Before the arrival of the high level pickers, NVS had used reach trucks to drop pallets from the upper levels of the racking to allow slow moving lines to be picked. Now, orders are picked straight from the pallet, removing the time consuming need to drop the pallet and replace it every time a pick has to be made.

Manufactured at Jungheinrich’sMoosburg plant, the EKS  is quick, compact and highly manoeuverable. It’s chassis is just 900mm wide and less than 2.7 metres long and the truck has a top speed of 9 kilometres per hour and a turning radius of just 1,550mm. With a capacity of 1,000kg, it is capable of lifting to lift heights of up to 6 metres. The EKS 210 is designed for safe use in wide aisles where more than one truck might be operating.

Both the high and medium level trucks feature 4th generation, three phase AC technology which ensures the highest performance, efficient energy consumption and high levels of reliability. All motors - drive, lifting and steering - are AC. This means that there are fewer wearing parts which makes the trucks exceptionally service-friendly with less downtime and lower running costs as a result.

NVS currently offers next day delivery for all orders received before 7pm.

The morning shift at the Stoke on Trent NDC focuses on the goods-in process and it is at this time that the picking locations are replenished, both within the bulk store and throughout the company’s small parts pick facility.

The small parts picking warehouse is split over two levels with a mezzanine providing valuable extra space. A conveyor system links the upper and lower levels of the small parts store and each client order is picked directly into totes that travel around the system

Picking is done by the afternoon/evening shift.  The main core of full time workers is augmented by part time staff who arrive to help cope with the daily peak in incoming orders as the 7pm deadline approaches.

Orders are assembled in a marshaling area before being loaded into one of NVS’s own fleet of trailers and delivered to one of the company’s nine regional distribution hubs.

On arrival at the regional hubs, trailers are emptied and customer orders are loaded into  transit vehicles, also owned by NVS, which deliver them to their final destination. Each vehicle is allocated a route with, typically, 20 drops.

On average some 34,000 lines are picked and dispatched from NVS’s Stoke on Trent NDC each day, but at peak times, this figure can reach in excess of 55,000 lines.

Steve Richmond, director of Jungheinrich UK Ltd’s Systems & Project Division, comments: “The overhaul of the bulk store at Stoke on Trent has played a key role in helping NVS drive greater efficiencies through its supply chain. By maximizing the pallet capacity of the facility and introducing a more sophisticated approach to materials handling throughout the unit, NVS has avoided the need to acquire extra storage capacity, improved the productivity of its staff, made their working routine less physically demanding and increased picking efficiency.”

NVS estimates that its payback on the investment in new trucks and reconfigured pallet racking will be less than three years.

About Jungheinrich UK Ltd:
Jungheinrich UK Ltd offers Pallet Trucks, Stackers, Counterbalance Trucks, Reach Trucks, Order Pickers, Very Narrow Aisle and Stacker Cranes in more than 600 truck variants. As well as this, Jungheinrich provide an extensive Aftersales Support Network, Rental and Financial Services, Racking Systems and Warehouse Planning. The company is a division of the Jungheinrich Group, which has manufacturing facilities Worldwide.