Company Announcement - After 10 years of working together, it’s no surprise that Pick n Pay-owned Boxer Superstores  has chosen Goscor Lift Truck Company to provide the new warehouse equipment for its new, state-of-the-art, distribution centre in Cato Ridge, KZN.

“Even though we have worked together with Goscor for so long, our decisions are never automatic,” says Boxer’s logistics and distribution manager, Clinton van Rooyen. “Boxer is famous for giving its customers the best quality and prices and, to be able to do this, we have to control costs on an ongoing basis. That’s why we constantly look at the lifetime costs of our capital equipment like forklifts and other warehouse equipment and Goscor has consistently, over the years, come out tops in this regard.”

He adds that “lifetime costs” is a holistic concept which takes into account a number of factors. “It includes the durability, productivity and efficiency of the machines, the inventiveness of the suppliers’ services and systems and the quality of the backup and maintenance service when there are difficulties. In all these aspects Goscor’s performance has been outstanding,” van Rooyen says.

For the new Boxer DC, Goscor supplied 4 x Crown SC5340-1.8 Electric 3 wheel forklifts, 4 x Crown GPC3040-2.0 low lever order pickers with platform lift, 5 x Crown ESR5260-2.0 11435mm lift height reach trucks all with the world class Sunlight  batteries and battery roll-out systems.

The Crown SCs will be used for loading and offloading trucks, containers and general material handling around the warehouse, the  GPC’s will be used for stock picking while the ESR’s will be used for pallet storage in the racking.

One of those innovative solutions that Goscor provides the Boxer DC is a full battery service, which includes an on-site battery bay and technician to ensure the most efficient on-going battery utilisation.

“The battery bay is state-of the art,” says Goscor director Mike Keats. “It includes extraction systems, emergency showers and eye-wash systems in case of battery acid accidents and roll-out stands, which, in conjunction with the battery roll-out mechanism on each truck, facilitates a battery change in no more than two minutes,” he says.

He adds that the old adage that ‘time is money’ is absolutely relevant in the warehouse environment. “The battery handling system - which substantially increases the productivity of each machine, which, in turn, increases the productivity of the warehouse as a whole – is crucial in ensuring the lowest possible lifetime cost of each machine.”

The new Boxer DC is in line in line with the Pick n Pay Group’s overall strategy of centralising distribution.  It started operation during October 2015 and, according to van Rooyen, it will ensure that products reach Boxer stores with considerably shortened lead times.

The Cato Ridge DC is not Boxer’s first attempt at warehousing. For the past four years the division has been running a smaller warehouse out of Prospecton, south of Durban, with outstanding results. “We saw what we could do with that 4,500m² and knowing where the industry is going, and where we need to be, is what sparked this project”, van Rooyen says.

The 20,000m² Cato Ridge premises was completely designed and spec’d by Boxer according to the chain’s needs. The warehouse itself covers an area of 10,000m², with a roof height of 17.5m, making it possible to rack product up to 13 metres, fitting 14,000 pallet slots under one roof.