27/03/08 O'Connor Group selects Autostore for major northern inland terminal.
O'Connor Group, a leading UK inland terminal operator, has selected Autostore to run all container movements in and out of its 3MG Logistics park on the Mersey Multimodal Gateway at Widnes, Cheshire.
With secure storage for over 5,000 containers between rail lines and road transfer lanes, 3MG is one of the most important intermodal centres in the north west of England. The O'Connor Group acts as both operator and haulier, with over 40,000 TEU moving annually by rail through the ports of Felixtowe and Southampton as well as transshipping container traffic across the UK from Liverpool's Seaforth docks.
Autostore will replace all legacy container handling systems at 3MG, bringing the management and control of the site under a single and internationally-proven enterprise system able to maximise the use of all available on-site space and optimise container throughput.Controlling 3MG's four Liebherr widespan rail-mounted gantry cranes, Autostore will handle every container movement across the site. built-in failsafe and security procedures prevent costly loading or transshipment errors as well as fraud.
Steve O'Connor is managing director of the O'Connor Group: "We've invested heavily in leading-edge technology systems to give us competitive and operational edge - Autostore is a key part of this strategy. Efficiency is paramount: Autostore enables us to cut the turnaround time for each container to just 10 minutes, helping us increase our throughput and enabling us to to deliver a superior service to our rail and shipping line customers. It gives us total, real-time oversight of 3MG - powerful reporting capabilities give us the management information and flexibility we need to enhance decision-making and its easy-to-use functionality deliver significant handling efficiencies that help improve profitability.
"Plus, we have opted for Autostore's Activity Charging Module: this lets us track the full movement history of every container on-site over time, creating new revenue streams for the business based on per-movement and time on-site charging for containers," finished O'Connor.
Four Container Positioning Systems (CPS) are key to Autostore's precision. Controlling the cranes and accurate to very fine tolerances, each CPS gives a clear, 3D overview of which container is where. This ensures that the users are working with accurate, real-time data that also enables more efficient use to be made of available space in the container stack.
The 3MG implementation supports up to eight Autostore users and runs across a network of touch-screen monitors, communicating with the gantry cranes using remote Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) terminals over a wireless LAN.
Becuase Autostore operates in real-time, the O'Connor Group ca reconfigure container movements and capacity in line with the ebb and flow of daily and weekly demand. Providing a digital trail of movements of each container as it is processed through 3MG, Autostore's users will be able to keep customers in touch with progress auatomatically using the system's EDI communications module.
- ENDS -
For more information, please email Julian Wright.