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Day: 24 March 2022

Fronius offers smart network solution for battery chargers

Posted on by David Priestman

Digital networking is taking great leaps forward in intralogistics, including in the operation of electric forklift trucks. In Charge & Connect, Fronius Perfect Charging offers a software solution that networks the charging infrastructure and enables industrially secure data transfer in real time. Users benefit from greater transparency and control of the entire charging infrastructure, giving them the power to boost the efficiency of their intralogistics.

Monitoring and managing the processes involved in charging traction batteries poses a challenge for many forklift truck operators. They often lack an overview of truck availability and current power consumption, particularly in the case of large fleets. Charge & Connect is the intelligent solution from Fronius: networking Selectiva battery chargers makes it possible to log and analyse all the relevant charging data and visualise it in a clearly arranged dashboard. The result? A range of options for users to boost intralogistics performance and reduce costs.

Cross-location, central overview

Charge & Connect displays information such as the state of charge of the connected batteries, energy consumption and the battery charger status. The user benefits from a central overview across several locations and can see where charging processes can be improved. Extensive analysis functions make it possible to find and rectify operating and application errors.

Real-time status monitoring

This software solution from Fronius Perfect Charging also helps operators to reduce downtime among their forklift truck fleets. For instance, if the charging infrastructure develops an error or fault, Charge & Connect will automatically send a push notification to the contact saved in the system. A detailed description of the error including step-by-step instructions on how to rectify it mean problems can be addressed before they result in expensive downtime or lifecycle costs.

Sustainable cost optimisation

The system also collates statistics that can be opened and viewed at any time, providing added benefits. Data from the networked charging infrastructure is analysed in the system and presented in an informative way. The statistics can be used to see whether the ideal number of traction batteries is being used, whether potential savings could be made, etc. The long-term view showing battery charger performance also helps to ascertain whether and when expensive load peaks occur. This data can be used to introduce optimisation steps and reduce energy costs.

 

TEST CAMP INTRALOGISTICS concludes successfully

Posted on by David Priestman

Fifty-one innovations, 950 participants over six days, daily highlight tours and a top-class congress programme with panel discussions – the IFOY TEST DAYS and the TEST CAMP INTRALOGISTICS came to a successful end on Wednesday evening in Dortmund.

Fourteen products and solutions from 12 companies nominated for an International Intralogistics and Forklift Truck of the Year Award (IFOY AWARD) underwent six days of multi-level testing. Among them were new developments from Cargotec Engineering, Jungheinrich, Locus Robotics, Magment, NAiSE, Noyes Technologies, robominds, SICK, SSI SCHÄFER, STILL, stow robotics and SYNAOS.

These and numerous other companies took the opportunity to present their total of 51 innovations to potential customers at the TEST CAMP INTRALOGISTICS from March 21 to 23. The B2B visitors – most of them in management positions in logistics, industry and trade – travelled to the Ruhr metropolis for hands-on testing as well as intensive networking discussions without the hustle and bustle of the trade fair in the more than 10,000 square metre hall of IFOY partner Messe Dortmund. From forklift trucks and warehouse technology equipment to AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles), software, specials and robotic solutions, numerous devices and solutions were available in the test arena.

The talks revolved primarily around the topics of innovation and sustainability. The IFOY organisation also made sustainability a principle and took a number of measures to effectively conserve resources. The focus was on reusability and recycling, the use of regenerative energies and, above all, the fundamental renunciation of equipment that was not absolutely necessary. The declared aim was to launch a new, sustainable event format in logistics.

The congress programme celebrated its premiere this year with prominent panel discussions on the trend topics of innovation management, Intralogistics 4.0 and VDA 5050. The keynote on the opening day was given by the internationally renowned logistics researcher Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael ten Hompel (Fraunhofer IML) on the topic of “How innovations change logistics”.

From March 18 to 23, the nominees in the 10th round of the competition were critically analysed by an official tester, a team of researchers and the international IFOY jury. On Tuesday, representatives of the total of 12 manufacturers received the “Best in Intralogistics” certificates from the hands of Steffen Bersch, the new Chairman of the Board of the VDMA Materials Handling and Intralogistics Association.

The IFOY audit for the nominees again consisted of three parts again this year. First, all the trucks underwent the IFOY test conducted by Dutch intralogistics expert Theo Egberts. In this process, the finalists in each category are not compared with each other, but with the relevant equipment in the competition. The industrial trucks underwent standardised driving and functional tests, including the IFOY test protocol comprising more than 80 criteria, which takes into account factors such as sustainability, cost-effectiveness, safety and ergonomics of the nominees.

In the second part of the audit, researchers conducted the IFOY Innovation Check. Scientists from the Dortmund Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML), the Chair of Technical Logistics at the University of Dresden, the Chair of Materials Handling Material Flow Logistics at the Technical University of Munich and the Stuttgart Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA assessed the nominees in terms of market relevance, customer benefits, type of design and degree of innovation. The audit was concluded by the assessment of the 25 jurors and their approved advisors. The jury members – trade journalists from all continents, with the UK represented by Logistics Business News Editor Peter MacLeod –  were handed all the results of the IFOY test as well as the IFOY Innovation Check for the voting.

The TEST CAMP INTRALOGISTICS also included a revival of the AGV Mesh-Up initiated by the VDMA Materials Handling and Intralogistics Association and its member companies. Following the world premiere of the first live test of the VDA 5050 communication interface in the previous year, the 2022 test scenario was relaunched and once again gave B2B visitors the opportunity to observe the functions of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) for themselves and to exchange ideas with developers and scientists. This year, not only some new manufacturers participated in the AGV Mesh-Up, but also extended functionalities of the communication interface were presented. Participants in the AGV Mesh-Up were the companies DS AUTOMOTION, ek robotics, Fraunhofer IML, incubed IT, Omron Electronics, SAFELOG, Siemens and SYNAOS.

Neither the participants of the TEST CAMP INTRALOGISTICS nor the nominees will be told who has won an IFOY AWARD during the IFOY TEST DAYS. They will have to wait until the IFOY AWARD Night on June 30, 2022, which will take place this year in Munich.

 

Hines sells “mission-critical” Royal Mail warehouse

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Global real estate firm Hines has announced the sale of the Royal Mail sorting warehouse in Edinburgh. The industrial building was acquired in 2019 by a fund sponsored by Hines and has been sold to ICG Real Estate for an undisclosed price.

The 215,745 sq ft mission-critical facility is located in Edinburgh’s Sighthill Industrial Estate adjacent to Hermiston Gait Retail Park. Approximately 700 staff are based at the facility with over 900,000 letters and 45,000 parcels handled there daily.

“Logistics remains a hugely important sector for Hines in the UK and Royal Mail’s sorting warehouse is a great example that we are not afraid to consider tactical sales while looking to redeploy capital into more accretive opportunities,” said Greg Cooper, Managing Director at Hines.

Chad Brown, Managing Director at ICG Real Estate commented: “We’re pleased to have acquired this well located and highly mission-critical asset. The investment underlines our ongoing belief in the logistics market’s robust occupational tailwinds with the firm eager to deploy further capital in the sector across Europe.”

ICG was advised by Knight Frank and Marchmont Investment Management.

 

Transaid launches Hadrian’s Cycleway Challenge

Posted on by Keith McKinley

International development organisation Transaid is calling on cyclists from across the transport and logistics industry to saddle up for Hadrian’s Cycleway this Autumn, as it prepares for a team of up to 40 riders to tackle the 157-mile route across a stunning World Heritage Site.

The group will depart Whitehaven on 16 September and pedal to South Shields over two full days of cycling, with funds raised being used to support Transaid’s life-saving work in sub-Saharan Africa, where it is focused on improving road safety and increasing access to healthcare for rural communities.

Launching this latest UK challenge, Florence Bearman, Transaid’s Head of Fundraising, says: “Hadrian’s Cycleway is set to be one of the most stunning rides we’ve ever undertaken in the UK, with a chance to see the famous wall itself, along with Roman forts, museums, quaint villages and stunning market towns.

“As is customary with our challenges, it will also be a great opportunity to network with colleagues from across the industry, both during the ride and in a series of team meals – culminating in a celebratory dinner on the third and final night.”

The route comprises a mixture of on-road and traffic-free sections, running primarily on country lanes and quiet roads, interspersed with sections of traffic-free path, promenade and riverside path. As most of the route is either on minor roads or well surfaced off-road tracks most bikes are suitable, although full slick or racing bike tyres are best avoided.

Bearman adds: “If you’ve always wanted to take on a coast-to-coast challenge, this ride should be perfect. It’s suitable for cyclists of all abilities, provided you are reasonably saddle fit and have completed some basic training.”

The coastal sections at either end of the route are relatively flat, and there are only a few steep, short hills in the central section. Riders will climb approximately 300m over 65 miles of cycling on the first day in the saddle, and 900m over 85 miles on the second day’s riding.

Transaid is welcoming entries from individuals and teams, with demand expected to be high. There is a registration fee of £99 with participants asked to raise a minimum sponsorship of £1,400 to take part.

The package includes three nights’ accommodation with meals, refreshment stops on riding days, luggage transfer and access to support vehicles along the route.

For more information about the challenge, and to sign up, please contact Florence Bearman on +44 (0)7875 284 211, or email fl******@******id.org.

Last September, a team of 30 riders completed the 170-mile ‘Way of the Roses’ challenge with Transaid, cycling from Morecambe to Bridlington, raising more than £45,000 in the process.

 

Successful digitisation of wine press hall in Bavaria

Posted on by Keith McKinley

One of Europe‘s most modern wine press halls is located in the Franconian town of Kitzingen in the southern German state of Bavaria. During wine season, several hundred tonnes of grapes are processed there daily. Around 2,000 grape containers need to be stored and tracked. For this reason, the Winzergemeinschaft Franken eG (GWF) emphasised digitalisation early during the construction of the hall.

The project was entrusted to digitisation specialist ENTIAC, relying on hardware from deister electronic.

The project goal was to ensure efficient and seamless communication between the forklifts in the wine press hall and the control software in the main office. Grape containers were to be directed to the correct storage location or directly to the storage vat or grape press. For this purpose, the forklifts had to be automatically supplied with corresponding driving orders after picking up and sorting out the containers.

Consistent documentation

In wine production, all processes must be fully documented. This becomes a real challenge when around 2,000 containers of 600kg of grapes each, coming from hundreds of wineries need to be moved around the 5,000 sq m hall area with the help of forklifts.

“In order to automate documentation and tracking, each of the four forklifts in the wine press hall was therefore equipped with one of the powerful, reliable wide-range readers from deister electronic,“ reports Jörg Dombrowski, responsible project manager at system integrator ENTIAC. “This communicates with one of our COM boxes, which is also attached to the forklift. Thanks to their robust design, the readers are ideally suited for the adverse conditions in the wine press hall.”

The grape containers are each equipped with four inconspicuously attached RFID sticker tags that are automatically read by the forklift when they are picked up. Information about the contents is stored on the tags – such as the grape quantity and variety and winery of origin. The ENTIAC-COM-Box sends this data via WLAN to the warehouse control software, which in turn automatically displays driving orders and destination storage locations to the driving personnel on a tablet on the forklift.

Fast implementation, fewer errors

The team of four forklift drivers was pleased with the shallow learning curve, the system-related working comfort and the low susceptibility to errors, summarises Dombrowski: “Without the system, we would have to get off the forklift for each container and do the documentation by hand scanner and paper list. Now it‘s all fully automatic.“

The decision-makers of the project – the logistics management, the management of the wine press station, the IT department and the GWF management – were pleased with the short and effective implementation phase: the system was ready to use for the 2021 grape harvest.

Challenge

  • Integration with existing control station and control/software solutions
  • Contactless identification of the grape containers when picked up by forklifts

Solution

  • Four TSU 200 wide range readers (logIdent)
  • 8,000 RFID sticker tags (four for each of the 2,000 grape containers)
  • Control hardware and software from ENTIAC

Benefits

  • Clear assignment & identification of the containers
  • Digital, complete documentation
  • Tracking of the grape containers throughout the entire process

 

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