Question: What does the acquisition of Pb Batteries offer Powercell and its customers?
Derek Anderson: Powercell is already a major supplier of battery solutions to the logistics, airside and standby power sectors. This allows us to offer Pb Batteries’ well respected traction battery range to these industries and the purchase will allow us to increase our market coverage by expanding our service operation, as well as our expertise, into the rail and marine industries. We attribute our growth over the last few years to being able to deliver a quality product competitively and competently. It is not just about selling a product – it’s about talking to and, most importantly, listening to customers and their needs. This acquisition of Pb Batteries allows us to offer these attributes to the rail and marine sectors where there is a large potential for battery management because of the broad range of battery applications.
Q: How does a battery system supplier set itself apart in the market?
DA: In a word: service and support. Providing a complete battery service and maintaining a close relationship with customers is paramount. Having an experienced and knowledgeable team is essential. Furthermore, there’s an advantage of being the right size to support major customers while still being able to offer a high level of personnel service to all customers.
Q: Powercell supplies Enersys batteries, what is the relationship between the two companies?
DA: Powercell is a completely independent stored energy systems company and not being a manufacturer we are able to offer the most effective solutions regardless of manufacturer, across all product and system requirements. We do offer to our customers the Enersys product range along with our own extensive range of alternative solutions, fully supported by the Powercell service package.
So while we are a completely independent company we do partner Enersys wherever we support their customers.
Q: What are the hot issues in the battery sector at the moment?
DA: I’ve talked about service a lot already – but it really is fundamentally important in maintaining battery efficiency and uptime. Take for example the airside sector: ground handling crews at airports loading and unloading baggage and freight rely on well maintained tow tractors; if vehicles are not available due to problems with the batteries or the chargers then a ground handling operator will experience falling service levels that can risk loosing a contract with an airline – conversely, an operator able to maintain high service levels has a persuasive advantage when bidding for new contracts. Vehicle uptime is also a key ingredient to supply chain efficiency, particularly in demanding distribution centres, such as FMCG retail, where forklift trucks have to avoid running out of power on shift and need to spend as little time in the charging bay as possible. In both of these applications, by the customers having a full Powercell service/support package potential faults can be identified and avoided, again, reducing downtime.
The environment is a strong issue in all areas of business and this is where battery management has an important role to play in terms of maintaining the environmental advantage electric powered vehicles have over internal combustion engine alternatives. Another aspect to this is battery regeneration where companies can avoid buying new batteries as well as the issues associated with battery disposal by extending the life of the ones they already have. Battery maintenance and battery charger design also influence significantly the efficiency of electric powered vehicle fleets.
Q: Safety is always a primary concern for Warehouse and Distribution Centre managers. What impact can battery management have on improving safety in the warehouse?
DA: Having the experts maintain a battery/charger, or fleet of batteries and chargers will ensure that they are not only working as efficiently as possible but they are as safe as possible. Well maintained systems are more predictable in their power consumption and vehicles are less likely to be stranded without power in vulnerable areas. And with an expert providing battery maintenance and topping up, they will be able to tell instantly if the battery being used is inefficient or is a potential safety risk. Designing battery charging systems and battery changing systems correctly, will allow vehicle batteries to be switched and charged with greater safety and efficiency being not only much kinder to the environment but also reducing running cost and extending product life.
Small users can sometimes be overlooked when it comes to safety and maintenance issues but Powercell have a new low cost system designed for small users looking for faster battery topping up while avoiding the problems of spillage and over topping. The Flexi-topper is a watering system that can attach directly to a Battery Filling System (BFS) via a quick release coupling. This allows the battery to be topped up to the correct level automatically, thus avoiding the risk of either over-topping or spillage. By using the battery filling system a user can reduce corrosion and increase battery life by ensuring precise electrolyte levels. Each cell indicates when it is full and shuts off with a white float indicating that the process has finished. Ideal for operations using 1 to 5 batteries this cost effective unit provides a further health and safety benefit of eliminating the risk of the operative coming into contact with electrolyte because it allows batteries to be topped up from a single point quickly and efficiently.
Q: What does 2008 hold for Powercell?
DA: We will be building on the growth we have achieved over the last few years and working to extend our influence across the materials handling markets. Last year was particularly important for the company: we established our new headquarters near Stansted Airport in Essex, we have expanded our sales and service team with a number of key new recruits who bring an enormous wealth of experience and expertise, we have won business with major clients in several market sectors through our ability to provide high levels of customer service and support and we have increased our fleet of innovatively liveried service vehicles. With all of this now in place and the addition of the Pb Batteries business, 2008 will be a year of new opportunities in new markets and continued growth for Powercell.
Powercell Industrial Battery Engineers Ltd
Tel: 0845 058 1388
www.powercell.co.uk
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