EnerSys has supplied its Hawker Motive Power brand of batteries and chargers to Peugeot's Parts Operation distribution centre in Tile Hill, Coventry. The new battery regime has supported Peugeot's move from two to three shifts at the site.
Hawker's WF200 high performance batteries have been fitted to the centre's fleet of 160 electric trucks, comprising a broad cross-section of order pickers, reach trucks, stackers, pallet transporters and counterbalance
trucks. Hawker has also installed a three-high, 165-slot battery charging bay, using Powertech high frequency (HF) chargers, with a semi automated
rising-platform change cart and a 'smart' battery call-forward system. The new regime has brought greatly increased operational flexibility, has
substantially increased truck uptime and ensures that maximum cycle time is extracted from all batteries. The new charging bay has also freed up a large
amount of space in the warehouse.
The change to Hawker batteries was prompted by the change in truck contract in November 2003 and recent expansion of the warehouse facilities and a move
from two to three shift operations at the beginning of the year. At the same time a new fleet of trucks, from Linde, started to be phased in. Previously trucks were parked up at the end of the working day and their batteries put on charge, but the new round-the-clock operation left no time for batteries to receive full charges. Peugeot therefore moved to changing batteries instead of charging them, with each truck now allocated two batteries.
The facility at Tile Hill has two warehouse zones, one of which has recently been extended, covering a total of 54,000 sq m. The warehouses hold around 65,000 parts for Peugeot and Citroën cars (both makes are part of the PSA Peugeot Citroen Group), as well as the Motaquip multi-marque factoring operation. Parts are stored in stillages that are offloaded by the counterbalance trucks and put away in the warehouse racking by the reach
trucks. Approximately 35,000 items are picked each day, using order picking carts and man rising medium level order pickers, for delivery to 750 Peugeot and Citroën dealerships nationwide, as well as the Motaquip outlets.
Hawker's new three-tier battery charging installation occupies less than a quarter of the space previously taken up by the 'park and charge' operation.
The truck batteries are changed, when they reach a predetermined level of discharge, by a Hawker ProSeries Bull change cart, except for counterbalance trucks, for which a crane is used.
The ProSeries Bull is an electrically driven device that runs on concealed rails between the banks of chargers, using a powerful extending electro-magnet to extract the battery from the truck onto its on-board roller bed and then push it into place for charging with the operator platform rising to access the second and third level of the charger banks. The whole battery change process is a very quick and simple one-man job, which again helps sustain truck uptime. The Pro Series BBL removes the risk of manual handling hazards.
The Powertech HF chargers used at Peugeot offer outstanding energy
efficiency, as much as 20 per cent higher than 50 Hz chargers. The chargers automatically detect the battery's level of discharge and will supply only the amount of power needed - and no more - to restore full charge. This means less mains power is required to charge a battery. The Powertech automatically accommodates batteries of different capacities, and is easily programmable for all battery technologies, which is an important benefit for Peugeot with its mixed truck fleet.
The 'intelligent' diagnostic software in the Powertech chargers can transmit data to PC installed in the battery changing area. As trucks arrive to have their batteries changed the truck's identity number is keyed into the PC. A display screen then indicates which replacement battery should be taken from the charging bay, ensuring that only fully-charged units are taken. The PC-driven system makes certain that all batteries receive the correct amount of charge before being used, and that the batteries are systematically rotated. This greatly extends the cycle life of each battery between charges, and generally extends battery longevity. The PC system also flags up when each battery needs topping up - or cleaning, for which Hawker has installed a self-contained battery washing booth. The battery changing operation is undertaken by Premier, which provides other services such as cleaning to the Tile Hill site.
"The move to thee-shift operation demanded higher truck uptime," explains Paul Slater, Supervisor Warehouse Planning at Tile Hill. "This in turn meant a much more efficient, practical and flexible method of charging and changing truck batteries. Hawker has come up with the ideal solution."
The company also provides aftermarket and customer support services to its customers from over 100 countries through its sales and manufacturing locations around the world.
More information on Hawker can be found at: www.enersys-hawker.com
More information regarding EnerSys can be found at www.enersys.com.
For PRODUCT/COMPANY information contact:
Karen Smith
Enersys Motive Power
Tel: 0161 727 3800
Fax: 0161 727 3899
e-mail: karen.smith@uk.enersys.com