Investment in ‘state of the art’ safety technology
22nd February 2016
Investment in ‘state of the art’ safety technology
Rudolph and Hellmann Automotive deploy new MHE fleet at Warwickshire Logistics and Warehouse Operations
Anthony Green (Rudolph and Hellmann Automotive MHE Assessor and Co-ordinator) with a selection the new MHE Fleet deployed at the new operation based at the Warwickshire based logistics operation.
When Rudolph and Hellmann were given the task to design and transfer an entire off-site Automotive Logistics Operation into a brand new 250,000 square foot Logistics hub in Warwickshire (see case study in Autumn Winter 2015 newsletter), there were a number of critical areas within the project that required a strong amount of focus to ensure that the project was delivered successfully.
At the design stage of the project – there were a number of factors to consider when specifying the Manual Handling Equipment that would be deployed within the state of the art operation. Key factors from the Customer’s perspective were Health and Safety, Presentation, Efficiency, Suitability for requirement, Flexibility, Environmental impact, Reliability, Quality and Cost.
Alongside one of Rudolph and Hellmann’s long-standing MHE providers - Linde Creighton based in West Bromwich, members of the Rudolph and Hellmann Project team, the Contract’s General Manager & MHE Trainer worked together to consider all options and variations of MHE to deploy and deliver a robust solution and service.
Safety features of the MHE that were specified to operate within the facility, included state of the art ‘Blue Spot™ ‘technology fitted to all the High Level Order Pickers. These are utilised to carry out small part picking and putaway activity within the operation’s narrow aisle 11.5m high racking infrastructure. The simple yet effective technology provides silent visual warning of MHE’s location when working within narrow aisle racking, thus reducing the risk of collision with both pedestrians and other operating MHE.
More features to the new fleet includes Mast mounted CCTV camera systems on all reach Truck Units, providing additional vision to the operators at Fork level – enhancing safety when locating and picking pallets from high storage locations above 6 metres.
Once the specification of the MHE fleet had been agreed, the next challenge was to ensure that it’s delivery would coincide smoothly with the completion of the newly built Logistics Hub. This allows the Operational and MHE Training team to familiarise all staff with the new equipment, facility layout, storage configurations and revised WMS solution. All these factors were critical to the overall success of the project. Upon taking delivery of the MHE Fleet mid May 2015, the team spent 20 business days re-training it’s new FLT operators and also familiarising operatives that transferred from the previous Oxfordshire based warehousing operation.
With the MHE delivered to spec and the operator training schedule complete - a stable operational grounding had been established. This allowed Rudolph and Hellmann to deliver a best-in-class MHE solution within the new Hub and allowed the team to successfully deliver the project on-time, with zero defects start-up and minimising production disruption within its service level to its OEM Customer.
As part of this project - Linde have also replaced a number of MHE units based at one of its customers manufacturing plants based in Warwickshire, in support of the provision of on-site production logistics services.
The new MHE fleet has contributed to the overall increase in efficiency within the logistics operations and is significantly contributed to increasing flexibility, safety and reducing cost going forward.
Quote from Anthony Green:-
“We have worked very closely with Linde to spec, order and take seamless delivery of the new MHE fleet to operate within both the Warwickshire Operations. The state of the art safety technology that has been supplied on a number of these MHE units will assist Rudolph and Hellmann Automotive in delivering an, efficient, safety focused, logistics service to our prestigious customer.”
Here’s how the 360 onsite logistics audit and assessment works!
Put us to the test, what have you got to lose?
Contact us for a FREE ‘on site' logistics audit – carried out under a non disclosure agreement - our findings will be reported in full confidence and will provide a detailed analysis of where savings and improvements can be made.
There’s only one condition - you must be UK based and be operating in the automotive sector, with a head count of around 25 - 30 or more operating in logistics roles.