution and service provider of the ThyssenKrupp Group, is investing around 70 million euros in the modernization and expansion of its European warehousing and logistics network. A state-of-the-art logistics center and new warehouses are to be built in Germany, Poland and Hungary.
The investments are an important part of ThyssenKrupp Materials Services’ strategy. Under its ‘Materials as a Service’ approach, the western world’s biggest materials distributor is focusing on expanding its portfolio of services supplementing its core business.
“Expanding and modernizing our capacities are important elements of our growth,” says Klaus Keysberg, Chief Executive Officer of ThyssenKrupp Materials Services. “Innovative logistics, automation and digitalization will help us improve our performance and our productivity. That means we can cater even better to the individual requirements of our customers while they can concentrate on their core business.” Connected processing equipment and the digital integration of the company’s sites will ensure flexible and perfectly coordinated logistics processes and services.
A state-of-the-art logistics center with around 36,000 square meters of storage space is to be built in Rotenburg/Wümme (Lower Saxony). The company is investing around 60 million euros in the site, which will store up to 20,000 tons of materials to guarantee maximum material availability. The ground-breaking is planned for the end of the year. Serving customers in the north of Germany, the new logistics and processing center is scheduled to go into operation in 2021.
ThyssenKrupp Materials Services is investing a total of 11 million euros in the expansion of its sites in Nowe Marzy, Poland and the Hungarian capital Budapest. Two new modern warehouses are to start operation at the end of September. With around 13,500 square meters of storage space, the new warehouse in Nowe Marzy is an addition to the hub in north Poland, which was built in 2017. The new facility in Budapest will cover a space of around 6,500 square meters.
Ninety-one percent of small and medium-sized businesses doing cross-border trade in the UAE are focusing on global growth and expect export revenues to growth over the next few years, according to research by online freight service Shipa Freight.
Shipa Freight’s global study of 800 SMEs from developed and emerging markets, including 100 small and medium-size businesses from the UAE, examines the trade patterns and barriers experienced by SMEs.
Despite their desire to export, 91% of small and medium-sized businesses in UAE have faced difficulties when shipping internationally. Seventy-six percent believe their national government should offer more support and services to SMEs looking to ship internationally.
Eighty-five percent of UAE SMEs say that technology is leveling the playing field for them and allowing them to operate globally.
“The logistics industry has traditionally ignored SMEs and done far too little to help them find new markets and grow,” says Paul Rehmet, product chief at Shipa Freight, the online global freight service powered by the Agility network. “Technology is giving them the ‘virtual’ scale that they’ve needed to lower their costs, get real-time information and compete.”
The study reveals that 67% of UAE SMEs are prioritizing export markets over their home market.
For UAE companies, the market with the most potential for growth is the Middle East (55%). UAE SMEs find exporting to Oceania poses the biggest challenge, with more than half (55%) finding this region the most difficult region to export to.
Unfortunately small and medium-size businesses in the UAE are having to navigate widespread trade difficulties – bureaucracy, pricing confusion, political and economic risk — in pursuit of global growth; this is concerning given 73% say that if they don’t export more they won’t be able to grow.
When it comes to shipping, their number one concern is economic risks (49%) – such as recession or sharp downturn — closely followed by political risks, goods being lost or damaged and changing customer or supplier requirements (46%).
For UAE SMEs export regulations are the top challenge (40%). Not having an accurate picture of costs is the greatest difficulty small business leaders in the UAE have faced (51%), followed by the fact that the complexity of international shipping makes it difficult to understand documentation requirements (49%).
Globally, smaller companies account for an estimated 95% of all businesses and employ two-thirds of the world’s workers. Critics of globalization have argued that decades of efforts aimed at easing the flow of goods, capital and jobs across borders has come at the expense of SMEs and disproportionately benefited multi-nationals and other large businesses.
“Smaller businesses used to think they couldn’t compete in trade. Now many see it as their best path for growth,” Rehmet says. “SMEs are not naïve about the obstacles to unlocking new markets. They know more needs to be done to empower them to trade internationally, as the business and social benefits for economies are huge. This is where technology is changing the game, with online tools enabling SMEs to conduct transactions, get financing and gather market intelligence.”
Smaller companies in the UAE see technology as a way to close the gap with bigger competitors, and get quick access to competitive shipping options; 86% believe technology is transforming the logistics industry.
However UAE SMEs are not yet embracing digitization to the same extent as other markets, with only 15% using an online rate quotation and booking tool, the second lowest market in the research after the UK.
LogiPoint has entered an agreement with Aramco Chemicals Company (ACC) to provide export logistics services from its Bonded and Re-Export Zone (BRZ) spread over 1 million m2 adjacent Jeddah Islamic Port.
With the extensive support from Saudi Customs and Jeddah Islamic Port to Re-engineer the Export Process this agreement provides ACC with a strategic export logistics Hub, which helps eliminate the need to use an intermediary overseas hub for storage and onward shipping of their cargoes, LogiPoint said in a release.
By shipping the cargo directly to the target market, it reduces the export processing time from one week to one day, thereby increasing the demand and appeal for Saudi products.
LogiPoint operates the largest Bonded and Re-Export Zone (BRZ) in KSA. Spread over 1 million m2 in Jeddah, it enables clients to save up to 8 days shipping via Jeddah and to re-export without needing to pay customs.
Technology has made the world smaller and faster.Real time communication with people from all over the world at different time zones through phones and gadgets
