Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO), including Toyota Material Handling Group and Toyota Automated Logistics Group, provider of material handling solutions, and Gideon, have signed an investment agreement with immediate effect.
The technology company Gideon develops and offers leading technologies for Autonomous Mobile Robotics (AMR) behaviour and application stack for automating specific processes in warehouse and manufacturing environments.
For TICO, this strategic partnership and investment creates possibilities to simplify automated vehicle systems through standardisation, reduced deployment times and increasing flexibility, adaptability and scalability. TICO’s global autonomous vehicle software house, T-Hive, will have a leading role to apply and leverage Gideon’s technology within specific areas of TICO’s global automated vehicle portfolio.
Gideon’s modern software architecture, as well as their artificial intelligence algorithms, will further strengthen TICO’s capabilities in the automation of vehicles. Collaborative case picking for retail order fulfilment, as well as truck unloading and loading, are examples of specific applications that Gideon currently offers to its customers. For Gideon, the investment allows the company to benefit from Toyota’s world leading manufacturing expertise, broad market access and global service network.
Gideon CEO, Josip Ćesić, said, “Toyota’s longstanding legacy as a pioneer in lean manufacturing practices, driven by a relentless commitment to quality, innovation, and sustainability, underpins their expertise with both manual and automated material handling equipment. Their unparalleled manufacturing capacity, coupled with a robust global sales and service network, combined with Gideon’s cutting-edge autonomy and application technology, creates a groundbreaking value proposition for the warehouse and manufacturing automation sector.”
Toyota Industries Corporation Senior Executive Officer, Norio Wakabayashi, commented, “Gideon has developed impressive vision modules enabling flexible, intelligent autonomous behaviour and user and deployment friendliness that will provide added value for our customers in the coming years. TICO already holds a strong position in automated vehicles, but this strategic investment underlines our commitment to delivering market leading mobile automation.”
Forklift telematics systems deliver the vital statistics data that every warehouse or distribution centre manager needs to get the most from their materials handling equipment budget. But, warns Steve Ross (pictured), Operations Manager – Connectivity and Digital Products, Toyota Material Handling UK, having plenty of data is of little or no value if users have no idea what the figures mean and how to use them.
Vital statistics
Using a combination of GPS technology, sensors and the vehicle’s electric motor or ic-engine performance information, telematics systems deliver the vital statistics that every warehouse or distribution centre manager needs to understand precisely how productive and cost-efficient their materials handling equipment (MHE) is and, arguably most importantly of all, how safely it is being operated.
For example, it is generally understood that getting the best value from any material handling budget means constantly reviewing intralogistics systems to make certain that each truck is being used safely and effectively throughout every shift. Truck-connected telematics technology will flag-up any under-used vehicles within the fleet – regardless of whether a company has several hundred units or one or two machines in operation.
The data generated by telematics to highlight trucks with lower-than- expected usage rates could prompt users take the necessary action to drive down their monthly MHE running costs. For instance, trucks might be switched to other areas of the business where they can be more productive or, in some cases, equipment may even be removed from the fleet altogether if the figures fed back by the telematics system demonstrate that usage rates consistently fall below what is forecast.
But, of course, efficient forklift fleet utilisation is about more than just knowing how often a truck is used: managers need to consider how operators are performing too. For example, how busy are they during their working day? Could they be more helpful if they were reassigned to undertake alternative tasks during their shift? Are more drivers needed to run the operation smoothly or is the opposite the case? Are drivers operating the trucks safely? By tracking individual driver activity, telematics delivers the kind of actionable data that will answer these questions and plenty more.
On-site safety is another cornerstone of cost-efficient materials handling that can be improved by the data gathered by telematics systems. With losses incurred because of accidental damage to either the goods, building or the truck itself typically representing 5-15%of a forklift’s operating expenses, if on-site safety is considered in pure monetary terms alone the benefits of operating a safe site are obvious.
Telematics systems, such as Toyota’s I_Site, can help safety conscious companies reduce the potential for accidents in several ways. These include pinpointing precisely where forklift mishaps take place. If the data indicates that a certain location within the warehouse is something of an accident ‘black spot’, management will be alerted and, if necessary, additional safety measures can be introduced to cut the likelihood of further incidents in and around the area.
Steve Ross
Some telematics systems require each operator to use their own PIN code or smart access card to operate a truck. This feature not only restricts non-qualified personnel from operating the machinery but the fact that it makes operators accountable for their actions during a shift means that they should take far more care when going about their daily routine. Naturally, this results in a safer environment and reduced product, truck or building infrastructure damage.
A significant percentage of a company’s MHE budget can be taken up by the efficiency – or otherwise – of the battery changing and recharging process but, by using data supplied by on-truck telemetry to monitor battery and charger performance, potentially costly problems can be avoided. Failure to properly oversee the critically important recharging regime could also damage the environment and will certainly result in higher than necessary operating costs.
Companies want to collect as much data about their business processes as they can get and there is almost no limit to the type of information that can be supplied by telematics-connected trucks. But if the statistics can’t be harnessed because they are presented in a way that only a professional data scientist could understand they will be of little or no value. In fact, having plenty of data can become more of a liability than an asset if users feel overwhelmed by it or have no idea how to use the figures in ways that will benefit their company. And, if that happens, the data tends to be left to gather dust!
Toyota is a market leader in telematics and introduced its I_Site MHE telematics technology more than 20 years ago. From the outset, I_Site has been designed to deliver valuable business insights, rather than simply supply users with figures and statistics. The system gives logistics professionals knowledge that they can use for the benefit of their businesses by presenting data as meaningful, helpful and actionable Information.
But by presenting a crystal-clear overview of everything users need to measure, analyse and improve their material handling operation I_Site allows logistics managers to take the sometimes-difficult decisions that are needed to keep full control of the intralogistics processes that they oversee. And by doing so, their companies will experience the true value of telematics.
Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO) has launched Toyota Automated Logistics Group (TALG) to house its existing subsidiary, Toyota L&F, alongside the companies it acquired in 2017 (Bastian Solutions and Vanderlande) and 2022 (viastore). As a result, it has increased its presence in all integrated and automated projects worldwide, and capitalised on the synergies between the respective organisations and the added value they offer to the market.
TALG’s company name has been created to reinforce the added value of the reliability, stability, commitment and security of TICO as the group’s parent company. In addition, customers will benefit from the wide portfolio which ranges from the integration of automated solution projects to end-to-end automated solutions offered by the four group companies to the global logistics market.
As a global partner for integrated logistic process automation, TALG is committed to helping customers meet the challenges specific to their industries by incorporating its integrated portfolio of scalable systems, intelligent software and life-cycle services. With a full range of automated logistic solutions – from receiving to shipping – TALG supports all aspects of its customers’ manufacturing facilities, distribution centres and airports. It also complements the worldwide logistic solutions and high-quality products, such as forklift trucks and warehouse equipment, offered by the Toyota Material Handling Group.
While Toyota L&F focuses on the development of reliable and efficient systems to improve customers’ logistic processes, Bastian Solutions provides added value to companies of all sizes through leading technology resources and strong system integration capabilities. Furthermore, Vanderlande meets the complex challenges faced by businesses with the provision of sustainable and future-proof logistic process automation, while viastore provides customers with guaranteed success through customised warehouse and material flow logistic solutions.
“As a group, TALG is not only trusted to improve the competitive position of our customers, but also confirm our status as a leading global player in integrated logistic process automation,” says Norio Wakabayashi, Senior Executive Officer of TICO. “Wherever we operate in the world – and whatever the industry – through a combination of innovation, integration and automation, the Toyota Automated Logistics Group stays true to its guiding principle: for every challenge, a reliable solution.”
