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Tag: Materials Handling

Hyster Previews Zero-Emission Terminal Tractor at TOC

Posted on by Keith McKinley

At TOC Europe 2023, Hyster will discuss solutions for port equipment electrification, giving visitors a first glimpse of the zero-emission terminal tractor Hyster is developing with Capacity Trucks at stand C11. The company will also be on hand to share updates on its hydrogen and lithium-ion powered Container Handlers.

“We are delighted to be back at TOC Europe to share our latest innovations that bring advanced power sources to port equipment and help support businesses with their zero-emission strategies,” says Jan-Willem van den Brand, Director Global Market Development at Hyster. “For us, bringing ‘Clean Power that Means Business’ to ports is about understanding the whole application, and its challenges, to provide solutions that support sustainability goals and also meet performance and productivity needs of the operation.”

Visitors to stand C11 will see a preview of the technologies that Hyster is developing with yard truck brand Capacity to provide its first zero-emissions terminal tractor for use in Europe to Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA). The machine will be powered by Nuvera hydrogen fuel cells and run on hydrogen fuel produced locally at the HHLA Hamburg Green Hydrogen Hub.

Electrifying Higher-Capacity Port Equipment

This zero-emissions solution is just the latest in a series of developments where Hyster is at the forefront of electrifying higher-capacity port equipment that has traditionally relied on internal combustion engine (ICE) power. The company is currently testing the first-ever, real-world pilot of a hydrogen fuel cell-powered container handler at the Port of Los Angeles. This project was also recently recognised as a finalist for the World Hydrogen Awards 2023.

In addition, Hyster is developing an Empty Container Handler powered by hydrogen fuel cells for HHLA in Hamburg, Germany and previously announced a pilot of a fuel-cell powered ReachStacker at the Port of Valencia as part of the European Horizon 2020 programme and H2Ports project. Furthermore, Hyster recently revealed that it will provide with CARU Containers B.V. with a 100% battery-powered Hyster Empty Container Handler for use in a depot in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The electric empty container handler will be powered by 650-volt lithium-ion batteries, with electricity sourced from solar panels on site at the CARU depot.

“Electrification is not just about buying a battery powered truck, there are also considerations that must be made around infrastructure,” says van den Brand. “For instance, we know how important standardised charging is for ports that are aiming to switch to a completely electric fleet, so the Hyster equipment we are developing aims to feature CCS (Common Charging System) capability across the range. This could help make the transition to zero-emission equipment easier, while supporting scheduled and opportunity charging in operations.”

Robotic Charging

Hyster is also helping customers explore the possibilities of robotic charging for electric trucks, and will share an example of an autonomous charging system on the Hyster stand at TOC Europe.

“We are developing the new Terminal Tractor to be ready for autonomous charging, so those choosing that route can do so easily and quickly,” says van den Brand. “However, this is just one example of how we are working with partners and championing new technologies to provide solutions that simplify the transition to electrification in ports and terminals.”

The development of hydrogen and lithium-ion powered equipment is moving ports closer to total electrification, which could help operations to reduce emissions, fuel consumption, and maintenance costs without compromising performance. However, to support a wide range of businesses on their journey towards electrification, Hyster lift trucks can also now utilise HVO 100 (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) as a fuel source to help reduce emissions. This may provide a stop-gap solution that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, meets Tier III, Tier IV, and Stage V emissions regulations, and can be applied to both new Hyster trucks and those already in the field.

“We know that every port and terminal is different, so we encourage attendees at TOC Europe to come to the Hyster stand to discuss their particular application needs, and learn why partnering with Hyster may help them identify the zero-emissions equipment solutions that they need,” concludes van den Brand.

 

Fives Modernises La Poste Group’s Network

Posted on by David Priestman

Fives, one of the world’s most preferred partners for transforming supply chain facilities, has once again been chosen by La Poste Group for continuing the modernisation of its Colissimo network. This new project, which illustrates its confidence in Fives’ turnkey handling solutions, is part of a vast programme to renovate its parcel delivery network.

In 2017, Colissimo, the parcel delivery brand of La Poste Group, began a renovation programme covering its overall delivery network in France. This programme included the renewal of existing logistics facilities as well as the setting-up of new sorting systems to enhance the delivery service within and outside France.

Since the beginning of this ambitious plan, Fives has been playing a key role through the design and installation of handling systems in Douvrin and Les Arcs-sur-Argens, and in participating in the realisation of the sorting solution in Pontcharra. All those systems are already handed over and fully in production since 2019 and 2020 respectively.

These successful completions have driven Colissimo to select Fives again for equipping a new handling system in Rouen, Normandie: the two companies have been collaborating for several years in various projects based on the highly-valued GENI-Belt technology muchly appreciated for its intrinsic reliability and accuracy.

Fives’ engineers have designed the final system layout in collaboration with Colissimo’s experts to come up with the best possible solution that complies with both functionality expectations and customer’s budget.

The system will be equipped with two overlapped GENI-Belt cross-belt sorters with a length of more than 1km, several GENI-Feed high-speed induction lines and hundreds chutes to feed minivans, roller cages and trucks to deliver parcels locally and internationally.

Scalable solution

In summer 2024, Colissimo will be able to sort more than 300,000 items a day in its Rouen Normandie’s hub. However, we know that nowadays parcel flows are unpredictable: for this reason, Fives has designed a scalable solution that can increase the system capacity up to 116% of its nominal throughput with the minimum effort and investment.

“We are proud to collaborate once again with such an important player as La Poste Group,” states Benjamin Le Moult, Sales Manager & Key Account Manager GeoPost at Fives Intralogistics SpA. “After many projects completed for La Poste Group seeing that they trust again in our company, illustrates that the expertise collected in all these years of activity and the efforts we have made to fine-tune our technologies, have paid off.”

 

Mounting Solutions Provider at LogiMAT

Posted on by David Priestman

Havis, a global provider of technology mobility and mounting solutions, is exhibiting at LogiMAT 2023 at Booth G32 in Hall 4, where visitors can discover its expansive range of industry-leading solutions for transportation & logistics, warehouse & distribution and more.

As a long-standing strategic partner of leading technology providers such as Zebra, Panasonic, Dell and Getac, Havis boasts an impressive range of technology mounting, docking and charging solutions. From the kerbside and front of store to the warehouse and last mile, Havis solutions enable the technology to keep businesses moving forward.

At Booth G32, Havis is offering an exclusive first look at its new MD-501-K Rugged Mounting Solution. With a lightweight, durable design, Havis says the MD-501-K is extremely versatile and allows for multiple mounting configurations. The MD-501-K features easy-to-use knobs that allow the user to adjust the mount quickly and easily with no tools required. Havis believes this feature is a game-changer for the warehousing, material handling & logistics industries, making it faster and simpler than ever before to customise a device and keep it securely mounted in any position.

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Improved Vacuum Grippers from COVAL

Posted on by David Priestman

COVAL offers manufacturers a range of vacuum grippers suitable for handling of parts of various sizes, weights, and materials. This gripper range has been extended with the latest CMS HD series multistage vacuum pumps, developed by COVAL.

COVAL’s range of vacuum grippers is based on two complementary solutions. The CVGL is characterised by its lightness and great adaptability. It is available as standard in several lengths, power ratings, and gripping interfaces.

The MVG, on the other hand, offers the possibility of configuring the gripper to allow it to be perfectly adapted to each application by determining the length, width, gripping interface, and vacuum generator while guaranteeing extreme lightness. It offers a tailored solution that integrates perfectly with handling robots.

COVAL’s new generation of vacuum grippers now incorporate the latest CMS HD series of vacuum pumps. These pumps have a heavy-duty design for high reliability even in harsh environments (IP65), capable of ensuring 50 million cycles. A factor of the pump’s longevity is their modular design which allows specific configurations and targeted maintenance of specific parts to optimise repairability. As a result, the new generation of CMS HD multistage pumps adds to the vacuum grippers’ reliability and adaptability.

Vacuum Grippers Become Intelligent

The new COVAL vacuum grippers offer a choice of three multistage vacuum pump configurations, depending on the needs of the integrator or end user: non-piloted, piloted, and communicating. The communicating configuration, which makes the vacuum grippers easier to use and parameterise, is obtained by integrating the CMS HD VX version of the multistage pump.

The VX pump version features an IO-Link communication interface, compliant with the international IEC 61131-9 standard, for fast and cost-effective installation, continuous diagnostics, centralised parameterisation, and efficient communication with higher-level protocols (EtherNet/IP, PROFINET, EtherCAT, etc.). It can also support a Human Machine Interface (HMI) with NFC interface, enabling the operator to read and modify setup parameters and diagnostics from a mobile device (Android or iOS) using the dedicated COVAL Vacuum Manager app.

With these pump capabilities, the new generation of COVAL vacuum grippers become even more versatile and perfectly compatible with the robot systems at the heart of Industry 4.0.

Thanks to their great modularity and ease of integration in all contexts, CVGL and MVG vacuum grippers can be found in many industries: packaging, plastic, metal, and wood for handling porous and non-porous objects.

 

Brightpick Autopicker on show at LogiMAT

Posted on by David Priestman

Brightpick, a leading provider of warehouse automation solutions for order fulfilment, will be demonstrating its recently announced Brightpick Autopicker at LogiMAT booth EO31 (April 25-27, 2023, in Stuttgart, Germany). Designed for ecommerce and grocery order fulfilment, Brightpick Autopickers move around the warehouse, retrieve product storage totes (bins) from shelving, and robotically pick items from those totes to consolidate orders directly in the aisles.

The fully autonomous, end-to-end robotic solution takes less than a month to deploy, enables warehouses to reduce their picking labour by 95%, and cuts costs for order fulfilment by half. It can reliably pick groceries, cosmetics, personal care products, electronics, pharmaceuticals, apparel and more with 99.9% accuracy.

“The response to Brightpick Autopicker has been fabulous so far and we look forward to showing off its capabilities to the European market,” said Jan Zizka, CEO and co-founder of Brightpick, who will be at LogiMAT with the Brightpick team. “Never before has there been a commercially-available robot capable of autonomously moving around the warehouse and picking items as it goes.”

A typical Brightpick Autopicker fleet in a warehouse consists of 15 to 100 robots. The entire fleet and fulfilment process is orchestrated and optimised by Brightpick Intuition software, which allows users to remotely monitor and control all aspects of their fulfilment operations, tracking every robot, order, tote and item code in real time. Brightpick Autopicker is fully patented and powered by proprietary machine vision and AI algorithms. Its advanced AI algorithms have been trained on more than 250 million picks to date and use machine learning to improve with each pick.

Brightpick Autopicker also comes with Goods-to-Person capabilities for items that require human dexterity and can autonomously find the nearest human to complete a pick if needed.

The robots work with standard warehouse shelving and totes, enabling fast deployment and easy integration with any warehouse environment, including existing operations and mezzanines.

The solution has 99.5% uptime, no single point of failure and is easy to maintain. Brightpick Autopickers can also be used to replenish storage and consolidate orders across different picking zones. Additional Brightpick Autopickers can be easily added to increase throughput for seasonal peaks.

Several companies in the US and Europe plan to roll out Brightpick Autopicker in their warehouses in 2023. The Brightpick solution is available in two purchase models: robots-as-a-service (RaaS) and capex (outright purchase).

Brightpick CEO and co-founder, Jan Zizka, Chief Revenue Officer and co-founder, Branislav Pulis, and director of product, Martin Mrva, will all be at LogiMAT along with other Brightpick team members.

 

Europe’s Largest Robotic Parcel Sorting System Goes Live

Posted on by David Priestman

Europe’s largest automated robotic parcel sorting system has been installed in Turkey by the leading Turkish-owned parcel distribution and postal services company Kuryenet. The system was designed and fitted by LiBiao Robotics in conjunction with its Turkish distribution and after sales support partner, Lodamaster, at the Kuryenet facility in Tuzla, a small town on the outskirts of Istanbul.

As well as being the biggest robot-based sortation system in Europe, the Kuryenet installation is the first of its kind to be deployed in Turkey.

The sortation system – which uses 120 LiBiao ‘Mini Yellow’ autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to connect over 700 destination chutes with five parcel induction points – has the capacity to process some 45,000 items per hour. Each of the fast-moving sorting robots has a load capacity of up to 10kg and uses collision avoidance technologies to perform their route-based sorting tasks safely.

At each induction station a worker places a parcel onto a waiting robot at which point the package’s shipping label is automatically scanned and a destination chute is assigned based on the town or city to which the parcel is bound.

The LiBiao ‘Mini Yellow’ robot’s navigation system directs each robot and its load to the assigned chute and, on arrival, the parcel is tipped into a waiting mail sack.

The control system indicates when a sack is full and detailed delivery information is printed and attached to the mailbag before it is transferred to the dispatch area and into the appropriate Kuryenet waiting delivery vehicle. Thanks to the efficiency and precision of the technology, accuracy of 99.9% is being achieved.

Since the installation of ‘Mini Yellow’ robot technology, Kuryenet has been able to reduce its labour costs significantly and, furthermore, because the LiBiao robots are highly energy efficient, running costs at the facility have been noticeably cut.

A five-minute charge is all that’s needed to achieve four hours of operation from the AMR’s maintenance-free battery and each robot is automatically instructed to take itself to the nearest battery charging point when topping-up is required.

A significant benefit of Kuryenet’s new sorting solution is the fact that because each individual robot can be replaced if required, the system does not suffer from  the downtime issues sometimes associated with some traditional conveyor-based sorting operations – where a single point of failure can bring the entire parcel sortation process to a time consuming and often costly halt.

“Time is very important in our industry, so the reliability of the robotic system was very attractive to us,” says Derya Aydin, Kuryenet’s Assistant General Manager of Operations.

LiBiao’s AMR range has been developed as a cost-efficient and flexible alternative to the tilt-tray and cross-belt conveyor-based sortation systems that have historically been used within many busy parcel sorting operations. Robots, chutes and induction stations can be added as required as Kuryenet’s demands grow while additional robots can be introduced as and when they are needed to provide future-proof flexibility.

Kuryenet’s automated robotic sortation system requires just one-fifth of the floor area needed by a traditional conveyor system and the project took just four weeks to complete from start-to-finish.

A 100% Turkish-owned business, Kuryenet has always been quick to adopt new technologies: it was the first Turkish parcel delivery company to employ barcode-based parcel tracking and reporting, for example, and with the introduction of the autonomous mobile robot-based parcel sortation solution the organisation is raising its customer service offering to another level.

“Our aim is to become a global brand in the parcel delivery sector,” says Aydin. “We believe that automation is the key to success in our industry and we have always been early adopters of pioneering technology and systems.

“We are delighted with the way that the robotic sortation system has integrated with the other technology that we deploy at our Tuzla facility. The installation went particularly smoothly with engineers from LiBiao and Lodamaster working closely with personnel from our operations team to ensure the success of the project.”

Swedish port receives Konecranes reach stacker

Posted on by David Priestman

The Port of Trelleborg in Sweden has received a Konecranes intermodal reach stacker for trailer and container handling at its intermodal terminal. This new lift truck replaces an older unit that has reached the end of its service life.

Across the five Swedish core ports, Trelleborg is second in terms of throughput tonnage. In addition, it’s the largest railway port on the Baltic Sea, and the most sustainable port in the region. It uses two intermodal reach stackers to provide fast, reliable and eco-efficient intermodal services between ship and rail.

“Intermodal traffic has been growing strongly in recent years, so it’s important for us to maintain our position as a leading intermodal hub,” says Thomas Ter-Borch, Port Operations Manager, Port of Trelleborg. “We’ve been very satisfied with Konecranes equipment, so we’re confident that our new Konecranes reach stacker will help us to continue to provide our customers with the highest levels of sustainable productivity.”

“The fact that Port of Trelleborg chose a Konecranes reach stacker again highlights the quality of our products and the excellent service and business relationship provided by our long-term local distributor N.C. Nielsen,” says Daniel Sjöstrand, Sales Support Manager, Lift Trucks, Konecranes.

The new reach stacker is a Konecranes SMV 4538 CCX4, a sturdy lifting machine that can safely stack 45 tonnes in the first row up to four containers high. Despite a long wheelbase of 7,500mm for extra stability, it is extremely manoeuvrable, and a special combi spreader can handle fully laden containers from the top and trailers from the bottom across more than one track. The truck features a spacious, ergonomic OPTIMA cabin with easy-to-use controls and excellent visibility. It runs on HVO100 renewable diesel and meets the emission requirements for an EU Stage V engine. TRUCONNECT Remote Monitoring follows the truck’s performance through usage data securely stored at the yourKONECRANES.com customer portal.

Yale Reveals New Lift Truck Identity

Posted on by David Priestman

Yale Materials Handling has changed its brand name to Yale Lift Truck Technologies. The rebranding reflects the company’s emphasis on technology-enabled lift trucks for warehouse and intralogistics operations, delivered through a strong network of independent dealers.

Yale says the rebrand highlights how it is responding to ever-changing market conditions and demands, whilst emphasising its strengths in providing solutions for customers’ needs.

“The intralogistics landscape is in a state of growth and innovation, particularly across Europe, Middle East and Africa,” explains Stewart Murdoch (pictured), Senior Vice President, Managing Director – EMEA, Hyster-Yale Group. “As supply-chains evolve ever faster, Yale is also evolving to support customers and provide bespoke solutions to meet their challenges.”

Yale specialises in developing lift-trucks and the integration of technology. This combined with its heritage, knowledge, and working with its dealer partners, enables it to deliver the perfect fit for customers. “The brand name Yale Lift Truck Technologies reflects the way we are evolving with our customers to deliver the right solutions for their application-specific needs,” said Murdoch.

The new brand name is founded on a smart design philosophy and technology integration. This builds on Yale’s 100-year-long heritage of designing and manufacturing reliable lift truck technologies which keep evolving to meet the challenges facing today’s industries.

As part of the rebrand, there is a new logo and visual identity for Yale Lift Truck Technologies. The new logo is representative of the Yale ’Y’, the ‘boxes’ it moves for customers, and ‘arrows’ to indicate its desire to help customers with upward growth and increased productivity while pushing down costs.

Yale and its network of dealer partners are focused on customer success and supporting productivity, efficiency, and sustainability in the fast-changing intralogistics market. “Flexible, high-quality service and fast adoption of innovations will be key for meeting the perpetually increasing need for faster delivery times in our customers’ warehouses,” said Murdoch.

Yale has an established record of technology-driven lift truck solutions. This includes a full line of lift trucks and warehouse trucks, robotic lift trucks, various power options for electrification, next-generation operator assist technology and customer-specific solutions. All delivered to customers through its dealer partners.

Yale’s dealer partners create long-lasting, successful relationships with customers. This ensures that the right advice and flexible solutions can be delivered to warehouse and intralogistics operations, every time they are needed. Through them, Yale also delivers top-class maintenance and service support. “Our independent dealer partners allow Yale to focus on what we do best – the design and manufacture of innovative, reliable, and efficient lift truck technologies that last. While our dealer partners bring an in-depth understanding of what it takes to make our customers successful,” concluded Murdoch.

 

CoEvolution Makes ProMat Debut

Posted on by David Priestman

Multi-robot orchestration software specialist CoEvolution Technology has launched its products onto the US stage and is now seeking partners in North America. As part of its first appearance at the ProMat industry trade show in Chicago this year, CoEvolution has been showcasing its multi-robot orchestration software solutions.

CoEvolution’s core technology is AI-powered software that can control different types of robots and coordinate them seamlessly, so they operate as a homogenous fleet. Using this core technology engine, the company builds multi-robot orchestration software solutions for customers that are innovative, highly efficient and flexible, including synergised robot control systems, automation process orchestration, and smart logistics simulators.

CoEvolution aims to build the next generation of flexible logistics automation solutions, to help customers quickly adapt to an ever-changing business environment. The company’s team of co-founders bring with them many years of AI and robotics experience. CoEvolution already has more than 30 industry awards and over 20 patents to its name, and it focuses on customer value, continually striving to “co-evolve” with its customers.

Seeking US partners

Having established itself in a number of international markets, CoEvolution is now securing its presence in the US market and seeking to forge new partnerships as part of its ambitious goal to expand its US customer base, open its first US office, and hire a US workforce in the near future.

CoEvolution brings with it mainstream robot vendor partnerships (such as with Geek+) and is actively seeking North American partners at ProMat, including robotics vendors, logistics companies, systems integrators, 3PLs, and others.

Global demand for mobile robots is anticipated to undergo rapid growth over the coming years, with shipments expected to increase by around 50% between 2022 and 2027. Alongside this, the need for multi-fleet orchestration is growing in popularity at an even faster rate, with a forecast CAGR of 138% over the same five years, according to the recent Warehouse Automation Software report from market intelligence specialist Interact Analysis. And the outlook is even better for the US multi-fleet orchestration market, with a predicted CAGR of 147% over 2022-2027.

What is AMR orchestration?

In a traditional robot fleet implementation model, different types of robots are physically separated and operate in different regions within the warehouse, leading to low space utilisation. However, this results in low efficiency in integrating different processes and it is often hard to control traffic for multiple types of robots.

CoEvolution’s system can improve utilisation of space by providing a means of controlling multiple types (brand, navigation, functionality) of robots holistically, and synergised control of a mixed robot fleet can increase efficiency by 20-30%.

Utilising multiple types of robots to create smart warehouse systems leads to high storage density and high throughput, increasing operational efficiency and reducing errors. CoEvolution’s AI-powered multi-fleet orchestration software can also be used in production and processing settings to control different types of robots working collaboratively together as a homogenous fleet to create a complete intralogistics system.

Next-generatoin flexible automation

Michael Wang, CoEvolution Chief Operating Officer, says: “We aim to bring our next-generation flexible logistics automation solutions to the US through successful partnerships. The need for multi-fleet orchestration is growing and we are excited to launch our software into the North American market at ProMat 2023. Having just incorporated in the US, we are ready to do business and are actively seeking partners who will work with us to bring our innovative intelligent flexible logistics solutions to a wider audience.

“I am so proud that our products, combined with our growing portfolio of partners, mean we can offer a wide range of warehouse automation, logistics and material handling solutions to customers, with rapid deployment and fast ROI. Our multi-robot orchestration technology has been proven to increase storage density, improve productivity, enhance efficiency rates and deliver cost savings.

“We very much value the US marketplace and the opportunities it offers, and that’s why we came to ProMat 2023. We have been communicating our vision of the smart warehouses and factories of the future to the leading players in the industry. Looking forward, I will personally be taking charge of our activities in the US and I am joined at ProMat by our Co-founder and Chief Scientist Heng Liu, and a team of expert CoEvolution solutions engineers.

“Having been recently named by leading US tech publication The Information as one of the 50 most promising start-ups of 2022, we are already starting to make waves in the North America and plan to keep doing so!”

CoEvolution at ProMat

At its 1,500 sq ft booth, CoEvolution is showcasing its AI-based mobile robot orchestration solution to a US audience, including:

  • The CO-PICK smart warehouse system, including a demo which utilises six kinds of mobile robots running collaboratively, including integrating an industrial/commercial cleaning robot into the system
  • The R-Star Smart Factory Solution, which can be seamlessly integrated with customers’ WMS, ERP or MES systems to control various mobile robots. It includes path planning and traffic control capabilities to deliver quick, easy-to-use and flexible workflow configuration.
  • A demo video of CoEvolution’s simulator, which is based on actual logistics control and robot control systems. It supports real business workflow simulation of smart warehouses and factories with 2D and 3D visualisation, and a comprehensive data dashboard.

 

Dematic Joins KION Brands at LogiMAT

Posted on by David Priestman

This year’s LogiMAT sees Dematic, the intelligent automated solution provider for warehouses and distribution centres welcoming customers and visitors in Hall 10 (C41), alongside fellow KION brands STILL, Linde MH and Baoli.

During the three days of the Stuttgart, Germany industry trade show, Dematic plans to provide visitors a glimpse of the future with several innovative showcases offering immersive 3D experiences as well as an expert forum to discuss what the future has in store for the industry.

“Our industry has taken huge leaps the last few years to stay ahead of some of the challenges customers are facing. And yet, we understand that even more is needed to bring the industry and customers to the next level of intralogistics. What better way to do so than by demonstrating the combined strengths of Dematic and its fellow KION brands and showing how the customer can benefit!” states Bernard Biolchini, executive vice president EMEA, on the decision to join forces in the same hall at this year’s LogiMAT.

Adds Biolchini: “We firmly believe that by offering customers end-to-end solutions from a single provider – no matter whether they are a small, medium or large enterprise – a customer can only come out stronger when the solutions are from a single provider. And no one can compete with what our brands offer together when we come together!”

Immersive Showcases

Under the slogan “Engaging the Future”, Dematic has developed a host of immersive showcases showing a range of automated processes and customer services for the warehouse of tomorrow. Underlying this theme is the aspect of how the integration of systems is the only way forward and that tomorrow’s automation technologies will need to be integrated to shorten lead times and to maintain efficient processes. Integrated solutions can also increase safety and productivity – all critical aspects for a sustainable operation of a warehouse or distribution centre.

Perhaps the most dynamic showcase on display is with fellow brand STILL. It simulates the automation of a real-life process. Pallets are transferred to an AMR by an automated high-lift truck. It transports the goods to the warehouse for palletising and then to packing. The last two steps take place digitally in a virtual warehouse. The showcase will be displayed on high-resolution LED screens at eight hotspots. Visitors can freely control the AMR interactively with gamepad and obtain additional information. Only the latest real-time technology is used in the interactive 3D applications. “No doubt the showcase with STILL demonstrates very vividly the immense advantages and synergies that users can gain from combining the portfolios of Linde, STILL and Dematic. Holistic automation solutions of this kind are still unique on the market,” says Biolchini.

Tomorrow’s Warehouse at LogiMAT

At last year’s LogiMAT, the Dematic drone inspection services live demonstrations proved to be a highlight. Picking up from where they left off, the customer service innovations for 2023 will continue to inspire. Because tomorrow’s warehouses will be highly complex and integrated, the team from Dematic is focusing on lifecycle management solutions with thermographic inspections topping the list. The solution allows operators to detect the overheating of motors, cables and cabinets before production shutdowns are necessary.

Thermal bridges and leaks in a building, in special warehouses such as deep-freeze or oxygen storage facilities, can also be detected. Unplanned production stoppages can thus be avoided. “As a result, the risk of fire decreases while plant availability and productivity increase,” notes Alberto Rostagno, vice president Customer Service EMEA for Dematic.

Visitors can experience first-hand an evaluation using thermographic images and learn how the use of AI can optimise and automate these evaluations.

Dematic is also planning to demonstrate the depth of its interactive digital footprint at LogiMAT, which can be used to monitor a facility in real time and build simulations. This capability enables digital services used to identify optimisation opportunities and reveal potential areas for improvement. “With the help of our digital simulation tools, various strategies and processes can be tested and analysed to identify the causes of existing problems,” explains Rostagno.

The demands on tomorrow’s warehouse will rely on moving connectivity beyond the four walls of a facility to integrate with processes happening outside and beyond. Together with fellow brand LINDE MH, Dematic will demonstrate in another showcase how its portfolio of software solutions can manage a customer’s warehouse operations as well as look after fleet management, streamline maintenance processes and improve workflows with its asset management software as well as integrate with a customer’s existing SAP systems.

Human Touch

But with all the innovative technology Dematic plans to unveil at Europe’s largest industry trade exhibition, it has not forgotten the importance of the human exchange of ideas and concerns.

Thus, the industry leader’s newest addition to its trade show appearance this year is the “Engaging the Experts – Dematic Forum”, a discussion platform where it brings together inhouse experts, customers and other industry leaders to discuss trends and likely innovations for tomorrow. Visitors are invited to participate in six 20-minute discussions scheduled during the three days of the trade show.

“At the end of the day, we want our LogiMAT presence to live up to our claim of powering the future of commerce by providing best-in-class vertical market-based, intelligent supply chain solutions with flexible and dynamic fulfilment,” says Biolchini, adding, “and I believe visitors to our stand this year will not be let down.”

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