It’s no secret that many Americans like their beer.
From bars to restaurants to liquor and grocery stores, the cold brews are
generally easy to find. But what most beer aficionados do not know is that
distribution businesses are responsible for getting their favorite beverages to
nearby locations.
Having a clean and efficient warehouse is essential to
Standard Distributing. The company found this mission was not being fulfilled
in the battery changing and charging area for its electric lift trucks running
on lead acid batteries. The area was hard to keep clean with the lead acid
batteries daily maintenance requirements, frequent changes of the batteries and
eight-hour shifts for charging and after-charging cooling.
OneCharge Inc.
offered a winning solution with its Li-ion batteries. It was just what Standard
Distributing needed to help its operations.
In April of 2019, the company switched its lift trucks
fleet to Li-ion, a move that allowed the company to streamline its fleet from
17 trucks down to 12 to do the same job!
The flexibility to configure the lithium-ion batteries
for the specific task (high lifts in a temperature-controlled warehouse)
allowed to resize the trucks fleet. The Li-ion batteries can be quickly charged
anywhere during small breaks and lunchtime, meaning a battery changing and
charging area was no longer needed. The part of the warehouse designated for
lead acid batteries which repeatedly grew dirty was just cleared.
Switching to OneCharge lithium-ion batteries has
improved overall efficiency of material handling operations at Standard
Distributing and rendered the warehouse cleaner and safer.
About the
Client
Standard Distributing serves over a thousand licensees
statewide, according to the business. Delaware, with a population of 952,000,
has a beer market consumption of over 9.2 million cases, the company website
reported.
To bring the products to these licensees, Standard
Distributing works from a temperature-controlled warehouse and office location
in New Castle, Delaware.
The
Challenges
The lead acid batteries in use by the company were
creating maintenance and safety issues for the staff, adding a significant
amount to the operations costs. Standard Distributing needed a safe power
source for its trucks, as well as a means for eliminating the ongoing costs
associated with battery maintenance.
With sustainability efforts underway and a business
serving a variety of customers statewide, the cleanliness and efficiency of the
warehouse is of paramount importance, according to Standard Distributing’s
warehouse manager, Mike Tielleman.
The company had 17 three-wheel sit down trucks running
with lead acid batteries.
“The battery charging area was dirty,” said Tielleman,
who said he was on the lookout for a way to improve this section in the
warehouse.
Standard Distributing is committed to its green
policy, which the company says is “raising the bar on saving energy and
conserving natural resources.” Recently, Standard Distributing added the use of
OneCharge Li-ion batteries to its green initiatives.
The Solution
In April 2019 at the end of the lease cycle Standard
Distributing leaders considered a proposal for the same 17 sit-down trucks
powered by lead acid batteries or 12 trucks running with OneCharge Li-ion
batteries. They learned a smaller fleet of trucks with Li-ion batteries could be
quite sufficient for warehouse needs, since opportunity charging would
eliminate the necessity of having spare trucks on hand. Also streamlined would
be the physical warehouse space, without the need for battery changing and
charging station.
The company decided to move from lead acid to
OneCharge Li-ion batteries with the purchase of six Yale ESCO35AD 36v stand-ups
and six Yale ERP035VT 36v sit-downs.
The Results
The company is pleased with the impact of the newly
implemented equipment, which concurrently addressed the issues of cleanliness,
safety and efficiency.
This change fulfilled OneCharge’s promise to Standard
Distributing for no down time during work shifts for changing batteries.
As the Li-ion batteries do not need to be watered,
charged or maintained daily, the warehouse’s formerly messy charging station is
also no longer a concern, according to company leaders.
The elimination of maintenance needs also means safer
working conditions in the warehouse, as workers are not required to work with lead
acid batteries with a risk of leaks or spills.
Using Li-ion batteries translated to a reduced fleet
of trucks for the company, requiring only 12 trucks on hand in the warehouse as
opposed to 17, thanks to the opportunity charging possible with lithium-ion.
In addition to cost savings, these changes also help
support the company’s effort to pursue a green policy within operations.
“OneCharge Batteries ensured the switch to Li-ion was
smooth and caused no interruption to Standard Distributing operations. On top
of minimizing downtime during shifts we finally got rid of the lead acid
batteries daily maintenance and messy charging area. Both are simply not needed
with OneCharge Li-ion Batteries,” said Tielleman, of the process of
implementing OneCharge batteries and the ensuing improvements to the warehouse
facility and operational process which resulted from the change.
Advantages
For All – How Li-ion Battery Technology Can Help Your Business
The switch to Li-ion at Standard Distributing Co. Inc.
provided several results the company was looking for. For those also in food
and beverage distributing, the use of Li-ion batteries provides a means to
clean up warehouse space reserved for battery charging, a need particularly
important in meeting standards of safe conditions for food and beverages.
And for those throughout the material handling industry, Standard Distributing’s experience illustrates how the implementation of lithium ion batteries offers a chance for improved efficiencies and safer work conditions without the need for daily battery maintenance.
