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Using a special sterilisation and implosion process, Ward Recycling is now able to take sub 12mm mixed glass and turn it into non-sharp product for use in water filtration, shot blast and decorative aggregates.

The company is hoping to create another 10 jobs by the end of the year, with 25,0000 tonnes of product expected to be produced adding £2 million in sales.

Already holding ISO 9001 (Quality), ISO 14001 (Environment) and OHSAS 18001 (Health & Safety), the company is now one of only a handful of similarly sized organisations to hold BSI PAS 102 – relating to processed glass for selected secondary end markets.

The company’s Sales & Marketing Manager, Paul Stonehouse commented:

“It’s been a hectic six months, but we are now finally in a position to take advantage of the investment and increased capacity. Securing BSI PAS 102 opens up a whole host of new markets for us and, basically, is a public endorsement that our product is safe to re-use and of an excellent quality.

“Getting this accreditation is a tough ask and we knew we needed some external support in achieving it. We discussed this with Teesside University who signposted us to MAS, who provided us with strategic advice and a £3,000 grant towards consultancy services.”

Following the recent accreditation, Ward’s products are currently being assessed by the DWI (Drinking Water Inspectorate) and if successful, the glass plant could be running 24 hours a day, five days a week within 18 months.

The added capability shows a significant diversification from the company’s core offering, including bring-back collection services, dry recycling sorting and a number of different kerbside collection initiatives.

Stonehouse continued:

“MAS advised us to concentrate on moisture content, particle shape and distribution, and chemical contamination, which we duly did. We then employed the services of accredited laboratories to undertake testing before we were assessed.”

Gareth Godwin, one of the three-strong management team alongside Stonehouse and Simon Barker, said:

Ward Recycling employs 140 people covering both its 12 acre site in the heart of Teesside, as well as operating numerous recycling schemes around, the UK on behalf of its clients, Palm Recycling being one of the biggest.

MAS Advisor, Jim Barr said:

“When you are investing sizable sums of money into a project, there can sometimes be a temptation to rush in and make quick decisions so you start to see the funding pay off.  This is where we come in and act as a sounding board for a manufacturer and, working with their management team, draw up a strategy or solution to help it achieve its aims.

“In Ward Recycling’s case it was about the best route to market and this involved securing BSI PAS 102. We understood the basics of what was required, but also understood that this required specialists. We found £3,000 of funding towards supporting experts from Teesside University.

“I was also able to put the business in contact with a local concrete manufacturer who took the waste material from their process and used it in their own products, therefore saving on time and landfill costs.”

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For carmakers, OEMs and Tier suppliers, information and communication flow are essential factors to streamlining the complexities of internal automotive supply chains.

To harness its expansive automotive network so it functions locally at an optimal level, DHL Global Forwarding, the Bonn, Germany-based freight transport and logistics arm of Deutsche Post DHL, maintains a network of nine Automotive Competency Centers (ACCs) around the world. 

ACCs are centralised customer service teams that operate in key global automotive markets. The reaction to the ACC concept has been extremely positive and has resulted in DHL Global Forwarding doubling the number of ACCs each year since the first one became operational in 2010.

DHL Global Forwarding now has a global ACC footprint with locations in India, China, Germany, Hungary, Spain, South Africa, Mexico, USA and Brazil - the latest ACC launched in Johannesburg, South Africa in late 2012.

Automotive Competency Centers

The competency center concept originated from customer feedback through DHL Global Forwarding’s Voice of the Customer program. It was clear that a strong customer demand existed for a centralised, single point of contact within the company. 

With a network consisting of stations in over 150 different countries, the challenge for DHL Global Forwarding was to supply consistency to its customers in primary automotive markets and their vendors, while providing streamlined customer support throughout global supply chains.

To provide an operational solution, DHL Global Forwarding needed to bring together its internal automotive expertise with a knowledge base that was spread throughout the organisation. Wildly popular among customers, ACCs are unique to the logistics industry and supply chain management of automotive parts throughout the world.

For our automotive customers, there is a primary need to be able to pick up a phone, speed dial, and get the right answers quickly from its service provider. Logistical challenges for the automotive customer base include a wide range of issues such as quotation requests, coordination of expedited shipments, exception management, shipment escalation, and reporting requirements. 

All these elements are critical to DHL Global Forwarding’s customers, and the ACC network provides a single point of contact to address each of them.  In addition, all modes of transportation are covered by the ACCs, whether it involves air freight, ocean freight, customs brokerage, or purchase order management.

The ACC’s processes significantly simplify the customers’ internal supply chains, allowing them to better coordinate the logistics activities throughout their organisations. ACCs are a layer of customer service that is a compliance-monitoring device that sits on top of the extensive DHL Global Forwarding network. The ACCs provide an “umbrella” overview, which adds tremendous value to the company’s customers.

Centralised operating platform

DHL Global Forwarding has various types of automotive customers, and the company found that each has different needs with varying levels of scope and complexity. That is why an identical, centralised operating platform containing specific automotive logistics experts was needed at every link in the supply chain.

Typically, the movement of freight in the forwarding industry is tracked at the shipment level or purchase order level. Through the ACCs however, DHL Global Forwarding has the ability to link to customers’ systems, allowing it to observe Advanced Shipment Notices (ASNs) and follow shipments at a part number level, hence providing a more sophisticated level of visibility compared to the traditional model.

From the moment a shipment is generated in a supplier’s computer system to final delivery to an OEM or an assembly line, DHL Global Forwarding is able to manage the logistics from start to finish and manage inventory levels by individual part numbers throughout the process.

Because the automotive industry is dominated by an Inbound-to-Manufacturing supply chain model, the locations targeted for ACCs depend largely on the level of a particular country’s manufacturing activity, capabilities and processes.

Future locations

Considering that the automotive industry has experienced a significant shift in manufacturing away from traditional markets (Western Europe, North America) in the past few decades, DHL Global Forwarding continues to look for opportunities to penetrate new markets to establish its ACCs.

Russia and Turkey, for example, are becoming more important markets from a manufacturing standpoint. Another dynamic market where the company is well positioned is Mexico, where Japanese OEMs in particular plan to invest heavily in the next few years.  This will result in significant growth requirements for the Tier suppliers in Mexico as well.

As demand grows, DHL’s ACC model is flexible and the company intends to invest in future ACC locations where needed. In the Americas, although the company has invested heavily in the US, Mexico and Brazil markets, countries such as Argentina remain a potential target for ACC expansion depending on customer demands.

DHL Global Forwarding will continue to invest in the current ACC model with all the required personnel and system resources to effectively service its growing automotive customer base, and to continue to grow its global market share in the automotive sector.

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Offering a 4.6” HD Reality display, 13mp fast capture camera, Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core 1.5GHz processors and 4G LTE, the Xperia ZR certainly packs a punch, but the added capability of water-resistance could make the difference in an already crowded marketplace.

Not the first water-resistant smartphone, Sony’s latest sleek, yet durable design looks the part, allowing the handset to be submerged in 1.5 metres of fresh water for up to 30 minutes. A dedicated camera key allows the user to shoot even from a locked screen, with High Dynamic Range, Superior Auto mode and Scene Recognition ensuring missed moments become a thing of the past.

With the underwater capabilities ensuring the phone also stays dust-free, Director of Xperia Marketing at Sony Mobile Communications, Calum MacDougall commented:

“The Xperia ZR pushed the boundaries on where and how consumers can use the full potential of their smartphone. By combining Sony’s leading camera technology with the highest level of water-resistance, you will never miss another moment.

“Bringing together the best of Sony’s leading technology, media applications and easy one-touch connectivity with the largest ever rage of NFC-enabled accessories, the Xperia ZR delivers the unique smartphone experience that people can expect from Sony.”

With battery life and the need for frequent recharging common bugbears for smartphone users, the Xperia ZR’s Battery STAMINA Mode improves the standby time by up to four times, automatically shutting down potential battery-using apps whenever the screen is off and starting them back up again upon turning on.

The Xperia ZR comes pre-loaded with Sony’s WALKMAN, Album and Movies applications, with its Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 powering the supper-sharp display for a bright, high-quality viewing experience.

Available in black, white, pink and mint, Sony stated the Xperia ZR is scheduled to launch across the world’s various markets from Q2 2013.

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Over 3.5 million cubic metres of concrete were poured into the 249 metre high and 720 metre long structure on the Coruh River in north-eastern Turkey; in a build that took 10 years at a cost of €1.5 billion.

Beating at the heart of the Deriner Dam is an underground power plant, with four giant turbines generating 2,100 gigawatt hours every year – the equivalent consumption of a major city.

Hilmi Kaplan, who is responsible for the electromechanical realisation at ERG Trade and Industry, the company behind large parts of the dam’s construction said:

“To achieve this power output, we will impound almost two billion litres of water. Safety is naturally a top priority in any project of this size. The main risk for a dam is that the reservoir overflows, which would result in uncontrolled flooding. This could potentially be caused earthquakes or extreme tides in the nearby Black Sea.”

Two substantial tilting gates, featuring Rexroth drives, provide the necessary flood discharge capability; diverting surplus water into the basin at the foot of the dam via two artificial diversion tunnels.

“A total of 2,250 cubic metres per second can run off via these ducts. That’s enough for a lot of situations. But if a ‘flood of the century’ should occur, we need many times this capacity.”

 Adding the extra capacity needed are eight central outlet gates integrated into the main dam structure. The gates can handle an additional volume of 7,000 cubic metres a second and are arranged symmetrically to reduce the impact of the outflowing water.

The opening drives for the massive central outlet gates represented a major challenge for the design of the hydraulic drives. Each gate weighs 24 tonnes; yet despite this, each drive must work in parallel to ensure the gates always open and close in sync.

Bosch Rexroth’s innovative solution was to mount the custom-made, lightweight steel drive cylinders of the central outlet gates vertically in the drives. Additionally, the essential delay-free synchronisation needed to ensure each gate is opens and closes efficiently needed to cover a distance of over a kilometre.

For this reason, a fibre optic network was installed to transport each control command. Like the central outlet gates, the network has been fully tested to ensure that the Deriner Dam can safely go into service in 2013.

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