Order Pickers and Tow Tractors Upgraded

Crown, one of the world’s largest material handling companies, has refined the design of its GPC and MPC Series order pickers and TC Series tow tractor as part of the company’s continuous product improvement efforts. All three series now offer a variety of ergonomic enhancements for making order-picking processes even faster, more efficient and user-friendly.

Order-picking applications are more varied and demanding than any other warehouse activity. This is why Crown’s GPC, MPC and TC Series combine excellent performance with a high level of comfort designed to relieve the physical strain on operators and boost their daily productivity. An extensive range of add-on equipment and accessories provides a highly effective response to the specific requirements of various warehouse applications by further reducing and streamlining the movements of operators as they interact with their vehicles.

Enhanced platform suspension reduces strain for the operator

In line with its continuous product improvement philosophy, Crown has now revised and enhanced some of this equipment. This includes, for example, the ergonomic full-suspension operator platform. The new suspension system dampens shocks through the platform even more effectively than before, reducing operators’ fatigue during their shifts. This is a key factor in ensuring that lift trucks are operated safely and efficiently, resulting in increased productivity and reduced customers’ operating costs.

The focus of the product update is on operator comfort. Crown has further expanded its extensive range of Work Assist accessories accordingly, including new magnetic storage trays and writing pads. Alongside the tried-and-tested Work Assist accessory tube, a new optional version with integrated cable management is now available, allowing even more power-supplied accessories to be mounted on the tube for better accessibility and visibility.

Another highlight is the new intuitive display which enables the operator to easily view key operating data due to its large size and strategic positioning on the trucks. QuickPick Remote Ready option anticipates future workflow automation All three series can also be ordered optionally in a version that is already prepared for Crown’s QuickPick Remote Order Picking Technology. This option is ideal for customers wishing to ensure that their vehicles can be retrofitted with Crown’s award-winning, workflow-improving technology at a later stage.

The QuickPick Remote system streamlines workflows in high-density picking applications. Using a remote-control unit built into their work gloves or strapped to their finger, operators can remotely move their order pickers or tow tractors to the next picking location at the touch of a button. This technology, in use since 2013, has proven in practice to minimise operator walking distances and physical stress, thereby boosting picking speed and overall productivity.

Order Pickers and Tow Tractors Upgraded

Crown, one of the world’s largest material handling companies, has refined the design of its GPC and MPC Series order pickers and TC Series tow tractor as part of the company’s continuous product improvement efforts. All three series now offer a variety of ergonomic enhancements for making order-picking processes even faster, more efficient and user-friendly.

Order-picking applications are more varied and demanding than any other warehouse activity. This is why Crown’s GPC, MPC and TC Series combine excellent performance with a high level of comfort designed to relieve the physical strain on operators and boost their daily productivity. An extensive range of add-on equipment and accessories provides a highly effective response to the specific requirements of various warehouse applications by further reducing and streamlining the movements of operators as they interact with their vehicles.

Enhanced platform suspension reduces strain for the operator

In line with its continuous product improvement philosophy, Crown has now revised and enhanced some of this equipment. This includes, for example, the ergonomic full-suspension operator platform. The new suspension system dampens shocks through the platform even more effectively than before, reducing operators’ fatigue during their shifts. This is a key factor in ensuring that lift trucks are operated safely and efficiently, resulting in increased productivity and reduced customers’ operating costs.

The focus of the product update is on operator comfort. Crown has further expanded its extensive range of Work Assist accessories accordingly, including new magnetic storage trays and writing pads. Alongside the tried-and-tested Work Assist accessory tube, a new optional version with integrated cable management is now available, allowing even more power-supplied accessories to be mounted on the tube for better accessibility and visibility.

Another highlight is the new intuitive display which enables the operator to easily view key operating data due to its large size and strategic positioning on the trucks. QuickPick Remote Ready option anticipates future workflow automation All three series can also be ordered optionally in a version that is already prepared for Crown’s QuickPick Remote Order Picking Technology. This option is ideal for customers wishing to ensure that their vehicles can be retrofitted with Crown’s award-winning, workflow-improving technology at a later stage.

The QuickPick Remote system streamlines workflows in high-density picking applications. Using a remote-control unit built into their work gloves or strapped to their finger, operators can remotely move their order pickers or tow tractors to the next picking location at the touch of a button. This technology, in use since 2013, has proven in practice to minimise operator walking distances and physical stress, thereby boosting picking speed and overall productivity.

Premium Mobile Label Printer Series Launched

BIXOLON Europe GmbH, a subsidiary of BIXOLON Co. Ltd, a leading global Mobile, Label and POS printer manufacturer, has announced the launch of its NEW XM7 Series, featuring the XM7-40 4-inch (112mm) and XM7-20 2-inch (58mm) Liner and Linerless Mobile Label printers. Strengthening BIXOLON’s portfolio of mobile printing solutions to the European market, the XM7 series provides premium-level performance at speeds of up to 5ips (XM7-40) and 6ips (XM7-20) at 203dpi to produce quality printing outputs at high volumes, making it ideal for the most demanding of environments within Logistics, Healthcare, Retail or Manufacturing.

Delivering intuitive features and value add software support, the new printer series features rugged, compact designs, an embedded Peeler, TFT Colour Displays, drop protection of 2.1 metres and IP54-protection ratings. Supporting a smart battery with universal USB Type-C Power delivery charging, these mobile label printers provide a wealth of battery health information through BIXOLON’s web-based printer profile management software XPM™, guaranteeing consistent performance throughout prolonged operations.

Offering seamless connectivity at every level, the XM7 Series presents USB 2.0 and Serial interfaces as standard, with optional Bluetooth V5.0 Classic (MFi Certification) and WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n wireless technology which can be connected simultaneously. Supporting easy Bluetooth pairing via NFC allows compatibility with major operations including Android™, iOS™ and Windows™. The series also boasts compatibility with market leading command languages such as SLCS, BPL-Z™, BPL-C™ and BXL/POS to allow for seamless integration with customers’ existing systems.
Boasting a 128 MB SRAM, 256 MB Flash memory as standard and optional 256 MB SDRAM, 512 MB Flash memory enabling the storage of fonts and graphics, alongside firmware upgrades and tools. The XM7 series prints directly from SAP® Smart Forms and is compatible with a range of label editing applications including BIXOLON’s Label Artist™, Label Artist Mobile™ for iOS™ & Android™, alongside the industry leading Bartender® software.

“The new XM7 series compliments BIXOLON’s already highly successful range of mobility printing solutions,” explains Charlie Kim, Managing Director, BIXOLON Europe GmbH. “As the demand continues to grow for labelling solutions in our current economic climate, BIXOLON’s new premium labelling solutions provide stability for customers who require mobile high volume printing across all environments.”

Premium Mobile Label Printer Series Launched

BIXOLON Europe GmbH, a subsidiary of BIXOLON Co. Ltd, a leading global Mobile, Label and POS printer manufacturer, has announced the launch of its NEW XM7 Series, featuring the XM7-40 4-inch (112mm) and XM7-20 2-inch (58mm) Liner and Linerless Mobile Label printers. Strengthening BIXOLON’s portfolio of mobile printing solutions to the European market, the XM7 series provides premium-level performance at speeds of up to 5ips (XM7-40) and 6ips (XM7-20) at 203dpi to produce quality printing outputs at high volumes, making it ideal for the most demanding of environments within Logistics, Healthcare, Retail or Manufacturing.

Delivering intuitive features and value add software support, the new printer series features rugged, compact designs, an embedded Peeler, TFT Colour Displays, drop protection of 2.1 metres and IP54-protection ratings. Supporting a smart battery with universal USB Type-C Power delivery charging, these mobile label printers provide a wealth of battery health information through BIXOLON’s web-based printer profile management software XPM™, guaranteeing consistent performance throughout prolonged operations.

Offering seamless connectivity at every level, the XM7 Series presents USB 2.0 and Serial interfaces as standard, with optional Bluetooth V5.0 Classic (MFi Certification) and WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n wireless technology which can be connected simultaneously. Supporting easy Bluetooth pairing via NFC allows compatibility with major operations including Android™, iOS™ and Windows™. The series also boasts compatibility with market leading command languages such as SLCS, BPL-Z™, BPL-C™ and BXL/POS to allow for seamless integration with customers’ existing systems.
Boasting a 128 MB SRAM, 256 MB Flash memory as standard and optional 256 MB SDRAM, 512 MB Flash memory enabling the storage of fonts and graphics, alongside firmware upgrades and tools. The XM7 series prints directly from SAP® Smart Forms and is compatible with a range of label editing applications including BIXOLON’s Label Artist™, Label Artist Mobile™ for iOS™ & Android™, alongside the industry leading Bartender® software.

“The new XM7 series compliments BIXOLON’s already highly successful range of mobility printing solutions,” explains Charlie Kim, Managing Director, BIXOLON Europe GmbH. “As the demand continues to grow for labelling solutions in our current economic climate, BIXOLON’s new premium labelling solutions provide stability for customers who require mobile high volume printing across all environments.”

Warehouse Manager Role Has Gone Up a Level

A fulfilment technology specialist is advocating warehouse management as an increasingly pivotal role in any company hierarchy and supply chain – as well as a higher level career path – because of the extraordinary logistical challenges we all now work in.

SnapFulfil CEO, Tony Dobson, said it requires a more focused and problem-solving skill set that’s infinitely adaptable, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a ‘new breed’ of warehouse manager to navigate our faster moving environment.

“It’s rather a ‘new and next level’ of effective operations leader who can quickly grasp and advance new software technologies and process improvements to promote greater understanding and efficiency,” explained Dobson. “Those key drivers and attributes that first draw people into distribution management – being able to coach and develop a team to meet definitive targets and efficiencies, plus having a strong ‘operator ‘ mindset – are still valued, but modern, digital warehousing certainly requires much greater depth and more varied IT skills.”

Dobson also appreciates the COVID-19 Supply Chain – especially with the seismic shift taking place in online retailing – has become a lot more complex. Distribution operations embody that complexity, so the leaders of those operations must be much more than just drivers of traditional and bulk ‘pallet in, pallet out’ activity. They must now be innovators and continuous improvement advocates to survive and thrive.

Innovation in the warehouse primarily comes in two forms: advanced, cloud-based technology like SnapFulfil WMS and the agile, easily configurable processes it supports, plus the genuine creativity in breaking through process design. Continuous improvement approaches are the accepted method for measured success, but most distribution centres struggle to de-prioritise their established ways without technological assistance.

However, warehouse managers who bring curiosity to the table and who think creatively about improvement will have a distinct advantage over their peers. Designing a new process is a skill in itself and becoming increasingly important in the warehouse management field.

Technology selection and implementation within a warehouse used to be an IT or PMO-based activity, where the warehouse operations team was the internal customer, but not necessarily the driving force behind selection and adoption. This approach is now skewing and to best serve operations, warehouse managers need up to the minute familiarity with software selection, programming, data analysis and project/implementation practices. Consequently, they should now approach their operations with continuous improvement as a recurring and given KPI.

“I cannot stress enough though that – except for the most ‘customisable’ solutions on the market – the best implementations are driven by operations staff who can also dedicate themselves to the execution and realisation of the new technology,” added Dobson.

Warehouse Manager Role Has Gone Up a Level

A fulfilment technology specialist is advocating warehouse management as an increasingly pivotal role in any company hierarchy and supply chain – as well as a higher level career path – because of the extraordinary logistical challenges we all now work in.

SnapFulfil CEO, Tony Dobson, said it requires a more focused and problem-solving skill set that’s infinitely adaptable, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a ‘new breed’ of warehouse manager to navigate our faster moving environment.

“It’s rather a ‘new and next level’ of effective operations leader who can quickly grasp and advance new software technologies and process improvements to promote greater understanding and efficiency,” explained Dobson. “Those key drivers and attributes that first draw people into distribution management – being able to coach and develop a team to meet definitive targets and efficiencies, plus having a strong ‘operator ‘ mindset – are still valued, but modern, digital warehousing certainly requires much greater depth and more varied IT skills.”

Dobson also appreciates the COVID-19 Supply Chain – especially with the seismic shift taking place in online retailing – has become a lot more complex. Distribution operations embody that complexity, so the leaders of those operations must be much more than just drivers of traditional and bulk ‘pallet in, pallet out’ activity. They must now be innovators and continuous improvement advocates to survive and thrive.

Innovation in the warehouse primarily comes in two forms: advanced, cloud-based technology like SnapFulfil WMS and the agile, easily configurable processes it supports, plus the genuine creativity in breaking through process design. Continuous improvement approaches are the accepted method for measured success, but most distribution centres struggle to de-prioritise their established ways without technological assistance.

However, warehouse managers who bring curiosity to the table and who think creatively about improvement will have a distinct advantage over their peers. Designing a new process is a skill in itself and becoming increasingly important in the warehouse management field.

Technology selection and implementation within a warehouse used to be an IT or PMO-based activity, where the warehouse operations team was the internal customer, but not necessarily the driving force behind selection and adoption. This approach is now skewing and to best serve operations, warehouse managers need up to the minute familiarity with software selection, programming, data analysis and project/implementation practices. Consequently, they should now approach their operations with continuous improvement as a recurring and given KPI.

“I cannot stress enough though that – except for the most ‘customisable’ solutions on the market – the best implementations are driven by operations staff who can also dedicate themselves to the execution and realisation of the new technology,” added Dobson.

Vision System makes 3D Inspection Easy

Cognex Corporation introduces the In-Sight® 3D-L4000 embedded vision system. Featuring 3D laser displacement technology, this first-of-its-kind smart camera allows engineers to quickly, accurately, and cost effectively solve a range of inspections on automated production lines.

“Until now, 3D has been too expensive and complicated to solve inspection applications for most customers,” John Keating, 3D Business Unit Manager. “The In-Sight 3D-L4000 breaks previous barriers by providing a massive suite of true 3D vision tools and making them as easy to use as the industry leading In-Sight 2D vision tools.”

The 3D-L4000 combines patented speckle-free blue laser optics and the broadest range of true 3D vision tools with the flexibility of the In-Sight spreadsheet. This all-in-one solution quickly captures and processes 3D images with spectacular quality during inline inspection, guidance, and gauging applications. By allowing users to place vision tools directly on a true 3D image of the part, the 3D-L4000 delivers greater accuracy compared to traditional systems, expanding the types of inspections that can be performed. Moreover, because inspections are in 3D, users can immediately experience how the vision tools operate on the actual part.

The 3D-L4000 includes all the traditional 3D measurement tools users expect such as plane and height finding. It also comes with a comprehensive set of 3D vision tools, designed from the ground up to leverage inspections in a true 3D space. The intuitive In-Sight spreadsheet interface quickly and easily sets up and runs 3D applications without the need for programming or external processing. It simplifies application development and streamlines factory integration with a full I/O and communications function set. It also enables the ability to combine 2D and 3D vision tools in the same application, leading to faster deployments. For more information, visit www.cognex.com/en-gb/In-Sight3D

The In-Sight 3D-L4000 comes in three factory calibrated fields of view and is ideal for applications across a range of industries including food and beverage, consumer products, packaging, automotive, medical devices, and electronics.

Vision System makes 3D Inspection Easy

Cognex Corporation introduces the In-Sight® 3D-L4000 embedded vision system. Featuring 3D laser displacement technology, this first-of-its-kind smart camera allows engineers to quickly, accurately, and cost effectively solve a range of inspections on automated production lines.

“Until now, 3D has been too expensive and complicated to solve inspection applications for most customers,” John Keating, 3D Business Unit Manager. “The In-Sight 3D-L4000 breaks previous barriers by providing a massive suite of true 3D vision tools and making them as easy to use as the industry leading In-Sight 2D vision tools.”

The 3D-L4000 combines patented speckle-free blue laser optics and the broadest range of true 3D vision tools with the flexibility of the In-Sight spreadsheet. This all-in-one solution quickly captures and processes 3D images with spectacular quality during inline inspection, guidance, and gauging applications. By allowing users to place vision tools directly on a true 3D image of the part, the 3D-L4000 delivers greater accuracy compared to traditional systems, expanding the types of inspections that can be performed. Moreover, because inspections are in 3D, users can immediately experience how the vision tools operate on the actual part.

The 3D-L4000 includes all the traditional 3D measurement tools users expect such as plane and height finding. It also comes with a comprehensive set of 3D vision tools, designed from the ground up to leverage inspections in a true 3D space. The intuitive In-Sight spreadsheet interface quickly and easily sets up and runs 3D applications without the need for programming or external processing. It simplifies application development and streamlines factory integration with a full I/O and communications function set. It also enables the ability to combine 2D and 3D vision tools in the same application, leading to faster deployments. For more information, visit www.cognex.com/en-gb/In-Sight3D

The In-Sight 3D-L4000 comes in three factory calibrated fields of view and is ideal for applications across a range of industries including food and beverage, consumer products, packaging, automotive, medical devices, and electronics.

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