For a number of customers, Transuniverse ensures the interim storage and picking of goods that are pushed into the groupage network on demand. These activities take place in a building next to the cross-dock platform at our Wondelgem site. Soon, Hamza Daoudi will take full charge of supervising logistics.
Hamza (35) has been working at Transuniverse for two years. “After my studies in communications, I went to work for Mobistar (now Orange) as a dossier manager, but fairly soon afterwards I opted for another job, which I swapped for yet another… and a few more. Youthful impetuosity, so to speak. Among other things, I worked as a marketeer, a financial planner, in sales and as a stock manager. In that last job, at Coca Cola, working in a very structured way appealed to me. That was my first contact with logistics and transport and I learned a lot. That’s how the logistics virus got hold of me. When I got the opportunity to work at Transuniverse in the cross-dock centre, I enthusiastically made the switch,” he says.
“In December 2022, I got the offer to become a Logistics Supervisor. First, I was given responsibility for the logistics of a customer specialising in floor coverings. At the end of June, I will also take over the other clients that until now were looked after by Filip Janssens, as he will have other responsibilities within Transuniverse,” Hamza explains.
Several customers prefer to entrust not only their transports to Transuniverse, but also their stock management. Some 10 collaborators take in the goods on pallets and store them in racks. On demand, they pick, label and prepare them for transport. “For this, we have a total of 10,000m² of warehouse space, good for 6,000 to 10,000 pallet locations (depending on the size), exclusively for the logistics of some eight customers,” he adds.
Additional pallet locations
“The combination of storage and transport appeals to more and more companies. Therefore, we have reorganised operations to free up around 250 pallet spaces in the racks. Another 750 m² will soon become available – good for 600 to 800 pallet spaces – when a temporary customer leaves. We can therefore be responsive and service new customers at fairly short notice,” says Hamza.
Further automation
Just as in Transuniverse’s other operations, those in warehousing are already highly automated. “At intake, all pallets are labelled. Every movement of goods is registered with a handheld scanner, which communicates with the WMS (Warehouse Management System). Soon, we will go a step further and commission a new scanning system that more accurately determines the location of goods in the warehouse. This will allow the pickers to work more efficiently and purposefully, and also improve traceability. Communication with the administration will then also be further automated. That, too, will enable new efficiency gains,” Hamza points out.
