NEW LOGISTICS PRODUCTS & SERVICES
EDITED BY SUSAN LACEFIELD rollouts
Safety alarm for mezzanine gates: The new EdgeAlert Open
Gate Alarm System from Wildeck helps reduce accidents and
OSHA violations by issuing a warning when elevated mezzanine
platform gates are inadvertently left open.
When a gate is opened,
the EdgeAlert alarm produces a highly visible flashing
light and a loud alarm.
The EdgeAlert alarm is
easy to operate and can be
installed on new or existing
swing gates, slide gates, tilt
gates, or scissor gates. It
includes a 120-volt AC plug-in power supply and can also be
powered by four long-life alkaline “D” cell batteries, which are
not included with the device.
Amber-colored LED lights are located on the front and back of
the alarm enclosure. When a gate is being used for daily activities, workers may choose to silence the EdgeAlert alarm for 120
seconds by pressing the “snooze/acknowledge” button. Once
an open gate has been closed and secured, users can reset the
EdgeAlert alarm by pressing the “snooze/acknowledge” button
or simply opt for the automatic reset mode. (Wildeck Inc., www.
wildeck.com)
Automated pack station: The Rapid Flow Automated Pack
Station from PSI Engineering prints and either inserts or applies
packing slips, shipping labels, and marketing materials onto and/
or into packages.
The station consists of software, conveyors, and other related
systems and equipment. It is designed for companies with high
order volumes (cycle times of up to 1,000 orders per hour) within
the e-commerce, third-party logistics, pharmaceutical and medical supply, and consumer packaged-goods industries.
According to PSI, the pack station is “drop-in ready,” meaning
that it can be installed immediately upon delivery. It is designed
so that additional systems can be programmed and added to
the line seamlessly. (PSI Engineering, www.psiengineering.com)
Supply chain collaboration software: TXT Retail, a developer
of collaborative solutions for the fashion, luxury, and consumer
sectors, is launching a major new release of its supply chain
collaboration software: TXTChain 6.0. The new software is now
available on Microsoft Azure, a cloud computing platform.
TXTChain, which covers production, inventory, and logistics
collaboration between a company and its global partners, currently connects over 2,500 organizations worldwide. The new
6.0 version has been redesigned using HTML5 and in collaboration with Microsoft Corp. for mobile usage. This allows users
to better manage their deliveries and monitor the status of their
orders, regardless of where they are or which device they are
using. (TXT Retail, www.txtgroup.com)
Supply chain software: HighJump Pulse is a supply chain intelligence solution aimed at increasing the availability and visibility
of a business’s key performance indicators (KPIs). With HighJump
Pulse, you can either use best-practice KPIs already created by
HighJump or build your own KPIs specific to your business.
HighJump Pulse integrates data from across an enterprise,
including warehouse operations, to provide customers with
self-service reporting and analysis. The solution allows users to
start analyzing data immediately and can be modified as a company grows and changes.
The new solution uses modern graphical dashboard technology and industry-developed standards to produce actionable
visual data. HighJump Pulse integrates with the HighJump
Supply Chain Advantage suite or any supply chain management
application to provide a consolidated view of a company’s supply
chain performance.
With HighJump Pulse, companies track KPIs derived from
metrics prescribed by leading supply chain experts, such as
the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC).
HighJump Pulse uses Microsoft’s Business Intelligence toolkit to
deliver real-time views of key operational metrics, information
needed to validate short-term success, and historical information to plan and predict future success. (HighJump, www.
highjump.com)
Pallet handling device: Automation Plus, a division of CSF Inc.,
has introduced a new pallet handling machine called the Pallet
Return Device (PRD). According to Automation Plus, the Pallet
Return Device makes handling pallets (wood or plastic) safer and
more efficient than current practices without using any outside
energy source such as electricity or compressed air.
Currently, stacking
pallets requires expensive machinery or intense
manual labor that can
lead to injury, particularly back strain, according
to Automation Plus. The
To use the device, the operator first loads the carriage. When
the carriage is full, the operator releases the load and lets a
shock-absorbing device guide the stack to a vertical (unload)
position. Once positioned, the pallets are rolled forward to a
raised outbound location, which releases the pallets from the
carriage. The operator then slides the carriage back, tilts it to
the load position, and it’s ready to receive more empty pallets.
According to the manufacturer, the PRD creates a
perfect stack every time, eliminating the need for the forklift
driver to reshape the stack. (Automation Plus, www.pallet
returndevice.com)
