Communication forms the basis of intralogistics

Flowsort is making great strides with its in-house developed intralogistics solutions. The company serves logistics operations within Europe with diverters, sorters, and rollers, among other things. According to Gábor Szücs and Tamás Sándor, the success of these solutions is mainly due to good communication between the integrators, end users, and the supplier itself. “We respond to what the market needs.” 

Flowsort deliberately emphasizes responding to market needs because, according to product manager Szücs and intralogistics consultant Tamás, it is better at this than most of its competitors. “Many of our competitors are a bit larger. By working very closely with integrators and end users, we know exactly what is going on and what is needed. We then respond to this quickly.”

Modularity and open interfaces

The company, which originated in the Netherlands and is now part of the FATH family group of companies, is growing rapidly. In addition to its location in Venlo, it has eleven other locations, such as the one in Hungary where Szücs and Sándor work. The range of intralogistics solutions is expanding rapidly, but modularity and open interfaces are central to every new product. Szücs: “In addition to delivering good quality and service. We can also substantiate our claim about quality, because in the last five years we have had no reports of technical or quality issues from end customers.”

Focus on support

The fact that end users have not encountered any quality challenges with the solutions makes the focus on modularity and flexibility easier, the two indicate. Sándor: “In a project, integrators only receive basic support during the design and installation phase. At Flowsort, we make it a priority to support users from day one. We do this by helping them choose the right tools through online calculations, simulations, or even real-world tests. We do this by using predefined function blocks for PLC programming and by organizing training sessions for maintenance tasks when needed. At Flowsort, there is little or no need to talk about quality, so there is more room for discussions about how we can help even more. Such as what we can improve further, how we can serve end users even better, how they can save even more time and reduce risks.”

X-Flow 90

With the launch of the X-Flow 90, Flowsort is responding to an important market need. “Although the solution itself is not entirely new, we wanted to set new standards in terms of sustainability, reliability, and ease of integration. It took extensive testing to find the right belt. This belt underwent a test with two million revolutions at full load without any errors,” say Szücs and Sándor.

Market-specific solutions

Another example of how Flowsort responds to market demand is the development of a 90-degree system made from stainless steel elements. “That demand came from end users in the food and pharmaceutical sectors, and integrators then approached us.” Within a few months, Flowsort was able to adapt an existing solution for applications in the food and pharmaceutical sectors. “That's what makes this work fun, responding to specific needs. We prefer to sit down with both end users and integrators from the design phase onwards. We then test a setup extensively and only when we are satisfied do we bring the solution to market.”