Reinventing the wheel
February 1st 2009

Interroll says its new variable pitch Carton Flow Wheel Flow range makes first in first out (FIFO) operations more efficient. And, thanks to €millions in R&D, production, testing and quality investment, it won't buckle under pressure. Brendan Coyne reports

Interroll invited a troupe of journalists from around the world to its La Rochesur- Yon facility under the auspices of a new product launch. But the suspicion remains that the real reason was to show off: A newly doubled (in size) test centre, with extra machines and a -28°C cold room; a new €1.5m automatic wheel track production line; and a kaizen-based overhaul across its production and assembly processes. CEO Paul Zumbuhl also used the launch to underline Interroll's financial stability. Why else would it invest €3million when many firms are keeping a cautious eye on the markets – and, for what they're worth, their suppliers' credit ratings? Last year Interroll turned over SF380million (€256m) and received its biggest ever order: 2.4km of cross belts for Swedish Post. On average, the company has achieved double digit growth every year for the last decade. But what about 2009? "In terms of the downturn we are well balanced," says Interroll CEO, Paul Zumbuhl. "All markets are important. Some, such as automotive, are not doing so well.

But we have 23,000 customers globally spread across many sectors, and no single customer represents more than two per cent of our turnover. Our homework will help us through difficult times and we are well prepared for the future. We continue to invest to maintain that status."

Turning the wheels of industry Customers are never willing to pay for waste, recession or otherwise. Which is where the new Carton Flow Wheel Flow comes in.

Interroll claims the range is the first of its kind with variable pitch on the same track.

In simple terms, this means the wheels are more closely spaced at the loading end (where the cartons are placed onto the track) to absorb the impacts of loads, avoiding splaying of the rails and ensuring cartons roll smoothly to the unloading end, where the wheels are spaced further apart.

The heavier the load, the better it rolls, according to Jérome Séjourné, R&D project leader, Interroll Dynamic Storage Systems: If the load is heavy, the section will close inwards via a metallic cross member fixed between two side lugs, which prevents the rail from being crushed under the pressure of the wheels. The wheel track is patent pending, and will become Interroll Dynamic Storage division patent number 55 if granted.

Séjourné claims the 'techno polymer' wheels, are also "proven by test to have the best rolling property on the market". He says the wheels underwent 20,000 cycle tests, which, Didier Lermite, managing director, Interroll Dynamic Storage, Europe, claims is more test cycles than its nearest competitor (although he declined to reveal how many more). Each wheel is designed to withstand 10Kg, and a reinforced version takes up to 15Kg per wheel.

Good news: no screws The track frame uses no screws – making it faster to assemble (Interroll reckons about 30 per cent quicker) and reducing the risk of assembly errors. The company says it is also more robust than its predecessor but retains its universal connector, making it compatible with all racking types.

FIFO to go At both the loading and unloading ends, the Carton Flow Wheel Flow frames adapt to the specifics of the trays and cartons – dimensions, weight, flat base, ribbed base, rigid or non-rigid base. At the loading end, the frames adapt to the type of loading, both manual (with or without a drop tray) and by automatic rack feeder. At the unloading end, there's the choice of fixed stops or drop-out trays for better ergonomics and efficiency.

Case study: They said it couldn't be done Lermite says Interroll's new test centre, as well as proving quality (the La Roche-sur- Yon plant is now ISO 9001 certified, with Bangkok and Toronto plants to follow in 2010) enables the firm to demonstrate all its dynamic storage solutions specific to individual customer's applications. Such was the case with Eurospin, an Italian budget supermarket chain not dissimilar to Germany's Lidl.

The firm's 30,000m2 Verona distribution centre sees up to 2,500 pallets arrive and leave daily and lorries are turned around in 24 minutes. Of 1,200 to 1,500 products stocked, 100 are FMCG that remain in stock for no more than three days. These are stored in 52m FIFO dynamic gravity lanes supplied by Interroll and its Italian partner, Rulli Rulmeca.

Eurospin and Jungheinrich (which acted as systems integrator, supplied all the racking and will act as maintenance and service provider in the future), initially approached one of Interroll's competitors regarding the 52m gravity lanes working with a rack feeder. The competitor replied that it couldn't be done. Undeterred, the party approached Interroll, which promptly set about proving that, actually, it could: After initial consultations, visits to reference sites in Germany using similar technology; and a series of tests at La Roche-sur-Yon, Interroll convinced Jungheinrich and Eurospin by building a 52m gravity lane – and rented a local warehouse big enough to house demonstrate it. "Even then," says Didier Lermite, "we had to construct it diagonally because it still didn't fit..." The entire installation sits between the loading bay and the unloading bay. Loads (both Euro pallets and half pallets) are unloaded onto the feeder, which uses gravity rollers to bring the load to a stacker crane which feeds the loads into the dynamic lanes. Lermite claims the system is "the first gravity system with a stacker crane that takes both full and half pallets in the world". Before pallets reach the crane, however, they are scanned for damage by a sensor mounted just above the rollers. Any damaged pallets are re-routed to a reject lane to be repalletised.

Pallet loads are then placed into appropriate gravity lane positions by the crane and travel 51.6m to the other end, where they are unloaded by reach trucks to be transferred to lorries at the loading bay to be delivered to Eurospin's 720 Italian stores. To relieve pressure on the goods at the unloading end of the lanes, speed controllers and a separator break up the lanes at the midway point, creating a gap between the 41 Europallets in the lane.

At the unloading end, the reach truck operator's job is simplified: the lanes are numbered and each level has a different colour, so the driver's picking instructions are as simple as "1 red" for example, meaning he just drives to lane one and picks from the red-coloured third tier (as pictured); simple yet highly effective.

Less Muda, more savings Because the system eliminates the need for reach trucks to travel the 100m up and down the lane to load and unload, Eurospin is realising energy savings from less battery use, and indeed, trucks, which also means fewer operators, leading to savings of tens of thousands of Euros per truck and driver removed from the equation. Naturally, there is also an environmental benefit: Using gravity to 'power' the lanes, plus fewer truck movements, claims Interroll, leads to an annual reduction in CO2 akin to that of a recent hatchback car driving 19,000 miles. On top of Muda savings, the company says Eurospin's space savings, compared to static racking, are 35 per cent: 5,373m2 surface required with static racking as opposed to 3,536m2 for the same number of pallet positions using flow storage. Given the price of warehousing per square metre, the savings are probably midsix figures.

Proof in the eating All of these economies can be calculated on paper, but it was building the real 52m test lane that swung the deal. "It proved we were a partner, not just a supplier," says Interroll's Dominique Gateau. His boss, Didier Lermite, says that is the company's philosophy and the reason for investing in quality – the "homework" that Lermite's boss, Paul Zumbuhl, says will see the firm thrive despite tough economic conditions.

"You can't just say 'I'm the best'", says Lermite, "you have to prove it, and that is Interroll's focus: to prove objectively to all customers in the supply chain, from the end-users, to the planners and system integrators, that we can understand and solve their problems to provide a proven, pragmatic solution. Our investment in quality, and commitment to demonstrating those solutions is how we prove it." And that, he says, is the only way to win customer's trust, regardless of financial climate.

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