Boxer Stores’ long-standing relationship with Goscor Lift Truck Company has been mutually beneficial over the years. Goscor recently elected to provide the warehouse equipment for Boxer’s new distribution centre (DC) in Cato Ridge, KwaZulu-Natal.
Although Boxer has worked together with Goscor for 10 years, the decision to continue the partnership was not an automatic one. “Boxer is famous for giving its customers our best quality and prices and, to be able to do this, we have to control costs on an ongoing basis”, explains Boxer’s logistics and distribution manager, Clinton van Rooyen. “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.”
Goscor has supplied the new DC with a number of Crown Electric three-wheel forklifts, low-lever order pickers with platform lift and height reach trucks. Collectively they will be used for loading and offloading trucks, handling of containers and general material around the warehouse, stock picking and pallet storage in the racking.
All the forklifts and trucks run on the world-class Sunlight batteries. The DC boasts a state-of-the-art on-site battery bay that is serviced by Goscor, ensuring the most efficient ongoing battery utilisation. The bay includes extraction systems, emergency showers and eye-wash systems in case of battery acid accidents and roll-out stands. This together with the battery roll-out mechanism on each truck facilitates a battery change in no more than two minutes, substantially increasing the productivity of each machine, and in turn the warehouse.
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. It opened its doors in October 2015 and ensures products reach Boxer stores with considerably shortened lead times. [ENDS]
Media Contact: Prenella Ragavan
Tel: 031 275 7000
Email: prenellar@boxer.co.za
