Automation innovation
June 1st 2006

Throughout its development from conveyor manufacturer to systems provider, Univeyor has stayed on top of its sector by demonstrating vision and innovation. Typical of its business today is the huge two stage project it has completed for TOP-TOY. Charlotte Stonestreet reports

When three engineers founded Univeyor in 1980, it's doubtful that even they would have envisaged the company as it is today with a 35m Euro turnover. And while others in the same business area have, to some extent, seen some stagnation of late, Univeyor continues to grow and evolve, consistently identifying and developing potential growth areas. In addition, testament to the quality of its product and service, much of the Danish company's recent success has been gained through existing customers expanding into new geographical markets and specifying Univeyor systems at new facilities. For example, Univeyor has 'followed' blue-chip clients such as Lego into the US and Volvo into Belgium.

Maintaining success

According to managing director, Per Bjerring, the vision demonstrated by the company is "second to none", and has been honed and nurtured throughout the organisation's development from conveyor manufacturer to systems provider. This provides the basis by which Univeyor maintains its success in the face of competition from Eastern Europe and the Far East.

"Today, any Western European manufacturer can only survive by being innovative," says Bjerring. "For us, an important part of achieving that is a dedicated division for specialised items.

Over the last twelve months we have also developed our knowledge of simulation, which is becoming more and more important as the volume of data we need to look at for each project increases."

In fact, last year Univeyor invested in excess of 300,000 Euros in research and development. This is in addition to product development that occurs naturally within project contracts.

Univeyor also carries out extensive inhouse tests on its equipment. Function, capacity and ergonomics are all scrutinised, as well as noise levels and overall safety.

Another area of great importance that Bjerring highlights is the software that drives the systems, which must deliver the correct functionality.

One high profile contract that incorporates many of the company's great strengths is at TOP-TOY, the leading Scandinavian toy distributor. Univeyor's involvement at the 60,000m2 distribution centre has been in two stages. Three years ago the company automated the warehouse with a system that encompasses miniload storage, high bay storage, layer picking and fully integrated conveying system.

Following a period of sustained growth, it become clear that TOP-TOY needed to extend its distribution facility and the automated system within. Underlining the success of Univeyor's previous work, the toy giant tasked the company with extending the automated system already in place. The resulting project incorporates a sorter system to connect all the distribution centre elements, which at 870m, is the longest in Denmark. With 1178 sorter trays 5000+ cartons can be handled every hour.

The requirement at TOP-TOY was not to save space and provide more storage capacity (with low rents, extra space would have been easy to come by), but to increase flow rates and eliminate bottlenecks. According to Bjerring, this is not unusual, with more and more of Univeyor's customers requiring greater efficiency rather than the traditional demand for reduced footprint.

As a result of the second stage of the project being installed -- which was achieved without any disruption to the operation of the first stage - TOP-TOY has been able to shorten its operative's shifts and eliminate bottlenecks. Previously, the distribution centre had serviced 92 shops; it now copes with 160 (190,000 pallets worth per year) without problem.

Reduced picking errors

With the new system, operatives are not required to carry out any heavy lifting and the ergonomic design means that stretching and twisting are kept to a minimum, reducing absenteeism due to manual handling injuries. Staff also have more time to complete admin tasks and stocktaking, resulting in a smoother running organisation, while picking errors have been reduced to a minimum.

Demonstrating its expertise in the software side of the business, Univeyor also supplied and implemented a complete warehouse management system covering all handling, from goods receipt to dispatch. The new WMS has been designed to fully integrate with TOP-TOY's existing storage control system.

Perhaps one of the most important features of the system is its ability to cope with extremely high peaks of operation. As well as offering year round efficiency and reliability, the Univeyor equipment has the capacity to serve TOP-TOY during its peak season in the run-up to Christmas when 50% of its throughput occurs. Essentially, the system has allowed TOP-TOY to maintain complete control of its warehouse and distribution operation; something which is particularly important in the critical peak period where the most profit is made - or lost!

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