Added value services put the fizz in materials handling fleet management for Britvic

"Truck utilisation is now properly managed so that we balance the hours used across the fleet and centrally manage lifetime costs. This has had a significant, positive impact and our contracts with Barloworld are now tuned accordingly," says Chris Jackson, Britvic's regional drive site manager. Britvic's 275,000 sq ft NDC in Lutterworth receives approximately 60% of all finished products, handling 470 vehicles a day in peak periods. Pallets are received by lorry and unloaded by eight Hyster LPG forklifts with a double pallet handling attachment. Steve Martin, facilities manager at Lutterworth, says extra fleet intelligence has helped the operation. "The trucks should work 70-80 hours a week in an intense, short run, stop-start operation, but we were finding that the hours were incredibly high for some trucks but not others, with associated penalties. We now direct drivers to use specific trucks for each shift, saving money and optimising the management of scheduled maintenance." Barloworld introduced its new fleet management system to Britvic last year and this transmits data from all Britvic's trucks directly to Barloworld's secure back office management system. The system collects, analyses and reports truck performance data such as hourmeter readings, impacts, maintenance completion and cost of ownership information. Data for all sites is then accessible through a secure online portal, also providing an instant audit trail. Goods received at Lutterworth are transferred from the lorries to an automated pallet handling system by the Hyster H4.0FT trucks and then stored in high bay warehousing with over 50,000 pallet locations. More than 300 pallets are then typically picked per hour for onward distribution and loaded onto curtain-sided trailers or containers. Pallets are also transferred to the case picking area where 12 Hyster low-level order pickers and 2 Hyster three-wheel electric forklifts are used for picking around 30,000 cases each day. Barloworld's total battery management service is used here, incorporating Hoppecke's Trak-air technology, to ensure maximum availability. Barloworld also maintains the floor cleaning equipment onsite and provides other services such as driver training and short-term hire equipment when needed.