Container loading with SIMPLY. offers a whole host of advantages, most notably speed, safety and profitability. This is rooted in the fact that SIMPLY was developed based on practical requirements, for which the market simply didn’t offer a solution.
And so a group of engineers and logisticians came up with an innovation that keeps its promise: SIMPLY. This has been impressively demonstrated in a case study involving one customer that has been using SIMPLY. since 2016.
About the client
The company has over 40 production and service facilities worldwide; its products are used in 95 countries scattered across the globe. When it comes to container fillers, however, it’s not just the distances that are of interest. SIMPLY.’s worldwide presence also means it needs to be able to handle climatic conditions that could not be more different, ranging from humid to dry to hot to bitterly cold. And of course the system also needs to be adapted to different local infrastructures. Also, in this specific case, there’s another added challenge: mobile usage outdoors.
Because what this customer ships is far from a finished, ready-to-use product. It’s various components which all have one thing in common: They’re very heavy, bulky and are produced in large volumes, requiring over 800 containers a year. Before SIMPLY., the customer used open top containers, but these don’t load themselves either. Despite this container variant allowing for easier loading, it still always involved heavy machinery, coupled with lots of carefulness and crossing of fingers.
Robust and Mobile, that’s what SIMPLY. brings
With SIMPLY., that’s all a thing of the past. The motto these days is “Push the button. Load. Go.” And there’s a single number that illustrates the incredible turnover times that can be achieved with SIMPLY.: The company only needs one SIMPLY. to load 800 overseas shipping containers!
Added to that the fact that 800 open top containers have been replaced, saving some 800,000 euros a year! Which would have covered the purchase of a back-up SIMPLY. several times over, given that the customer is now into its third year of use. But that hasn’t been, and won’t be necessary, as the current SIMPLY is a reliable and low-maintenance machine. The company is so happy with the product, it hasn’t just bought one more SIMPLY.; it’s bought ten, using them not as container fillers, but purely for unloading!
The Result
This is where SIMPLY.’s robustness and mobility come into play. Because the loaded containers’ final destination could be a project construction site anywhere in the world. And a SIMPLY. will already be there when the second container arrives. The first contained a SIMPLY. – loading containers is especially easy when a SIMPLY. is sent along on the trip.
As SIMPLY. is adjustable in height and orientation, aligning it with the loading edge of a truck becomes a routine process on any construction site. The necessary compressed air and operating current are generated on site using mobile equipment. Because the project sites are often far away from the nearest town and power supply system. Soil quality is generally an issue on construction sites, and with SIMPLY., even more so. Because transporting heavy cargo at a paved yard is one thing, but unloading it on unsealed dirt is another. The SIMPLY. supporting frame thus sits on several columns, handling loads of 25 tonnes.
Once SIMPLY swings into action, the transport rack travels into the container and pulls out the loaded pallet approx. 10 minutes later. This process only requires one staff member to connect the power and compressed air, flick the main switch, set the container length and then push a button. Once the cargo has been lifted off the transport frame, the next container can be unloaded.
In stark contrast to this is the laborious process of using a heavy-duty crane. This takes a lot longer, requires a lot more staff, and monopolises the precious crane – if there even is one on site in the first place!
The Future
Right after the project is complete, the SIMPLY. moves on to the next site, which could be in an entirely different climate zone thousands of kilometres away.
Right from the start, maintenance or inspection work can be performed independently, on site and by the customer.
So it’s good to know that a customer who uses SIMPLY. in the most demanding way possible, and who relies on flexible handling, is able to tackle every challenge – even those that weren’t the main focus when designing SIMPLY., but were certainly in the back of our minds already!
