Best Practices for Warehouse Optimization

Transcription

1 Welcome to Session 219 Best Practices for Warehouse Optimization Presented by: Sponsored by: Joe LaFergola Marketing Manger of Information & Business Solutions 2012 Material Handling Industry. Copyright claimed as to audiovisual works of seminar sessions and sound recordings of seminar sessions. All rights reserved.

2 Best practices for warehouse optimization Many factors for consideration: What are my maintenance costs? Do I have too many/few lift trucks? Are they being used properly? Am I maximizing my productivity? How am I managing other assets? How can I manage energy usage?

3 Best practices for warehouse optimization One area that can have enormous benefits to the bottom line: Lift truck battery maintenance

4 Agenda Best practices for warehouse optimization Battery 101 Best practices to extend battery life Tools to make tracking easier

5 Battery 101 Lead-acid batteries Rechargeable batteries Represent about 60 percent of all industrial batteries sold worldwide Types Flooded (wet) Gel cell Absorbed glass matt (AGM)

6 Battery 101 Advantages of each battery type Wet Longer service life Easier to recharge when completely discharged Lower cost Gel cell No liquid electrolyte to spill or leak Can be deep-cycled several times without damage Totally corrosion- and maintenance-free AGM No liquid electrolyte to spill or leak Can be deep-cycled several times without damage Less expensive to ship (nonhazardous material)

7 Battery 101 Electrical process All lead-acid batteries work on the same set of reactions and use the same active materials.

8 Battery 101 Cathode + e- e- LOAD e- e- Anode - Lead Dioxide (PbO 2 ) H 2 SO 4 Lead (Pb) Electron flow A chemical reaction within the battery causes electrons to flow from the negative plate to the positive plate.

9 Battery 101 Battery life Average of five years Approximately 1,500 cycles A cycle is a discharge (80 percent) and charge (100 percent).

10 Battery 101 Ampere-hour capacity The electrical capability of a storage battery The number of ampere hours the battery can deliver under specified conditions Temperature Rate of discharge Final voltage Determined by multiplying the number of amperes the battery will deliver by the number of hours during which the current is flowing

11 Battery 101 Rated capacity The number of ampere hours the battery is capable of delivering when fully charged and under specified conditions Temperature Rate of discharge Final voltage Specific gravity United States industry standards for motive power batteries always specify rated capacity to be at the six-hour rate of discharge.

12 Battery 101 Voltage Many voltage conditions have been recognized for storage batteries. The most important of these are: Open circuit voltage Initial voltage Average voltage Final voltage

13 Best practices to extend battery life Charging Under normal circumstances: Charging is recommended when a battery reaches 80 percent depth of discharge. Three 8s 8-hour charge 8-hour cool 8-hour run

14 Best practices to extend battery life Never overdischarge a battery Will harm the battery and cause a lift truck s electrical components to run excessively hot Can easily increase the recharge time to recover, resulting in a battery that is only partially charged for the next day Can impact the ability to recharge because most automatic chargers must sense a minimum battery voltage to activate and turn on

15 Best practices to extend battery life Temperature range Battery capacity is reduced as temperature goes down and increased as temperature goes up.

16 Best practices to extend battery life The standard rating for batteries is at room temperature (77 F). At approximately -22 F, battery ampere-hour capacity drops to 50 percent. At freezing, capacity is reduced by 20 percent. At 122 F, battery capacity would be about 12 percent higher.

17 Best practices to extend battery life Equalization Select weekend, equalize or weekly charge (depending on your brand of charger) approximately every five to 10 cycles to keep the battery performing at peak efficiency Failure to do so or selecting this option too often will harm the battery and shorten its effective life

18 Best practices to extend battery life Watering New batteries require water approximately every five charges On both new and reconditioned batteries, check two or three pilot cells every two charges to see that the water level is just above the Element Protector If low, add only enough water to cover the Element Protector after charging to avoid boil over

19 What does this mean in $?

20 Scenario No. 1 $$$ 50-truck fleet $5,000 per battery Useful life = five years Typical life is four years or 20 percent reduction or $1,000 per battery $50,000 in savings by extending life to a full five years

21 Scenario No. 2 Productivity 750 ampere-hour battery 600 ampere-hour useful work 20 percent loss 480 ampere-hour useful work 15 minutes to change battery 4.2 percent productivity loss More batteries needed to accommodate a multipleshift operation Added labor costs for more frequent battery exchanges and recharging More energy lost in more frequent recharging (the process is only about 80 percent efficient)

22 Tools to make tracking easier Spreadsheets Monitoring device Vehicle Management System (VMS)

23 Tools to make tracking easier VMS Battery Truck Operator Battery monitoring device Battery monitoring device with VMS

24 For more information: Speaker: Home page: Visit The Raymond Corporation in MODEX 2012 Booths 712 and Material Handling Industry. Copyright claimed as to audiovisual works of seminar sessions and sound recordings of seminar sessions. All rights reserved.