The future of container handling

2017 | Duo | 10 Weeks | Kalmar Global

Team member: Gabriel Uggla

Modular Autonomous Platform

MAP is a concept solution for Kalmar Global to keep up with its competitors in the fast growing world of container handling and heavy duty harbor equipment.

Together with classmate Gabriel Uggla we created a modular autonomous platform (MAP) which functions as the main ingredient for this new business case concept. With this platform as a common factor we created three different machine configurations.

Project in collaboration with Kalmar Global.

Note: this is a student project result and is not an official Kalmar concept.

Research (Desk, Interviews, in field observations, workshops).
Ideation (Sketching Analog & Digital)
CAD (Solidworks)
Visualisations (Keyshot, Illustrator, Photoshop)
Model making (3D printing, cnc milling, laser-cutting, painting and assembly)

What did our process look like?

Research & Workshops

Welcome to the world of container handling

During our research phase we travelled to Poland to visit the assembly plant of Kalmar. After that we continued our road-trip to Germany where we visited the harbor of Hamburg. Getting the chance to speak with different stakeholders and see the Kalmar machines in their natural habitat and trust me THESE THINGS ARE HUGE!!

Returning back in the studio we shared our findings, did additional desk research and presented opportunity directions we identified from these insights.

Problem definition

Finding a target direction

After sharing our findings from research we all discussed the directions we were thinking of exploring for this project. During this session Gabriel and me found out that we shared similar ideas and decided to combine forces for this project. This meant communication and alignment were key to be able to succeed succesfully. Together we sat down and discussed our ideas further and created a combined vision for this project and the future of container handling and most important what problem(s) are we trying to solve.

Our vision

“In the future Kalmar will be a service provider supplying moves and up-time instead of selling machines”.

Before Kalmar is ready for this future there are a few things needed: High efficiency (both in handling goods and in manufacturing their machines.

What does this mean for Kalmar and their future business?

What about the customer?

As a customer in this future scenario you will only need one location for all your harbour logistic machinery. Kalmar has all the tools you need to make sure the business keeps up and running day and night. In your business where troughput is essential both for you as the Quai as well as for customers that are shipping goods it is the uptime that counts. Having a subscription with Kalmar means having access to the newest machinery and when the load shifts to an other area you have the ability to switch machines without having to buy a new one. Either the machine is converted on site to meet the new demand or replaced by a different machine.

The benefit of this all?

There is no need for a big investment sum for new machinery anymore, dirstribute that financial load by having a subscription based operation means a steady revenue stream, something your accountant will be hapy about.. Not only is the entry in the business easier, the convenience to do so is higher as well.

Ideation phase

a new product family from the ground up

Since this new business model approach asks for a different view on the way these machines are build we were also able to re-evaluate the visual identity of this new Kalmar fleet.