EJE 112i pallet truck

West Sussex-based Barfoots of Botley, which specialises in growing, processing, packing and selling semi-exotic fresh vegetables to UK retailers, has seen increased efficiencies since upgrading its trucks to Jungheinrich's lithium ion-powered EJE 112i pallet trucks.

"Essentially, our business is about taking product out of the ground and adding value," says Barfoots logistics manager David Cooper. "We pick and pack produce so it is 'shop-ready' when it leaves us."

Barfoots operates temperature-controlled warehouse sites in Chichester where goods are packed and dispatched for delivery to Britain's grocery retailers. Because of the perishable nature of its products, Barfoots relies on an efficient supply chain, and the materials handling equipment (MHE) serving the Chichester cold stores is fundamental to the company's success.

"Our products are marketed for their freshness and '48 hours from field to fork' means that a product can be harvested, processed and presented to the end customer within a 48-hour time window, so major MHE problems within our cold stores really could be a show stopper for us," Cooper explains,

A mixture of diesel and electric-powered counterbalance trucks, ride-on and pedestrian powered pallet trucks from Jungheinrich are used to unload incoming orders and load picked pallet loads onto delivery vehicles for dispatch.

When Jungheinrich announced the launch of its lithium-ion powered EJE 112i pallet truck, Barfoots added the new trucks to its fleet, relying on the environmental and productivity benefits that lithium ion offers over traditional forklift power sources.

For example, Barfoots' dispatch area can become congested at peak periods, so the company sought a compact truck that offered a smaller footprint but retained the ability to cope with the high throughput demands of the site.

Because the EJE 112i's lithium-ion battery is smaller and lighter than a traditional lead acid battery, Jungheinrich has been able to dramatically reduce the size of the truck's battery compartment and, therefore, shrink the truck's overall dimensions, which means that the EJE 112i is shorter than other powered pallet trucks on the market.

Barfoots also benefits from the lithium-ion truck's flexible battery charging regime. It takes 30 minutes to deliver a 50% charge, and the battery is fully charged within 80 minutes. The short charging times enable more flexible truck use.

"We have found that a single charge is sufficient to power a truck for up to five hours," Cooper says.

Having originally ordered two EJE 112is, Barfoots has just added two more models to its fleet.

"We are always looking to make productivity and environmental efficiencies within our business and Jungheinrich's lithium-ion powered pallet truck has enabled us to achieve both," Cooper says.