Schmidt Zeevis

High-performance Very Narrow Aisle Truck by STILL, used in the freezer zone for fresh fish at Schmidt Zeevis: in Schmidt Zeevis’s new deep-freeze warehouse, a STILL VNA-truck optimises intralogistics with precise picking and loading. This is an essential requirement for the varied distribution processes the fish trading company uses on a daily basis to supply its products to customers.

The Dutch fish trading company Schmidt Zeevis, which has been in business for almost a hundred years, has moved from the outskirts of central Rotterdam into a new building in the Spaanse Polder industrial estate between Rotterdam and Schiedam. With the new building, the company has increased its operating space from 3,000 to 8,500 square metres.

The new deep-freeze warehouse is located in the middle of the premises; the filleting department is at the front and the sales area, loading zone and unloading zone are at the rear.

The area at the rear, which measures 14,000 square metres in total, was urgently needed and is being well utilised, as Schmidt Zeevis (which has bases in North Limburg and Zwolle) supplies commercial and private customers daily with its 20 small and medium-sized refrigerated lorries. There are 133 different types of fish on offer.

New deep-freeze warehouse at new site optimises intralogistics and transport

“Schmidt has always been a mixture of wholesale and retail, and that hasn’t changed. Because now, the users of the industrial estate are also among our customers,” says Logistics Manager Kees Groenenboom. Schmidt’s most important business is wholesale trade: “We supply the hotel and catering trade, the restaurant wholesale trade in the Netherlands and border areas, and ship dealers and cruise ships in European harbours,” Groenenboom adds. “We also send fish as air cargo to customers in the Middle East.”

The company also supplies private individuals; any fish ordered on their website before 12:00 is delivered the same day within a specific time slot. Having a new deep-freeze warehouse of its own is hugely important to the company when it comes to dealing with these diverse commercial and delivery operations. With its six aisles and five storage levels, the warehouse contains 800 pallet bays. The new deep-freeze warehouse is an enormous improvement on Schmidt Zeevis’s previous location. At the old site, a cold store was installed in every available room, with all the disadvantages that entailed (such as more and longer transit routes).

Truck quality and good service key to choice of forklift

As Groenenboom explains, the team at Schmidt Zeevis thought long and hard in advance about how best to use the deep-freeze warehouse, “because it’s an expensive space and we need to get the maximum use out of it.”

To service the 800 pallet bays in the deep-freeze warehouse, Schmidt Zeevis opted for the STILL MX-X Very Narrow Aisle Truck which, with its fully insulated deep-freeze cabin, is equipped to operate in deep-freeze warehouses at temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius. Groenenboom: “There were many good reasons why we chose STILL. We have had a good business relationship with STILL for years; they also have a branch near Rotterdam. Their motto is 'Call us and we will come'. This gives us the security we need, when we need it, particularly as the truck is absolutely essential to our day-to-day operations.”.

Very Narrow Aisle Truck services 800 pallet bays in the deep-freeze warehouse

A look at some of the key equipment and performance features of the VNA truck and order picker MX-X illustrates how flexible, efficient and reliable it is. With its swinging retractable fork, the truck’s high level of modularity means it can be adapted to suit any warehouse. Its scalable output and dimensions ensure an optimal price-performance ratio at all times, in accordance with operational requirements.

The Optispeed concept, combined with three-phase AC drive technology, ensures high dynamics with improved handling performance at a lower level of energy consumption and a lower operating cost. Together with energy recovery during braking and main hoist lowering, this enables longer shifts per battery charge. Only with Optispeed does the performance data for the MX-X reach its full potential in terms of driving, lifting and auxiliary movements. With precise height-sensing, performance-optimised drive profiles and load change cycles can be achieved using deceleration and acceleration ramps. The dynamic and intelligent load chart assists the driver in the warehouse. The maintenance interval of the MX-X is 1,000 operating hours. STILL guarantees rapid availability of all necessary parts and quick servicing times.