The mover to pick up

GOLIATH is a real heavyweight: the fully assembled dining table weighs over 70 kilograms and can be sent directly from the JYSK Group warehouse to the customer in two packages. Depending on the delivery address, this is done under the supervision of Bastian Böhm. As Operations Manager, he plans, controls and monitors the processes at the JYSK logistics centre in Homberg/Efze. "We supply the entire centre of Germany, in fact everything that is geographically close by," explains Böhm. Two other distribution centres in Kammlach and Zarrentin am Schaalsee are responsible for southern and northern Germany. From here, the furniture is transported to the shops and online shops of the Danish furnishing house.

The JYSK Group operates over 3,000 shops in 50 countries worldwide. Founded in 1979, the company has been represented in Germany since 1984 - at that time still under the name Dänisches Bettenlager. In autumn 2021, the name was changed to JYSK. The rebranding not only refreshes the logo, but is also reflected in the product range and the newly designed online shops: more Scandinavian living flair that is considered modern, minimalist, reduced and flexible. Directly translated, 'Jysk' refers to the inhabitants of the Danish peninsula of Jutland.

Up to 325 pieces of furniture, packed in boxes, leave the Homberg warehouse every day. "Some of them are unwieldy and heavy, up to two metres long," comments Böhm and adds: "Often a second employee had to interrupt his current job to help with the lifting." Despite the mutual support, the packers noticed the physical strain: severe back pain and exhaustion at the end of the working week were the most common complaints. "Our representative for the severely disabled, Hans-Christian Hessler, finally approached the management and thus initiated the change," Böhm recounts. Hans-Christian Hessler then contacted J. Schmalz GmbH for advice. "We needed a device with which our packer could ergonomically lift the boxes, which weigh up to 40 kilograms, onto the pallets. Since our storage area, where the lifting aid is to be used, covers about 8,000 square metres, a permanently installed solution was out of the question," Böhm summarises the requirements. The rather low ceiling height was an additional complication.

"The special thing about this order was that the tube lifter should be brought to the goods and not the other way round," says Michael Schlaich, project manager for handling systems at J. Schmalz GmbH. The vacuum expert from Glatten has had a mobile solution for this since last year: the JumboFlex Picker. The system can be picked up with the forks of the existing ants and moved to the heavy furniture crates. The control system and vacuum generator are located in the basic module, as is the power supply. Thus, the picker remains self-sufficient and is flexible in use. The articulated arm from which the vacuum tube lifter hangs is mounted on an electrically height-adjustable lifting column. This means that there is no danger of the boom getting stuck with the concrete beams of the hall ceiling or on the sprinkler system during transport or use. "Everything went as desired, right down to the special length of the forks, which Schmalz made individually for our model," Böhm reports, anticipating the question about the cooperation with Schmalz, which he describes as very good and problem-free.

The mobile tube lifter arrived in Homberg in June 2021. It is the first Schmalz product to be used in the logistics warehouse there. It ideally complements another ergonomic solution already in place: "Our ants are designed with spring-loaded footboards to increase comfort and protect the intervertebral discs," explains Böhm briefly. For the employees in the outgoing goods department, the JumboFlex Picker is a benefit that they had to be convinced of at the beginning. "It was quite a change for the packers," Böhm reports. "They thought they would work more slowly with the lifting aid than without it." To counteract this purely subjective impression, Böhm pushed the vacuum tube lifter into his employees' hands and suggested a few test days. "After a while, they then found that the process is just as fast and uncomplicated as the operation of the JumboFlex itself," Böhm summarises the packers' experience. Since then, one worker per shift has been on duty and can effortlessly load any required piece of furniture onto the pallet. Schmalz recommended the Multigripper as a load picker because it securely holds the boxes of different sizes and weights at the push of a button. The JumboFlex Picker is in non-stop use during the shifts, as the employees now also use it for all other packages - regardless of size and weight. Between the two shifts there is a half-hour break in which the battery is recharged. "That gets us through the entire working day," explains Böhm. The lead-acid battery is then fully charged overnight.

Bastian Böhm comes back to the cooperation with Schmalz: "We were taken seriously and our contact person always had an open ear for our special requests." The feedback from the warehouse staff is also positive, despite initial scepticism: The more back-friendly work is clearly noticeable in the evening - through less exhaustion and pain.