Phononic, the global leader in solid state cooling technology, has entered into a strategic exclusive cold chain licensing agreement with Peltier Technology, Inc. Phononic’s Active Cooling Solutions (ACSTM) platform has become mission critical through the cold chain from fulfillment centers to grocery shelves to last mile delivery.
Peltier Technology, Inc is founded by Hanson Li – an experienced entrepreneur and technology investor – with the mission to reimagine the world’s approach to using cold. Peltier has built an experienced team of industry executives, global supply chain and 3PL partners, and a world class engineering team to strengthen the cold chain with smart modular solutions.
Customers can expect refrigeration and IoT software solutions from Peltier that patch up leaks in the cold chain; an astounding 20% of food and drugs, and up to 50% of vaccines, are wasted despite the tens of billions of dollars the world invests each year in the cold chain. Peltier solutions bring refrigeration flexibility that can be easily integrated in operations that demand temperature integrity. From unlocking new shelves for chilled or frozen goods in the grocery aisle to enabling multi-temp automated warehouse solutions, Peltier delivers sustainable and purposeful refrigeration to an industry frozen in time.
“Peltier is excited to license and commercialize Phononic’s next generation of solid state cooling technology,” said Hanson Li, Peltier CEO and Founder. “I’m excited to combine Peltier’s focus on solving temperature challenges with Phononic’s disruptive cooling platform. With an established ACSTM platform, supply chain, and customers, Peltier will continue to deliver timely solutions for our customers’ cooling challenges.”
“We’re excited to partner with Hanson and his team at Peltier” said Tony Atti, Co-Founder and CEO of Phononic. “We developed the ACSTM platform as a solution to the needs of e-commerce, cold chain, retail/grocery and consumer demand for innovating cooling. Licensing provides us the flexibility to leverage Peltier’s cold chain focus to support the market while we enable the future of AI through our datacenter platform.”
Phononic’s ACSTM platform includes a unique combination of merchandising refrigerators and freezers, portable totes, integrated docking stations and IoT connectivity, last mile, and shipping and logistics design concepts. This platform has already realized value ensuring protection of temperature-sensitive drugs and vaccines; delivering frozen/refrigerated perishable items at the point-of-sale; and enabled retailers to scale e-commerce online purchasing.
The Danish company Eltronic FuelTech is now the first in the industry to offer equipment for supplying fuel from tanks to engines on methanol-powered ships. This can save shipping companies both money as well as energy while enhancing safety.
The naming of Laura Mærsk, A.P. Moller-Maersk’s first container ship that can sail on green methanol, marked the start of more sustainable shipping. In the wake of this, the Danish engineering company Eltronic FuelTech has now launched a new supply system – a so-called Low-flashpoint Fuel Supply system (LFSS) – for this particular vessel.
In doing so, players in the shipping industry can now have an integrated fuel supply system from the fuel tank to the engine comprising a single supply system and fuel valve train which improves safety, cuts costs and saves energy.
“Embracing green methanol as a fuel has been increasing markedly in recent years, and with the new LFSS system, we can make a significant contribution to the green transition of the shipping industry. In the past, several suppliers were required to put together a complete fuel supply system all the way from the fuel tank to the engine, but the fact that we can now supply the entire system brings multiple benefits,” says Louise Andreasen, CEO at Eltronic FuelTech.
There are savings associated with the logistics, as one and the same container can be used for spare parts for the entire system, and fewer repair technicians will be required in connection with maintenance.
“It’s a huge advantage for customers that it’s now available as a combined package so they no longer have to maintain the interfaces between two different systems. At the same time, when we deliver a combined solution, we can guarantee the safety of the entire system,” says Louise Andreasen.
Pump alone can save 40,000 kWh a year
While most other supply systems on the market use two pumps to pump the methanol around, Eltronic FuelTech has managed to create an LFSS with only one pump, thereby saving considerable energy. In addition, it is now possible to adjust the pump depending on the engine load, so that only the right amount of methanol is supplied to the engine, something which has not been possible until now.
“This means that if a ship is sailing slowly, the pump automatically adjusts to the load, so that it only runs at 60% of full power for example. With other systems, unnecessarily large quantities of methanol are pumped around the system, which clearly affects electricity consumption, especially on large ships,” says Louise Andreasen, and continues:
“With the biggest engines on container ships, for example, the pumps usually use more than 100,000 kWh a year pumping the methanol from the fuel tanks to the engine. With our new supply system, we expect to be able to cut consumption by up to 40%.”
In addition to developing systems for a ship’s main engines, Eltronic FuelTech has also developed a compact combined system to supply the ship’s auxiliary engines with fuel from the tanks.
Shipping furniture across the country can be a daunting task, especially if you are worried about ensuring the safety of your items during transit. However, whether you are moving to a new home or need to transport a piece of furniture to a friend or relative, there are several steps you can take to ensure that your items arrive safely at their destination.
Here are some tips for safely shipping furniture across the country:
Choose the Right Shipping Company
One of the most important things you can do to ensure furniture shipping goes smoothly is to choose a reputable shipping company. Look for a company with a track record of delivering items safely and on time. You may also want to consider the type of shipping service best for your needs. For example, if you are shipping a large or heavy piece of furniture, you may choose a company specializing in shipping large items.
Properly Prepare Your Furniture for Shipping
Before you ship your furniture, you should take the time to properly prepare it for shipping. This includes disassembling any pieces that can be taken apart, such as beds or tables, and wrapping them in bubble wrap or other protective materials. It would help if you also considered adding padding to the corners and edges of your furniture to help protect it From Damage During Transit.
Use Sturdy Boxes or Crates
To ensure the safety of your furniture during shipping, it is essential to use sturdy boxes or crates that are large enough to accommodate your items. If you use a container, make sure it is made of sturdy cardboard and well-sealed with tape. If you are using a crate, make sure it is sturdy enough to hold the weight of your furniture and has a secure locking mechanism.
Shipping Containers for Bulk or Oversized Items
For large or bulky furniture, traditional packing may not provide enough protection during transit. Using shipping containers offers a secure and efficient solution, especially for heavy or multiple items. These containers are built to withstand rough handling and external conditions, minimizing the risk of damage. For those moving several pieces at once, alternative shipping solutions such as Premiershipping Containers AU for added durability and security can be a practical choice. Unlike standard crates, shipping containers provide reinforced structures that prevent shifting and impact-related damage. Choosing the right container size and adding proper padding ensures your furniture arrives safely at its destination.
Label Your Boxes or Crates
Labeling your boxes or crates with your name, address, contact information, and the destination address is essential. This will help to ensure that your items are delivered to the correct location.
Insure Your Items
It would help if you considered purchasing insurance for your furniture to protect yourself in case of any damage or loss during shipping. This will provide you with peace of mind and help to cover any costs associated with repairing or replacing your items.
Use a Professional Moving Company
If you are moving a large amount of furniture or are concerned about your items’ safety during shipping, you may want to consider hiring a professional moving company. These companies are experienced in packing and shipping furniture and can handle the entire process for you, including packing, loading, and transporting your items.
By following these tips, you can ensure the safety of your furniture during shipping and have peace of mind knowing that your items will arrive at their destination in good condition. Whether you are moving to a new home or simply shipping a piece of furniture to a friend or relative, these guidelines will help to ensure that your items are protected during transit.
The explosion of online shopping over the past year has seen last-mile carriers come under increased pressure to meet the demands of consumers. A Cork-based technology company aims to help couriers, logistics businesses, and retailers themselves to not only meet these demands but to open up new sales channels and scale their business with efficient delivery routes.
SmartRoutes Delivery Route Planner combines a desktop application that allows for the complete management of routes, vehicles, and drivers, with a mobile app (available on iOS and Android) that helps to make drivers’ work much easier and quicker.
Route Planning & Optimisation
When it comes to route planning, multiple vehicles and drivers, and hundreds of deliveries it can be almost impossible to plan manually in anything close to an efficient manner. To understand how they make the last mile more efficient, it’s important to understand the difference between 2 of their key features: route planning and route optimisation
Route Planning
Planning routes has long been one of the most challenging aspects of any delivery operation. As anyone who has worked in the transport space will know, it can consume hours every day ensuring you have routes ready for drivers arriving at the depot in the morning, confident that every order is on a dispatch.
SmartRoutes have solved much of this with an easy-to-use, desktop-based interface that allows you to import orders over API or through a spreadsheet and have routes created by the system in a matter of seconds.
A lot of thought has gone into this, and they have some impressive features, such as an address validation workflow that ensures that drop-off and collection points are real, where they say they are, and easy for the drivers to find.
The ability to manage vehicle load capacities, driver hours, and load-balancing all make route planning more effective. Having all these factors accounted for by the technology, it can make the life of a transport planner or depot manager much easier.
Route Optimisation
If you consider route planning to be the way in which a human would devise the route for delivery drivers, you can think of route optimisation as the technology that ensures that the routes are as efficient as they possibly can be.
The results of route optimization can be drastic for any business that engages in multi-drop deliveries, saving upwards of 33% on distances traveled. With rising fuel prices in the immediate term and concerns around the battery range of EV’s in the medium-to-long term, this is something every delivery business should be investing in.
SmartRoutes uses a python-based algorithm that they have developed in-house to find the most efficient route possible. In layman’s terms, this means that you can simply input all of your orders or stops in one go, turn on your available drivers and vehicles, and their route optimisation algorithm will run every possible way the routes could be created in a matter of seconds. It then returns the most efficient routes for your available fleet to serve all those stops.
It’s an impressive use of technology to solve a very old problem. For a human to run the millions of variations of a few routes manually would take a very long time, but this route optimisation software brings a whole new level of efficiency to the very foundations of a delivery business.
Day-to-day Delivery Management
Beyond planning and optimisation, the software gives everyone involved in the delivery operation the full oversight from the office to the road that they need. A couple of the killer features are outlined below:
Live Vehicle Tracking Dashboard
Knowledge is power as they say, and knowing where your fleet of vehicles is at any given moment is critical to any last-mile logistics operation.
The SmartRoutes Mobile Driver App is GPS-enabled and can give a real-time overview of where drivers are on their route at any given moment. While it might seem a bit ‘Big-Brother’ for drivers, it can also be of benefit to them.
Not alone is it useful for depot managers to ensure that operations are running smoothly throughout the day, but it can be a game-changer for support staff as well. From one dashboard, they can see in real-time where drivers are on their route, accurate ETA’s for deliveries, and instant feedback on undelivered parcels from the live tracking dashboard.
With an ever-increasing focus on customer experience, it also offers staff the ability to proactively reach out to customers who have missed deliveries to re-arrange a suitable time to re-schedule.
This can save hours of back-and-forth with drivers and gives a much better customer experience for the end customer. Drivers are happier that they can get on with their tasks without having to take calls from the office. Support staff are also having a better experience with customers, and the customer is getting full transparency.
A real win-win situation for everyone involved.
A mobile driver app that keeps the driver front-of-mind
As readers of the blog will have guessed, I was keen to get stuck into their mobile app and put it to the test.
The layout of the app is very simple and a driver can view their route either in a list format or on a map with each drop marked in chronological order. Selecting a drop, the driver can see everything they could need; name, address, phone numbers, dispatch notes, and parcels/SKU’s that are to be delivered. There is also a built-in barcode scanner which eliminates the need for drivers to carry the bulky devices that we’ve become accustomed to seeing our local courier dragging around.
They can also capture photo proof-of-delivery and e-signatures from customers within the app, and this is fed back to the depot or office in real-time too. Again, this eliminates much of the back-and-forth communication that drivers despise.
Route Navigation within the app is done through the tried-and-trusted Google Maps. The familiarity is a big bonus for drivers.
The Delivery Experience
Customer Experience has seen renewed focus for many businesses in recent years, as they look to provide a little something that larger competitors like Amazon lack. Attention to detail and a seamless experience for everyone are key to everything SmartRoutes do. Speaking with CEO David Walsh, he explained:
“Everything we develop within our software has the user in mind. The ‘delivery experience’ is something that many businesses have had to improve over the past year. I think the key for us is that it isn’t just about the end customer. It’s about a happy dispatcher, a happy driver, a happy customer, and a happy support staff member when something doesn’t go to plan. Everyone involved in the last-mile logistical operation needs to be happy for the end customer to have the desired delivery experience. We see getting that right as the way for couriers and logistics companies to remain competitive in the market.”
The Virtual shipping address scene has changed rather quickly over the last month or so but no not all is lost just yet as discussed here before. With Brexit done there is plenty of things to consider when shopping from the UK where things will be now more expensive for consumers which is not good for the consumer or indeed Amazon. There is an extensive guide you can find HERE which explains what the new costs are when purchasing items from the UK but having said that we are not limited to shopping from the UK either. However shopping on other Amazon sites like FR and DE has seemed to gone up plus more delivery charges and with electrical goods a different plug so you need to be aware of what you are buying and if electrical goods have the option to use both two pin/ three pin plugs I am sure you have plenty at home.
With Parcel motel what I can see happening is setting up a base in other EU countries and this will work for the likes of Amazon DE/FR going forward and it is said UPS hope to get this sorted as soon as possible and it will be better for business for both Amazon and the consumer going forward and you can also think about the infrastructure of lockers here in Ireland which perhaps are all paid for now they where not cheap and I am sure they will not want them sitting there doing nothing as do the buildings they are attached to so lets think about the other possibility of Amazon lockers which again is up in the air…It is also said that AMAZON are seeking more premises here in Ireland to hold inventory but I am sure we will hear about this soon..
Address pal have just announced they are introducing new fees which are on the hefty side. You can see their terms and conditions here and shipping arrangements here
You will now be hit with the €3.50 admin fee plus €6.50 on top to be delivered to your home which will not bode well for customers and An Post see this as a filler due to other Virtual address companies get their house in order as reported in the Indo today, Note that some services are suspended which means as mentioned above they are working on resolving this by most likely using an EU option instead. Still a tough pill to swallow for the new charges and ones An Post might regret.
Another thing to watch out for is how you shop online,just because the website may have an Irish store does not mean the product is here in Ireland,You may have noticed time to time shopping online you land on a web page and your given the option to change to ie. Dig deeper here and see where they are actually based..
Check out if you have a package or not with An Post with all the scams now here is how to check..
UPS, a global leader in logistics, global packaging experts Sealed Air (SEE), Smurfit Kappa and top UK distributor Macfarlane Packaging are today launching a new range of packaging specially designed for shipping individual bottles of spirits and wine, to help producers in the UK and Ireland expand their markets and reach new customers.
“Ecommerce presents a huge opportunity for drinks producers wanting to grow their businesses, as a fifth of alcohol consumers in key export markets are already purchasing their favourite brands online,” said Mark Vale, President, UPS UK & Ireland. “We designed this new packaging to simplify the process and bring peace of mind that these fragile products will arrive safely at their destination. By combining this specialised packaging with UPS’s smart global logistics network, brokerage expertise and service coverage, distillers can focus on their passion and sharing their savoir-faire with the world.”
With alcohol e-sales in the UK and Ireland experiencing double digit growth this packaging addresses the challenge of how to safely pack and ship individual bottles that come in a range of shapes and sizes. It has been developed and tested by UPS, in partnership with leading packaging companies Smurfit Kappa and Sealed Air, and is distributed by Macfarlane Packaging. Alcohol producers shipping with UPS benefit from damage cover when they use this UPS Approved packaging.
“At the moment, people are ordering more goods from online retailers so that they can stay at home,” said Laurel Granville, Marketing Director, Macfarlane Packaging. “There is a growing demand for bottle packs as there is a need to effectively pack and distribute these products without damage. At Macfarlane, we offer our clients the most innovative and environmentally friendly protective packaging options for their businesses and we are proud to work with UPS to offer this pack to ecommerce customers.”
There are four customisable versions of the new one-bottle packs that can accommodate most of the wine and spirits bottles on the market. The packaging is also fully recyclable. It features the Korrvu®Retention technology by Sealed Air that allows the bottle to be suspended in transparent film, the pack can be used for display in a shop or bar, or sent to family or friends as a gift.
UPS also provides a direct-to-consumer wine shipping export service from selected countries in Europe to destinations in 60 countries across North America, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa, in addition to its global business-to-business alcohol shipping services.
For more information on the new packaging, visit ups.com/spiritspack. To download UPS’s full guide to shipping alcohol, visit the UPS website.
