Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. has
honored Georgia employee Orrin
Mannozzi with the 2017 John Yowell
OD Family Spirit Award.
… Saddle Creek Logistics
Services has announced
that Mark Cabrera, the
company’s senior vice pres-
ident and CFO, has taken
on the role of chief operating officer
in anticipation of succeeding current
CEO Cliff Otto upon his retirement
within two years. … Real estate ser-
vices firm CBRE Group Inc. has promot-
ed Jack Fraker to manag-
ing director of its Global
Industrial and Logistics
division and has hired
Robert (Bob) Taylor as
senior vice president with
the Central Valley Industrial Practice
group. … Twinlode Corp. has select-
ed Mike Klaer as president. … Weber
Packaging Solutions has named Tom
Michalsen vice president of marketing.
… Wildeck, a manufacturer of vertical
lifts, mezzanines, and work platforms,
has promoted Paul Mihelich to vice
president of sales and marketing. …
Freight forwarder Aeronet Worldwide
has hired Lisley Davenport as director
of commercial services. … Third-party
logistics service provider Kane Is Able
has named Mark Johnson senior vice
president of sales and marketing. …
Thirty-year industry veteran Karen M.
Kenney has joined integrated logistics
solutions provider Janel Group Inc. as
president. … Choptank Transport has
promoted Christina Parent and Kaitlyn
Mister to new training and development roles within the company. …
Perry Steps has joined the staff of
Truckstop.com as the company’s chief
economist. … Dematic has appointed
Jan Vercammen managing director for
Central Europe. … Michael W. Leonard
has joined Flow-Rite Controls as sales
and marketing director. He will oversee
all sales, marketing, and customer service efforts for the company’s battery
maintenance and marine businesses.
CABRERA
FRAKER
newsmakers
to all forklift types, manufacturer says
Romeo Power thinks it has built a better mousetrap for lithium-ion
battery packs.
The Vernon, Calif.-based startup has developed the Thunder
Pack-C, which it calls the first lithium-ion (l-i) battery pack designed
to be adapted for any electric forklift make or model currently
being sold in the U.S. The lithium-ion battery, which the company
will manufacture in California, is expected to begin shipping in
December.
“If you look at the 24 different configurations available in the U.S.
market today, only about 20 percent are being served by existing
lithium-ion battery packs,” Michael Patterson, Romeo’s founder and
CEO, said in an interview. “There’s nothing now that will work for
everything.”
Patterson said the configurable design would speed up adoption of
lithium-ion batteries in the forklift market and help l-i capture a large
portion of the market from lead-acid batteries.
The company’s engineers used computer-aided design (CAD) modeling to layer designs for all 24 types of battery compartments and
trays over each other and “come up with a model of what the battery
pack should look like,” said Porter Harris, the company’s co-founder
and chief technology officer. The batteries’ 10 kw power modules can
be configured in different ways to match the lift truck and how it’s
being used, he said.
Forklift manufacturers put batteries and any other add-ons that are
not integral to the truck through a stringent model-by-model testing
and approval process before they will allow another company’s product to be used on their equipment. According to Patterson, a number
of major lift truck makers are currently testing Romeo’s batteries.
Power Designers USA LLC, the Madison, Wis.-based manufacturer
of chargers and other battery management products, has endorsed
Romeo’s batteries and is providing the optional chargers buyers can
order with the batteries.
Romeo said its top executives, engineers, and designers came
from Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Tesla Inc., Samsung
Electronics, and Amazon.com Inc. As a result, Romeo can incorporate
innovations from those companies’ industries into industrial battery development. Romeo also designs batteries for electric vehicles,
industrial storage, and portable electronic devices.
Lithium-ion battery providers say the product offers such advantages as longer life, longer run times, fast recharging times, little or no
requirement for maintenance, and zero emissions. But while there is
a great deal of interest among forklift fleet operators, many continue
to hang back. That’s largely because the initial cost of l-i batteries is
higher than that of traditional lead-acid batteries. In addition, lift
truck makers are still testing various manufacturers’ l-i batteries and
have not yet approved them for use in many forklift models.
On top of that, battery makers must allay users’ concerns about lithium-ion’s safety, particularly the potential for overheating, by designing effective thermal management technology into their products.
—Toby Gooley
