New orderpickers help distributor handle rapid growth

PDQ/ERP in St. Charles, Ill., is one of the nation’s largest suppliers of appliance parts, and completes more than 3,000 picks to fill more than 400 orders per day. Having already moved from a smaller location in nearby Batavia, Ill., the company’s continued growth forced it to maximize warehouse storage by storing up to 12 feet high while planning for further expansion into the space next door. The company had already phased out rolling ladders in favor of a powered alternative for order picking, but operations manager Oscar Davila soon discovered limitations with his equipment.

“They battery-powered vehicles made it a lot easier to pick orders, but it wasn’t strong enough and it didn’t go high enough,” Davila says. He went to ProMat hoping to find an access vehicle that would safely reach his top tier of stock. After in-house testing, Davila selected new low-level orderpickers (Big Joe).

“I liked that it was steadier and beefier. It could also go higher than the previous vehicles, and to me that was our solution to be more efficient and safe,” Davila says. “We liked it so much we bought two and then a year later I bought two more and then the following year another two. That’s what my budget allowed me. Early this year I bought two, and now I’m in the market for four more.”

New mid-level orderpickers fill storage positions and lower stock in the aisles. Their ease of use and maneuverability has freed standard forklifts to support the loading dock.

“The drivers love them because they feel safer and they can do more work in one lift,” Davila says. “You can feel it when you’re up high and you have to move from one position to the other without coming down. These feel more secure and don’t wobble.”

The new vehicles complete two times as much work as ladders, carry twice the load weight of the previous vehicles, and elevate operators as high as 192 inches. After considering the positive impacts on operations, Davila reorganized his equipment positioning strategies.

“We have aisles with fast-moving items, and that’s where we have the new vehicles,” he explains. “The tendency is that we’ll pick more quantity and weight out of these aisles, so the new vehicles are ideal. For the slow-moving items, that’s where we now have the old powered vehicles.”

Davila notes longer run time and better battery life, and says he hasn’t had any issues with batteries in three years.

“My operating costs have gone down,” Davila says. “I have fewer pickers, but I have more packers because a few pickers are able to keep more packers busy.