Cleaning combo for logistics companies

The optimum decision for the purchase of a cleaning machine depends on the parameters of type of soiling, area volume and the time window available, whereby the economic principle applies of always opting for the largest possible machine.

nox NachtExpress is the brand of Innight Express Germany GmbH, which was created in mid-2016 through the takeover of the overnight express business of the German TNT Innight GmbH & Co. KG. nox NachtExpress, based in Mannheim, generates a turnover of around 240 million euros with over 1,000 employees. The company is Europe's largest service provider for the delivery of goods and spare parts, which are picked up late in the evening and delivered the next working day before the start of work.

The nox site in Hilden is the largest transshipment site of the four branches in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was newly built in 2011 with a storage area of 8,000 square meters. At this location in particular, the logistics company's corporate philosophy is put into practice every night, which Andreas Michalick, Director of Purchasing, Building and Claims Management, characterizes as follows: "The special feature of nox is that we transport very bulky and unpackaged goods, which other logistics service providers cannot do. This takes into account that we have to do a lot of manual work in the interests of our clients. These "manual" goods account for around 30 percent of our daily volume. We mainly transport parts and accessories for cars, trucks and motorcycles from our Hilden site. Goods include sealing rings, windscreens, bumpers, hoods, mudguards and even engines and gearboxes." It is in the nature of things that goods sometimes remain in customers' warehouses a little longer, which leads to packages becoming dusty. The frequent manual loading in the transshipment warehouse means that such dust remains in the warehouse and the goods leave the warehouse in a cleaner condition than when they arrived. As a result, it was found that around 80 percent of the dirt in the warehouse was transported into the building from outside. This was not only caused by the goods, but also by transport vehicles driving in. It was therefore clear to everyone involved that warehouse cleaning could only be achieved with a professional cleaning machine in terms of economy, ecology and sustainable value retention.

Kombi Plus provides the solution

Combi means: sweeping, scrubbing and vacuuming in one operation.

As 80 percent of soiling, including dust on the floor, occurs during delivery, picking and dispatch, the task was to remove it without leaving any residue. This objective could not be achieved with the cleaning machine originally used; the time window of three to four hours provided for cleaning was often not sufficient.

For this reason, contact was sought with André Schacht, Sales Manager Rhine/Ruhr, of the cleaning machine specialist IP Gansow GmbH. André Schacht: "The task was to clean three types of soiling, coarse dirt such as broken pieces, pallet splinters and packaging materials, dust lying on the floor and adhering dirt, in a single operation if possible. As daily warehouse cleaning is carried out according to the visual principle, it was equally important that the new cleaning machine could be operated quickly and easily by all employees without any problems. After a test phase lasting several weeks, the CT 230 BF 100 R Sweep version of the Professional Line cleaning machine met all these requirements."

This ride-on cleaning machine is a combination solution (sweeping + scrubbing) that sweeps up coarse dirt, binds dust and wet-cleans adhering dirt in a single pass. Two side brushes sweep the coarse dirt into the center lane of the ride-on cleaning machine. From there, two counter-rotating rollers transport the debris such as pallet splinters, packaging materials and fragments into the debris container. In the same operation, the two brush rollers bind and mechanically clean dust and adhering dirt on the floor.

As a result of this switch to this new "combination cleaning machine", the floor covering is now much cleaner than before. In particular, the dust and fine dust on the floor can no longer be stirred up by forklift trucks driving over it and get into the room air and breathing air. As a result, not only the general cleanliness standards but also occupational health and safety have been significantly optimized.

www.nox-nachtexpress.dewww.dialog-portal.info/gansow25 www.gansow.de