inbound
Thinking about how technology is changing
material handling equipment? It’s unlikely that
the familiar, box-shaped lift truck battery will
come to mind. But perhaps it should.
According to Bill Rubenzer, vice president, sales
and marketing for the battery manufacturer
Storage Battery Systems LLC, several technolo-
gy trends in the battery market could have a
notable impact on warehouse operations.
One is the growth of data collection and
communication between warehouse systems
and equipment. Large amounts of data can
now be extracted from lift trucks, batteries, and
charging systems, and then used to optimize
fleet costs and operations. But the data is har-
vested from multiple sources, so it’s difficult to
see how it all fits together and what it means.
What’s missing, Rubenzer said in a recent
interview, is “integration—the various things
that affect battery usage are not all tied togeth-
er.” Someone will step up to fill that gap and act
as integrator, but whether it will be the battery
manufacturers, lift truck dealers, or some kind
of third party is not yet clear, he said.
Another trend is the move toward 80-volt
electric lift trucks, which can run for 12 to 16
hours on a charge. That could allow fleets to use
fewer batteries and perhaps avoid the need for
fast charging, which tends to reduce battery life.
These trucks often have larger-than-usual bat-
tery compartments—“so not only do you have a
more efficient truck,” he noted, “but you also
have a considerably larger ‘fuel tank,’ as it were,
which allows you to do things that were impos-
sible with an electric before.” Those and other
cost and productivity benefits could encourage
a “profound shift” to 80-volt trucks, he said.
Finally, Rubenzer anticipates some fleets will
switch to lithium batteries. These batteries
don’t lose capacity in cold temperatures; they
don’t require watering; and if properly managed, their lifespan can be up to five times that
of a lead acid battery, he said. Lithium iron
phosphate, the battery’s main component, has
a high energy density and therefore greater
capacity. But they do have some drawbacks, he
said, including a higher initial cost and the
need for specialized battery management systems and technical training. ;
Lift truck batteries of
the future
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Con-way Inc. subsidiary Menlo Worldwide Logistics and
Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore have established a scholarship
program for students in the educational institution’s School of
Operations and Logistics
Management. Menlo will provide
four scholarships annually to selected students in their final year of
study. The program includes a three-month internship at a Menlo facility,
enabling the students to gain real-world, hands-on experience in logistics operations as they complete their studies. The inaugural award
recipients included Ong Si Ru, Lim Ke Wei, Goh Jia Xian, and Shen
Zhi Kai. ( www.con-way.com/en/logistics)
Brambles Ltd. subsidiary IFCO Systems, operator of an international pool of reusable plastic containers (RPCs), is donating containers to the nonprofit Ag Against Hunger. The organization will
use the RPCs to transport fruit and vegetables donated by California
growers to food banks in six western states. ( www.ifco.com)
The UPS Foundation will donate more than $7.6 million to 41
nonprofit organizations. The donations include more than $1 million in cash and in-kind support to the Paralyzed Veterans of
America (PVA) for the expansion of the group’s Paving Access to
Veterans Employment (PAVE) initiative, an employment reintegration program for veterans. ( www.ups.com)
Fisher House Foundation announced a donation of $300,000
from DHL to support the Heroes’ Legacy Scholarship, which provides college scholarships for children of fallen and disabled service members. ( www.dhl.com) ;
Logistics gives back
Making pallets from recycled materials is nothing new, but it’s
possible that nobody does it quite the way Kinder & Co. does. In
an article on the Ferret product directory website, the Australian
supplier of bulk handling conveyors said it is recycling its customers’ worn-out conveyor rollers into pallets. The old rollers are
shredded, granulated, and mixed with other materials, then cut to
size and used to build new pallets. Kinder loads the recycled pallets with new rollers and ships them back to its customers, bringing new meaning to the term “closed-loop system.” Some customers are even buying the recycled pallets for their own use.
The recycling process is carried out through an arrangement
with Australian Composite Technology (ACT). ACT says the pallet material is immune to insects and fungi, and does not need to
be fumigated for export. They can also be fireproofed without the
use of chemicals, said an ACT spokesman. ;
Conveyor rollers reincarnated
