A postal roll container developed by Finnish company K.Hartwall Oy Ab has won the four-year-long product development tender launched by a UK parcel operator. The first phase of the project, which includes the adoption of K.Hartwall’s new parcel roll container by one of Europe’s largest logistics markets, is valued at more than EUR 18 million. The new roll container will be developed and series production will take place at K.Hartwall’s factory in Sipoo, east of Helsinki.
With the exponential increase in parcel volumes over the past few years in Europe, traditional postal and logistics operators are faced with new challenges. Growing international competition and often old logistics infrastructure create pressure to develop innovations to improve parcel handling.
In 2013, a UK postal and parcel operator therefore launched Europe’s largest product development tender for load carriers, with the intention of developing the next generation roll container. The purpose of the development project was to respond to challenges related to handling growing parcel volumes, and the long-term objective is to replace some of the current fleet of around 400,000 roll containers.
“The first test series of the new parcel roll container was manufactured in Sipoo early this year, and that was followed by a major test programme in the UK. Series production of the new roll container will begin in Sipoo this autumn. The whole project will have a considerable employment effect over the next few years. The new roll container is also sure to open up new opportunities for K.Hartwall in future,” states Eero Heinonen, Head of Business Unit, K.Hartwall.
The new roll container developed by K.Hartwall was designed to be very user-friendly, to support new package automation at the postal terminals, and to ensure the most efficient fill rate also during transport.