Listen to this articleBelow is our recent interview with Birgitta Vandenbosch, Director of Sales & Service at Epic Drive:
Q: Birgitta, can you tell us something more about your company?
A: Epic Drive is a small company, with an in-house production and technical expertise with a group of enthusiastic people, located in the Netherlands, that has developed a patented Electric Drive Unit (5th Wheel), a highly Customizable Solution for making users Order Picking processes significantly More Efficient and physically much Easier to Perform. Thus Solving the major issue of Recruitment and Retention of personnel for the e-Fulfilment Centres and similar Internal Logistics operations or Manufacturing Areas in very tight labour markets, and as a very Cost Efficient Alternative in high SKU count environments for the High Cost of Robotized systems for order fulfilment.
Q: Any highlights on your recent announcement?
A: I am very proud to be able to say that Epic Drive won the Startup Pitch at the Hannover Messe Industrial Startup stage. The jury praised the Ergonomic Benefit for Warehouse Employees when adding the patented electric drive unit (5th wheel) to their pick trolley! At the same time employers can benefit from Healthier, Better Planable and more Productive Staff, even more by Extending the trolley.
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Q: Can you give us more insights into your offering?
A: Customers can apply the 5th Wheel Electric Solution to Customized picking trolleys or by Upgrading Existing picking trolleys. We could basically add our 5th wheel solution to any cart a customer is using, either as a flexible solution or as a fixed add-on, depending on the Customer Needs to increase Productivity, improve employees Ergonomics in the most Cost Efficient way. The 5th wheel is called as such, because the pick trolley will remain as is and operate on its own four wheels. In cooperation with a large retailer (Jumbo online fulfilment centre) we have developed a completely flexible solution so the client could continue using the trolleys they already had and did not have to throw them away. We developed the ´underdog´ (the Jumbo project manager was rewarded for this project) and in combination with the guide rails, the underdog can now be used underneath all their trolleys. But besides this, we are at this moment working on other projects to accommodate Customer needs, like working in a ´train´ solution, or with heavier loads (up to 1.000 kilo). We create custom-made solutions.
Q: What can we expect from your company in next 6 months? What are your plans?
A: In the next 6 month we hope to be able to appoint representation in the Dutch and Belgium market, so we can also look into other market. Also, we will be talking not only to customers, but also OEM that may be interested to apply our product to their range of products. Hopefully we are able to get more exposure, so customers will be able to find us more.
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Q: What is the best thing about your company that people might not know about?
A: The best thing about our company is, is that it has a small, but very technical Creative group of people who are able to think about Custom Made technical solutions that help the customer in improving their logistics. Also, due to the unique cooperation with our sister company BM Constructions (they can do anything with metal), we were able to not only develop the 5th wheel, but also develop and build the Trolley with the integrated with wheel exactly according to the measurements of another large retailer (Picnic online fulfilment centre). In summary, we developed the Patented 5th Wheel and are able to incorporate this in any cart or trolley you may have or may want to develop.
