Port Authority

Well known for its integrated logistics solutions, Secon Logistics, also maintains a successful bulk division, transporting plastic resin that is extruded and pumped into storage silos.

Specialised auxiliary equipment such as pneumatic tippers are used for unloading.

Secon Logistics builds the trailers on site at its workshop in Melbourne. Key accounts, excited with this continuous improvement, are now expanding with Secon nationally.

That vertical integration of the bulk division within Secon Logistics has gone to another level of late with the introduction of a new automated machine.

After much investigation and research, the team found what they were after overseas last year.

In looking to improve efficiencies, reduce manual labour and increase safety, the Secon team ventured as far as Italy where they eventually found equipment that met all of their criteria.

With support of customers and customer-engagement, Secon committed to two machines. One features a robot arm and conveyer belt that will destack pallets according to Daniel Considine, Secon Logistics CEO.

“It goes through a rotary valve inside the warehouse, punches through a pipe that goes outside the warehouse and shoots the material into a 20-foot lined container as bulk product,” he says.

“We then take that bulk product on the back of our pneumatic pump trailers and go to the customer site and pump it into silo.”

Another machine was purchased to augment production. Fully automatic, this machine can convert a full container of 25kg bags into bulk inside an hour.

That machine should be operational late Q3. Instead of relying on a robot arm to destack the pallets, the full pallet is placed on the conveyer belt before it is processed.

In short, all of the contents go into the machine that thereafter strips out all the bags the product passes through, and it converts it to bulk. The warehouse is adjacent to Secon’s container park in Truganina.

A reach stacker will be eventually used to arrange the containers before they are transported.

“The warehouse has all the 25kg bags in the racks,” explains Daniel. “They will pick to order. We can flow it down the supply line all the way through to the customer silo.”

By eliminating labour, capacity opens up.

“It brings our cost base much lower for our customers to be able to procure 25 kilo bags overseas and fits nicely into their business models,” says Daniel.

“Whereas prior to this, the labour to convert 25kg bags into bulk was just too expensive.”

Secon Logistics now picks up import containers from the Port of Melbourne and before those containers are destuffed and the product is warehoused and picked, they can convert it back to a sea bulk shipping container.

That container is subsequently taken to the customer.

From port logistics to the warehousing, the workshop and the last mile, the entire process ultimately utilises every facet of the business across its varying business units.

“It unlocks every part of our business and the final distribution asset being the bulk pneumatic tipper,” says Daniel.

“It all starts at the port and gets to the end customer. How it gets there is the transfers and transactions that we put in and the expertise that converts that material.”

Secon Logistics is the only company in Australia that currently owns one of these machines.

Naturally, they have been keen to keep it under wraps for the past 12 months as considerable input and design has gone into the design of the machine and associated processes.

“We know our competitors would be interested in what we are doing.” says Daniel. “We have kept this low profile until now”.

The benefits of the new machines have been so substantial that Secon Logistics ordered another ten pneumatic tippers.

The first five have already been delivered and are presently being fitted out with another five units incoming.

Secon recently established a presence in Western Australia following its move to Brisbane in January having entered the Sydney market last year.

All parts for the pneumatic tippers are procured by Secon and put together in the workshop so the intellectual property (IP) is protected.

“That’s on the back of Silk Logistics purchasing Secon last year. They’ve been great for us to leverage off their national footprint to be able to deliver the Secon bulk national solution,” says Daniel.

“Rather than Silk taking over the brand of Secon they’re enhancing the brand of Secon and strengthening it across the country.”