Smooth logistics is particularly important for construction companies. For on-time delivery, logistics faces significant challenges in the transport and handling of plastic pipes – through customer-oriented planning, increased digitalization, and close coordination of all parties involved, sometimes even with police escort.
Pipe logistics is different from parcel logistics. A look at the egeplast warehouse already shows the variety of products, from small 32 mm coil bundles on pallets, to stacked 12-meter straight pipes or large wooden drums with over 5,000 meters of microduct tubes, up to 30-meter long 630 mm pipes or even jumbo drums, which may only be transported with police escort. It becomes particularly demanding due to the requirements of the construction sites themselves, which are often located on difficult-to-access roads or in confined inner-city areas. These deliveries require not only close coordination between the construction manager and the egeplast dispatcher regarding on-time delivery and logistical specifics, but also special skill from the driver.
More Transparency and Security
To meet all transport requirements, egeplast logistics works with experienced forwarding agents and uses a wide range of vehicles and trailers such as tipper trucks, crane vehicles, telescopic trailers, and open mega trailers for safe yet as efficient as possible transport. In Germany, 15-meter trailers have now also been put into use, offering more volume and thus enabling greater transport efficiency. Specially optimized container loadings for overseas transport are also part of the daily business of logistics.
Markus Hollenhorst, Head of egeplast Logistics, is already preparing further optimizations for customers. The increased digitalization of processes with a transport management system supports time slot control, track and trace, and status information throughout the entire transport chain. This provides customers with more transparency and security through arrival time announcements, live position data, GPS tracking, loading images, and potential delivery obstacles.
To ensure that the right goods are always ready for loading, storage and loading are controlled by a control center on the 70,000 sqm warehouse site in Greven, and goods are stored according to business and article types. Due to the different shapes and sizes of the products, modern 4-way forklifts are used. These enable employees to safely load even 5-ton pipes without damage.
