THE BACKGROUND & CHALLENGE
Cold environments in refrigerated warehouses operate at temperatures ranging from 40° F to as low as negative 40° F. These cold temperatures can affect customers’ productivity, if the facility is not equipped with properly sized batteries (amp-hours), maintenance procedures, and charging practices. These applications require a custom solution to ensure high level performance from the batteries to maximize operational success.
One of the largest North American refrigerated warehousing logistics providers needed an analysis of their operation to optimize their efficiencies. In addition to cold temperatures, electric infrastructure layouts were also a challenge across their multiple North America warehouses. They needed a new operational strategy with the proper batteries and a nationwide service network it could trust.
THE CLEAR SOLUTION
To understand the full picture and any unique situations at multiple locations, an evaluation was performed by the Deka Motive Power Sales & Service Network, the largest independently owned network and exclusive network in North America. Based on the evaluation, it was determined the customer needed improvements in both the battery and charging regimes. Deka Motive Power lead batteries were the perfect solution. Following close communication between the customer and the Deka network, a successful truck fleet battery transition took place, moving to the premium Deka Fast Charge product. This battery provides quick on demand charging throughout their shifts, such as breaks and lunches, saving time and increasing productivity in comparison to conventional charging.
THE RESULTS
When sizing for the new batteries, the team examined the infrastructure issues the customer faced and helped design the customer’s charging area to realize areas of improvement both
for battery performance and charging profiles. These recommendations were implemented across multiple warehouses and the customer saw many major improvements including: annual cost savings by reducing their infrastructure and power demands plus, savings in CAPEX as the life of their batteries have already outlived projections with an expected two additional years of life. Furthermore, the charging regime changes resulted in reducing the amount of batteries needed to run the operation. These operational improvements allowed for personnel savings as the staff assigned to battery changing and maintenance were assigned to more skilled roles. Upgrading to fast charging also increased the amount of vital warehouse space in the facility by eliminating the battery room. The Deka network continues to stay connected to the customer, monitoring locations to record charger-outputs and profiles to communicate recommendations to the customer as needs and demands change.
THE CONCLUSION
The consistent quality and performance of Deka’s motive power batteries and the hard work of the qualified and dedicated Deka network led to multiple warehouse operational changes for the customer and provided improvements in battery life, overall productivity, and savings in cost and CAPEX. The recommendations also reduced the amount of overall charger floor space requirements through fast charging stations. Deka lead batteries are the safe and reliable solution to help you reach your performance, sustainability, and cost goals. Call us today to learn how we can help you succeed.
Follow us on LinkedIn @ East Penn Manufacturing Co. Motive Power – https://www.linkedin.com/company/east-penn-motive-power
Contact: Chad Christ – cchrist@dekabatteries.com
