Torben and his team run the AS/RS system

Sharp ears, inquisitive mind, agile fingers.

According to Operations Manager Torben Jensen that is all he needs to prevent shutdowns on our AS/RS system.

“I’m a really lazy person and I like to do as little as possible. To achieve this, I know that I have to ensure that the system works all the time – and the best way to make sure this happens is to keep it in good working order all the time,” he explains.

Torben has developed a comprehensive maintenance schedule that ensures that, in a year, he and his team will have serviced every part of the system no less than four times.

“We do a lot of listening to the system. We can often hear when mechanical parts begin to jar and that’s when we must react.”

The operations manager advocates a practical approach to working on this impressive system. And there are no formal educational requirements for anyone who wishes to join his team:

“I need people who think logically and who can handle tools. Could be a mechanic, a metalworker or just a lad who loves tinkering with cars and motorbikes. You don’t tinker with a car unless you are driven by curiosity, and once you have tinkered with a car, you understand what it means to use tools correctly.”

Fascinated by all things mechanical

Torben’s desire to have team members with a logical mindset correlates with the fact that the system is built on a flow chart.

“You have to get that chart into your head. Once you have, you are off to a great start. Then there are some basic principles to learn, and that too is easiest if you are a logical thinker.”

Torben himself originally trained as an industrial blacksmith.

“Cogs, rollers, all things mechanical fascinate me. I am always amazed to see how you can get electricity and mechanical parts to work together and how you can shift something from A to B without anyone noticing all the technology behind it.”

Promoted after a short time

Torben Jensen was hired to work as an operating technician at DKI Logistics on 12 July 2021.

“I had just returned home to Denmark after seven years in Norway. I promised myself six months off work, but it didn’t work out that way. I surfed Jobindex and discovered that DKI was looking to hire an operating technician on a KNAPP system like the one I worked on in Norway. So I applied and was invited to attend an interview the very next day. I started work on the following Monday.

On 1 November, he was promoted to operations manager.

“I love working where things are happening all the time, things you can’t possibly predict. Like here at DKI Logistics. No two days are the same.”

Professional sparring

In addition to the operations manager, the department comprises two operating technicians, a student from Aarhus School of Marine and Technical Engineering on a nine-month period of practical work experience, and an employee who is shortly to start to train as a warehouse and process operator.

Torben does his best to teach his team how important it is to keep the small, essential parts of the system in perfect working order. Incorrect hertz frequency can have a huge impact on production.

“I seek to share my expertise because it will be of no use to me when the time comes for them to hammer the last nail into my coffin.

At the same time, I do my best to make the boring times (i.e. when the system is running as it should, Ed.) interesting, and the only way I know to do that is to engage in professional sparring.”

Weekend biker

The operations manager spends his free time on his Honda 600 Transalp:

“I ride a motorbike but only when the weather is good. I like to go to TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands to see the races. In Denmark, we go on weekend trips and stay in shelters.

I love those times when you hit the road and can smell new-mown grass or a harvested cornfield. I like ‘green laning’, which is riding to places no four-wheeled vehicle could ever get to. You ride through the woods, find a stream, pitch your tent. That’s what life’s really all about.”