Ensuring continuity during busy periods, such as the year-end festivities
Deerlijk, 19 December 2023 – As the year-end period approaches, supermarket chain Delhaize is also gearing up to face the additional rush. To ensure that the turkey and croquettes land on our festive tables on time and fresh, the optimal organisation of electric forklifts in the latest refrigerated section in the warehouses in Zellik is essential. West Flemish Battery Supplies installed 136 chargers for a fleet of 308 changeover batteries. This way, Delhaize’s electric forklifts can continue transporting products day in and day out.
Delhaize constantly moves many products in its warehouses. This is done with electric forklifts. These forklifts must be optimally deployed at all times. Even during busy periods, such as year-end festivities, Delhaize must, of course, ensure continuity.
That’s why Delhaize chose West Flemish Battery Supplies, a subsidiary of parts specialist TVH, to shape the charging system of the forklift batteries and use the forklifts as optimally as possible in the latest refrigerated section of the warehouses in Zellik. Delhaize and Battery Supplies have been loyal partners for the supply of batteries for many years.
Alexander De Soete, CEO of Battery Supplies: “There has been a long-standing relationship of trust with Delhaize. We at Battery Supplies are honoured that Delhaize has again chosen us as a supplier of batteries and the charging system in their new warehouses. This step further deepens our collaboration.”
This is one of the largest charging stations for Delhaize in Belgium. The charging station comprises 136 chargers for a fleet of 308 changeover batteries. The installation of a new charging station of this magnitude is a unique occurrence. However, the space occupied by the chargers and batteries is very limited, thanks to a smart and dense arrangement of the batteries.
Safety, reliability, efficiency
Safety is paramount in this new charging station. During a battery swap(*), Battery Supplies ensures, for example, that the operator always stays at a safe distance from the battery. Thus, there is no risk he will get crushed. Not an unnecessary luxury for batteries weighing more than one ton.
In addition, Battery Supplies ensures efficiency. The battery swap takes only three minutes. Thus, the operator has enough time to ensure the charging station’s maintenance and add water to the batteries.
Steven Hacken, project manager for techniques at Delhaize: “We are satisfied with the system that Battery Supplies has set up. Safety was our top priority, and they have fulfilled that wish immediately. Moreover, the system is reliable: because we work with two systems, we can guarantee continuity. This ensures that the turkey and croquettes are on everyone’s festive table on time.”
Batteries need to be regularly filled up with water. With traditional filling systems, this easily takes a quarter of an hour. Delhaize and Battery Supplies opted for the Water Injector system, where water is injected into the battery under high pressure. Thanks to the quick-fill system*, filling it up takes only about five seconds, a tremendous efficiency gain.
Thanks to dataloggers* and monitoring systems, the batteries also last longer. The dataloggers allow the operator to easily see on each charger which battery is already charged and sufficiently cooled and which one he should use.
The dataloggers also ensure that the operator knows when to add water to the batteries or which batteries are too hot. Thus, the operator can service the battery correctly, use it evenly, and detect errors more quickly. This will make the batteries last 35% longer than with traditional systems.
The dataloggers send the information to the cloud so that Battery Supplies can perform analyses and make decisions about maintenance and necessary investments.
(*) Technical information
All battery-related operations occur at a safe distance, thanks to roller conveyors and a hydraulic arm.
The fast-fill system for the batteries is from Philadelphia Scientific.
The iBOS datalogger lets the operator see which batteries are charged and which are sufficiently cooled. The EGO! Logger system on each battery also provides the necessary warnings to the operator, such as which batteries need water added or are too hot.
