Kärcher autonomous floor cleaning machines to work in DSV warehouses

The use of unmanned scrubbers is not yet well established in the logistics sector. Nevertheless, more and more entrepreneurs are becoming convinced of the advantages of autonomous cleaning solutions. After all, compared to manual floor cleaning, scrubber driers are faster, more cost-effective and more thorough when it comes to cleaning all types of floors. Not to mention valuable man hours that can be spent more usefully. Who no longer needs to convince you of the advantages of autonomous cleaning is Roeland Nijs, Senior Business Support Manager Belgium at DSV.

For loyal readers of "Warehouse & Logistics," we shouldn't imagine a logistics giant like DSV anymore. This global provider of transportation and logistics services operates in more than 80 countries and has three divisions: Air & Sea, Road and Solutions. As the person responsible within the Belgian Solutions division, Roeland Nijs coordinates various support services aimed at maintaining customer service levels. From facility management over IT to automation.

"Within Solutions, we provide our customers with warehouse-related services ranging from goods storage to 'value added logistics packaging,'" Roeland said. "In Belgium, we have nine sites for this purpose, two of which are specifically for healthcare. In these warehouses, the bar in terms of cleaning requirements is very high. Using intensive cleaning schedules and specific guidelines, our temperature-sensitive warehouses and associated equipment must be thoroughly cleaned daily. Ensuring a clean and sterile environment is vital to maintaining the safety and quality of stored medical goods."

Close cooperation 

To put this ambitious task into practice, Roeland and his colleagues called on Kärcher's autonomous cleaning solutions. This cooperation got off to a flying start, according to Roeland: "Because we have very large warehouses - up to almost 50,000 square meters - we had several suppliers visit our cleaning team for tests. In terms of cleaning quality, the machines from Kärcher stood out. Even when we looked at the complexity of the areas to be cleaned, such as for a food processing customer who stocks starch in bulk, Kärcher came out on top. DSV is currently building a new 110,000-square-meter healthcare warehouse in Gent-Zeehaven. With Kärcher, we are testing how many square meters we can clean with a larger type of scrubber robot."

Cleaning robot in action

Today, a Kärcher KIRA B50 cleaning robot is at work daily in DSV's healthcare warehouses. "This robot does an excellent job, with intuitive user guidance with a large touch screen enabling quick settings," Roeland points out. "The KIRA B50 sends status messages to mobile devices for documentation and monitoring, allowing us to generate detailed cleaning reports in the accompanying web portal. That connectivity is a major concern for us, by the way, because our warehouses are split into several cells. In the event of a network interruption, autonomous vehicles must be able to continue driving independently and in safe conditions, even past unexpected obstacles. This machine has powerful sensors and software to make this happen."

Excellent guidance

The electrically powered KIRA B50 can theoretically clean a maximum of about 2,300 square meters per hour. In practice, however, that performance depends on the route and complexity of the surfaces to be cleaned. "The experts at Kärcher guided us very well in this regard. For example, they provided the necessary training and technical support to our cleaning staff," says Roeland. "They also professionally handled our request to generate cleaning reports tailored to strict healthcare audits. Currently, our interest is piqued to invest in a new, even larger cleaning robot that Kärcher plans to launch in early 2025." 

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