Publish Time: 2017-12-08 Origin: Site
China is big producer of PVC product. In 2016 China’s PVC production capacity was 23.26 million tons, of which 10 million tons production is locate in northwestern China, whereas downstream consuming industries like polyester or PET producers are mainly located at eastern and southern coastal areas of China. With travels of 3000-4000km, rail-motor multimodal transportation undoubtedly is the most cost-effective way to deliver the bulk PVC powder from its origin in Northwest China to consuming factories in eastern and southern China. However, with increasing labor cost in China, the call for a more cost-saving and efficient logistics pattern is strongly requested at both supply and purchase end.
XINJIANG ZHONGTAI CHEMIAL CO., LTD. is the biggest PVC manufacturer in China. In 2017 ZHONGTAI started a joint research with LAF over PVC Logistics Supply Chain, aims that to figure out a more efficient and cost effective logistics solution for PVC product shipment.
On 21th Nov., 2017, the first containerized shipment of PVC via rail was issued at Urumqi, and was seen as a success after joint efforts of LAF and ZHONGTAI.
ZHONGTAI used to use 25Kg woven bags to pack PVC products. The original logistics supply chain has got too much labor handling, but a low efficiency and high expense. Filled bags, after being palletized, would be transferred to rail depot by trucks; at the depot, after being checked, bags would be loaded into rail box cars with lot labor operation; upon arrival at the destination rail station, all bags have to be moved into trucks from box cars by labor operation, and then, to be delivered to end factory; when goods finally arrive the factory, bags have to be unloaded from the trucks, moved to warehouse by labor.
As was found in PET or polyester factories, there must be workers to cut bags and inject PVC material into their production equipment.
LAF put forward the SILO TO SILO CONTAINERIZED LOGISTICS SOLUTION for PVC powder delivery, which uses Dry Bulk Liner as package, it could be fitted into a 20’GP container and transfers that container into a clean, airtight, dust- and-moisture proof container for PVC powder; and the solution has come along with Automatic Loading / Unloading Machine proposal for container fill and discharge. Containerized transportation minimizes human labor operation at commodity origin, in transit, and at destination, as a standard unit, containers can be efficiently loaded, transit, and unloaded with help of machines.
With SILO TO SILO CONTAINERIZED LOGISTICS SOLUTION, the logistics supply chain was simplified and shortened obviously, as bellows.
This trial shipment has witnessed many advantages of container transportation:
Reduce Labor Expense Significantly: PVC powder would be loaded into container automatically with machines, no human labor handling is required.
Increase Cargo Delivery Efficiency: to load 18MT PVC, with small bags, it needs 1 hour to lift it onto trucks with labor, while under new solution, one 20ft container can be filled within 30mins without labor handling.
Improve the production environment: during the filling process, the powder is transferred from the silo to the container through pipelines, without any dust pollution.
Reduce Labor Cost: with containerized transportation, there is no need for manual loading PVC products into rail box cars, which can save significant labor cost.
Commodity Quality Can Be Well Protected: Dry Bulk Liner is designed with moisture-proof PE film, can well protect PVC powder in a dry, clean, well-sealed environment, and make sure the commodity be free from damage by moisture or foreign contamination.
Reduce Cargo Loss: small bags are easy to get broken in transit. According to data provided by ZHONGTAI, cargo loss rate is about 3‰ in a single delivery with rail box car and small bags, whereas using containerized transportation there is almost no cargo loss.
Save Labor Cost: on one hand, PVC powder would be automatically transferred into storage silo through pipes by machines at destination factory, eliminating labor handing to unload bags from trucks and move bags into warehouse; in addition PVC powder could be feed into polyester or PET flake production equipment via pipelines automatically, that totally removes manual feeding, saves the huge labor for bag cutting and material feeding.
Improve Efficiency: manual can unload up to 3 tons commodity in one hour; while one 20ft container can be unloaded within 1 hour with automatic discharging machine, and one 20ft container can carry18 tons of PVC powder with Dry Bulk Liner.
Resolve Dust Pollution in Workshop: both discharge and material feeding would be done by machines, bags unpacking and manual PVC powder feeding are removed, the dust pollution in workshop can be resolved effectively.