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A Sad Reminder About Why We Choose Safety First

On first viewing, there can be few activities which apparently show the complete antithesis of safety consciousness, more than Base jumping.

But the sad death of renowned Base jumper and wingsuit flyer, Dean Potter, raises some difficult questions about whether rules intended to prevent a fatality, have actually contributed towards it.

Base jumping is illegal in US national parks, but it doesn’t appear to have stopped some people’s lust for excitement, pushing some to take more risks at less ideal times. And no matter what your opinion on those risks, the thrill-seekers and flight pioneers are not looking to harm themselves.

As Caty Enders points out in the Guardian, the National Park search and rescue is called out more times to rescue pets than Base jumpers, and Potter himself said he was studying aerodynamics and aerospace technology and was committed to developing safer gear and flying protocols.

As with any activity, understanding the risks is an important part of the safety process, and sticking to the safety guidelines, whether self-imposed or not, may make all the difference.

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Latest News Swisslog

The Long & The Short Of It

The future planning of logistics operations has to include the here and now, as well as the almost here and the almost now…

In the past, businesses have looked to automation to solve the problems and technical issues that have acted as a handbrake to future long-term growth, with occasionally only a passing interest in rapid expansion. Smaller businesses have always had to focus on short term growth, staying in business is the number one priority, but the smart money also looks to the medium and long term future.

At the other end of the organisation scale, doing what’s right today, may not be what’s right for tomorrow – the dominant UK grocers, for example, have found to their cost that building larger and larger stores was no longer a sure route to growth.

The fast changing pace of the online world is promising some remarkable developments in the coming weeks and months, making the need to forward plan even more important.

Click and collect is continuing to grow; same day delivery is making headway and marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, Flipkart and Alibaba continue to dominate.

A fascinating example of how important the ‘marketplace’ approach can rapidly take off is seen in Australia’s leading e-retailer, CatchOfTheDay. The business didn’t even exist a decade ago, it began with five employees and a 200m2 warehouse. Today they sell an item every second and have 2 million customers.

See more about Catch Of The Day’s robots  here: 

A new Swisslog solution provides the company with a storage grid of 25,000 bins, served by 70 robots, picking and transferring goods to 4 Goods-to-Person picking stations. With improved inventory control, operational flexibility and ease of system expansion, CatchOfTheDay are both comfortably able to serve today’s customers and be ready for future growth.

However, some interesting developments may see the fragmentation of the sector, bringing the power and the pressures of eCommerce to an even wider retail base.

With mobile rapidly becoming a dominant reality, some retailers putting this at the top of their omni-channel agenda, the emergence of buying on social networks (social commerce) is likely to change the landscape yet further. How will the buying public respond to recommendations from Facebook friends? If the viral spread of cat videos, charitable causes and dubious urban legends is anything to go by, perhaps we can expect the sudden rise and dramatic fall in product popularity.

As ever, flexibility remains key. At Swisslog we already have a large number of impressive ecommerce experiences to refer to when determining how best to move forward with a new proposal.

The former logistics infrastructure of international fashion and jewellery retailer, Fossil, could not keep pace with its fantastic development. As respected fashionistas, they know a thing or two about trends. Swisslog helped create a new multi-purpose logistics center, highly flexible and very fast, while also being compact and reliable. Swisslog updated the existing infrastructure with a state-of-the-art shuttle facility: the SmartCarrier system, placing the business well ahead of its rivals in a highly competitive sector.

Being open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is also a challenge. Availability needs to be constant and shorter delivery expectations places greater pressure on the logistics process. For Swiss computer components company, Competec, the installed ClickandPick solution has no single point of failure as all inventory bins can be delivered by any of the robots to any picking location – providing virtually 100% access all the time. For the largest electronics distribution center in the country, that’s some claim, but with sales rocketing, it’s certainly paying off.

And in case you think we’re getting too focused on eCommerce, the offline experience too is evolving… but perhaps that’s a story for another day.

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Latest News Windsor

Windsor Metsä Difference

Fresh from a procurement process involving all the UK’s major forklift suppliers, timber specialists Metsä Wood, welcomed a select number of guests to their Boston site to celebrate the implementation of a new partnership with Windsor Materials Handing.

In choosing Windsor, the former Finnforest business cited the company’s independent approach and commitment to delivering additional safety, efficiency and fleet management capabilities as crucial elements of their winning proposal.

“Our key strength is industrial efficiency,” explained host Mike Lomas, Metsä Wood’s UK’s VP of Operations.  “We continuously demand more from both ourselves and our partners, as we look for true commitment to partnerships, quality in production and reliability in operations.”

Mike is clearly delighted with the outcome of the procurement process. As well as delivering a new nationwide service partner, it also features newly-developed equipment from both Doosan and Baumann, a high level of fleet management and utilisation data provided by GPS trackers from Fork Truck Controls, and custom-designed improvements and upgrades by Invicta Attachments.

“We respect expertise and the ability to bring together the right components to deliver a personalised service,” says Mike. “Our business is based around delivering the best product for our customers, and the materials handling operation is an incredibly important part of that process.”

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Latest News Public Relations Rushlift

Franks Love Rushlift!

Known throughout the North East for eye-catching ads and low prices, the name behind Frank’s The Flooring Store is a thriving business with a modern, fast-paced and seamless operating model.

Established in the mid-Nineties, the flooring business with its head office in Shildon has relied on Rushlift to provide materials handling support from the nearby Bishop Auckland depot. Over the last decade, attention to the total cost of ownership has increasingly influenced equipment procurement decisions.

“Cost-efficiency has proved very important,” says Rushlift business manager, Tony Forrester, “Over the years we’ve seen the range of floor coverings grow and the business get busier and busier. The emphasis has been on keeping up with the changes, whilst maintaining efficiency. It’s not all about numbers however, it’s about service, response times, account management, the complete package.”

Rushlift is a leading provider of innovative customer focussed solutions in materials handling equipment.

That focus allows the provision of impartial advice to enable customers to maximise the effectiveness of their industrial equipment fleets, through either long term hire contracts or servicing and repair arrangements; something that long-term customers have found incredibly important.

“We have worked with Rushlift for almost 20 years,” says David Stubbs, financial director and company secretary. “We operate long hours, so it is crucial that we have equipment which is fit for purpose. The quality must be right and we value having a contract that will sort out any issues promptly. We look for long term productive partnerships with everyone we deal with. We value them greatly. We want to be the best in the business and work with the best.”

The approach has led to David and the team changing the forklift fleet on long-term contract hire to match their long-term objectives, switching brands five years ago, and making use of the latest hybrid technology, following advice from Rushlift on fuel consumption and total cost of ownership.

Says Tony Forrester: “Having provided great service support over the years, and our engineers do a very good job on this site, we felt we could bring additional savings. These trucks, with specialist carpet boom attachments, may have a higher initial cost, but they are cheaper to run. It’s now been five years since the initial switch to this type of truck, we’ve proved they’re more cost-efficient. David trusts us to deliver the right product, and with this latest renewal of the fleet, there was no question of changing back.”

David concurs, “You have to have a trusting relationship,” he adds, “and we have got that.” The trust also extends to the management of the operation too.

CreateCity’s managing director, Jason Maguire, leaves much of the day-to-day issues to warehouse manager, Lee Jenkinson and Jo Lupton, by title the human resources manager, but in reality, an operations manager able to take a holistic view of the warehouse, retail and equipment systems.

“Because we have a highly successful retail operation, we can use special offers or pricing changes to predict the workflow or flatten peaks and troughs,” says Jo. “The aim is to keep the throughput constant and steady. It used to be that the biggest peak would occur towards the end of the year. Now, we see the mid-summer growing season where the spike is.” A puzzled look brings a two word explanation: “Artificial grass.”

“We use simple metrics to know how we are operating as a business,” says Jo. “We can compare performance this hour or week to the one before, this month to the rest of the year, this year to last.”

A large screen shows the productivity figures in terms of cuts, the number of times the cutting machines have been put to use to turn a large roll into a customer order.

With substantial cutting capacity, and with the trucks acting as couriers back and forth from rack to cutting machine, the ‘shopfloor’ is always busy but calm and controlled. In recent years, the role of the internet has also created an added dimension to the business, opening up the market beyond the traditional heartlands in the North East. “The internet has allowed us to refine and restructure the business,” says Jo. It’s also knocked down a number of geographical boundaries.

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Latest News Public Relations Windsor

Windsor Stacks Up For Metsä Wood

Independent materials handling business, Windsor, has been awarded a long-term nationwide contract for the supply and maintenance of the MHE fleet of premium-quality wood products business, Metsä Wood.

The deal will see the provision and maintenance of forklifts, sideloaders, cleaning and other machines across four key production sites, and follows a six month tender process involving seven different potential suppliers and 10 equipment manufacturers, each of which were asked to come up with ways of improving an already efficient operation.

In choosing Windsor, the former Finnforest business cited the company’s independent approach and commitment to delivering additional safety, efficiency and fleet management capabilities as crucial elements of their winning proposal.

Gary Isherwood, operations purchasing manager at Metsä Wood UK, said: “Our commitment to improving our operational capabilities is a key part of our ethos, as is delivering industrial efficiencies across the business. It may make us a more demanding customer, when it comes to materials handling, but we feel it makes us a better supplier to our customers and a better company to work for.”

Efficiencies throughout the supply chain, and changing demands within the construction, industrial and distribution sectors, have resulted in changes to the way Metsä handles its Nordic premium timber, plywood and other core products.

“We surveyed the way the equipment was being utilised across all the sites,” said Windsor director, Jason Reynolds, “and felt there were several ways in which we could bring efficiencies, whilst adding flexibility and an upgraded operator experience.”

As a result, the entire fleet will now include cutting-edge GPS driver access and monitoring devices, and a host of safety, environmental and ergonomic improvements. Online fleet management will allow Metsä to monitor equipment usage and accidental damage, stay up-to-date with costs and access service records.

“The GPS devices provide valuable information for the management team, whilst additional LED lights, reduced paperwork, upgrades to seats and reduced noise and vibration levels are small improvements that add up to a far greater user experience,” said Jason Reynolds. “Improved fuel economy, reduced emissions and added safety features are all included, and the fleet will be flexible enough to respond to temporary changes or increases in future demand. This is a fleet management solution, not a standard contract for forklifts.”

The companies have also launched an operator safety award and challenged manufacturers to redesign parts of their equipment to make it both safer and more suitable to their needs.

“This equipment plays a vital role in our operation and it is fitting that we have gone for a complete package,” adds Gary Isherwood. “Windsor had a clear approach and we were impressed with the way they looked at our requirements in an objective manner. We included our operators in the decision-making process, in fact the review was driven by them, and we continue to involve them in the fleet implementation as well as look at ways of rewarding best practice and safer working.”

A selection of new Baumann sideloaders, Doosan counterbalance trucks, JCB Workmax site vehicles and Nilfisk cleaning equipment have begun to be delivered, with the whole fleet of over 50 units expected to be replaced by summer 2015.

Concludes Gary: “Our aim here is to develop a long-term partnership with Windsor, to learn more about our fleet usage and work together to take advantage of new technology. We are looking for like-minded partners that will make us aware of what is available and what is possible. It is a team effort and we are delighted with the steps taken so far.”

Windsor operates from 11 local branches across the UK, offering materials handling and access equipment, for sale, hire and maintenance. Established in 1977, the business is now the UK’s leading independent supplier of Komatsu, Kalmar and Doosan forklifts, Baumann sideloaders, Atlet warehousing and JLG access equipment.

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Latest News Public Relations Tailift

Tailift Appoints Ambassador

Taiwanese forklift manufacturer, Tailift, is to launch three new ranges of forklifts through the newly appointed UK distributor, Ambassador.

Ambassador, a Windsor Materials Handling company, will act as the exclusive UK importer, distributing the equipment via its own dealer network. Parts, warranty, training and sales support to the newly-appointed dealers will be co-ordinated with Tailift, utilising Windsor’s established infrastructure.

The electric, diesel and LPG powered Z Series and Eco-Z Series ranges from 1.5 to 7.0 tonnes capacity and have been developed over the past two years as premium and economy equipment for export to Europe and the US. A third big truck range up to 10 tonnes, the 9L Plus, is expected later this year.

Tailift Sales & Marketing director, Louis Sun, believes the new agreement with Ambassador provides an opportunity for the brand to establish a firm foothold in the UK market. Said Louis:

“We are a major exporter with over 40 years’ experience and a trusted developer of forklift equipment across the world. Our product design, manufacturing processes and component supply agreements are extremely good, but we have struggled to find a partner that has the experience and knowhow to establish a strong presence in the UK.”

“For the partnership to be a success we rely on the local knowledge of the distributor and with Ambassador we already know that the communication and commitment to the Tailift brand looks very promising. It is part of the Tailift ethos to get to know our partners as well as possible. We are therefore very excited to develop a long-term business relationship and work together for our mutual success.”

Windsor managing director, Stephen Burton, said: “Tailift has a strong presence in the UK via their partner brands, but their own range is yet to make as strong an impact as it has elsewhere in the world. The build quality is excellent, yet it is extremely competitive. We see this new venture as a superb opportunity to deliver a high quality, value for money brand, via the strong infrastructure that Ambassador can deliver.”

Manufacturing in Taiwan and mainland China, Tailift’s Forklift Division has a production capacity of 28,000 units per annum. With Taiwan’s high-tech reputation, global status as a gateway to Asian markets, and 1,500 component suppliers based within a 37 mile radius, Tailift has often been the first port of call for other manufacturers looking to develop economic, high quality machines.

Already a global top-20 manufacturer, the company is known for its work for Flexi, Hubtex and Artison brands.

Last year Tailift sold a stake in its forklift operations to Toyota, and the two companies announced the business will be spun off into a jointly operated venture. A period of research is now underway as Toyota look to implement their TPS and Just In Time systems, and develop access to the Chinese market through Tailift’s 120-strong dealer network.

“As a business we believe we have much to offer our customers in terms of excellent local service and value for money products,” concludes Stephen Burton. “We see the Tailift product as the ideal machine for a cost-conscious operation that doesn’t want the hassle and uncertainty of a Chinese brand or the reliability issues of used equipment. For our dealers it offers an opportunity to gain access to a highly respected product range, backed up by strong support and a commitment to establishing and growing the brand into a major UK player.”

Acquired by Windsor in 2014, Ambassador played an important role in the expansion of Komatsu forklifts in the South of England. The business began in 1994, firstly as a Nissan dealer before being appointed as a Komatsu distributor in 2008.

With 11 local branches and over 110 service staff, Windsor provides a wide range of materials handling equipment, including diesel & gas forklifts, electric forklifts, warehouse equipment, side-loaders, large forklifts, container handlers, access equipment, cleaning equipment, articulating VNA, and tractor units.

Product Characteristics

Tailift prides itself on developing its own design concepts and long-term relationships with local and international suppliers. Whilst masts, engines and hoses may be sourced from Germany, Japan, the UK or elsewhere, other specialist items such as transmissions and electronic components are developed closer to home, taking advantage of the country’s reputation as an important IT centre and dynamic entrepreneurial economy.

As market leader in its home territory for over a decade, the Tailift brand has been firmly established as offering simple, easy to operate equipment, with an emphasis on performance and reliability.

 

The Z Series – High Performance & Value

With a low-noise floating powertrain, oil immersed disc brakes and high performance engines, the 1.8 to 7.0 tonnes diesel and LPG, Z Series is the high quality range aimed at heavy-duty applications where operators are looking for greater levels of refinement and productivity.

A reduced diameter steering wheel reduces fatigue levels whilst front, back and upwards visibility provides excellent operator awareness.

Increased safety levels are offered by an operator lock-out system which shuts off hydraulic function when an operator is not present; a low centre of gravity provides high residual capacity, even at height, and a hydraulic safety valve prevents the accidental dropping of loads at high speed.

Electric mini-levers, easy side access to the battery and large operator space also makes the 1.5 to 3.0 tonnes electric range of the Z Series attractive to indoor operations. The AC power system is complete with regenerative braking, anti-rollback and temperature control, adding to the sense of a remarkably advanced truck for a relatively low cost.

Tailift’s attention to detail is seen in some of the less obvious design features, such as a brake pedal arm that is 25% longer to facilitate a faster, increased braking force, reducing stopping distances by half. Other simple features, such as a longer grip handle, improves cabin access and co-ordinated front and rear drive motors reduce the turning circle.

 

The Eco-Z Series  – An Economy Range Built to Surprise

The Eco-Z series was developed to complement the premium Z Series as a low-cost, yet reliable alternative.

Transmissions, braking and the capacity range may have been simplified, but a host of other features, including a heavy-duty chassis, high economy engines and excellent all round visibility remain.

The hidden tilt cylinders, adjustable steering, high comfort seat and multifunction control panel make the Eco-Z cabin a pleasant place to be. High mounted combination lights and sleek body design will please those looking to keep damage costs to a minimum, and Tailift’s own automatic transmission offers fast acceleration and quick, smooth directional response.

With Ambassador providing Tailift with specification advice for the UK market, and easy, clear and comfortable controls, the Eco-Z Series is likely to be attractive to those looking for a value product, with reliable, proven components, but are wary of other manufacturers where technical support is largely absent.

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Latest News Public Relations Swisslog

The Big Future of Big Data

The amount of data generated by our tech-savvy world has exploded in recent years. Digital video (300 hours of which are uploaded to YouTube every minute), audio (in 2013, more than 4.5 billion hours of music were streamed via Spotify) and photographic data (over 670 million public photos were uploaded to Flickr in 2014) is now easily accessible to anyone with a smartphone, stored automatically in a cloud platform at the touch of a button.

In 2010, Google CEO, Eric Schmidt suggested the amount of data created every two days is about the same as was made “from the dawn of man to 2003” and in data storage terms, 2010 was a long time ago.

Since then, the technology has advanced even further to allow ever greater amounts of digital storage, with helium filled hard disk drives now available with 10TB capacity, enough for 170,000 hours of music or 3.2 million high resolution images. Whilst ‘user generated content’ occupies the thoughts of Google, Facebook and Twitter, others have questioned how best to use the information gathered and whether building an advanced analytics capability to take advantage of the data is really worth the investment.

A 2014 study by management consulting firm Bain & Company found that early adopters of Big Data analytics have gained a significant lead over the rest of the corporate world. Examining more than 400 large companies, they found that those with the most advanced analytics capabilities outperform competitors by wide margins. According to the study, those leaders are five times as likely to make decisions faster than market peers and three times as likely to execute decisions as intended.

Making use of that vital business data however, remains elusive for many. Finding ways to make use of the phenomenal amount of data at our fingertips is now the Holy Grail for many enterprises. The more we can find relationships and understand our systems, the more we are able to find and understand patterns. We can then use this learning to find optimizations and improvements, that even a few years ago, were considered unknowable.

The Five Day Forecast

Take the weather. Not so long ago, weather forecasts were considered extremely unreliable. Today, weather services have access to enormous volumes of data and statistical models that allow them to produce much more accurate forecasts, even five days ahead.

Netflix uses data models to allocate its own resources and adjust pricing. Supermarkets use loyalty data to predict shopping patterns – even predicting a pregnancy in one famous case.

Such big data solution approaches can now be successfully applied to warehouse and distribution logistics and their supply chain concepts. State-of-the-art logistics systems, with their sensors and actuators, as well as their warehouse management and control systems, produce several megabytes of historical data every day, just like weather stations.

By using Big Data, for example, we can ensure our e-commerce systems offer extremely high availability during extremely high demand, our prior knowledge and understanding of the behaviour of the system and machines are critical to achieve this.

Predicting The Future

Swisslog’s Condition Monitoring service already identifies system bottlenecks from which potential optimization measures can be derived. Not only is it possible to continuously monitor the condition of all parts and components of a logistics system, but immediate notification can be made when a potentially critical condition is developing.

The ability to predict errors, long before they actually occur, is the next step that will soon be implemented. Since not all components of an intralogistics system are subject to the same stresses, it will also be possible to detect and replace at-risk components early on. The ultimate goal being, to create a data-based life cycle management system for products that gives a complete picture of the future of any automation system.

So today, there’s no longer an excuse, thanks to advanced storage capacities, efficient software and intelligent system designs, not to use data, however big, to the benefit of your intralogistics operation.

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Latest News Public Relations

Teachers Not Immune To Neuromyths

A great, and rightly scathing, short article about the prevalence of so-called neuromyths was published last year in response to a surprising survey of teachers in five countries: see here

Whilst the article itself is enlightening, the reader comment ‘why is it always teachers who fall for pyscho-babble?’ seems a tad unfair.

How many people fall for horoscopes, or moral panics, or (best whisper this one) religion? Check out what Francis Wheeler thinks about UFOs, superstitions and the response to the death of Princess Diana in “How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World” if you need evidence of how widespread modern delusions can be.

Teachers internalise the myths about ‘visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning’ or ‘only using 10 percent of our brain’ because they’re so damn prevalent.

Teachers taking the VAK learning theory too much to heart is potentially harmful, but at least it came from a genuine attempt at a model, developed by New Zealand teacher, Neil Fleming, a senior inspector over seeing over 9,000 lessons. Neuroscientists now believe it to be pretty bonkers, if that’s the right term, but not before it was allowed to get co-opted by the NLP brigade and settle into perceived wisdom hood.

For the ‘right or left brained’ myth, just head to one of the 400,000 pages Google will provide for a search on the subject, or skip straight to this Telegraph article to find out which one you are (clue: it’s neither): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/good-to-share/10515373/Are-you-right-brained-or-left-brained.html

For the prevalence of the 10% baloney, you need look no further than the 2014 Scarlett Johansson movie ‘Lucy’ (estimated marketing budget $35m) – Tagline: “The average person uses 10% of their brain capacity, imagine what she could do with 100%”, or the 2011 movie  ‘Limitless’ : “With the help of a mysterious pill that enables the user to access 100 percent of his brain abilities, a struggling writer (Bradley Cooper) becomes a financial wizard…” or the Ellen DeGeneres joke: “It’s true, they say we use ten percent of our brain. Ten percent of our brain. And I think, imagine what we could accomplish if we used the other 60 percent?”

Whilst teachers consider bowing their heads in deference at being caught out by such widely held beliefs, (yes, we should have known better!) tell the non-teaching friends not to get too cocky. If they think they can outsmart the QI klaxon you might like to test them out on some other beauties, such as:

  1. Did Mozart compose “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” when he was only 5 years old?
  2. Does swallowed chewing gum take years to digest?
  3. Did Henry Ford invent the automobile or the assembly line?
  4. Can lightning strike the same place twice?
  5. Does sugar cause hyperactivity in children?
  6. Do hair and fingernails continue to grow after you die?
  7. Does everyone (apart from Bruce Willis) have five senses?
  8. Can hair products repair split ends?
  9. Are Jaffa Cakes biscuits?
  10. Can concrete heal itself?

Perhaps it is reasonable to think that thanks to the hard work of the likes of Ben Goldacre, who contributed to the ‘Test Learn Adapt’ Cabinet Office Paper, and Sense About Science (link here) the many myths around science will be put some to rest, just , don’t expect teachers to be any better at debunking them than the average joe. Unless you’re like me that is, a left-brained visual, creative thinker (using 89% of my brain).

 

Q&A: The answer to 10. is Yes – all the others are No.

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Latest News Public Relations Rushlift

Rushlift Delivers For WFS

Since the company’s founding in 1983, WFS has established itself as a leader throughout the aviation community, by providing a broad array of quality and reliable Ground Services. WFS has flourished in scope and presence and now services over 120 of the world’s major airports.

“We are used to the need to respond quickly, particularly where equipment is vital to the operation of our customers, but long lead times in specialist equipment is the norm, so this request certainly put our rapid response capabilities to the test.”

By winning the Manchester Airport ground support contract for airline, Jet2.com, the managers at Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) had created one of the most challenging opportunities for Rushlift’s Brian Grady.

Over £2.8m worth of equipment was needed in less than two months, and involved over 110 units of varied specialist ground support equipment that would typically take at least three times that long to source.

“Ground support means having the right equipment at the right location and to be able to respond to the demands of an industry that has severe penalties for delays,” says Brian.

“From our first conversation to the first delivery took just eight weeks. In that time we dealt with over a dozen different suppliers to get their best possible production times and ensure the equipment was delivered on time.”

WFS is a company that is already familiar with the Rushlift approach, having relied on the MHE side of the business to provide support at their Heathrow operation.

Unlike many MHE contracts, where Rushlift offers a high level of insight to reduce the costs, GSE requirements are usually driven by the amount of aircraft arriving at a particular airport at a specific time.

“You need two sets of steps – front and back – for passengers to embark or disembark. Four aircraft arriving at around the same time means eight sets of steps are needed – it’s that simple.”

Another part of the challenge was finding the right mix of new and used equipment to keep WFS within budget, and at the desired level of capability. Thanks to a great degree of hard work and the skilled personnel that know the GSE industry well, Rushlift was able to pull together exactly the right number of equipment for the Manchester installation.

Flying overseas to meet suppliers where necessary, the team pulled in favours and put in the extra hours to find the right items such as pushbacks, ground power units and belt loaders, with a host of baggage carts, towbars and steps also ordered for fast delivery.

“As a full service rental, maintenance and asset management business, we maintain and manage a wide variety of equipment, “ adds Executive Chairman, Peter Cosgrove.

“Our GSE operation follows similar business rhythms as our existing businesses, meaning we bring a wealth of experience and expertise to a sector that has yearned for modernisation. By responding quickly and professionally, we gave WFS the confidence they needed to move forward with their ambitious plans.”

The skills of Rushlift’s sister-company, Specialist Crane Hire, were also brought to bear with the delivery of a Trepel wide body pallet & container high loader.

The loader made the long journey from Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt, to Manchester where it was carefully off-loaded using the latest mobile crane equipment.

“The attraction of going with Rushlift GSE,” adds Gary Jenkins of WFS, “was their understanding of our business aims. From our perspective, we needed equipment fast, but we also needed it to be capable and reliable. Our experience with them to date had given us an insight into their business ethos and we were delighted with the way they rose to the challenge.”

Brian Grady - Lo resRushlft GSE meanwhile continues to invest in their Heathrow facility and infrastructure, as well as offering long-term, bespoke contracts, and industry-leading levels of account and information management. Using the latest technology, customers are managing their own fleets online, ensuring they are fully aware of their equipment status.

Says Brian: “We also hold your important maintenance documentation online to ensure complete traceability. Our technical expertise is unsurpassed and, combined with a substantial parts holding, we maintain an enviable uptime record.”

Providing excellent service means being there to make sure customer’s equipment is working well and fit for purpose.

By accurately recording up-to-date fleet and performance data Rushlift can help you attain the highest levels of equipment utilisation and maintenance planning.

Together with tailored KPIs, customers like WFS are able to predict usage trends and identify potential future issues.

With total visibility of equipment and performance, they have the materials needed to manage usage and ultimately, lower costs.

“Whatever the equipment, whatever the circumstances, our priorities remain the same,” concludes Brian, “a safe and timely aircraft departure.”

“With thousands of individual items, hundreds of equipment types and dozens of manufacturers in their product portfolio, chances are, if it’s meant to move,

Rushlift are already keeping it moving. We do not restrict our thinking when it comes to what is and isn’t considered GSE. We are driven by our customers’ needs and we will source any equipment necessary to get the job done.”

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Latest News Public Relations Swisslog

Swisslog Launch SmartLIFT At ProMat 2015

Leading automation specialists, Swisslog, will launch a new system for the monitoring and tracking of materials handling equipment at the ProMat 2015 exhibition.

SmartLIFT is a Real Time Location System (RTLS) that guides, monitors and tracks every movement of a fork truck vehicle within a facility. Along with live inch-accurate visibility of all vehicles, operators and inventory movements, SmartLIFT provides equipment monitoring and fleet management tools to track vehicle usage.

“We are excited to be unveiling our latest product at ProMat,” says Swisslog director of business development & marketing, Bill Leber. “Data plays a key role in our business, and using SmartLIFT is one of the ways in which businesses can increase their knowledge regarding their fleet utilisation and operator efficiency.”

The launch is being timed to co-incide with a seminar on Big Data, sponsored by Swisslog and hosted by VP of Customer Support, AK Schultz and Program Manager, Sahil Patel.

Says Schultz: “Big Data is an incredible area of development. We have the means to collect and synthesize data which opens the door to predictive modelling. The more we can find relationships and understand our systems, the more we will be able to understand patterns. We can then use this learning to find optimizations and improvements, today which are unknowable.”

In addition to the latest thinking in e-commerce, solutions for cold storage environments and wireless case picking, the company will also showcase its expertise in software and integrated system design.

Swisslog is rightly proud of its successes to date, particularly in the food storage, retail and pharmaceutical industries. A number of recent projects and installations have broken new ground in the US as well as enabled efficiencies in existing tote and goods-to-man handling systems.

But Swisslog not only has an excellent range of solutions for materials handling requirements, it also has considerable expertise in the planning and implementation of entire distribution centres including architecture and construction aspects, all aimed at ensuring the complete facility is perfectly aligned and optimally utilized.

“At Swisslog we have a fairly straightforward approach to what can be seen as a complex issue,” concludes Schultz. “We eliminate risk and inefficiencies for customers when delivering new or adapted automated warehouse solutions, but it takes the type of face-to-face opportunities that shows like ProMat offers, to really demonstrate this in more definitive terms.”

Other seminars presented by Swisslog during the show will cover the impact of automation on warehousing; improvements to safety with AGVs and the latest automated storage and retrieval systems.

ProMat 2015, held March 23-26, 2015 at Chicago’s McCormick Place South, is the largest expo for manufacturing and supply chain professionals in North America, and provides attendees access to the latest material handling and logistics equipment and technologies.

More info: Introduction to SmartLIFT

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New Governance Structure For Navigate Academies

Navigate Academies Trust is to introduce a new framework for the governance of its primary academies, to be chaired by former Ofsted regional director, Louise Soden.

Two Local Improvement Boards (LIBs) have been set up covering Navigate’s Barnsley and Tees Valley Hubs, following research and recommendations by the Department for Education, the CBI and leading education thinkers.

The boards bring together a number of highly-qualified professionals from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines with proven analytical and management skills intended to support, challenge and scrutinise the way academies are run, in order to improve outcomes across a range of performance areas.

Members were chosen, says Navigate’s deputy chief executive, Rachel Singer, for their commitment to furthering education and their “drive and creativity to inspire even greater things.”

Rachel said: “We have completed an exhaustive recruitment campaign for members of the LIBs and feel we have a team of exceptional members to work with, under the Chair’s direction, to deliver improvements for the benefit of children across Barnsley and the Tees Valley.”

“We were delighted with the phenomenal response, with 70 applicants, nearly half of which we invited for interview. The process enabled us to identify and appoint the very best and we are thrilled to be at the forefront of new a governance model which we believe can achieve great things through a new and creative way of working.”

“We see this as the next logical step in the evolution of professional governance.” – Rachel Singer, Navigate deputy chief executive.

Unlike traditional governors, LIB membership is a paid role “We see this as the next logical step in the evolution of professional governance. We believe the LIB is the right mechanism to take the best of what we’ve already got and apply it across all our academies in order to consistently deliver outstanding education.”

Navigate Academies Trust believes a professional team, chosen for their respective skills, knowledge and experience is also more likely to provide effective challenge and support to academy leaders than a potentially less effective volunteer group.

“This move toward the LIB model is a reflection of national inspection findings and what experience tells us that academies and schools fail when governance is weak. Providing support to senior leaders is a key part of the LIB member’s role, as is being able to support and challenge improved performance from all members of the academy community,” said Rachel. “Bringing a new approach to academy governance is long overdue and we now have the chance to use the freedoms and flexibilities afforded to academies in a new and highly innovative way.”

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Latest News Public Relations Rushlift

A Decade of Service

Operating in more than 70 countries and employing more than 15,000 people, the Weir Group is one of the world’s leading engineering businesses.

Rushlift & Weir – In It Together

Over a decade ago, engineering giant Weir Minerals took delivery of equipment from Rushlift on a five year deal.

During those years the equipment served the company well, but as with many industries, the demands of customers, changes in technology and expansion into new markets meant the business had moved on.

Weir Minerals is a leading part of the Weir Group, specialising in centrifugal pumps, valves, screen machines and other items that are used globally, particularly in mining and mineral processing.

With a host of manufacturing processes, equipment, materials handling and fleet management needs at their impressive Todmorden site, they are a business ideally suited to Rushlift’s multi-facetted approach.

As a leading provider of innovative customer focussed solutions in materials handling equipment, mechanical services and fleet management, Rushlift is independent from any equipment manufacturer. It allows the provision of impartial advice to enable customers to maximise the effectiveness of their industrial equipment fleets, through either long term hire contracts or servicing and repair arrangements; something that Weir found incredibly important over the previous decade.

“We have worked with Rushlift for many years,” says lean & logistics director, Andrew Battersby. “During that time our core business has remained the same but we’ve seen a lot of change and had to remain flexible in both the products we provide and the provisions we have for handling raw materials and finished products.”

Five years on from that original deal, a mix of new and refurbished equipment was installed to replace the oldest machines on site, whilst new kit was recommended for those being used in the toughest applications.

“It’s not about the equipment for us,” says Rushlift’s Mark Bann. “What matters is the customer, and the way we support their business in a cost effective and productive manner – whatever the tool for the particular job is.”

Another five years on, and the concept of providing the most cost effective, optimal fleet remains. “As before, we’ve included refurbished machines, a wide range of equipment and effective project management,” says Mark. “There’s always been a programme in place for systematically refurbishing the older trucks and looking at whether they are still fit for purpose. Once again we have surveyed the site and the changing applications to come up with a fleet with the optimal blend of new and used equipment.”

The latest deal represents an investment of over £1million and covers a huge variety of equipment. As well as specialist VNA, access platforms, telescopic equipment, and pallet trucks, there are a host of forklifts – from small electric counterbalance trucks to 32 tonnes capacity diesels.

“We’ve replaced medium sized equipment with larger capacity machines to reflect the increases in the size of the bowl and volute products made here,” adds Mark. “A telescopic truck now also replaces the role which used to be handled by a skid steer loader, as issues like reach and product size began to impact on the capacity.”

Rushlift is different in a number of ways in how it works with customers. The team listens to customer needs and requirements and provides expert advice to ensure that they have what they need and that it works effectively.

Having renewed the fleet for a second time, Weir and Rushlift continue to review the landscape to ensure that, whatever the fleet make up, the equipment serves the business well.

If that means challenging one of their longest serving suppliers to deliver even better service, says Andrew, that’s exactly what they should do. “Value chain excellence, innovation, collaboration and capacity are very much part of our business. Through effective delivery of these pillars, we call it The Weir Way, we aim to grow our own business, whilst providing great value and outstanding service and support. It’s something our customers expect, so why should we settle for anything less?”

One of the key components in Rushlift’s makeup is information. Not just product information, but fleet performance, KPIs, fleet utilisation and the logging of servicing. The company was one of the first to initiate an online fleet management system (FMS).

Having been run and refined for a number of years, FMS has been expanded to allow service technicians to input the latest data via their handheld devices.

So it’s not only high quality machines with expert advice that Rushlift prides itself on, but also services that allow customers to become more efficient. The FMS provides the most accurate and up-to-date information which forms part of the discussions at the regular monthly meetings whilst also highlighting areas for the continuous improvement process in place.

There’s also crucial operator information available to Weir that not only restricts operator access and logs impact recognition, but employs tracking capability to give extra detail on the location of equipment used over a wide area. “There is equipment that works in the same area day in, day out,” explains Mark, “but much of the fleet can be used anywhere on site. The FMS gives Andrew and the team important information on where equipment may be being used and how we can bring down damage costs whilst increasing utilisation.”

Having worked with Weir for so many years, the team has developed significant experience and is able to provide daily reports to support the monthly meetings, ensuring all issues are dealt with quickly and accurately.

The benefit to having a long-term supplier relationship, concludes Andrew, is that the understanding of the role played by the equipment is second-to-none. It means production continues apace, whilst costs, damage and downtime are kept to a minimum.

Much of the credit for keeping the fleet in tip top condition goes to resident engineer, Steve Schofield, whose engineering expertise and approachability means there’s always someone available in a hurry, something which Andrew says is noticed on site.

“One of the things we have done well is develop a good relationship, and Steve does a great job for us,” says Andrew. “The management of the relationship between the two businesses has been a key factor for us.”

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Beno Latest News Public Relations TB Marketing

Tweet This!

Some businesses seem a little confused about how best to use social media to promote their brand, particularly Twitter. The corporate world versus mere humans should be a mis-match, but so confused do some people get that at times it seems like grandpa versus the cool kids. Aside from its brevity, we try not to treat Twitter any differently from other PR tactics. These tactics should basically reflect the marketing objectives, which in turn reflect the overall aims and objectives of the business and be informed by a clear and measurable strategy.

Most corporate Twitter users adopt a fairly ad hoc approach to disseminating information. Some use it to enter into a dialogue, which usually helps grow the sphere of influence through re-tweets and larger number of followers.

From a PR standpoint, we prefer to have overall messages agreed, by which we mean the tone and purpose rather than, necessarily, the exact wording, which are clear and concise and readily understood.

Determining what these messages should be is usually a three stage process (hat tip / apologies here to PR guru Anne Gregory):
– Review: Look at existing perceptions. Are they correct? What needs to be changed?
– Consider: Can perceptions be shifted? What facts can we use to back up our view?
– Persuade: Identify the elements of persuasion, using those facts to demonstrate our point

You may find considering what brand advertising would look like helpful as this helps you to boil down your message to its essence.
It may also help to think about topics from the point of view of the other PR and marketing tactics available (research, conferences, news releases, sponsorship, direct mail etc.) i.e. what messages would we deliver via these tactics and how? Or it may help to consider common subject matter. Most organisations’ news falls into four very broad categories

– People – appointments, personal achievements, promotions, profiles etc
– Plans – announcements, targets, acquisitions, growth etc
– Performance – achievements, awards, case studies (e.g. the monkey wins)
– Products – services, innovations, what most people equate to ‘good pr’

Get a list of topics together under those headings and you’ll not go far wrong. There are also lots of good examples of corporate social media guidelines on the web which may also help. Some are fairly simple (i.e. Use your common sense. Beware of privacy issues. Play nice, and be honest.) others are more stringent. Adidas also helpfully point out at the end of their guidelines: “And finally. With all the blogging and interacting, don’t forget your daily job…”

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Fun Stuff Latest News

Awww, thanks fella!

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Latest News Public Relations

Do the Finns have the best education system?

Are the Finns really better than the rest at education? This blog posts questions the media’s received wisdom that the OECD league tables tell the whole story…

From Start To Finnish

A well-circulated story doing the social media rounds states Finland has none of the inspection, curriculum or league table protocols that most other nations have and yet manages to consistently top the education charts. Can it really be true? How do they know if there are no league tables? Surely the internet has not lied to me…

Those stories, including other notable educational performances by Japanese, Dutch and Shanghainese students, are prompted by education reports from The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published every three years.

Established in 1961, the origin of the OECD can actually be traced back to its forerunner the OEEC, an organisation set up to run the US-funded Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of a war-torn Europe. Today, 34 OECD member countries worldwide regularly turn to one another to discuss and analyse statistics, identify problems and promote policies to solve them.

When it comes to education, the OECD updates its evidence every year, but the results tend to prompt eye-catching headlines which become accepted wisdom for many years to come.

The latest report from the OECD, published in October 2014, praised the work of countries in the European Union in developing education and skills, despite the economic difficulties. East Asia, meanwhile was highlighted for the “breathtaking pace” at which it is putting “more and more highly qualified people on the market.”

The underlying theme of much of the OECD work understandably features job prospects and economic growth. Its decision to pay attention to education may seem obvious, but it still finds it necessary to point out part of its raison d’être: ‘a lack of skills only strengthens the risk of unemployment’ and ‘the labour market rewards high educational attainment and high skills’. It also looks to data on earnings to spot where the gaps between the ‘haves and have nots’ are and equates these back to educational failings.

Other findings this year show that in the majority of OECD countries, education now begins for most children well before they are five years old. Remember, in Finland, as our internet meme points out, they start full time education aged seven. But wait a minute: “Although compulsory primary education in Finland starts at the age of seven,” says the OECD, “one year later than most countries, one in two pupils is enrolled in pre-primary education by the age of three.”
Ah.

Finland’s wide-ranging reforms 40 years ago made school fees and private tuition either illegal or unheard of, but as of 2012, they did not result in more of the population attaining a tertiary education than, say the UK. Nor Ireland. Nor Australia, Canada and top of the pops, the Russian Federation.

Maths skills are not particularly good in Finland, at least compared to the rest of the OECD, but it does not have a gap between boys’ and girls’ attainments that many others do.

Younger Finns are also doing better than older Finns, more than 55% of adults attaining higher levels of education than their parents. This is well above the OECD average and second only to neighbours Russia and South Korea, two countries that have perhaps had a more difficult history over the past three generations than the peace-loving Finns.

With children not sorted into sets, and by-and-large educated in their local comprehensive, the Finns do come out well in terms of classroom size, averaging 11 students per teacher in early childhood education (the UK averages 19). At secondary education level the figure is one of the lowest across OECD countries (9 students against 14 on average). Teachers are paid a similar wage in Finland to British teachers and most, up to 90%, do not leave the profession.

In fact, Finland is one of the OECD countries in which teachers enjoy comparatively better working conditions, especially women teaching in upper secondary schools. At the beginning of their career, secondary teachers’ salaries are around 13% higher than the OECD average, but salaries fall to around 14% less than the average as they reach the top of scale. Women teachers in upper secondary schools earn 22% more than other similarly-educated female professionals. When including men, the average salary of upper secondary teachers is 9% higher than those of other similarly-educated professionals. A marked contrast to their peers across other OECD countries who earn around 8% less.

Teaching hours in Finland are comparatively low; teachers in both primary and secondary schools spend over 100 hours less per year teaching than the average in OECD countries. The outcome the OECD notes of these factors is: “that a vast majority of lower secondary teachers (95%) feel satisfied with their jobs, according to the 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) results.”

There are undoubtedly many interesting lessons that can be learnt from the Finnish system, and from other countries which have a completely different way at looking at forms of education than ourselves. Yet, before we hail one system the world’s best (“It is a model that has seen education experts from all over the world make a beeline to Helsinki, to try and find out whether the Finns’ magic formula can be translated into other countries,” says The Telegraph) we should not underestimate the influence of cultural and historical differences. Or the dangers of hyperbole. Or the importance of the well being, knowledge and experience of the adult stood at the front of the class.

Sources:

OECD “Education At A Glance 2014”: http://www.oecd.org/edu/eag.htm
Also: http://www.oecd.org/about/
http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/education-at-a-glance-2014_eag_highlights-2014-en
http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/educational-mobility-starts-to-slow-in-industrialised-world-says-oecd.htm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/finland/10489070/OECD-education-report-Finlands-no-inspections-no-league-tables-and-few-exams-approach.html
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/dec/03/uk-students-education-oecd-pisa-report
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-49859555
http://www.businessinsider.com/finland-education-school-2011-12?IR=T

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Latest News Navigate Public Relations Video

Navigate Video Project

Amidst the madness of Christmas, we managed to get this great project filmed, edited and online in time for the New Year…

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Beno Latest News Public Relations TB Marketing

The best way to predict the future is…

Like many great quotes that sum up a powerful idea, the line about the ‘best way to predict the future is to invent it’ has a number of claimants for it’s own invention.

It may have been Abe Lincoln, although the evidence is thin. It certainly wasn’t Alan Kay that first came up with it, but when the former chief scientist at Atari spoke of the research carried out at the famous Xerox PARC in 1982, (the Palo Alto centre credited with inventing laser printing, graphical user interfaces and the mouse, amongst other items) he used the phrase to describe the ethos of that organisation. It’s mission: to design a truly personal computer. Atari themselves used the phrase for an ad a year later, but it was management guru Peter Drucker that really took the message to the masses, being attributed with inventing the idea by many media sources.

But it is to none of these luminaries that we should perhaps turn for the origins of this inspiring message. In 1963, Hungarian-British electrical engineer and physicist, Dennis Gabor wrote in his book ‘Inventing The Future’: ‘the future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented.’ A review in the New Scientist reprinted an edited version, and the phrase took hold.

Gabor truly did invent his own future, having fled from Nazi Germany in 1933 he established himself as a British citizen. Working at the British Thomson-Houston company, he broke new ground in the study of electron inputs and outputs, which eventually led him to the invention of holography – an achievement for which he was awarded a Nobel Prize.

But that wasn’t the end of Gabor’s amazing endeavours. As a Professor at Imperial College London, he gave PhD students tough tasks to complete, one such being the invention of the flat screen TV!

His patents were said to be remarkable, and his writings on the future were incredibly influential. He predicted the importance of automation, cautioning society on its impact on workers, whilst admitting in 1970: “No one can deny that automation is capable of liberating mankind of almost all monotonous drudgery, of mining with the pickaxe…and mind-numbing work at the conveyor belt.”

The prototype futurologist and technologist explained in his Professorial Inaugural Lecture in 1958: “ The first step of the inventor is to visualise, by an act of imagination, a thing or a state that does not yet exist and which appears to him in some way desirable. He can start rationally arguing backwards and forwards, until a way is found from one to the other”.

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Beno Latest News Public Relations Windsor

Does your business suffer from Parkinson’s Law of Triviality?

Best known for his adage, “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion” former 1950s civil servant, C. Northcote Parkinson, has passed into business folklore as a wry observer of corporate culture.

So much so that the law has even gone global, as Mikhail Gorbachev observed in 1986, when Alessandro Natta complained about a swelling bureaucracy in Italy, “Parkinson’s Law works everywhere“.

Perhaps less well known is his Law of Triviality, first mentioned in the 1956 book “Parkinson’s law, and other studies in administration.”

Parkinson outlines his idea with a theoretical committee’s deliberations on a nuclear power plant, contrasting it to deliberation on a bicycle shed. As he put it:

“The time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved.”

In other words, a nuclear reactor is so vastly expensive and complicated that an average person cannot understand it. So we assume that those working on it understand it. Even those with strong opinions often withhold them for fear of being shown to be insufficiently informed.

On the other hand, everyone can visualize a bicycle shed, so planning one can result in endless discussions because everyone involved wants to add his or her touch and show that they have contributed.

If that sounds familiar at least now you know why! Now, where did we put those bicycle clips…

Action Stations!

Classic quotes on the price of inaction…

“Never mistake motion for action” – Ernest Hemingway

“Well done is better than well said” – Benjamin Franklin

“A promise is a cloud; fulfilment is rain” – Arabian Proverb

“Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned” – Peter Marshall

“If you only do what you know you can do, you never do very much” – Tom Krause

“Talk doesn’t cook rice” Chinese Proverb

“If your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt” – Henry J Kaiser
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Latest News Public Relations Rushlift

Rushlift’s Magnetism

Recently visited a great bunch of lads at Magnet Kitchen owners, Nobia.

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Fun Stuff Latest News

Welcome to the new branch…

Currently  teasing a few people on Facebook about the location of Windsor’s next branch, here’s the best shot…

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Doosan Latest News Public Relations

Doosan’s Community Service

The Doosan Day of Community Service was held on Oct. 24, with approximately 10,000 executives and employees in 130 sites in 13 countries slated to participate in a wide range of activities with their local communities.

Doosan has carried out similar programs in individual countries for years, but this will be the first time it goes global, with 173 programs taking place all over the world, including visiting the underprivileged, environmental clean-ups, food donations, blood drives, road repairs, fixing up welfare facilities, and providing assistance for rural villages.

In the United States, Bobcat equipment will be used to repair roads and school grounds, while in the Czech Republic a charity event will raise funds to buy wheelchairs for the disabled. In Brazil, Doosan employees are going to visit kindergartens, painting walls and repairing facilities.

At the plaza in front of Doosan Tower in Seoul, executives and employees, including Doosan Group Chairman and CEO Yongmaan Park, are scheduled to craft handmade furniture, to be donated to low-income households. Under the theme of “Heartwarming Furniture Stories,” these pieces will be designed to be space conscious, to be more useful in smaller interiors.

“What is important is that Doosan People around the world, on the same day, join hands in doing necessary tasks for others,” said Chairman Yongman Park in a video message to executives and employees in Korea and overseas. “I believe that this event will become a festival of warm-hearted sharing, where the Doosan Family and local communities come together.”

Going forward, the Doosan Day of Community Service will be held on a regular basis in location all across the globe.