As a distributor of shipping, packaging, and industrial supplies to businesses throughout North America, Uline is well known as a provider of critical logistics equipment and supplies, such as bins and totes, corrugated boxes, mailers, and safety gear.
But what’s less widely known is Uline’s growing stature as a major user of zero-emissions hydrogen fuel in its material handling operations. Last month, Uline announced that it is expanding its partnership with Latham, New York-based Plug Power to deploy Plug’s hydrogen infrastructure and fuel cell solutions at Uline’s new campus in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The collaboration between Uline and Plug Power began in 2015 with a project at Uline’s distribution center near its corporate campus in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. Over the past eight years, Uline has used Plug’s fuel cell solutions across its operations, running 270 fuel cell forklifts between six facilities. Under the expanded partnership, Uline will now operate a total of 520 fuel cell forklifts and 34 dispensers across 10 facilities, making it one of Plug’s largest customers.
“When we first partnered with Plug, fuel cells were still in their infancy,” Wade Goff, Uline’s director of redistribution, said in a release. “They’ve made our associates more productive because refueling is faster and easier than changing a battery.”
The expanded partnership includes the integration of on-site hydrogen infrastructure with the installation of an 18,000-gallon hydrogen storage tank and 17 hydrogen dispensers to service four DCs within the Kenosha campus. The partnership also includes the addition of 250 fuel cell forklifts that will operate on hydrogen generated on site.
