Katoen Natie Thailand marks its 20 years anniversary
Celebrating the Past & the Present
Katoen Natie is showing a continued growth in the Thai economy. Since 1998, Katoen Natie has built a profound local expertise in the chemical, automotive and consumer goods sector in Thailand.
With a total investment of THB 9 billion over the past 20 years, Katoen Natie Thailand has developed 5 warehouse and packaging platforms, and manages 5 on-site logistics platforms at customer’s manufacturing plants. Today the local industry is considering Katoen Natie as the expert in building and operating those platforms to international standards.
This year Katoen Natie invested over THB 450 million to create, among other developments, another new platform in Map Ta Phut, Rayong and additional space at an existing platform in Pluak Daeng, Rayong. All these investments are done to further support the growth of our customers in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) area, the beating heart of Thailand’s modern industry. Katoen Natie is confident that the Thai economy is continuously developing and has a stable potential. This is demonstrated by the development of the domestic infrastructure system and the development of the logistics system to connect to different economical regions.
Katoen Natie Chairman & President Fernand Huts adds: “Katoen Natie Thailand is the most beautiful jewel of the Katoen Natie group, or, even better, has with Map Ta Phut and Pluak Daeng, the two most beautiful jewels in the worldwide operations of Katoen Natie. Twenty years ago, we had no strategy to go internationally, until long-term partners Covestro and Dow brought us here. Once we had a bridgehead, we could convince other customers. Today we operate more than 60 customers in our 400,000 square meters of state-of-the-art warehouses and 76 silos. We thank all our customers for the trust they put in Katoen Natie. The business developed because of the hospitality, the warmth, the efforts and the dedication of our Thai people.”
Transforming the Future
During the celebrations, we looked forward with our partners on the different aspects of transformation to a digital environment. Keynote speeches of Dr. Pailin Chuchottaworn, Deputy Minister of Transport of Thailand, and Ms. BJ Burlingame, Vice-President Digital Business Services SEA of SAP Asia, and a high level panel discussion with a selective group of industry leaders, have offered us profound insights.
Anton Colpaert, Managing Director of Katoen Natie Thailand adds: “Transformation is not a one-time action, but a continuous process of revision, optimization and reconfiguration to adapt to the new reality. It is about daring to do things differently than you have in the past and being open to change. Transformation and innovation are buzzwords now, but over the last 20 years, Katoen Natie already has been transforming the local supply chain of the Thai automotive and chemical industry. Our mission of creating maximum value by providing tailor-made, full service logistics and engineering solutions is a great example of this industry-driven transformation taking old concepts to new workable ones that maximize efficiency. The rapidly changing world pushes us to continuously innovate and transform. Katoen Natie believes we need to do that through partnerships and open collaboration with our customer, partners and suppliers.”
Katoen Natie has prepared additional investments plans for Thailand in various fields, developing solutions to transform to industry 4.0 and further expand its footprint to meet the growing market demand. This is estimated at an additional THB 2 billion of investments over the next 3 years.
Evaluatie
Oefening baart kunst. En dus zullen er ook uit deze oefening ongetwijfeld leerpunten volgen. Om die leerpunten te kennen en te delen, komen alle betrokken actoren binnenkort samen voor een grondige evaluatie van de noodplanoefening, zodat nadien bijgestuurd kan worden waar nodig. Want dat is net de essentie van deze oefeningen: lessen trekken, bijleren, elkaars kennis en inzichten delen. Zo kan men in geval van een echte crisissituatie sneller en efficiënter schakelen.
Katoen Natie and Intergamma are now utilizing AutoStore, the world's fastest and most reliable order processing system per square meter, for e-commerce order deliveries to Intergamma's customers.
This cube-shaped automated system, comprising approximately 900 m³ and equipped with 20 robots, has been in operation since the end of September 2023 at Katoen Natie's logistics platform in Kallo, which is the largest "multi-customer" logistics platform in Europe. The installation and implementation are part of a joint future project between Katoen Natie and Intergamma, following the recent extension of their successful 10-year partnership by an additional 5 years. For Intergamma, the Benelux leader in the DIY market and currently in a strong growth phase, this means that all its e-commerce products can reach private consumers even faster and more efficiently. "For Katoen Natie, the expertise built with AutoStore is an additional incentive to attract new customers to our logistics platforms with innovative solutions," says Fernand Huts, Chairman of Katoen Natie.
Katoen Natie is implementing this goods-to-man automated storage and picking system for the first time at its Kallo logistics platform. This implementation is part of the shared desire of Katoen Natie and Intergamma to ensure they can continue to work together in a future-proof manner. Katoen Natie Engineering Solutions, Katoen Natie's in-house research department, is closely monitoring the process and operations, and is also exploring the opportunity to invest in additional AutoStore installations on other logistics platforms.
Intergamma in a Growth Phase
In the Benelux, Intergamma is the market leader in the DIY industry with three brands: GAMMA Netherlands, GAMMA Belgium, and Karwei, which together operate 384 stores in Belgium and the Netherlands. "Ongoing developments in Intergamma's online channels have led to increased volumes," says Joost De Beijer, CEO of Intergamma. "The new investment in AutoStore in collaboration with Katoen Natie aligns perfectly with our strategy, in which e-commerce will continue to be crucial in the future while we simultaneously make our supply chain more sustainable. We aim to evolve into a 'one-stop shop,' where consumers can turn to GAMMA and Karwei to address their entire DIY project in one go and have their supplies delivered or picked up wherever they prefer." Intergamma expects that the investment will ultimately lead to increased capacity, flexibility, better reliability, and lower costs.
How Does AutoStore Work?
Bins with inventory are stacked 16 levels high next to and on top of each other within the grid. The grid is the customized aluminum rail system surrounding the bins and robots. Autonomous robots travel on top of the grid and continuously collaborate to retrieve stock for orders from the grid. They do this by lifting bins from the grid and rearranging them until they have the correct one. This bin is then presented at one of the 3 picking stations. The picker retrieves the goods from the bin and processes the order. The bin is returned to the grid. The algorithm ensures that stock for orders is always retrieved in the most efficient manner. This automation has no impact on existing jobs, as the pickers can now accomplish more with the same team. Additionally, it reduces picking errors, ensures continuous inventory management, optimal availability, and no single point of failure.
Round the clock robots
Customers can place orders online until 9:00 PM, and Katoen Natie hands over the packages to the carrier by 11:00 PM, ensuring that the packages are delivered to the customer's doorstep the next day. While Katoen Natie sleeps at night, the robots keep working. During the night, they ensure that the fast-moving products of Intergamma are always located in the top "drawers" of the grid and are thus picked up the fastest. All e-commerce orders for Intergamma are transmitted directly to AutoStore through the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) electronic data exchange system. AutoStore is also connected to Katoen Natie's existing packing automation. As a result, each box is automatically sealed after picking and is not touched until it is loaded.
Since September 25, a significant portion of Intergamma's products has been picked by AutoStore robots at Katoen Natie. However, starting from the end of October, the planned stock of Intergamma will also be stored in AutoStore. This will include more than 21,000 items distributed across 31,000 bins, with 6,528 of them subdivided into 4 compartments, bringing the total to 50,584 locations with stock.
Our Autostore in action on YouTube: