Feature Materials handling & conveyors Lithium ion: A cast iron solution
Specialist grower, Barfoots of Botley, is always looking to make environmental and productivity efficiencies within its business and, by introducing Jungheinrich’s lithium-ion powered pallet trucks to its materials handling fleet, the company has achieved both
vegetables to UK retailers. As well as the home-grown produce
B
it harvests, Barfoots imports produce from up to 30 different countries – ensuring a year-round supply of fresh produce such as sweetcorn, asparagus, broad beans, courgettes, marrows, peas, pumpkins, rhubarb, runner beans, and a variety of squashes and sweet potatoes. “Essentially, our business is about
taking product out of the ground and adding value,” says David Cooper, Barfoot’s logistics manager. “We pick and pack produce so it is ‘shop ready’ when it leaves us.” Barfoots operates temperature
controlled warehouse sites in Chichester where goods are packed and despatched for onward delivery to some of Britain’s leading grocery retailers. Because of the highly perishable
nature of the produce the company deals in, Barfoots relies on an efficient supply chain model and the materials handling equipment (MHE) operating within the Chichester cold stores is fundamental to the company’s success. “Our products are marketed for their
freshness and ‘48 hours from field to fork’ means a product can be har- vested, processed and presented to the end customer within a 48-hour time window, so major MHE problems within our cold stores really could be a ‘show stopper’ for us,” says Cooper. The company runs a fleet of Jungheinrich lift trucks at the two sites.
ased in Chichester, West Sussex Barfoots of Botley specialises in growing, processing, packing and selling semi-exotic fresh
A mixture of diesel and electric-pow- ered counterbalanced trucks, ride-on and pedestrian powered pallet trucks are used to unload incoming orders and load picked pallet loads on to wait- ing delivery vehicles for dispatch. Barfoots recently upgraded the trucks
operating in and around the dispatch areas with Jungheinrich’s lithium ion- powered EJE 112i pallet trucks. When Jungheinrich announced the launch of the lithium-ion powered EJE 112i, the company described it as ‘a step change in forklift truck design’ thanks to the environmental and pro- ductivity benefits that lithium ion offers over traditional forklift power sources and the EJE 112is have brought a number of operational benefits to Barfoots. For example, Barfoots’ dispatch area
can become congested at peak periods, so the company sought a compact truck that offered a smaller footprint but retained the ability to cope with the high throughput demands of the site. Because the EJE 112i’s lithium-ion
battery is significantly smaller and lighter than a traditional lead acid bat- tery (it weighs just 14kg and looks very much like a brief case) Jungheinrich has been able to dramatically reduce the size of the truck’s battery compartment and, therefore, shrink the truck’s overall dimensions which means that the EJE 112i is considerably shorter than other powered pallet trucks on the market. “Our operators really like the fact
that the EJE112i is so compact and manoeuvrable. It has made life much easier in and around our picking areas,” says Cooper.
fleets, fuel cell technology remains in its infancy in the UK. In contrast, the market for fuel cell powered forklift trucks continues to grow in the United States. A number of prominent American businesses have
US companies are turning to fuel cell technology to power fleets W
hilst a number of companies are looking at alter- native energy sources for their materials handling
fuel cell powered trucks for use in a distribution centre. Hydrogen fuel cells convert the energy produced in
the hydrogen fuel cell into electricity via a chemical reaction that’s only by-products are water and heat. A single ‘fill’ of the cell can power a truck through a
turned to Yale for their fuel cell powered trucks and have deployed them on a large scale. The results are said to be substantial savings in labour and operational costs, in addition to contributing to an emission-free working environment.
S16 Customers include Nestlé Waters, which is using 32
Yale counterbalance trucks, fuelled by hydrogen fuel cell units, at its bottling plant in Dallas. Central Grocer, the independent grocery chain in Chicago, has bought 220
long shift, with each refuelling taking somewhere between three and 10 minutes. There is no need for battery charg- ing stations. The life of a fuel cell can be 10 years or more and fuel cells are unaffected by low temperatures. Yale Materials Handling
www.yale.com
T: 01252 770700 Enter 362
SEPTEMBER 2013 Materials Handling & Logistics
Jungheinrich’s lithium ion-powered EJE 112i pallet truck
Jungheinrich T: 01908 363100
jungheinrich.co.uk Enter 361
“The EJE 112i is small and ideal for multi-lift, short journey work.” Barfoots also benefits from the
lithium-ion truck’s flexible battery charging regime. It takes just 30 minutes to deliver a 50 per cent charge and the battery is fully charged within 80 minutes. The short charging times enable more flexible truck utilisation and ‘opportunity charging.’ “We have found that a single charge
is sufficient to power a truck for up to five hours,” says Cooper. Importantly, when it comes to
recharging, a dedicated charging area is not required. The battery is simply removed by hand from the truck and placed within a recharging docking device that can be positioned near a power supply anywhere within the building. The simplicity of the recharging process reduces the need for a dedicated battery charging area along with the controls associated with topping up batteries and PPE etc. Having originally ordered two EJE
112is, Barfoots has just added an extra two models to its fleet. “We are always looking
to make productivity and environmental efficiencies within our business and Jungheinrich’s lithium-ion powered pallet truck has enabled us to achieve both,” adds Cooper.
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