Discovering the future
Vanderlande Industries looks at how automation and e-commerce affect the new millennium of material handling.
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 10/1/1999
The World Wide Web has changed life dramatically, according to Karel van Tuijl, managing director of Vanderlande Industries."We now have a 24 hour economy," he says. "E-commerce and rapid product changes have affected the way companies view logistics. Distance is increasingly irrelevant, as goods are now based on a global concept."
Van Tuijl's remarks were delivered to international journalists who attended a day-long conference at VI headquarters in Veghel, The Netherlands. The conference coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of VI.
Van Tujil noted that changes brought on by E-commerce require companies to re-think business as usual.
"While traditional warehouses store products, the modern-day warehouse will move them," he said. "The development of E-commerce requires a concerted approach, one that has flexibility and functionality."
Vanderlande Industries is itself a company that has evolved to address changing business needs. Originally begun as a small firm to perform repairs on weaving looms, VI now finds itself a worldwide material handling company with a concentration on logistics and integration. VI focuses on three main client areas - parcel sortation, airport baggage handling, and warehousing and distribution.
To illustrate how VI clients are approaching the future, attendees were taken on a virtual tour of three recent warehouse installations. Managers of the facilities in Denmark, Germany, and The Netherlands shared via Internet camera hook-ups how they are responding to order fulfillment in a world where customers want products faster.
Success in the future also means positioning oneself as a global player, added Frank van der Borg, VI's manager of research and development.
"People want to be in contact and do business with the entire world," he said.
Vanderlande Industries has also expanded globally to provide material handling services worldwide. Within the past year the company opened its first U.S. sales office in Atlanta, Ga.
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