The heat is on

BOILER MANUFACTURER Vaillant Group needed to completely upgrade its warehouse truck fleet. Part of its thinking was a focus on sustainability. It plans to become a carbon neutral plant by 2025, and so introduced 26 new lithium-ion Jungheinrich models.

The new fleet involves a combination of ETV 216i reach trucks as well as conventional counter balances, increasing the capacity on some of its larger trucks from 2.5 tonnes to 3.5 tonnes to cater for the pressed steel works and tools. 

The rapid interim charging times offered by Lithium-ion powered trucks enable a virtually continuous operation of fleets on a 24x7 basis with no dangerous gases or acids emitted, meaning that charging stations are no longer necessary. Manual handling is reduced too, with no need for frequent battery changing for charging.

Vaillant Industrial head of production logistics and scheduling Adrian Ancliff, says: “Not only will Lithium-ion-powered vehicles provide huge sustainability benefits in terms of energy efficiency and carbon reduction, the transition will also reduce the health and safety risks associated with the removal of lead acid batteries, which is another huge bonus for us. We’re very pleased to be doing our part to reduce our carbon footprint and we are confident that we’ve purchased the best fleet on the market.”

In addition, Vaillant has taken advantage of Jungheinrich’s Power By The Hour initiative – a flexible and transparent way to rent forklift trucks which allows warehouse operators to only pay for the hours they use the truck. For Vaillant, this means that they can have commercial flexibility when they have spikes in demand, short term peaks or another truck requires servicing, with an extra reach truck available at their convenience. 

Warehouse design

With a constantly evolving production line and desire to bring in levels of automation, Jungheinrich will also be deploying a state-of-the-art logistics and racking system, which will involve a new warehouse design to ensure the upgraded fleet matches the warehouse system. The new racking system will enable optimised storage up to 11 metres and accommodate the three new ETV 216i trucks which can reach up to 10.7 metres. The new optimised warehouse will therefore increase capacity from 1,100 pallet locations to almost 4,000, trebling their capacity within the same space it currently operates. 

Adrian continues: “By introducing innovative racking concepts and optimising the height and layout, the support from Jungheinrich has exceeded our expectations. The team ensured that the new fleet complements the racking design, and the whole intralogistics system has been streamlined and linked together. The new warehouse design has been factored and designed around the building due to its restrictive entry and exit points and we have been able to work closely with Jungheinrich during the entire process, which has strengthened our relationship. Vaillant is going higher, bigger and upskilling its people with Jungheinrich, and we are excited to continue working together.”

Jungheinrich region one business director Neil Warren, says: “We are delighted to support Vaillant in improving its warehouse efficiency from both an economical and environmental perspective. Lithium-ion technology offers tremendous benefits in terms of efficiency and productivity gains, as well as supporting crucial sustainability efforts, so it’s great to see Vaillant taking advantage of this. Working closely with Vaillant to provide a fully integrated and combined system which completely optimises their warehouse operations and delivers energy efficiency in line with their company’s sustainability goals is extremely important to us and we look forward to our continued partnership with Vaillant as it enjoys the benefits of the new system.”

For more information, visit www.jungheinrich.co.uk