Public refrigerated ware housing and third-party logistics company VersaCold is adding another 93 Linde electric counterbalance forklifts to a national fleet which will soon number more than 500.
VersaCold employs more than 8,500 people, operating 125 facil ities in Australia, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Argentina.
The company’s experience with Linde equipment began in Western Australia nearly 15 years ago, but the major national roll-out of has occurred since 2008.
VersaCold has 12 separate facilities in four states and all are an integral part of Australia’s food supply chain, operating 24/7, 365 days a year to supply all major food retailers and manufacturers.
National expansion
Adoption of Linde material han dling equipment throughout VersaCold’s Australian operations came as a result of the premium German brand’s success in a national tender.
Since then VersaCold has generated business growth which has seen its total fleet requirements increase despite the efficiency gains delivered by its Linde equipment.
It now has the latest innovation and technology available in the global forklift market at work for it throughout Australia.
According to VersaCold gener al manager, Finance & Commercial, Ken Brundell, Linde won the contract due to the overall strength of its tender.
“Linde offered the complete package – product, service, reliability, a competitive price, best practice safety standards and seemed happy to bend over back wards to help,” he said.
VersaCold’s Murrarie facility in Queensland was the first to receive the Linde lift trucks under the national contract. Implementation there has served as a template for roll outs at other sites where forklift num bers range from 21 to more than 120.
Murrarie is a full slot-managed warehouse with 27,500 pallet positions and 230 staff. The freezer rooms operate at less than –18 degrees and the Chiller rooms are less than 4 degrees Celsius.
Lift trucks operate in an extreme environment at VersaCold sites and must be reli able in these harsh conditions. The change to Linde also meant VersaCold would be moving from a battery charging regime to a battery changing process.
The E20PH two tonne model from Linde’s technologically advanced 386 electric counter balance forklift range delivers operating efficiencies not just from its AC motor technology, but from its innovative battery change system. The benefits of extended battery run times are multiplied by a slide-out battery swap operation which can be performed by one person with an electric pallet jack.
This system eliminates many of the occupational health and safety issues associated with other methods and has led to a reduction in ongoing costs associated with wear and tear to trucks and batteries.
Brand new fleet
Roll-out of the new Linde equip ment marked the first opportuni ty in 15 years for VersaCold to start with a brand new fleet – calling for careful project management to provide a seamless transition without downtime.
“Linde met every deadline we agreed to and in fact delivered prior to those deadlines,” said Murrarie operations manager, Doug Seccombe.
“This allowed us to commence with the new equipment prior to the agreed dates. Linde also gave a lot of assistance in establishing the battery room in regard to design and operations – and we are very happy with the simplicity and practicality of the new battery changing room.”
Battery performance has also exceeded the key performance indicators originally set down.
“Instead of getting one shift per battery, we’re getting about one and a half, so it’s much bet ter than I had planned,” said Seccombe. As part of the con tract process Linde specialists have worked closely with VersaCold operations staff to assess and understand the com pany’s distribution centre opera tions and work patterns so that they can then prescribe the appropriate Linde equipment for them.
“Because of their understand ing of what we do, Linde were able to support my decision and help with critical planning,” Seccombe said.
“From the first afternoon of live operations I felt comfortable with what Linde were doing. They had assured us that every thing would be OK and there would be no interruptions – and there weren’t!”
Versacold’s Brundell said: “Even though we have a reduc tion in equipment in Murrarie due to the better battery tech nology we are achieving better productivity.”
* Sean Moylan is a writer at Pinto Creative.