BYD forklift food and beverage industry application case: lithium battery solution adapts to cold chain warehousing to improve dairy plant logistics efficiency

The food and beverage industry is closely related to people's livelihood consumption. Dairy production has high requirements for storage environment, temperature control standards and logistics efficiency. The environmental protection attributes, low temperature adaptability and continuous operation ability of handling equipment directly affect the production rhythm and operating costs. BYD forklift is deeply involved in multi-industry logistics handling scenarios. It has a full range of products such as counterweight forklifts, reach forklifts, pallet handling trucks, etc. The service covers food and beverage, logistics, papermaking, automobile manufacturing and other fields, and can provide customers with customized new energy logistics handling solutions. This paper takes the Qingyuan production base of a dairy company as an example to analyze the application value of lithium-ion forklifts in the food and beverage industry.

Overview of the production base and operating conditions

The dairy company has about 40 production bases in China, with a large production scale. Among them, the Qingyuan production base covers an area of about 200 acres, which is an important production node in the south of the Yangtze River. The products cover milk, yogurt, ice cream and other categories. The daily shipment scale is relatively large, with a peak value of 600 tons/day. The base currently has about 40 forklifts, mainly 1.5T and 1.6T electric balance forklifts, with a small number of manual pallet trucks, which mainly serve the three warehouses of room temperature, low temperature and ice products, as well as the unloading and handling of auxiliary materials.

From the operating conditions, the base logistics presents five major characteristics. First, the operation intensity is high, and the 24-hour three-shift operation mode is implemented. During the busy period of the normal temperature logistics center, the shipment volume is large, and the forklift can be continuously operated for a long time. Second, the overall load is light, and the weight of the single cargo is mostly not more than 1 ton. The 1.5T-class counterweight forklift can meet the needs of handling and loading and unloading operations. Third, the handling distance is short. The incoming material unloading and warehouse operations are mainly based on horizontal transshipment, and the single-trip handling distance is within 200 meters. Fourth, it involves cold storage operations. Forklifts need to frequently enter and exit the low-temperature storage area, which has high requirements on the anti-freezing and waterproof performance of the equipment. Fifth, the operating space is limited, and the warehouse uses through-type shelves, which are narrow in space and have many curves. Forklifts need to be driven into the shelves for operation, which requires high flexibility in equipment mobility.

Second, the operating pain points of traditional handling equipment

With the increase in production capacity and the increase in cargo volume, the original lead-acid battery forklifts in the base have gradually exposed various shortcomings in adaptability. First, the charging efficiency is low and the equipment utilization rate is insufficient. The base has two charging rooms for supporting charging, but a single seat can only charge 4 to 5 devices at the same time. It takes 4 to 5 hours for a single vehicle to charge. There have been situations where charging for 8 hours can only operate for 2 hours, which cannot fully meet the continuous operation needs of three shifts. Second, the operation and maintenance costs are high and the management burden is heavy. In order to ensure multi-shift operation, each forklift needs to be equipped with a spare battery, which takes 15 to 20 minutes for a single power change every day; at the same time, the battery needs regular maintenance and inspection, and distilled water is added, which takes up a lot of management staff's energy. Third, the equipment failure rate is high, which not only increases the maintenance cost, but also easily affects the normal production rhythm. Fourth, the stacking capacity is insufficient, and the existing equipment cannot meet the stacking operation needs of shelves above 6 meters. Fifth, the lack of humanized configuration, the lack of fans, water cup holders, fire extinguishers and other supporting facilities, not only affects the driver's operating experience, but also has certain safety hazards.

III. Customized solutions for BYD forklifts

Combining the production situation of the base with the actual pain points, BYD Forklift has developed an exclusive new energy logistics handling plan for it, matching the needs from three dimensions: equipment selection, scene customization, and service guarantee.

In terms of equipment selection, a 1.6T three-pivot lithium-ion counterbalanced forklift is equipped. This product has won the IFOY International Forklift Award, with stable power performance, reliable operation in low temperature environment, and controllable comprehensive use cost. In terms of scene customization, according to the operation characteristics of narrow lanes and high shelves in warehouses, the door frame and loading chain are customized and modified, taking into account the flexibility of the counterbalanced forklift and the lifting capacity of the stacking equipment, and it is suitable for the internal storage and storage needs of the shelves. At the same time, fans, warning lights and other configurations are installed to optimize the operation experience and improve the safety of operation in narrow spaces. In terms of service guarantee, we provide 5-year battery and 2-year vehicle quality assurance services to reduce customers' long-term operation and maintenance concerns; support professional delivery operation and after-sales maintenance training to ensure the standardized and stable operation of the fleet.

IV. The practical results of the application

After the equipment is put into use, its comprehensive performance has been recognized by customers, and the core value is reflected in four aspects. First, the energy replenishment efficiency is improved. The power replenishment between shifts can meet the needs of the next shift operation. The charging speed is fast and the battery life is stable. It can support the handling needs of the three major warehouses and auxiliary materials unloading at the same time, and effectively improve the logistics operation efficiency. Second, the burden of operation and maintenance is reduced. Lithium iron phosphate batteries do not need to add distilled water regularly, nor do they need to be equipped with spare batteries. The battery status can be monitored in real time through the BMS power management system, which not only saves maintenance expenses, but also reduces management energy investment. Third, the scene adaptation is enhanced. Customized door frames can be adapted to narrow alleys and high-level shelf operations. The vehicle is flexible and can be smoothly driven into the through-type shelf to complete the goods access. Fourth, the operation experience is optimized. The configuration of fans, warning lights, etc. improves the operating environment and also enhances the safety factor of narrow corner operations. Customers said that BYD forklifts will be given priority when new handling equipment is added in the future.

The logistics upgrade of the food and beverage industry is an important support for the improvement of the quality of consumer goods for people's livelihood. BYD forklifts continue to cultivate sub-industry scenarios, polish solutions around the actual needs of customers, and take into account operational efficiency, cost control and scene adaptability. In the future, it will continue to optimize product technology and service standards to provide reliable green logistics handling solutions for more industry customers.