An innovative container load and unload system is reaping enormous dividends for an Austrian ski lift manufacturer’s global transport bottom line.
The Background
Austrian-based firm Doppelmayr Seilbahnen is the world market leader in building ropeway constructions, perhaps the best-known example of which is the ski lift. With 14,900 ropeway installations in 95 countries around the world, the company sends out an average of 800–1.000 FCL container loads from Austria each year.
Doppelmayr uses open-top containers for all projects because the ropeway poles are up to 10m long and up to 20t in weight. This can be a troublesome issue, though – opentop containers are often hard to source as well as between €600 and €1000 more expensive in cost than a regular seafreight container. A further complication is that the loading and unloading of each container is both labour-intensive and time-consuming because the products are so heavy and hard to handle.
The Solution
After researching the market for a solution to reduce or abolish altogether the need for open-top containers for their transport, Doppelmayr managers were introduced to the SIMPLY. container loading system. This machine is able to load a full standard sea container of up to 35t in weight in just a single lift. The whole loading process is completed in 10 minutes.
The SIMPLY. works like a huge automatic pump-truck and is very easy to install. All the freight can be prepicked and secured on the SIMPLY. before the container arrives. The only external factors needed for installation and operating are air-pressure and an electrical connection.
After a critical appraisal of the system’s capabilities, they ordered one SIMPLY. for their plant in Wolfurt. When the first containers where loaded with the SIMPLY. the team was hugely really enthused by the quick and easy system. This soon led to the decision to order a second SIMPLY. for a very big project in La Paz, Bolivia. This SIMPLY. was for unloading hundreds of containers coming from the Wolfurt site.
The Outcome
After the big successes at Wolfurt and La Paz Doppelmayr then ordered more SIMPLY’s for many different projects all over the world. They currently operate 10 SIMPLY.’s in different countries, and are thus able to use the system for just about every container they have to load or unload.
The SIMPLY. container system has totally changed Doppelmayr’s logistics process. From a position where it was complicated and costly to load and unload hundreds of open-top containers per year, they now have a saving of over €600k per annum in regard to transport charges alone. This of course is before you add the time and labour savings made during the loading and unloading process.
www.simply-logistic.com
