The uses are endless…
•;Transferring;to;or;from;in-house;to;shipping;pallets;or;slip;sheets
•;Replacing;damaged;items;at;the;bottom;of;a;load
•;Turning;inventory;for;freshness
•;Replacing;broken;pallets
For complete details, visit www.SouthworthProducts.com/inverter
TEL: (800) 743-1000 • FAX: (207) 797-4734
SouthworthProducts.com;•;salesinfo@SouthworthProducts.com
14-405 Pallet Invertor Ad-DCV.indd 1 3/3/15 9: 23 AM
www.dcvelocity.com SEPTEMBER 2015 DC VELOCITY 33
the mast of a forklift enables the device
to automatically read pallet labels and
confirm to the driver that the acquired
pallet matches the pick order generated
by a WMS, Sorenson explains. It can
also identify and track pallets through
putaway and convey that information
to the WMS. A lift-height sensor on the
mast identifies the rack level when a
pallet is put away, and a pallet detector,
also on the mast, creates a “time on/time
off” stamp. Together, these technologies
identify each pallet’s exact location at all
times, he says.
Software will become more important
than hardware. As more hardware is
installed at the factory, the software that
manages the data collection and enables
the information to be exchanged with
other software and systems will become
the critical factor in delivering value to
users, Sorenson says. A similar factor is
at play when it comes to data analysis.
Rather than introducing more sensors
into a truck, vendors will focus on finding fresh ways to extract and analyze
data from the mechanisms already in
place, Rosenberger says. For example, the
data output from measuring the force
of hydraulic fluid could be analyzed to
determine when a truck is carrying a load
and to estimate its weight.
Telematics will facilitate predictive maintenance. In the future, fleet managers
will analyze operator and equipment data
together in order to more accurately predict what parts will need to be replaced on
a truck and when. For example, one driver may routinely wear out tires faster than
another; when the system sees that the
first driver has been assigned to a truck
that’s subject to heavy outdoor usage, it
might schedule tire replacements earlier
than the average expected replacement
time. The key will be basing maintenance
plans on data from a specific operating
environment and on intelligence about a
particular person, says Brown.
Task interleaving will become more effective. Everyone wants to do task interleaving—carrying out one task like pallet
putaway and then completing a different
one, like order picking, on the way back,
without wasted time or effort—but the
results from currently available WMS
modules are subpar, Sorenson
says. Telematics could allow users
“to get to true interleaving” that
maximizes operator productivity
by using vehicle tracking technology to optimize each movement
and allocate every resource in the
warehouse in the most efficient
way, he says.
FROM FUTURISTIC CONCEPT
TO NECESSITY
The lift truck manufacturers and
independent providers mentioned
here are not the only ones that
offer lift truck telematics systems.
Others, such as Yale Materials
Handling, Hyster Co., and Asset
Control Group, to name just a few,
offer similar products that continue to evolve.
Providers of these systems expect
that concerns about the technology’s maturity and implementation
costs will dissipate as prices drop.
It won’t be long, they say, before
fleet managers stop thinking of
telematics as a futuristic concept
and come to see it as a necessary
part of everyday operations.
But many fleet managers are
just beginning to recognize
that telematics can introduce
game-changing efficiencies to their
operations. “The lift truck is a very
interesting asset because it goes
everywhere in the warehouse and
touches so many things,” observes
Maria Schweiterman, a senior marketing product manager at Crown
Equipment Corp. As a result,
telematics systems can potentially
bring improvements to all of those
areas. With so many improvements and new applications currently in development, she says, it’s
worth thinking about the benefits
this technology could potentially
soon bring to fleet operations of
all sizes.
