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News Release from: Atlet
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 02 August 2006
Order for handling trucks and forklifts
placed
Atlet has won a contract to supply the complete lift truck fleet at a national distribution centre, including 30 high lift reach trucks, 101 low-level order pickers and 25 pallet transporters.
Atlet has won a contract to supply the complete lift truck fleet at a Nisa-Today's national distribution centre, including 30 high lift reach trucks, 101 low-level order pickers and 25 pallet transporters Atlet has been awarded the contract to supply the complete lift truck fleet at Nisa-Today's new national distribution centre (NDC) in Scunthorpe, UK
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 10 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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The 150-truck fleet comprises 30 high lift reach trucks, 101 low-level order pickers and 25 pallet transporters.
The operations on the site are particularly intensive and time-critical, with more than 1.4 million cases expected to be handled at peak periods.
Atlet has been the main incumbent supplier to Nisa-Today's facilities, operated by Bibby Distribution, for several years but still had to tender for the new contract, in a four-way bid.
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Atlet won the business after emerging top in a point-scoring process that addressed issues such as truck performance, life-cycle costs, driver preferences, after sales support, project management and overall 'cultural fit' between supplier and customer.
Nisa-Today's has amalgamated two previous facilities at Scunthorpe to create the new, purpose designed 58,000m2 NDC, built on a brownfield site.
The NDC handles all Nisa-Today's ambient products (around 9,000 lines), distributing them to customers that include national and regional chains, convenience stores and independent retailers throughout the country - from the Channel Islands to the Orkneys.
The site is operated by Bibby and managed by Re-Vision Logistics (RVL), which was formed in late 2005 by Stephen Hunter, who previously held senior logistics posts with both Bibby and Nisa.
RVL specialises in logistics change management, with the emphasis squarely on hands-on management and implementation, rather than just consultancy.
The NDC, operating round the clock seven days a week, receives around 4,000 incoming pallet-loads of goods each day.
The pallets are offloaded using Atlet Presto PLP powered pallet transporters.
Pallet put-away is undertaken by UHS Tergo reach trucks with high lift (9.6m) masts to stack five-bays high in the racking.
The UHS Tergos also replenish the picking faces at first and second level in the racks.
Around 600 individual orders are received each day by EDI, phone or fax.
Order assembly is carried out by Tempo PPL low-level order pickers, using a voice-picking system.
The Tempo PPLs have Atlet's new 'Ergo Steering' system which uses motorbike handlebar-style steering rather than a tiller arm.
Orders are assembled onto composite pallets, for delivery to stores - less than 10% of deliveries are sent on roll cages.
The NDC is making around 15,000 deliveries each week, the majority of which (more than 85%) are direct to store.
Due to the large number of small outlets, such as independent convenience stores, in Nisa-Today's customer base, the NDC is handling lots of small-quantity orders - the average order comprises just 1.7 stock lines.
This makes dextrous, accurate and rapid order picking essential.
Stock turn through the facility is very high too, so fast pallet putaway and replenishment of order picking faces is critical.
"The operations of the Tempo PPLs and the UHS Tergos are paramount to the high throughput of the warehouse," said Stephen Hunter, CEO of RVL, "These trucks are easily up to the task, particularly on account of their speed, and excellent ergonomic features such as the Tempo PPL's steering system.
Driver preference was a major factor in Atlet winning the order." The level of Nisa-Today's customers' sales are driven more by changes in the weather than seasonal actors events such as Easter or Christmas, as is the case with the major supermarkets.
"This, as well as contingent special promotional activities, means that the volumes of orders are very unpredictable from one week to the next," explained Hunter.
"Promotions can sometimes account for as much as 40% of orders received.
So again accuracy, speed and flexibility are vital to all the materials handling operations." Maximum truck uptime is critical too.
To this end Atlet has installed a dedicated battery charge/change area that features an electronic 'call forward' system to ensure that charged batteries are used in the correct sequence.
This provides optimum battery life and enables all trucks to operate with fully charged batteries at all times.
Batteries are changed using five of Atlet's Batsman units - modified powered pallet trucks with magnetic rams to handle the batteries between the trucks and charger bays.
It is a simple, quick and safe one-man job.
"Although Atlet is a long-standing supplier to the Nisa-Bibby operation, it was by no means a foregone conclusion that the company would be awarded the order for the new NDC," said Hunter.
"Whenever we need new trucks, we set new benchmarks.
Four truck companies were invited to tender, and points were awarded on a score card system that posed a wide range of questions; are the trucks reliable enough? Are they fast enough, and can they lift high enough? Do our drivers like the trucks? We didn't just look at the price tags either, but at the whole life costs of truck ownership and the vital issue of after sales support, including service and maintenance to sustain high truck uptime.
Culture fit' was important too: can we work with this truck company for the full seven years of the agreed contract.
A marriage you can walk away from - a seven year contract you can't! Atlet ticked all the right boxes." Atlet was also required to work with RVL on the move from the two previous warehouses to the new NDC, whilst maintaining uninterrupted throughput - phasing in the new unit whilst keeping the old two running.
This is where Atlet excelled itself with its project delivery competence," Hunter reported.
"They did a superb job in handling the complex migration of materials handling equipment.".
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