14 May, 2009

Plant uses technological solutions that are a worldwide first

12 million euros invested, an area of 40,000 sq. m, 500 operators, 45,000 items handled every day. Customer Service: an integrated centre that focuses on innovation and on customer proximity to beat the crisis and set a new reference standard for the sector

“Express transport accelerates recovery”: with these words the MD of the Southern Europe Region of TNT Express, Christian Drenthen, today inaugurated the Milano Mega Hub/Branch, an integrated logistics structure that guarantees daily distribution to Milan and its hinterland and also serves as a sorting centre for international goods traffic.

The new plant, 40,000 sq. m beside the runway of the Milano Linate city airport, involved an investment by TNT of 12 million euros, which permitted construction of strategic facilities in the heart of an area, Milan and its hinterland, that on its own accounts for 12% of all Italian exports.

The plant is located directly beside the runway at Linate airport, from which TNT’s Airbus A300 takes off each night for the TNT world air hub in Liège.

“TNT,” stressed Drenthen, “believes in and is investing in economic recovery. These facilities were purpose designed for the customer proximity concept and handle our customers’ combined national and international business in one location, setting up the closest proximity logistics centre. We are ready, as always, to offer the best to our customers, in terms of capacity to reach global markets ahead of our customers, markets where growth has never faltered. And it is in this area where airfreight will soon go back to playing an essential role.”

Milano Mega is open 24/7: in fact the plant is constantly operational, because during the day it handles deliveries to Milan and its hinterland, Como and Varese, while at night it sorts the international imported and exported traffic for the whole of Italy. The plant has a horseshoe layout and is equipped with the most advanced technological solutions. It has 23,000 sq. m of indoor facilities, on one side the Branch, and on the other the Hub, while a small office building links the two parts and houses one of TNT’s 5 Customer Services handling an average of 3,550 calls per day. This building also houses the TNT Region 2 Headquarters, with the operational, commercial and security structures.

TNT has supervised all phases of the project, from construction of the building and infrastructures up to installation of the sorting system: the technology used makes it possible to efficiently handle all phases of the operating process (receipt, preparation, sorting, consolidation, shipment).

Almost 100 years after the invention of the first conveyor belt system (sorter) for handling parcels (USA,  1924), technological innovation in this sector has attained an extraordinary level of efficiency, speed and precision: for its Hub, TNT has selected a sorter revolutionary in express transport, the “Sbir MD – Dynamic”, which, using software exclusively developed for TNT that has no equal in the world, can dynamically handle sorting of items, even those with differing dimensions, at a speed of 3,600 items per hour. The TNT centre also features 3 “Pallet Masters”, sophisticated equipment that can photograph and measure the weight-volume of items in a certified way. 

Milano Mega Highlights
- 40,000 sq. m: total area of the TNT facilities (23,000 sq. m of indoor space)
- 188 loading/unloading docks 
- area operational 24 hours a day 
- 500 operators (Hub/Branch/Customer Service, including drivers)
- 260 vehicles 
- 5,000,000: average number of items handled each year
- 45,000 items: daily handling capacity
- 3,600 items: hourly SBIR sorter (Hub) capacity
- 120 sorting mats for routing of items (Hub)
- 2,400 items: hourly inbound item sorting capacity (Branch)
- 3,600 items: hourly outbound item production (Branch)
- 102 m: length of the roller table (74 sq. m suspended platform) (Branch)
- 67 metres: length of the carousel (Hub)
- 15 SBIR MD – Dynamic outputs (Hub)
- 3 “Pallet Masters” to measure weight/volume and photograph “out of standard” items, 1 “Packmaster 3600” to measure weight/volume of standard items at the Branch
- 3,550 calls handled each day by Customer Service
- advanced security systems:  163 CCTV cameras, 273 alarm sensors, 78 badge readers for limited to the site – In conformity with “TAPA A” certification