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52 DC VELOCITY JANUARY 2020 www.dcvelocity.com
(AGV), but that term is more com-
monly used to describe conveyances
that typically (but not always) lack
forks and only provide horizontal
transportation. We’re avoiding the
term “autonomous,” which does not
apply to much of the equipment
discussed in this article. An auton-
omous vehicle operates more inde-
pendently, “thinking” and making
decisions, notes Tiger Xu, product
manager, automated solutions, for
The Raymond Corp.
Interest in automated forklifts is
growing, first and foremost, because
the U.S. labor market is so tight.
Unemployment is at its lowest point in 50
years, and warehouses and DCs are struggling to hire and retain reliable, qualified
employees. Automation can help fill that
labor gap, providing continuous, consistent performance 24/7. It can also mitigate the cost of finding and onboarding
new workers. A bonus: Adding capacity
doesn’t require adding operators. “Some
of the key advantages of automated trucks
are their flexibility, scalability, and reliability,” Xu says. “They are easily scalable
up or down; if you want to add another
20 trucks, you simply code in the data
and they will quickly be able to do the
same tasks in the same way as the original
trucks,” he says.
Second, automation can reduce product damage and alleviate the ergonomic
impact of repetitive, physically demanding tasks in today’s fast-paced warehouses. And third, the enabling technology has
made great strides recently. Today, automated forklifts can locate specified storage slots and retrieve or put away loads
with pinpoint accuracy, stop and alert
humans when they encounter obstacles
or anything else unexpected, choose the
most efficient travel path, and remember
where empty slots are located, among
other capabilities.
“Supervisor” software controls task
allocation and the robotic forklift fleet’s
movements. The software typically interacts with a warehouse management system (WMS) and may also interact with
enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and with other material handling
equipment. Some forklift OEMs have
developed their own navigation and control systems, while others partner with
specialized tech companies. Examples of
the latter include the recent alliance of
Crown Equipment Corp. and JBT Corp.,
and partnerships between The Raymond
Corp. and Seegrid, between Balyo and
Hyster-Yale Group, and between JBT and
Yale. Such collaborations integrate both
partners’ domain-specific expertise and
leverage different approaches to prob-lem-solving, allowing innovative products
to come to market more quickly than they
otherwise could, says John Rosenberger,
director of iWarehouse Gateway and
global telematics at Raymond.
