Jumbo Supermarkten - Crown’s QuickPick Remote revolutionises picking efficiency while making operators’ work easier

Application

Jumbo Supermarkten was established in 1921 and has grown to become the largest privately-owned supermarket chain in the Netherlands with seven strategically located distribution centres serving more than 580 stores across the country. Jumbo’s reputation is built on providing the best service combined with offering the widest range at the lowest cost and its continuing success depends upon absolute reliability in the distribution chain. From its distribution centre at Veghel, Netherlands, a highly efficient logistics hub, some 1.4 million ambient and fresh items are picked and despatched each week – and on-time deliveries are key to the success of the operation.

Challenge

Maintaining Jumbo’s reputation for top-quality service, the widest product range and the lowest cost, means that the company must constantly be looking for ways to improve efficiency and productivity. With the introduction of on-line ordering, timely deliveries had become ever more vital, with customer satisfaction depending upon speedy and seamless operation in Jumbo’s order picking and distribution chain. Trials with AGVs – which would have meant substantial investment cost – had produced little improvement in productivity. A more cost-effective solution that would generate efficiency gains while reducing operator fatigue leading to greater job satisfaction was required.
 

Solution

After seeing Crown’s QuickPick® Remote order picking technology at an exhibition, Project Manager Martijn Vogelzang called in Crown who set up a series of trials of its GPC 3000 order pickers with QuickPick® Remote. These were a great success, with an initial productivity gain of 5-7 per cent which has since increased to 7.5 per cent. More importantly, staff reported less fatigue because they were doing less walking between the racks, the picking cages and the operator platform of the truck. In a typical shift using a standard order picker, an operator can expect to step on and off the truck around 1,200 times. QuickPick® Remote dramatically reduces this – by up to 70 per cent – because the operator can position the truck for optimal picking without the need to keep getting on and off.

Results

• Feedback on the Crown GPC 3000 order picker has been overwhelmingly positive with operators finding it easy to drive and position in the aisle. Furthermore, around 90 per cent of operators say that QuickPick® Remote is easy to learn and operate and they are less fatigued at the end of a shift.
  
  
• During the trials, the GPC order picker was the operators’ first choice, even without QuickPick® Remote being fitted. Particularly well-received were the light and responsive electronic steering, the award-winning X10® handle that allows simultaneous operation of all functions with one hand, and the low step into the driving compartment.
  
  
• Each Crown GPC 3000 order picker can carry four roll cages, and a colour-coded system allows operators to pick for multiple locations at a time, contributing to the overall productivity improvement of 7.5 per cent while reducing physical stress and strain for the operators.
  

“Trialling a fleet of Crown GPC 3000 order pickers optimised with QuickPick® Remote resulted in double digit productivity improvements at the Jumbo Supermarkten distribution hub at Veghel, Netherlands, so the decision to acquire a new Crown fleet was fairly straightforward. Feedback on the Crown GPC order picker has been overwhelmingly positive with operators reporting that it is easy to drive and position in the aisle. And, importantly for productivity, around 90 per cent of our operators who used QuickPick® Remote said it required less physical effort.”

Martijn Vogelzang
Project Manager
Jumbo Supermarkten

About Crown Equipment Corporation – EMEA
Crown is one of the world’s largest material handling companies with a reputation for award-winning product design, advanced engineering and technology supported by superior after-sales service. Crown’s business philosophy utilises vertically integrated processes to design, manufacture and distribute forward-thinking innovative solutions that improve customers’ productivity and operating efficiency. Crown develops, produces and sells a broad range of forklifts, as well as automation and fleet management technologies.

The company’s global headquarters is located in New Bremen, Ohio, USA, with regional headquarters in Germany, Australia, China and Singapore. Its employees number more than 15,000 worldwide. Crown operates a service and distribution network that exceeds 500 retail locations in over 80 countries. To learn more about Crown’s ideas for helping customers advance the productivity of their operations, visit crown.com.