Krones, Inc. runs its US headquarters in Franklin, Wisconsin, where the warehouse team ships spare parts for bottle packaging lines and handles 40,000 to 45,000 picks every month. When inventory outgrew the building and rolling ladders became a safety risk, Krones brought in the Big Joe J1 Joey task support vehicle.
The result was twice the storage in the same footprint. Krones narrowed its aisles from 9 feet to 50 inches, picks more parts on every trip, and now runs three Joeys on the floor.
Rolling ladders were an injury waiting to happen
Before the Joey, pickers climbed rolling ladders up and down every aisle. That worked for small, light parts. It stopped working once the boxes got big and heavy.
"When our personnel are holding a ladder with one hand and a big, heavy, large box with the other hand, it's very unsafe," said Jim Brantner, Head of Warehouse at Krones. "We just felt it was just a matter of time before somebody was gonna stumble."
Out of room, with nowhere to expand
The safety problem came with a space problem. Krones kept adding inventory, but the building wasn't getting any bigger. Aisles ran 9 feet wide by 30 feet long, and every one of them was full.
"We have so much inventory that we've outgrown a warehouse, but we can't get a bigger footprint," Brantner said.
Picking the most stable option
Krones researched task support vehicles online and brought in several competitors to test. The team chose the Joey for its stability at height and its price.
"We found the Joey to be the most stable and the most economical for our dollars," Brantner said. "You raise up, go down, there's no wobble when you're up top."
The J1 Joey combines an elevated work platform, an order picker and a tugger in one compact vehicle. It raises the operator to the shelf on a guarded platform, carries parts on a large front tray, and turns in a 72-inch radius. Operators can drive it at height to move from one pick to the next.
A new floor plan built around the Joey
With the Joey's compact size, Krones could rethink the layout. The team turned its racks end to end and cut the aisles down to 50 inches, creating long continuous runs the Joey can drive straight down.
That single change doubled the warehouse's storage capacity without adding a square foot.
Krones started with one Joey. It worked well enough that the team added two more.
What changed on the floor
- Double the storage. The same building now holds twice the inventory.
- Aisles cut from 9 feet to 50 inches. Narrower aisles freed up room for more racking.
- More parts per trip. The large front tray lets pickers grab several items before heading back.
- Faster than walking. "It moves faster than we can walk," Brantner said. "We've probably doubled our productivity."
- No more ladder climbs. Pickers stand on a guarded platform instead of balancing a box on a ladder. Brantner reports no safety issues since the switch.
- No maintenance issues. After about three years on the first unit, Krones went straight back to Big Joe for its next two. "We didn't even look elsewhere," Brantner said.
Krones has since added a Big Joe pallet stacker to its fleet as well.
"What made the Joey the right decision for us is we were able to condense the warehouse, double our storage capacity, increase our productivity, all at the same time making it safer for our employees," Brantner said. "It's an all-around win-win for us."
Still sending your team up rolling ladders? Contact your local Big Joe dealer to schedule a demo of the Joey.
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