In order to facilitate business growth, Rapid Racking established the need to renew its warehouse fleet in line with their sustainability and efficiency objectives. Rapid Racking has entered into a long-term partnership with Jungheinrich to introduce a new twenty-one strong all-electric fleet this year. In addition, the need to reduce financial pressure and maximise output within the warehouse meant that Lithium-ion was the most viable solution for Rapid Racking’s needs.
Aiming to continue business growth through a full upgrade and replacement of its warehouse fleet, Rapid Racking’s drive for sustainability and efficiency led a move away from LPG powered trucks, upgrading to a fully electric fleet using a combination of Lithium-ion technology and conventional battery powered vehicles. Whenever opportunity charging was not feasible, Jungheinrich provided a smart system which allowed for maximum uptime while minimising charging times. Together, lithium-ion batteries and opportunity charging enable continuous operation of the fleet 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Additionally, the transition to Lithium-Ion immediately reduced levels of air pollution and noise within the indoor spaces providing a more pleasant and efficient working environment. As a result of reducing manual handling and eliminating gas cylinder changes, the Rapid Racking team was able to meet high demand more quickly and efficiently.
Vincent Smit, Operations Manager at Rapid Racking, comments, “By switching to Jungheinrich's Lithium-ion technology, we now have a fully electric fleet operating throughout our three warehouses. This has enabled us to move much closer to our sustainability targets, which was a big factor in making this transition. On an operational level, the Rapid Racking warehouse team have found Jungheinrich's solutions more stable and user-friendly which optimises the team's picking efficiency. Plus, we will not have to change our equipment now after 5 years but they could last up to 8 years. For us, it was a win-win.”
Phil Pearson, Sales Management Director, Jungheinrich added, “We are thrilled that we were able to support Rapid Racking’s sustainability goals by enabling them to switch to a fully Lithium-ion fleet providing them with huge environmental and economic benefits including efficiency and productivity gains. As a company that has a passion for providing sustainable solutions for our customers that also complement their business objectives, it has been a pleasure to work with Rapid Racking on the upgrade and renewal of its warehouse fleet.”
