At Equinox Europe, we have both mind and body in stock

She reminded that Equinox Europe is part of the US group, which for almost three decades, since 1995, has specialized in logistics optimization and process modeling: designs and redesigns warehouses and logistics terminals, provides logistics chain analysis and optimization services, selects and implements, and manufactures as needed, optimizes the warehouse, installs the Vision warehouse management system, the unified system integrates all the systems operating in the warehouse, automates the work of the warehouse. mons specialists perform work in various parts of the world.

We install rang in warehouses according to the individual needs of the customer, both in our own and in other productions. Now, if we compare warehouses in Lithuania in the 2000s, when we started implementing warehouse solutions there and in other Baltic countries, and today, it is night and day. At that time, it was limited only to warehouse management IT systems, which already used wireless communication and voice technologies, and later more. At that time, it was very difficult for customers to even hope to install such systems, because paper reigned in the warehouses, the head of Equinox Europe, who worked in the United States before managing the Lithuanian company, remembers almost three decades of the beginning of the company’s history.

According to her, today the latest automated and robotic technologies for logistics solutions are being implemented by companies, and not only foreign but also local companies in Lithuania.

If we compare it with Western Europe, then in some areas we are even ahead of it, while US warehouse technologies are generally somewhat in the lead due to large flows, quantities, and distances. The same or very similar solutions are applied here, but the volume is much larger, R. Beskajevien compares the logistics situation of Lithuania with the world one. If the West is developing evenly in many places, then we are implementing technologies diligently. We work with the most advanced companies in other countries and choose to implement even more modern solutions at the customer’s request.

The brain was born in Lithuania

At the moment, one of the largest Equinox Europe projects is being completed in the UAB Omniva LT shipping terminal being built in the Kaunas Free Economic Zone. Omniva, managed by the Estonian postal company AB Eesti Post, has the largest postal network in Lithuania and the Baltic states. In the second half of the year, the Equinox Europe terminal, which started operating, was worth 9 million. Eur implements the direction of distribution of parcels rang. Automatic machines will process up to a third of a million shipments per day or up to 15,000 per hour. The terminal will meet the needs not only of Lithuania, but also of other countries.

We work with almost all major oil shipping companies and implement solutions that best meet their needs, says Equinox Europe director. The first automatic parcel sorting line, or as we call it sorter, in Lithuania in 2015. we also produced and installed shipments for DPD Lithuania. Now there are already a dozen such events in Lithuania. And the one installed in the Omniva LT terminal is a completely new generation, works much faster and more reliably, performs tasks much more quickly. The mechanical parts of the terminal are made in our company’s branch in the Netherlands, and the automation, i.e. the brain, is made by our specialist in Lithuania. Such a modern event with unique distribution possibilities is being implemented for the first time in Europe.

Drsa created standard

According to R. Beskajeviens, with today’s volumes, neither shipping companies nor traders can do without automated and robotic warehouses and the goods or shipping lines operating in them.

Therefore, in the last decade, modern sorters have been installed in many warehouses. For example, in 2017, production and logistics UAB Rivona warehouse serving Norfa stores. a particularly innovative solution was implemented at that time, the sorter vieias, which distributes short-lived goods in the warehouse. At that time, we could count similar decisions in Western Europe on one hand. It was a very logical Norfa’s decision to get the product to the buyer as soon as possible, recalls the head of Equinox Europe. The head of Norfa, Dainius Dundulis, is not only a businessman, but also an engineer, perhaps this is what allowed him to decide to implement such a bold innovation. today, such a solution can be called an industry standard, because now building a warehouse without a sorter is a bold step backwards.

Robots are cheap and smart

R. Beskajevien says that today in logistics warehouses, robotic arms are installed behind the sorters, which feed or remove goods from the sorters, place them on pallets or containers, and pack them. And mobile robots take containers or pallets to their designated places in the warehouse or loading area. Therefore, as a rule, sorters are installed first, and after some time it is the turn of the robots.

In order to maintain a certain temperature, it is impossible to do without an automated contract, if the physics simply cannot withstand such a temperature, for example, to distribute up to 15,000 packages per hour, some of which can weigh up to 30 kg. In addition, exchanges make fewer mistakes, they do not need to leave work due to the large number of possible approaches, says the director of Equinox Europe.

She notes that robots are being deployed more and more. One of the main advantages is that robots have become noticeably more expensive in recent years, and also, with the use of rapidly developing artificial intelligence, they are becoming more and more intelligent, able to avoid steering wheels, and perform more complex tasks.

Therefore, conveyors, the classics of automation, are still used and will be used in steering warehouses due to the high speed of transportation, the possibility of serving large quantities of goods, shipments, and packages.

today, the conveyor must learn to cooperate with robots, otherwise the rising demand in logistics warehouses cannot be fulfilled, sums up the director of Equinox Europe.

The heart and brain of the warehouse

After COVID-19 and others learned about the shortcomings of the Justi n Time system and due to the sharp increase in construction costs, automated storage for both pallets and goods became important again. When we are on the way, in the warehouse serviced by the Danish robot, oils, products or goods are stored and automatically picked up and placed. This greatly saves warehouse space.

Therefore, the sorter in the automated warehouse remains empty.

If the sorter is the heart of the warehouse, then a modern warehouse management system with wide functionality is its brain. It depends on how efficiently all, even the most modern, equipment and mechanisms work, how optimally all processes are organized, says R. Beskajavien.

Equinox Europe is implementing such a modern warehouse management system, Vision, suitable for managing an automated warehouse, which will also be based on artificial intelligence in the near future. The director gives an example that such systems are used or implemented in Lithuania together with the automated warehouse system, as well as Pigu.lt, the rapidly growing Kava draugas, Baltijo Didmena (Membershop.lt), Anis (Bags&More) and others. If last year the main markets of Equinox Europe were the Baltic States and Ukraine, then Lithuania is the next, and compared to 2023, our turnover is planned to grow by about 20%. True, mon also works in New Zealand, the Netherlands, and other parts of Western and Central Europe.

According to the manager of Equinox Europe, it is not possible to determine what size company needs to use automated and robotic warehouse systems, so when planning the construction of a warehouse, it is necessary to think about how it will work most efficiently when the business grows, whether it will be considered to install modern warehouse solutions.