Food Logistics serves the entire food supply chain industry with targeted content for manufacturers, retailers, and distributors.
Issue link: https://foodlogistics.epubxp.com/i/195855
KI-450 and Frommelt's ComboShelter are designed to stay sealed throughout the entire docking process, regardless of the size of the truck or how many forklifts go in and out of it. Frommelt also offers an Under-leveler Seal that completes the fourth side of the environmental control seal by sealing the dock leveler pit. High volume, low speed fans More warehouse managers are taking advantage of high volume, low speed (HVLS) fans to ease the burden of the building's heating and air conditioning systems Frommelt's soft-sided dock shelters are fully impactable, offer full-access sealing around the trailer and are designed to handle a wide range of trailers. temperatures and lowers refrigeration costs, so doors like our Turbo Seal Insulated door, one of the fastest cold storage doors ever built, is drawing a lot of interest for us." Door manufacturers are not only seeing more interest in impactable doors, but impactable tracks too. Since track damage is one of the leading causes of broken seals or gaps in doors, impactable tracks made from solid, ultra high-molecular weight plastic deflect forklifts and other material handling vehicles without damage or energy loss like traditional metal roller doors. "Your dock door should be the last thing that comes between you and a productive, safe facility," said Josh Brown, national sales manager at TKO Dock Doors. "More companies are finding out that investing in the right dock door is one of the easiest and best ways to keep facilities and products safe." Lastly, you can't run all of the high speed doors without a digital system programmed with customized software. Angermeier also pointed out that systems designed to increase door functionality seem to go hand in hand with any warehouse door renovation these days. "These systems can be programmed to operate only during working hours, or inoperable on nights and weekends or whenever the facility is idle," he said. Seals and shelters Advances in materials have allowed for inflatable seals and shelters along the dock to produce more energy efficiency, with longer life and less wear and tear than ones of the past. Today's versions are more impactable and offer full-access around the entire vehicle, as well as systems designed to adjust and accommodate any size truck in the loading dock. Both Kelly and Frommelt have come out with updated versions of the inflatable dock shelters for climate-controlled loading docks that don't get standard traffic. Kelly's new and reduce energy costs for the facility. HVLS fans can cover areas up to 22,000 square feet and a 24-foot diameter model offers costs as little as a few cents per hour. HVLS fans can be used in larger buildings with high ceilings, or floor mounted for unique spaces and facilities with overhead obstructions or limited access. Rite Hite offers a double-bladed HVLS fan called the Rouge that is billed as the "standard" in lowcost, energy-efficient climate control. Companies like Big Ass Fans are making innovations in how HVLS fans and systems operate as well, launching an iPad app called BAFWorks, which allows users to control an unlimited number of fans from a single location in real time with the swipe of a finger. Out With the Old, In With the New Sales in the pallet market are expected to rise as recession-low supplies are restocked with new pallets. M arket research frm Freedonia Group released a report on the pallet industry back in August and while they expect the market as a whole to grow a modest 3.5 percent a year through 2017, the trend of switching to block pallets, new options in plastic pallets and a need for new wood pallets to replace old ones due to a shortage of reusable cores is expected to fuel the 20 OCTOBER 2013 increase in pallet sales overall. Almost two years ago when Costco announced an initiative to move entirely to a wooden block pallet, it was something Freedonia analyst Zoe Biller calls a symptom of the overall trend, but not a driving force in the movement away from stringer pallets and into block. "Costco is part of a broader trend toward pallets that are easier to use, • FOOD LOGISTICS especially in an automated system or with pallet jacks," said Biller in Modern Materials Handling magazine. Sales of plastic pallets are also expected to grow, especially in the food and beverage industry where companies can keep tighter control over their pallet pools to take advantage of plastics' longevity, and where sanitation concerns related to wood pallets and food safety regulations make plastic pallets a better option. But wood is still the king in the pallet industry, still accounting for up to 90 percent of the pallet market as a total. Freedonia's industry report estimates that 60 percent of the wood pallet pool are used pallets, with 40 percent being new, a trend that is set to change according to Biller. A lack of quality used pallets in the system, partly due to the recession when companies just didn't spend money to replace old and broken pallets, is the main reason the 60-40 ratio of old-to-new might get closer to 50-50 in upcoming years. www.foodlogistics.com