PRODUCTIVITY SOLUTIONS FOR DISTRIBUTION, WAREHOUSING AND MANUFACTURING

mmh.com

®
May 2019

SPECIAL REPORT
Top 20 system suppliers 26
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
ERP in the age of omni-channel 34
EQUIPMENT REPORT
Add structure to your storage goals 40
SHOW WRAP UP

What’s next
ProMat 2019 in review 46

for Turn 14
Jon Pulli, CEO,
Distribution
16
Turn 14 Distribution
GOT RETURNS ?
Convert them to “sale-ready”
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short-term storage, depending on demand.

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prepare each item for resale, typically within 24 hours of receipt. The
solution leverages Dematic iQ software to facilitate the inspection and
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Learn more about optimizing your distribution center with the

Dematic Merchandise Returns Systems.

Visit www.dematic.com/returns
Contact us at usinfo@dematic.com or 1-877-725-7500.
 UP FRONT BREAKING NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

Sealed Air to acquire Automated Packaging Systems

SEALED AIR CORP. has acquired
Automated Packaging Systems
(APS), a leading manufacturer of
automated bagging systems, for
$510 million.
APS provides full flexible
packaging systems, including
equipment, sustainable materials
and technical services. Known
for inventing Autobag bagging
machines and pre-opened bags
on a roll, APS also offers three
recycled film solutions under the
EarthAware brand. “The addition of APS
Founded in 1962 is well aligned with our
with headquarters in Reinvent SEE goal of
Streetsboro, Ohio, APS doubling our innovation
employs more than 1,200 rate over the next five
people, serves customers years,” said Ted Doheny,
in more than 60 coun- Sealed Air president and
tries and operates seven CEO. “This transaction
manufacturing sites in expands the breadth of
the U.S. and U.K. In our automated solutions
2018, APS generated $290 million in and sustainable packaging offerings,
sales, an increase of approximately giving us access to growth opportuni-
10% year over year. ties in the markets we serve.”

Hyster-Yale Group to Mitsubishi Logisnext

collaborate with Honeywell Americas acquires
HYSTER-YALE GROUP announced that it is collaborat- Equipment Depot
ing with Honeywell to develop a new line of industry-
MITSUBISHI LOGISNEXT
first pallet trucks controlled by voice technology.
Americas (MLNA), the holding
These new semi-autonomous lift
company for Mitsubishi Caterpillar
trucks will be equipped to integrate
Forklift America (MCFA), has
with the Honeywell Vocollect voice
acquired Pon Material Handling
solution. Using this new technology,
NA, a U.S. materials handling
operators can verbally control the
equipment dealer operating as Equipment Depot.
pallet truck’s horizontal movement.
MLNA’s acquisition of Equipment Depot will further
Designed primarily for low-level pick
complement MCFA’s existing dealer network by adding direct,
activities, the voice-directed pallet
full-service materials handling operations across nine states.
trucks are designed to benefit a range of industries
“Customers are increasingly seeking more comprehensive
including retail, e-commerce, food and beverage,
solutions to their materials handling challenges,” said Ken
general warehousing and distribution.
Barina, MLNA president. “By adding Equipment Depot, we
“Low-level order picking can represent up to 70%
can continue to improve on our industry-leading solutions to
of labor costs in the average warehouse operation.
our customers and dealer partners.”
Our studies showed that by controlling movements
Serving local communities since 1951, Equipment Depot is
of a Hyster or a Yale pallet truck through voice
one of the largest independent materials handling and rental
commands in order picking applications, customers
businesses in the U.S., with locations spanning 1,500 miles.
can improve operator productivity up to 20%,” said
MCFA has 110 authorized dealers covering more than 730
David Furman, president of marketing for Hyster-
locations across North, Central and South America.
Yale Group.

Hitachi acquires JR Automation, enters

U.S. robotic system integration market
HITACHI HAS ACQUIRED the robotic
system integration business of JR
Automation Technologies, a builder of
production lines and logistics systems
using industrial robots.
Founded in 1980, JR Automation
has grown from a North American to
a global player by designing, building
and adjusting production lines in the
automotive, aerospace, e-commerce
and medical device industries. The
mmh.com
company employs more than 2,000
workers and reported 2018 revenues
of $603 million.
With this acquisition, which is val-
ued at $1,425 million (approx. 158.2
billion yen), Hitachi will enter the
robotic system integration business in
North America, which is expected to together with the acquisition of KEC
see a high rate of growth. Corporation (KEC), a Japanese robot-
Hitachi will continue to accelerate ic system integrator Hitachi acquired
the global rollout of the business, in March 2019.
M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M ay 2019 3
 2019 INTERNATIONAL FORKLIFT OF THE YEAR (IFOY) WINNER
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most realistic virtual warehouses available. By
providing an engaging learning environment with
real-world challenges and real-time feedback, the
system can help:

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 VOL. 74, NO. 5

COVER STORY
System walk ®

through, page 22 PRODUCTIVITY SOLUTIONS FOR DISTRIBUTION,

WAREHOUSING AND MANUFACTURING

60 seconds
Jon Pulli, with...
CEO, Turn 14 Bryan Knott
Jeff Fusco / Getty Images for Peerless Media and Crystal
Parrott
SYSTEM REPORT

16 What’s next for Turn 14

Distribution
A Pennsylvania-based distributor of performance auto DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS
parts moved from conventional to automated processes 3/ Upfront
and expanded its network from one to three DCs. The
result: improved accuracy, throughput and industry- 7/ This month in Modern
leading customer service. 12/ Lift Truck Tips: Mobile computing
14/ Packaging Corner: Protective packaging
56/ Supplement: Automation
FEATURES 64/ Special Section: ProMat Showcase
SPECIAL REPORT 69/ Focus On: AGVs and Mobile Robots
26 Top 20 system suppliers 74/ 60 seconds with...
Records continue to topple as the industry achieves robust, global
and nearly universal growth.
NEWS
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
9/ MHI’s annual report sees inflection
34 ERP in the age of omni-channel point, investment spike, for digital
In recent years, enterprise resource planning solutions have lost technologies
some luster, even being called “back office” systems. They’re useful
for financials, procurement and transactions, but can ERP drive 10/ ProMat 2019: Nearly 50,000 attendees
omni-channel fulfillment? The short answer is “yes.” set 34-year record

EQUIPMENT REPORT

40 Add structure to your storage goals

Racks are not immune to the constant pressure to adapt, but
alterations can present just as many opportunities for risk as reward.
SHOW WRAP UP
Modern Materials Handling® (ISSN 0026-8038) is published monthly
by Peerless Media, LLC, 111 Speen Street, Suite 200, Framingham,
MA 01701. Annual subscription rates for non-qualified subscribers:

46 ProMat 2019 show wrap up

Here’s a look at some of what our team of editors saw at the show.
USA $139, Canada $219, Other International $269. Single copies are
available for $20. Send all subscription inquiries to Modern Materials
Handling, PO Box 677, Northbrook, IL 60065-0677 USA. Periodicals
postage paid at Framingham, MA and additional mailing offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Modern Materials
Handling, PO Box 677, Northbrook, IL 60065-0677. Reproduction
of this magazine in whole or
part without written permission
of the publisher is prohibited.
All rights reserved.
©2019 Peerless Media, LLC.

mmh.com MODERN MAT ERIA L S HA NDL ING / M ay 2019 5

 If you’re planning for
your inventory to
always fit in one of
these...

You must be using

one of these.

W e doubt you have a crystal ball to configure the optimal DC to handle all the fast and fluctuating
inventory types and fulfillment demands in your future.

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solutions are informed by GreyMatter real-time intelligence to optimize how people, robots and
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Easily flex up for peaks and flex down afterward, with continually adjusting automated
decisions that maximize performance to deliver healthier margins, customer-pleasing delivery
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Whether you choose a single solution or our full-suite end-to-end DC advantage, our always
solving state-of-the-art robotics put warehouse operations into GreyOrange GOmode™ to
deliver value-in-motion from receiving to sorting & shipping.

Butler TM
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 ®
THIS MONTH IN MODERN
EDITORIAL OFFICES
111 Speen Street, Suite 200 MICHAEL LEVANS
Framingham, MA 01701-2000 GROUP EDITORIAL
(800) 375-8015 DIRECTOR

Michael Levans

Automation: The buzz

GROUP EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
mlevans@peerlessmedia.com
Bob Trebilcock

you hear is real

EXECUTIVE EDITOR
btrebilcock@peerlessmedia.com
Noël P. Bodenburg

T
EXECUTIVE MANAGING EDITOR
npbodenburg@peerlessmedia.com here’s a good chance the buzz that’s to shop around for conveyor and sortation
Josh Bond still ringing in your ears from ProMat systems over the next 24 months, 50% tell us
SENIOR EDITOR
jbond@peerlessmedia.com last month may be with you for a while. they’re ready to invest in robotics for picking;
Sara Pearson Specter As we found in our “2019 Warehouse and 55% are interested in mobile collaborative
EDITOR AT LARGE
sara@saraspecter.com Distribution Center Equipment Survey” in robots; 47% are looking into shuttle systems
Roberto Michel March and then validated in Chicago, Modern and mobile robotic storage; and 47% say
EDITOR AT LARGE
roberto.michel@charter.net
readers are still fired up to invest in solutions they’re ready to make a move toward robotics
Bridget McCrea
to help overcome increasing service demands for palletizing.
EDITOR AT LARGE while managing diminishing resources. While we’ve been watching the slow and
bridgetmc@earthlink.net
If we needed any more data to support this steady growth of new technology adop-
Jeff Berman
GROUP NEWS EDITOR vibe, the findings from our latest “Usage and tion, we’ve also been tracking how small- to
jberman@peerlessmedia.com
Implementation of Warehouse and DC Automa- medium-sized business are applying automa-
Wendy DelCampo
SENIOR ART DIRECTOR tion Solutions” reveals that readers are getting tion inside their operations to keep up with
wdelcampo@peerlessmedia.com adventurous, especially when it comes to robot- the well-known e-tail behemoths.
Polly Chevalier
ART DIRECTOR ics. Editor at large Bridget McCrea puts context This month in Modern, executive editor Bob
pchevalier@peerlessmedia.com behind the findings starting on page 56. Trebilcock offers his second of three System
Daniel Guidera “After combing through the results,” says Reports that focus on smaller organizations that
ILLUSTRATION
daniel@danielguidera.com McCrea, “it becomes pretty apparent that the are turning their order fulfillment and logistics
Kelly Jones increasing need to manage high-velocity oper- capabilities into a competitive advantage. Start-
PRINT/ONLINE PRODUCTION
MANAGER ations with limited labor resources is clearly ing on page 16, he shares how Turn 14 Distri-
kjones@peerlessmedia.com
pushing companies toward more automa- bution, a distributor of performance auto parts,
Brian Ceraolo tion—and they’re breaking down any long-felt grew from a single 52,000-square-foot DC in
PRESIDENT AND CEO apprehensions in the process.” Pennsylvania into a distribution network with
bceraolo@peerlessmedia.com
According to the results, 63% of companies locations in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Texas.
PEERLESS MEDIA, LLC
www.peerlessmedia.com already use conveyor and sortation systems to “In short order, the company built out three
automate their facilities; 55% rely on weighing, strategically located DCs comprising more than
MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS
Start, renew or update your FREE cubing and dimensioning equipment; 33% 700,000 square feet of space,” says Trebilcock.
magazine subscription
Web: mmh.com/subscribe use goods-to-person picking solutions; 22% However, the key was bringing in a new
Email: mmh@omeda.com
Phone: 847-559-7581 use automated storage; and 20% rely on auto- level of automation that now allows the com-
Mail: Modern Materials Handling
P.O. Box 677 mated packaging solutions. pany to hit most of the country in one day.
Northbrook, IL 60065-0677
For reprints and licensing “While these are all positive numbers “What impressed me the most was that, hav-
please contact Brett Petillo
877-652-5295, ext 118 regarding what are now traditional approaches ing done it once,” adds Trebilcock, “the com-
peerless@wrightsmedia.com.
to automation, we were more encouraged by pany’s CEO said he’d do it again. This is just
ENEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTIONS
Sign up or manage your FREE
what readers were forecasting over the next another great example of the power of materi-
eNewsletter subscriptions at
www.mmh.com/enewsletters.
two years,” says McCrea. als handling automation done right regardless
While 57% of respondents say they plan of company size.”

peerlessmedia.com
peerlessmedia.com Member of Winner
Official Publication of
Member
Jesse H. Neal
Certificates of
Merit for Journalistic
Excellence

peerlessmedia.com
CMYK GRAYSCALE
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B/W WHITE
M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M AY 2019 7
CMYK GRAYSCALE B/W WHITE
Connect. Adapt.
Transform.

Make the digital The unrelenting pace of commerce is forcing retailers to

process higher order volumes at speeds once considered
transformation with unimaginable. To stay competitive and protect profits,
companies can no longer settle for fragmented oversight
The Connected of their fulfillment operations.

Distribution Center. The Connected Distribution Center provides end-to-end

connectivity of workers, systems and processes to increase
reliability, improve utilization and maximize productivity.

If you’re ready to achieve day-to-day flexibility, future-proof

scalability and intelligence to make informed decisions, let
us show you how The Connected Distribution Center can
transform your operations.

For more information, please visit www.intelligrated.com

© 2019 Honeywell International, Inc. All rights reserved. or call 1.866.936.7300.

PROMAT
MHI’s annual report sees
inflection point, investment
spike, for digital technologies
Panelists highlight an industry ready to move forward with
the next stages of adopting digital technologies.
BY MMH STAFF
MHI’s sixth-annual, survey-based report
illustrates rising interest in digital tech-
nologies like Cloud computing, artificial
intelligence (AI) and robotics, as well as
a sharp increase in spending plans.
A keynote panel discussed the
report’s findings at ProMat last month,
highlighting an industry ready to move
forward with the next stages of adopt-
ing digital technologies.
“I think we are leaving the period of
experimentation,” said panel member
Joel Reed, CEO of IAM Robotics.
The participants included co-mod-
erators George W. Prest, CEO of MHI,
and Scott Sopher, principal for Deloitte
Consulting’s Supply Chain Practice.
Deloitte assists MHI with the survey
that is featured in the annual report.
The panel consisted of Annette Danek-
Akey, SVP Supply Chain, Penguin Ran-
dom House; Jim Liefer, CEO of Kindred
AI; IAM Robotics’ Reed; and Randy V.
Bradley, assistant professor of informa-
mmh.com
Follow
Modern Online
facebook.com/mmhmagazine
Twitter | @modernmhmag
Web | mmh.com
tion systems and supply chain
management, Haslam Col-
lege of Business, The Univer-
sity of Tennessee.
The 2019 MHI Annual
Industry Report, “Elevat-
ing Supply Chain Digital
Consciousness,” suggests
investment in supply chain
innovation is at an inflection
point, with a trend of declin-
ing investment from 2015 to 2018 technologies tracked in the report,
being more than countered by a 95% the survey found Cloud computing
increase in projected spending in 2019. and storage has the highest current
Other findings included: adoption rate at 56%. Cloud adoption
• 57% of respondents are planning is expected to grow to 79% over the
new technology investments totaling next two years, and to 91% over the
more than $1 million over the next two next five years. In the same period,
years (up 10% over last year’s survey). predictive analytics is expected to
• 34% plan to spend more than $5 reach an adoption rate of 87%, fol-
million. lowed by sensors at 86%, Internet of
• 22% plan to spend more than Things (IoT) at 80% and wearables at
$10 million. 73%. Blockchain and AI, which are cur-
In terms of adoption rates for 11 rently only at 10% and 13%, respec-
M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M AY 2019 9
tively, are both expected to reach 62%
in five years.
The labor crunch, which remains
the most challenging industry issue
in the report, is driving much of the
initial adoption of digital technolo-
gies. As Kindred AI’s Liefer put it, the
labor shortage compels companies to House agreed that early uses of digital
adopt automation to find efficiencies, technologies have tended to center
at least as an initial focus. “The poten- around efficiency gains, but added
tial for digital technologies is mas- that now companies are starting to see
sive,” Liefer said. “We’ve just started how digital technologies can improve
to scratch the surface.” delivery and cycle times. Increasingly,
Danek-Akey from Penguin Random she added, technology providers are
helping companies quantify the value
of factors like faster deliveries.
“The pace of supply chain innova-
tion over the six years of our survey
is truly astounding, creating real and
measurable competitive advantage for
early adopters,” said Prest in a state-
ment. “With supply chain complexity
showing no signs of slowing, the risk
of inaction is only growing. Leading
manufacturing and supply chain execu-

NOT ALL RACK IS tives agree that technology is the key

to future success.”

CREATED EQUAL The report can be downloaded at

MHI.org.

See for yourself. TRADE SHOW NEWS

For nearly 50 years, Steel King Industries

ProMat 2019: Nearly
has been manufacturing high-quality, 50,000 attendees set
competitively priced material handling products. 34-year record
Today, Steel King is the “go to” source Manufacturing and supply chain pro-
for the precision engineering and durable fessionals gathered in record num-
quality that supports some of the most bers in Chicago for ProMat 2019, the
sophisticated automated largest materials handling and supply
RACK SYS

warehouses and distribution

P L A N N I N GT E M
chain trade expo in North and South
For nearly 50
years, Steel
high-quality, King Industries
competitively has been designing

GUIDE
priced material and manufactu
handling solutions. ring

2019
• AS/RS Storage
Systems
• Rack Supported

America.
Buildings
• Multi-level

centers nationwide.
Pick Modules
• Flow and Pushback
Racking Systems
• Pallet Racks
• Drive-In / Drive-Thru
Racks
• Cantilever
Racks
• Portable and
Custom Shipping
Racks

ProMat 2019 was the largest in the

• Mezzanines
/Work Platforms
• Industrial Containers
• Industrial Guard
Rails

To learn more, ask for our WWW.STEELKING

2700 Chamber
St.
.COM

34-year history of the event, with reg-

website for the 2019
2018
Stevens Point,
WI 54481

(800) 826-0203

Rack Syste
istrations of 49,718—an 11% atten-
(715) 341-3120
(715) 341-8792
(fax)

© 2019 Steel
King Industries,
Inc. RDBRO19 DESIGN m
& BUYE
R’S GUIDE

Rack Planning Guide

WWW.STEELKING
.COM

dance jump over 2017. The four-day

www.steelking.com/guide expo, April 8-11, covered 425,000 net
square feet of exhibit space on two
show floors at Chicago’s McCormick
Place with 938 exhibiting companies.
The ProMat expo was co-located with
Automate 2019.
800-826-0203 “Investment in supply chain innova-
tion is at a critical inflection point,”
AS/RS Systems • Rack Supported Buildings • Multi-level Pick Modules said George Prest, CEO of MHI. “The
Flow and Pushback • Pallet Racks • Drive-In / Drive-Thru • Cantilever energy level among visitors and exhib-

10 M A Y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
itors was at an all-time high as more industry professionals. This year’s McCormick Place from April 12-15,
attendees were actively seeking best- Classroom Day combined an interac- 2021 and will feature a new Robotics
in-class solutions for their manufactur- tive educational session with a guided & Automation Solution Center.
ing and supply chain operations.” tour of the show floor and off-site The next MHI-sponsored trade
According to registration data, facility tours. Nearly 250 students and event will be Modex 2020, March
82% of attendees had buying author- faculty from 45 schools participated. 9-12, 2020 in Atlanta’s Georgia World
ity and 34% plan on spending $1 mil- ProMat 2021 will be held at Congress Center.
lion or more over the next 18 months
on equipment and systems.
Attendees from outside the United
States at this year’s ProMat represented
145 countries. The conference included
more than 140 show floor educational
seminars and featured solution centers
with exhibits and education on robot-
ics, supply chain sustainability and
emerging technologies.
MHI Industry Night on April 10
featured comedian Craig Ferguson.
The door prize for this event was a
$30,000 trip of a lifetime was awarded
to Elizabeth Buza of The Raymond
Corporation. During Industry Night,
MHI also announced the 2019 MHI
Innovation Award winners. —
Robotic Small Package
Best Innovation of an Existing
Singulation (SPS)
Product Winner
• RightPick: The Piece Picking Creating order from chaos
Solution by RightHand Robotics Inc.
Best IT Innovation Winner
• redPilot by Knapp Inc.
Best New Innovation Winner
• Pick2Pack by CMC
The winners of the 2019 MHI Young
Professional Network (YPN) awards Traditionally, inducting packages or items
to a sortation system has been a manual
were also announced at this event.
operation. It’s dull, repetitive and hard to
2019 YPN Mentor Award Winner find people to do it. That is now changing.
• Rosalee Brown of Rasco Industries ABB, together with a leading perception
2019 YPN Outstanding Young company, has developed a robot-centric
solution that accurately and consistently
Professional Award Winner
identifies each package, picking and placing
• Ben Moyer of Hytrol Conveyor
it on the induction conveyor, every hour
Company of every day. Creating order from chaos
one package at a time. It is just one of the
ProMat 2019 Student Days intro- new robotic solutions for the warehousing,
duced students and educators to distribution and order fulfillment market
career opportunities through hands- from ABB. www.abb.com/robotics
on learning and networking with

mmh.com M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M AY 2019 11
LIFT TRUCK TIPS
Staying power for mobile devices
A thorough understanding of the application will ensure a happy
marriage between forklifts and mobile computers.
By Josh Bond, Senior Editor
F
orklifts have transformed from mobile spatulas to
mobile high-tech offices in just a few years. In a tradi-
tional office, any investment in desktop computers is
governed by specifications that satisfy operational needs,
security concerns and total cost of ownership. When it
comes to mobile computers and forklifts, however, many
operations have started from scratch and learned the
tradeoffs of performance, cost and durability the hard way.
“A person looking for a forklift-mounted computer is
probably not realizing the true duty cycle,” says David Pau-
fler, industrial marketing manager for Datalogic. “The big-
gest blind spot is a lot of people don’t realize a forklift has
no suspension, so something mounted on it will receive
every bump and shock.”
Paufler says the past few years have seen widespread
experiments with consumer-grade devices. Backed up in
the Cloud, the semi-disposable nature of consumer devic-
es seemed a viable alternative to rugged, more expensive
devices. But, issues of shock damage and connector wear
and tear became evident.
“They want to use a device for more than one ap-
plication, so if the operator is only driving for 50% of the
day, they want the computer to go with him for the other
50%,” Paufler says. “That led them to tablets, which is
cool, but they face issues of durability. A wave of iPad
users has been coming to us. They’re dying with these
consumer devices they throw out every six months.”
Operations quickly learn the asset cost is 20%, and the
remaining 80% is maintenance and support. Paufler says
it’s critical to select the type of device that fits the work at
the task and operational level. Some might find a smart
phone is more than enough. Some choose a tablet so
they can use CANbus for data, and others want a full-time
device that’s always connected. An array of consumer de-
vices, industrial phones and tablets, or full vehicle-mount
terminals (VMTs) is available.
12 M a y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G
There are lots of options, Paufler says. Maybe a scanner
linked to a VMT is ideal, but does the operator occasion-
ally go away from the terminal? Maybe they wouldn’t
have to if the handheld scanner has a 20-meter range. Or,
perhaps it would be better to use a detachable tablet?
The industry’s approach to technology’s rapid change has
been to emphasize flexibility and future-proofing. An aver-
age VMT has a variety of ports to support future accessories.
“It’s much easier to be future-proofed with VMTs,”
Paufler says. “You need good connectivity with the host
system, good Wi-Fi so you maintain a connection, and a
processor and memory that can handle the load. Once
you have those three, everything else is a peripheral.”
Plus, there are the software considerations. Most
customers are still running off terminal emulation, Paufler
says, and although many good modern interfaces exist,
emulation precludes custom applications since it’s simply
a graphic overlay on an existing system.
“As some of the go-to options phase out, like Microsoft
support for Windows CE, the question about operating
system pops up,” Paufler says. “It’s not that big a hurdle.
What they’re worrying about is the lifecycle. But, somebody
buying a mobile computer for a forklift can pick what they
want and know the big vendors are going to be there with
that product for the next 10 years.”
Josh Bond is Modern’s senior editor and can be reached at
jbond@peerlessmedia.com
mmh.com
Big ideas open up completely new perspectives.
We have taken another step towards mechatronic integration with
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PACKAGING CORNER

Block-and-brace cushioning pads

keep companies green
Environmentally friendly cushioning pads provide protection
against shocks and absorb impacts.

By Sara Pearson Specter,

Editor at Large

S
ustainability in packaging is no longer a
trend; it’s a reality for today’s shippers as
customers demand environmentally friendly
protective packaging that can be disposed of in an
ecologically responsible way, says Tommy Moor-
man, marketing manager for Storopack NA.
“Companies are truly making an effort to be
green while improving their customers’ packag-
ing experiences,” Moorman explains. “Therefore,
our PAD LOC Renature pad combines two of our
certified compostable products: PAD LOC micro-
perforated film bags filled with a mix of air and our
Renature loose fill shipping peanuts. Both prod-
ucts are formulated from plant-based starches and grains.” their compost bin, or they can route it to their municipal-
Bagging the peanuts prevents migration and allows ity’s compostable waste service. “I’ve also seen people
the PAD LOC Renature pads to be used as moldable pad- tuck it into the bottom of a planter box. When the materi-
ding. Each conforms to the shape and contours of the als break down, they’re completely non-toxic and add
item (or items), replacing custom-engineered pre-formed nutrients back into the soil,” he adds.
packaging. It also prevents the customer from being Interestingly, Moorman notes, the film itself has been
showered by an explosion of individual packaging pea- shown to begin breaking down within six months, lead-
nuts when they open the box. ing the company to advise customers to only stock
“The block-and-brace properties of the cushioning roughly three months worth of packaging to ensure it’s
pads provide protection against shocks and absorb used before it degrades. “We discovered in one of our
impacts better than air pillows—which can be punc- manufacturing plants that a roll of the film that hadn’t
tured. They also recover better than crumpled paper, been converted yet broke down after six months—and
which doesn’t rebound as readily when it’s compressed,” was unusable,” he chuckles. “It definitely works as it’s
Moorman adds. supposed to.”
The pouches are offered in standard sizes of 12 x 12
inches, 12 x 18 inches and 12 x 24 inches, or in custom Sara Pearson Specter is an editor at large with Modern and
sizes. Recipients can either put the packaging directly into can be reached at sara@saraspecter.com.

14 M a y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
More Choices • More Expertise • More Solutions

MORE CHOICES
• Representing North America’s leading MRO brands
• Access to over 7.5 million SKUs
• Convenient and simple ways to order via mobile, desktop,
toll-free calling, or one of our locations

MORE EXPERTISE
• More than 1,500 experienced account representatives
• Over 200 field product specialists available to solve your
toughest challenges
• Unmatched technical and application support

MORE SOLUTIONS
• Local parts and supplies inventory for fast turnaround
• Repair and fabrication technicians
• Account representatives and hundreds of branches located
throughout North America

Scan to watch

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©2019 Motion Industries, Inc.

MODERN system report

What’s next for

Turn 14 Distribution
A Pennsylvania-based distributor of performance auto parts
moved from conventional to automated processes and expanded
its network from one to three DCs. The result: improved
accuracy, throughput and industry-leading customer service.

BY BOB TREBILCOCK, EXECUTIVE EDITOR

W hat’s next? That’s a

question often asked by fast-growing
companies. In an order fulfillment
environment where companies put a
premium on price, selection and cus-
Jim Larkin, director of building operations
tomer service, companies not only find
themselves running out of space and
bumping up against inefficient pro-
cesses, but also having to re-think their
entire distribution strategy to take busi-
ness to the next level of performance.
That was the situation facing Turn
14 Distribution, a Horsham, Pa.,-based
distributor of performance auto parts.
In 2013, the then 11-year-old company
was operating from a single, space-con-
strained 52,000-square-foot facility. To
meet the distributor’s goals for growth
and nationwide two-day delivery, Turn
14 realized it would not only have to
rethink its processes, it would have to
design an entirely new network. What’s
next was to conduct a network design
study, which identified three strategic
locations to meet customer service
requirements; and, then, working with
a systems integrator (Honeywell Intel-
ligrated) to develop a new warehouse
design. The design brought in a custom-
built warehouse management system
(WMS), bar code scanning, weight and
dimension capture, a light-directed put-
wall, and conveyor and sortation. With
those two steps complete, Turn 14 Dis-
tribution built and went live with three
new distribution centers, back-to-back,
in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Texas,
increasing its available space to 710,000
square feet in just a few years.
The result: While still a small- to mid-
sized distributor, Turn 14 Distribution
can now provide customer service levels
on behalf of its manufacturing partners
on the same terms as much larger dis-
tributors in other industries, including
visibility into its inventory; two-day ser-
vice across the country plus one-day ser-
vice to many locales; and free returns.
Automation, in turn, has improved
accuracy, increased throughput and
allows for late-in-the-day order cutoff
times. “We brought a new level of tech-
nology and service to an industry that
was accustomed to two-week delivery
times when we first started,” says Jon
Pulli, CEO and co-founder of the com-
pany. “It also solidified us as a leader in

16 M a y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
 Editor’s note: In April,
Modern ran the first of
three articles focused
on the distribution
challenges of small- to
medium-sized busi-
nesses that are now
expected to perform at
the same level as their
often much-larger com-
petitors. The April story
featured Adore Me Ser-
vices’ highly automated
e-commerce fulfillment
center in New Jersey.
This month, we take
a look at how Turn 14
Distribution, a distribu-
tor of high-performance
auto parts, grew from a
single 52,000-square-
foot distribution center
in Pennsylvania to a
710,000-square-foot
distribution network with
locations in Pennsylva-
nia, Nevada and Texas.
The series will finish
in June with a story
on Nassau Provision’s
path from conventional
paper-based operations
to a high-performance
warehouse management
system.

Jeff Fusco / Getty Images for Peerless Media

mmh.com M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M AY 2019 17
 MODERN system report
our space. When you start from scratch,
you have the advantage of putting
together a network that meets the needs
of today’s day and age.”
“We have significantly increased the
accuracy of all of our processes, from
receiving through shipping,” adds Jim
Larkin, director of building operations.
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“Because we capture so much information
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we have. Our inventory stays up to date
with regular cycle counting. And the auto-
mation allows us to do a larger percentage
of our business later in the day, with room
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Incoming product is inducted onto
a takeaway conveyor.
Turn 14 Distribution’s achievements
have not gone unnoticed: In 2016 and
2018, the company was recognized
by the Specialty Equipment Market
Association (SEMA) as the Wholesale
Distributor of the Year, and Pulli was
awarded Innovator of the Year.
High performance growth
Turn 14 Distribution describes itself as a
performance distributor “catering to niche
vehicle markets, along with stocking its
partner manufacturers’ full product lines
for quick order fulfillment.” A typical cus-
tomer is a speed shop with a sales counter
or an e-commerce retailer. “If you just
want to replace your parts with aftermar-
ket auto parts, that’s not for us,” Pulli says.
“Our customer is the person trying to
R
 MODERN system report

Narrow aisle shelving and equipment
provides for dense storage.
improve the performance of the vehicle.”
Its go-to-market strategy includes
sales specialists with deep industry expe-
rience in their particular markets and
access to a massive amount of inventory:
The company stocks 75,000 SKUs, but
tracks 365,000 SKUs in its system and
has access to 1 million SKUs through
its manufacturing partners, according
to Pulli. Customer service, enabled by
the distribution network and invest-
ments in technology, is the third leg of
the strategy stool. The company boasts
that it can offer one-day shipping to 43%
of the domestic U.S. population, 100%
of the population in two days and offers
competitive freight rates for global ship-
ments. It promises flat-rate shipping to
its customers’ shops, late shipping cutoff
times, six-day-a-week operations and
same-day, in-stock order fulfillment.
Turn 14 Distribution was founded
in 2002 by Pulli and his partner, chief
technology officer Chris Candido. They
took the name from Road America, a
4.0841-mile-long race track in Elkhart
Lake, Wisc., that has been described by
racing journalists as “the best test of road
racing in North America.” Considered
one of the most challenging road courses
in the country, the 14th and final turn is
a true test of driving skill. Pulli says he
was an entrepreneur at heart after grow-
ing up in an entrepreneurial family. He
and Candido were also car enthusiasts,
as are many of the company’s employ-
ees: “We were an e-commerce retailer
that turned into a wholesale distributor
because no one could service us,” says
Pulli. They began as an e-commerce
enterprise, buying from distributors who
weren’t set up to deal with e-commerce.
The first facility in Pennsylvania was
a 4,000-square-foot space with a retail

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MODERN system report
counter for walk in sales plus some whole-
sale business to shops that found the
Website online. In 2007, with the whole-
sale business growing, Pulli and Candido
made the leap to a 100% wholesale busi-
ness. “We were about 50/50 wholesale
and retail, but saw that our future was
wholesale,” Pulli says. “We sold the retail
business to one of our employees and
concentrated on wholesale so we were
aligned with our manufacturing partners
and not trying to compete with our retail
customers.” Operations were moved to
a 17,000-square-foot facility, with wide
aisles, 18-foot pallet racks, one order-
picker and no lift truck. It outgrew that
space by 2010.
That was followed by a 52,000-
square-foot facility in Pennsylvania with
narrow aisle storage for better space uti-
lization. But, by 2013, Pulli and Candido
realized that if they were going to keep
growing they needed more space and
more locations. “We knew that we wanted
to be a large company,” says Pulli. “And,
we knew that we wanted to create a distri-
bution engine for the manufacturers who
do $5 to $50 million worth of business
and will never be able to build their own
network with multiple DCs.”
He adds: “We didn’t invest to support;
we invested to create.” The executive
team began asking what was next beyond
a single 52,000-square-foot facility.
The do-it-yourself network
First, they implemented an interim solu-
tion in a 50,000-square-foot distribution
center in Reno, Nev., using processes
similar to the Pennsylvania DC. But that
was more a stop-gap measure as Turn
14 Distribution began to define what a
next generation network would look like.
Initially, Pulli says the company met with
consultants and even hired an auditing
firm for the network design. In the end,
the company decided to do the analysis
on its own. “We couldn’t find anyone
20 M a y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G
Turn 14 Distribution automatically scans,
weighs and cubes cartons as part of its
quality control and assurance program.
who approached network design in a
holistic manner,” he says. “If you end up
in the wrong municipality, for instance,
it might be a strategic location but you
pay a gross receipts tax. We gave data
requests to carriers and plugged in that
logistics information, then we looked at
labor availability and quirks that might
not be obvious, like local taxes.”
The result was a three-location net-
work: a 275,000-square-foot facility in
Arlington, Texas; 180,000-square-feet
Custom technology
W ith a founding partner who
serves as the chief technol-
ogy officer, it comes as no surprise
that Turn 14 Distribution has put an
emphasis on the use of technology to
improve its operations. Much of that
has been developed in house. “We
have a team of developers on staff,
and they developed our WMS, EDI,
API, accounting integration, and Web-
site integration,” says Pulli.
Task interleaving is one of the
major features of the warehouse man-
agement system (WMS). An associate
completing a putaway assignment,
for instance, may next be directed to
do cycle counting or to begin picking
in Reno, Nev.; and 240,000-square-feet
in Horsham, Pa. “Our goal was to get
to the smallest footprint that would
accommodate a very high SKU count
and that’s what we ended up with,” says
Larkin. What’s more, they were built
sequentially, one right after the other. “If
I had it to do over, I’d do it the same way
because with each facility, we got better,”
says Pulli. While the facilities vary in
terms of size, they are essentially cookie-
cutter when it comes to operations.
With a network strategy in place by
2014, Turn 14 Distribution realized it had
to re-think how it stored and picked prod-
uct. At the time, some limited automation
was installed in the facilities, but associ-
ates received and picked from paper and
keyed in information to print out shipping
labels. It was slow, labor intensive and
error-prone. “We knew we had to address
our bottlenecks,” says Larkin.
The distribution team investigated
implementing some type of automated
storage and goods-to-person picking,
but determined that it was too expen-
sive for their operation. Instead, they
chose a hybrid approach. “Our goal was
automated sortation, to become paper-
less on both ends of the operation and
to their cart, dropping items at one of
several induction locations along the
conveyor system before returning to a
pickup location to get more items for
putaway.
Inventory visibility is also an impor-
tant feature. Turn 14 Distribution has
built a Web portal that allows dealers
to see inventory in stock at its facili-
ties and at its manufacturing partners.
Other systems analyze the perfor-
mance of suppliers to provide more
accurate delivery times.
Why go it alone? “We developed
new capabilities ourselves because we
couldn’t wait for someone to do it for
us,” says Pulli.
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MODERN system report
Cartons are labeled for shipment (right) and inducted onto a conveyor that leads to the
shipping sorter.
to achieve the highest accuracy rate
possible,” Larkin says.
To make that happen, Turn 14 Distri-
bution worked closely with the systems
integrator’s design team. The final design
includes an emphasis on labeling and data
capture, including weight and dimension
information, when products are received.
That ensures accuracy on the front end
that will pay dividends later in the pro-
cess. Associates have the ability to send
a photo of an item they can’t identify to
the procurement team that ordered it to
ensure it’s labeled properly. That upfront
Putting automation to work
Turn 14 Distribution’s new DCs rely on a homegrown
WMS, weighing and dimensioning, and disciplined
process to speed deliveries to customers.
T
urn 14 Distribution, a distribu-
tor of high-performance parts for
automotive enthusiasts, went from
one 52,000-square-foot distribution cen-
ter to a network of three facilities mea-
suring more than 200,000 square feet
each and using identical systems.
Receiving and putaway into stor-
age: The facility conducts two different
receiving (1) processes: One for small
parts measuring up to 10 inches and
another for medium-sized parts (up to 36
inches) and large parts (up to 80 inches).
Regardless of the size of the part, the
Turn14 warehouse management system
22 M a y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G
effort reduces errors later, makes for more
efficient storage and makes possible auto-
matic box selection and consolidation dur-
ing picking and packing.
Putaway is optimized in a couple of
ways. The facility features several storage
areas that can accommodate the variety
of part sizes. For instance, one area for
small parts, another for medium-sized
parts and another for large parts from
36 to 80 inches long. Conveyor and
sortation systems have been modified
to handle the variation in part sizes as
well, using wider radius turns to handle
(WMS) prioritizes storage locations
around the velocity of a part. The fastest
movers are stored in the lower bays in
the rack and pallet storage areas so they
can be picked by an associate with a cart
rather than one on an orderpicker since
the picking process is faster on foot.
Small parts: Newly received product
is inducted (2) onto a receiving conveyor
(3) and sent to a six-sided scan tunnel
and license plate labeling station (4),
which reads the manufacturer’s label and
weighs and dimensions the items. After a
Turn 14 Distribution license plate label
is placed on the product, it is sent to a
oversized parts. The system uses random
putaway, rather than grouping parts by
manufacturer as they used to do, to
better use space. In addition, parts are
located in a storage zone according to
their velocity, with the fastest-moving
parts stored for easy accessibility. Single
line orders go to a packing station set up
to quickly get them labeled and out the
door while multi-line orders are sent to a
40-foot-long putwall, where they are con-
solidated and sent on to shipping.
Pulli and Larkin note a learning
curve—and an initial 50% turnover in
staff—did emerge as associates transi-
tioned from manual processes they were
familiar with to working with automation.
A little more than two years after putting
it all in place, they are reaping the rewards
of increased capacity, growth and velocity.
“We invested in distribution and logistics
as a go-to-market strategy, and it has
established us as a leader,” says Pulli.
The only question left is: Now,
what’s next?
Turn 14 Distribution
Horsham, Pa.
SQUARE FOOTAGE: 210,000 plus 30,000
square feet of mezzanine
PRODUCTS HANDLED: Performance auto
parts
THROUGHPUT: 10,000 pieces today with a
capacity for 30,000 pieces per day
SKUs: There are 75,000 unique SKUs in the
facility, 365,000 SKUs in the WMS system,
with access to 1 million through partners
PEOPLE/SHIFTS: 2 shifts at 16 hours a day,
6 days; Saturdays are covered by a four-
day-a-week, 10-hour-a-day specialty shift.
lane where it is placed in a tote for stor-
age. Totes are then conveyed (5) to the
small parts storage area (6). Associates
load their carts with items for putaway
and are directed to a location by the sys-
tem, where they are scanned into a stor-
age location and are available to promise.
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MODERN system report

Medium and large parts: Larger along the conveyor. When associates
parts are also inducted (7) on a receiving have picked items ready for packaging, System suppliers
conveyor (and go through a scan tunnel). they scan the license plate bar code SYSTEM INTEGRATION, CONVEYOR &
SORTATION: Honeywell Intelligrated
From there, they go to a sliding shoe label, scan a pick drop location and place
RACK & SHELVING: Interlake Mecalux
sorter, which sorts them to storage areas the item on the conveyor system. Small WMS: Turn 14 Distribution
designated for medium-sized parts (8) items are first placed in a tote while non- MOBILE COMPUTING/BAR CODE SCAN-
NING: Zebra and WASP – Linea Pro 5
and large parts (9). For instance, storage conveyables are taken by lift truck to the
FIXED BAR CODE SCANNING: SICK
racks in the large parts area have been packing area (11), including the putwall, and Datalogic
modified to handle extra-long parts. under the packing sorter (12). LIFT TRUCK: Raymond
PRINT & APPLY: Panther and ID Label
Items are then scanned into a storage Packing and shipping: Items that
location. can be shipped in their packaging are
Parts that cannot be identified are conveyed to a shoe sorter that diverts from there to shipping.
sent to an exceptions processing area them to one of two print-and-apply Totes for multi-line orders are sent to
along the receiving conveyor (3a). lines capable of handling 20 packages a 40-foot-long putwall. Associates using
Picking: The WMS has the ability to a minute. The license plate label is ring scanners scan a tote. Items in the
interleave tasks, directing the associate to scanned and the package passes over tote are then put into a shipping con-
the “smartest task,” or the one that makes a scale to verify the weight before tainer in a cubby location. Once all of the
the most sense based on the associate’s the label is applied. From there two items for an order have been placed in
location and the needs of the facility. other scanners scans the label and the a container, it’s pushed onto a conveyor
For instance, when an associate is done license plate label before the outbound and sent to a manual fill line and then
putting away inventory, the system may sorter (13) determines the right lane to an automatic sealer. From there, the
direct that associate to do cycle counting for shipping (14). order follows the same path to shipping
at one or more locations, or direct the Packaging: Single line orders that as other orders.
associate to a pick location. In all, nine require re-packing are sent to a tradi- Quality control: Regardless of the size
associates use orderpickers along with tional pack station where they are placed of the part, if new merchandise isn’t recog-
associates picking to carts. Pick drop in a new box and labeled. From there, nized by the system, it’s conveyed to a man-
zones (10) are located at various spots they go to the shoe sorter, which diverts ual inspection station. If inspectors can’t
them to the print-and-apply area, and identify they product, they send a picture of
the item to the accounting team to research
and identify the item. This allows the part
to keep moving to the shelves even before
8 Me
Medium
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Med
ed
eddiu
di
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iu
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m parts
p rts
ts
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storage
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rag
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ag identification is complete.

5 Conveyor-
5 Conveyor inbound, out
MEZZANINE
MEZ
9 Large parts storage 6 Small parts
10 storage
3 Receiving conveyor Pick drop
3a Exceptions processing zones
10 Drop zone
4 Small parts 9 for putaway
2 induction
Scan tunnel, Large parts
license plate 1 7 storage Large parts
storage 12 Packing sorter
sorte
rte
ter
te
labeling station Receiving Medium and
large parts Shipping sorter 9
1 Pa
11 P
Pac
Packing and putw
putwal
utw
putwalls
induction 13

14
Shipping

24 M a y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G  mmh.com
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 Top 20
System Suppliers
Records continue to topple as the industry achieves
robust, global and nearly universal growth.
BY JOSH BOND, SENIOR EDITOR
M
odern’s 22nd-annual Top 20 Systems Suppliers
list showcases the performance of companies
that have spent the previous year working to
help clients manage staggering change. Some
spokespeople from companies on this list even
acknowledged the risks—to themselves and cus-
tomers—of taking on too much too fast.
“The Top 20 and many others are so busy,
they are not bidding on RFPs for large automated
systems,” says Norm Saenz, managing director at
St. Onge Co., who adds that spending on auto-
mation is not slowing down. “In 2019, the suppli-
ers that can fabricate and integrate the required
equipment within the approved capital budgets
and expected leads times will continue to domi-
nate the top of the list. Fall behind, and the new
start-ups and smaller system providers may start
to gain more share of the ever-increasing capital
spend on automation.”
For now, there’s not much to complain about.
Following a 16.5% surge in 2017, the list’s com-
bined 2018 revenues grew 12%. The scope of
26 M A Y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G
available hardware and software solutions con-
tinues to broaden, but whether tried, trusted or
transformative, solutions must be future-proof
and protect against the guaranteed disruption
that lies ahead.
The Top 10
Pulling even further ahead of the pack, Daifuku
retains the No.1 spot after reporting 2018 reve-
nues of $4.2 billion, a 14% increase. The growth
follows a 25% increase in 2017 that results in a
three-year growth rate of 53%.
Stuart Oliphant in Daifuku’s corporate com-
munications department says 2018 sales grew
steadily as a result of enhanced production
capacity in line with robust demand from a range
of industries including e-commerce and other
distribution sectors, semiconductor, flat-panel
display (FPD), automotive and airport systems.
SSI Schaefer Systems International held steady
at No. 2, posting a 5% increase to $3.2 billion.
“We continue to see both retail and whole-
mmh.com
 MODERN special report

Top 20 worldwide materials handling system suppliers

Worldwide Worldwide
2018 2017 2017 revenue 2018 revenue Percent change Three-year
Rank Rank Company Website (million USD) (million USD) '17-'18 change Headquarters

1 1 Daifuku Co., Ltd. daifuku.com 3659 4167 13.9% 53% Osaka, Japan

Schaefer Holding
2 2 ssi-schaefer.us 3060 3217 5.1% 24% Neunkirchen, Germany
International GmbH

3 3 Dematic dematic.com 2267 2350 3.7% 18% Grand Rapids, Mich.

Honeywell
4 6 intelligrated.com 1000 1700 70.0% 124% Mason, Ohio
Intelligrated

Vanderlande Veghel, The

5 4 vanderlande.com 1538 1538* 0% 56%
Industries B.V. Netherlands

Murata Machinery,
6 5 muratec-usa.com 1287 1287* 0% 3% Kyoto, Japan
Ltd.

7 11 Knapp AG knapp.com 643 1050 63.3% 64% Hart bei Graz, Austria

Beumer Group beumergroup.

8 8 900 1000 11.1% 27% Beckum, Germany
GmbH com

9 10 Swisslog AG swisslog.com 915 923 0.9% 34% Buchs, Switzerland

Material Handling
10 N/A mhsinc.net N/A 860 N/A N/A Mount Washington, Ky.
Systems (MHS)

TGW Logistics
11 7 tgw-group.com 742 817 10.1% 56% Wels, Austria
Group GmbH

Witron Logistik +
12 12 witron.com 635 637 0.3% 59% Parkstein, Germany
Informatik, GmbH

13 14 Kardex AG kardex.com 425 478 12.5% 26% Zurich, Switzerland

Bastian Solutions, bastiansolutions.

14 16 233 316 35.6% 62% Indianapolis, Ind.
LLC com

15 15 Elettric 80 elettric80.com 261 272 4.2% 131% Viano, RE, Italy

System Logistics systemlogistics.

16 20 185 225 21.6% 45% Fiorano, MO, Italy
SpA com

17 17 DMW&H dmwandh.com 225 214 -4.9% 61% Fairfield, N.J.

18 19 viastore systems Inc. us.viastore.com 152 197 29.6% 41% Stuttgart, Germany

Lödige Industries
19 N/A lodige.com 192 188 -2.1% N/A Scherfede, Germany
GmbH

20 18 Stöcklin Logistik AG stoecklin.com 153 148 -3.3% N/A Aesch, Switzerland

Source: Modern Materials Handling

* 2018 revenues were not available by press time.

mmh.com M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M ay 2019 27
MODERN special report
sale work toward omni-channel solutions,” says Michael
Mohr, executive vice president of sales for SSI Schaefer.
“Manufacturers are also starting to fulfill orders directly to
the consumer with their own e-commerce programs as online
shopping continues to grow.”
As clients work to lower costs and save on labor, Mohr says
enhancements to Schaefer’s warehouse management software
are providing greater visibility throughout the entire supply
chain and operations.
Following its acquisition by forklift and logistics leader KION
Group in late 2016, Dematic is now a supply chain solutions
operating unit of KION. The unit includes Dematic as well as
Egemin, an automatic industrial vehicle specialist that previously
placed 18th on this list and was acquired by KION in 2015.
Dematic again finished third with $2.4 billion in revenue.
Growing about 4% year over year, the company has achieved a
three-year growth rate of 18%.
Climbing from sixth to fourth, Honeywell Intelligrated’s esti-
mated $1.7 billion in revenues represents a 70% increase. The
number is based on the $6.3 billion in revenues reported by
Honeywell’s Safety and Productivity Solutions business, 27% of
which is from the warehouse automation division.
“We saw strong growth in the warehouse automation sector
in 2018,” says Pieter Krynauw, president of Honeywell Intel-
ligrated. “This was the result of improving the user experience
for our customers, introducing efficiencies throughout our sup-
ply chain and continuing to invest in our Connected Distribu-
tion Center offerings.”
Krynauw highlighted the November acquisition of conveyor
Making the list
T o qualify for Modern’s Top 20 list, companies must be
suppliers of materials handling systems, not just equip-
ment providers. In addition to manufacturing at least two
major handling system components, a company must also
employ full-time staff that designs, installs and integrates
materials handling systems.
These systems include at least two of the following:
transportation devices, storage and staging equipment,
picking units, sortation systems, information management
systems, data capture technologies and other types of han-
dling equipment.
To be considered worldwide suppliers, companies must
have a presence in North America and must also be able to
report materials handling revenues to Modern. (Lockheed
Martin, for example, is a systems supplier with a North
American presence, but isn’t included in our Top 20 list
because they can’t single out the revenue that comes from
materials handling contracts.)
28 M a y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G
solutions provider Transnorm, which he says expands Honey-
well Intelligrated’s solutions portfolio to support distribution
centers and parcel delivery providers globally. In the years since
Intelligrated placed 15th on the 2009 Top 20 list, it has grown
by double digits in all but one year. In a 2016 transaction val-
ued at $1.5 billion, Honeywell acquired Intelligrated.
After climbing up to fourth place last year, Vanderlande
Industries was unable to report revenues by press time, so its
2017 revenues of $1.5 billion have been carried over. The same
goes for Murata Machinery, whose 2017 revenues are good
enough for sixth place.
Shortly before publication of the 2017 Top 20 list—when
Vanderlande posted the highest growth rate on that list at
18%—Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO) acquired the
company. Following TICO’s 2017 acquisition of 16th-place
Bastian Solutions, Vanderlande became the second business
to join TICO’s new business division called Toyota Advanced
Logistics Solutions (TALS), which manages North American
activities in the area of logistics solutions.
Knapp’s last taste of the Top 10 was when it secured 10th
place in 2013. It has now reappeared in seventh, climbing four
ranks after growing more than 60% to cross the billion-dollar
mark with $1.05 billion.
“Last year was a very good year, and longer-range projections
are also very good,” says Kevin Reader, director of marketing
and business development. “Knapp continues to grow signifi-
cantly in North America and globally with a three-year, 370%
increase in order intake.”
Reader noted strong demand for highly automated warehous-
ing, distribution, fulfillment and e-commerce solutions driven by
strong consumer demand, labor shortages and an aging workforce
in the United States. He also emphasized development of solu-
tions optimized for the digital supply chain to leverage big data,
predictive modeling, analytics and artificial intelligence.
In February 2018, Knapp acquired Apostore/KHT Group.
KHT’s product range includes devices for the weighing and
measuring of stock items in warehousing, distribution and
fulfillment operations. Apostore develops automated pick-
ing robots for pharmacies and wholesalers and is expected to
complement Knapp’s ongoing expansion into urban fulfillment
and retail operations.
Retaining in eighth place, Beumer Corp. crossed the $1 billion
mark for the first time on this list, an 11% improvement. “Last year
was a very strong, successful year with both order intake and rev-
enue on record level,” says Uwe Kinski, CFO of Beumer Corp.
Gaining one spot to finish at No. 9, Swisslog reported global
revenues of $923 million. According to a representative, the
company is the top integrator of AutoStore, with 130 systems
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MODERN special report
sold, and its CarryPick automated goods-
to-person solution is rapidly gaining mar-
ket adoption. Swisslog’s next generation
ItemPiQ robotic picking solution was
demonstrated at ProMat and is already in
pilot operation for several accounts.
“We are seeing the benefits of focus-
30 M a y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G
ing our organization around two key
market segments: e-commerce/retail and
consumer goods,” says Markus Schmidt,
president of Swisslog Logistics Automa-
tion, Americas. “Strong interest from
these segments in our flexible, robotic
and data-driven solutions resulted in
another record year in 2018.”
Swisslog, which is now fully inte-
grated into the KUKA Group worldwide,
acquired Power Automation Systems
(PAS) in April 2016. PAS manufactures
the PowerStore, a leading pallet shuttle
system. Swisslog has also fully integrated
both PAS and Forte Industries, which it
acquired in April 2015 under the Swiss-
log brand.
Rounding out the Top 10 is newcomer
Material Handling Systems (MHS).
Business units include Parcel North
America, Lifecycle Performance Services
and research and development offices in
Mount Washington, Ky., as well as distri-
bution and fulfillment offices in Atlanta.
MHS acquired control system integra-
tor Atronix in November 2017, global
integrator VanRiet in May 2018, materi-
als handling equipment integrator A2i
in July, and sortation specialist OCM in
August 2018.
“The continued transformation of
retail and labor trends push companies
to invest more heavily in supply chain
infrastructure and automation in par-
ticular,” says Tony Mouser, CEO of
Material Handling Systems. “Strategic
investments and acquisitions have come
together to expand our capabilities as
an efficient, single-source partner, while
remaining singularly focused on doing
what’s best for customers.”
For years, this list illustrated decid-
edly top-heavy growth. In recent years,
it shows there is plenty of business for
everyone. In 2017, the combined rev-
enues of the Top 5 totaled $11.5 billion
and comprised 60% of the Top 20’s total
value. The same cohort now stands at
$13 billion, a 12.6% increase. The other
15 companies on the list collectively
grew more than 10%.
Notable performances
Finishing 2018 with $817 million,
TGW’s revenues increased 15% in
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swisslog.com
MODERN special report
Euros and landed it in 11th place. In addition to increasing its
research and development budget for the current fiscal year
by almost 25%, the company hired nearly 400 people—and is
looking for 400 more.
“We will be continuing on this path in the current
2018/2019 business year, including our focus on robotics and
cognitive systems,” says Harald Schröpf, CEO of the TGW
Logistics Group. “Our digital startup initiated in 2018 will pro-
vide an additional impetus in the area of connected warehous-
ing and predictive maintenance.”
In June of 2018, 700 employees moved to TGW’s new $62
million headquarters in Upper Austria, and new local offices
have been opened in Atlanta, Seattle and Paris. U.S. subsidiary
TGW Systems acquired a 172,000-square-foot building in
Michigan, and the TGW group now has an international net-
work of 26 offices on three continents.
Holding 12th place, its highest rank ever on our list, Witron
increased revenue by 6.7% from 2017 to 2018 in local cur-
rency, following 15.5% growth the previous year. Witron has
added more than 1,000 new staff members in the past four
years, according to a release.
“The world becomes even more interlinked,” says Helmut
Based out of Germany, Kaup is a manufacturer of premium hydraulic
forklift attachments including sideshifters, fork positioners, clamps,
multi-pallet handlers, rotators, push/pulls, telescopic forks, and
much more. Kaup’s modular designs and high-quality steel
ensures customers are getting the strongest, most
innovative products offered in the industry.
CHECK OUT THE ENTIRE KAUP LINE, offered
exclusively in North America through OE Attachments.
913.599.9040 | OEAttachments.com/OEA-Kaup
32 M A Y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G
Prieschenk, Witron CEO. “This trend is especially noticeable
in the logistics area. Information and algorithms play a central
role; data is undoubtedly the decisive resource of the future.”
Climbing a rank for the second year in a row, Kardex Group
(including both its Remstar and Mlog divisions) finishing in
13th place after 12.6% growth in 2018 revenues, which caps
off a three-year growth rate of 26%.
“Due to a strong economy, the efforts of our sales and ser-
vice networks and the continued support from Kardex Group,
our growth continued through 2018 and we achieved another
milestone year in our history,” says Mark Dunaway, president of
Kardex Remstar, Americas.
After reporting 36% growth to $316 million, Bastian Solutions
jumped up two positions to claim 14th place. In 2018, Bastian
Solutions acquired Peach State Integrated Technologies, an
Atlanta-based consulting and integration firm. The company also
acquired Toyota Material Handling’s autonomous vehicle group
in an effort to bring Toyota’s automation business under the
Toyota Advanced Logistics Systems umbrella. The company also
opened its distribution network to more than 60 Toyota dealers.
“Our company has experienced tremendous growth in our
integrated system group and Exacta Supply Chain Software
mmh.com

brands, and opportunities in the areas of omni-channel and
e-commerce fulfillment continue to be a large percentage of
our work with new and repeat customers,” says Greg Conner,
vice president of international sales at Bastian Solutions.
Two years ago, Elettric 80 just missed this list. It returned last
year in 15th place, which it has held following 4.2% year-over-
year growth that contributes to a three-year growth rate of more
than 100%.
System Logistics SpA reported 2018 revenues of $225 mil-
lion, not including revenues from Modula SpA. The increase of
more than 20% was enough to propel the company from 20th to
16th place.
DMW&H reported a slight decrease in revenues, which a rep-
resentative attributed to cyclical change from year to year. “We had
slights delays in a few major projects, causing a minor and tempo-
rary downturn.” In 17th place, the company had grown by 31% in
the previous year, and its three-year growth rate still stands at 60%.
Moving up into 18th place, viastore reported $197 million in
new orders globally, up 38% from 2017.
“We attribute this growth to a very healthy intra-logistics
market, growth within key industry vertical markets, as well as
our continuing global expansion,” says Lisa Day marketing and
mmh.com
Half_Horz_Bleed.indd 1
MODERN special report
business development manager for viastore. “While maintain-
ing this level of percentage growth might be difficult, we fully
expect to see excellent growth going forward, as our markets
remain strong and our solutions are expanding.”
Newcomer Lödige Industries is a family-owned company
turning 70 this year, with about 1,000 employees worldwide.
With a U.S. office in New York and an office supporting an
ongoing automotive project in South Carolina, the company
reported 2018 revenues of $188 million.
“Our main markets of airports logistics, production logis-
tics and car park solutions have experienced steady growth in
2018,” says Philippe De Backer, CEO of Lödige Industries.
“There is a noticeable interest in information management soft-
ware, as clients look at optimizing operations by analyzing data
generated by materials handling systems.”
A newcomer to last year’s list, Stöcklin reported $148 mil-
lion in revenues to claim the final spot on our list. “Stöcklin
continues to see steady growth globally with a healthy backlog,
though 2018 revenue was not as strong as 2017,” says Tony
Varda, director of business development. “This was primarily
driven by the execution of a couple large projects being delayed
from Q4 ’18 to Q1 ’19.”
M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M ay 2019 33
5/2/19 2:30 PM
MODERN information management

ERP
in the age of
omni-channel
In recent years, enterprise resource planning solutions have lost
some luster, even being called “back office” systems. They’re useful
for financials, procurement and transactions, but can ERP drive
omni-channel fulfillment? The short answer is “yes.”

BY ROBERTO MICHEL, EDITOR AT LARGE

S
ince growing out of earlier forms of enterprise systems in the early 1990s,
enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have become the backbone
business management software for most enterprises. They span functions
including accounting, procurement and, for some ERP vendors, they also
include warehouse management system (WMS) capabilities.
This scope makes ERP software important, but in an era when compa-
nies are seeking competitive advantage with omni-channel fulfillment, is
ERP still business-critical?
The answer might be “no”—at least for legacy ERP deployments used
mainly for back-office processes while e-commerce fulfillment is handled by
best-of-breed solutions for WMS or other functionality such as distributed
order management (DOM).
On the other hand, for ERP solutions that have evolved to include
functionality in areas like WMS, or ERP providers that have aimed from
the get-go at targeting omni-channel environments, ERP remains vital.
When a vendor can blend ERP with e-commerce platforms and WMS, it
can be an appealing combination, says Ray Rebello, director of product

34 M A Y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
marketing for Acumatica, a Cloud-based
ERP vendor.
“You can build an amazing system for
taking e-commerce orders, but the fulfill-
ment end can fail completely if you’re
using older, disconnected systems that
weren’t equipped to handle the fulfill-
ment of online orders in volume,” says
Rebello. “What is needed is a central
system that functions as a single source
of the truth.”
ERP can be that central platform
if the vendor has tested integration to
e-commerce platforms, WMS or store-
level systems on the execution side,
explains Rebello. “Enterprises with
omni-channel requirements need to
know the details around product avail-
ability across locations, arrival dates
and times for replenishment, product
mmh.com
information and pricing data,” he says.
“Making all of that accessible can
require duplicate data entry or custom
integration unless you have a single
source of the truth. That’s the beauty
of a modern ERP system—everyone
involved has consistent, accurate infor-
mation.”
ERP evolves
ERP first gained prominence by combin-
ing enterprise functions such as finan-
cials, manufacturing planning, procure-
ment and order entry into one integrated
suite. Fueled by the rise of relational
databases and client/server architecture,
ERP boomed in the 1990s.
Of course, ERP has continued to
evolve, with many of the larger vendors
like SAP and Oracle either building or
M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M
buying extended functionality in areas
like supply chain management software,
including WMS. Numerous other ERP
vendors also offer WMS as an inte-
grated module.
ERP vendors have also evolved by
offering richer analytics and busi-
ness intelligence (BI) features and
updating their architectures for Cloud
computing. The result: many ERP
deployments today are far from being
outdated legacy systems.
Acumatica’s solution set, for example,
offers both WMS and retail point of sale
(POS) applications depending on the
industry needs of the user company, says
Rebello. Through integrated systems for
warehouses and stores, a retailer trying
to support omni-channel gets an inte-
grated view of order data, inventory data
AY 2019 35
MODERN information management
Some of today’s ERP solutions have expanded
into DOM and other fulfillment-related functions
STRUCTURE DOM
• Unified database • System algorithm
from all sources enables DOM
inside ERP
• Multiple warehouses,
multiple branches • Full optimization
through API
and multiple stores
• Order fulfillment can
be split
and fulfillment processes. “For omni- mation,” Rebello says.
channel, you want details like product Like numerous other ERP suppliers,
descriptions, shipments and inventory Acumatica integrates with third-party
availability to be available in one place so e-commerce platforms from vendors
everyone is working with the same infor- such as Magento and Shopify. Many
DOM capabilities shine as e-commerce grows
O ne of the main functions of an enterprise resource
planning (ERP) system is order management, although
with multi-channel selling, it may not be an ERP system
that carries out the order orchestration. That’s because
more companies are using distributed order management
(DOM) software, a type of order management system adept
at “sourcing” from the best place to fill orders from, whether
that be a warehouse, a retail store or other options like drop
shipments or third-party warehouses.
The providers of DOM include vendors such as Manhat-
tan Associates, Softeon and Deposco, and now Tecsys,
from its November 2018 acquisition of OrderDynamics. In
addition to DOM, these vendors also offer supply chain
execution software including warehouse management sys-
tem (WMS) solutions. While not head-on competitors to
most ERP vendors, DOM vendors can help companies with
omni-channel fulfillment requirements.
DOM solutions are fundamentally different from tradi-
tional order management in that they are geared toward fill-
ing small direct-to-consumer orders, explains Peter Brere-
ton, president and CEO of Tecsys.
“We’re finding that our traditional client base now needs
to directly fill orders for the consumer, either through sales
from their own Websites, or they need to support their cli-
ents who rely on them to do the fulfillment,” Brereton says.
“Either way, they need a distributed order management
platform that can receive the consumer order, figure out
36 M a y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G
FULL WMS SHIPPING
• Built in, no interfaces • Routing algorithms
• Va
V riety of picking options: • Proof of delivery app
by order, by item including digital signature
and location detection
• Fulfills several small
orders simultaneously • Multi-carrier integration
via ShipEngine
• Post-picking assortment
• Mobile app
Source: Priority Software
companies use these e-commerce front
ends, says Rebello, so Acumatica uses
application programming interfaces
(API) to integrate to these platforms.
Pretested, API-based integration is
where to source it from, and carry through on the fulfillment,
including payment processing and all the returns manage-
ment functions that might be needed.”
DOM excels at figuring out which warehouse or store
location is best to fill an order from, not only in terms
of inventory availability, but more nuanced factors such
as labor availability at the store level to pack orders,
says Brereton, or whether one location has overstock of
an item. Traditional order management systems aren’t
geared toward these granular sourcing decisions, Brere-
ton explains, but such capabilities are becoming neces-
sary “because the path to the consumer involves thou-
sands of tiny consumer-level orders rather than hundreds
of pallet-sized orders.”
In the broader retail industry, Brereton sees a “conver-
gence” between traditional retailing and e-commerce selling
as the driving force. Traditional upstream parties like suppli-
ers, brand managers and distributors are caught up in this
trend, says Brereton, and to succeed, they must be nimble
when it comes to processes like e-commerce drop shipping
or servicing channels in a more end-to-end manner.
Meanwhile, established software vendors need to ex-
pand into richer e-commerce fulfillment functionality to
remain relevant, Brereton says. “This is going to be a con-
vergence game for the next few years,” says Brereton. “The
players who figure out this convergence trend and how to
support it are going to be the winners.”
mmh.com
a must to interoperate in real time
with e-commerce platforms, says Efrat
Nakibly, vice president of marketing
and strategy with Priority Software, a
Cloud-based ERP provider. “Ultimately,
you want sales orders from all channels

o d u c i n g
Intr
to go immediately into [ERP] so that
the ‘big picture’ remains in one place,”
says Nakibly.
Priority’s solution set includes a
WMS option to support companies
with distribution operations, as well as
DOM functionality. The vendor also
partners with ShipEngine for integrated
parcel shipping functionality. However,
says Nakibly, it’s the overall flexibility of • IoT for Your Loading Docks
an ERP system, as much as breadth of • Monitor Dock Activity and Analytics
features, that makes for a good solution. • Receive Text and Email Notifications
“The top concern should be how flex-
ible is the system and how easy is it to
grow the system over time,” says Nakibly.
“To help achieve these goals, the system
must be open, using APIs, to integrate
with any third-party system or device.”
Best-of-breed WMS vendors have
in some cases partnered with ERP ven-
dors to provide a pretested integration
between ERP and WMS. This relation-
ship offers advanced WMS without the
integration worries of a typical bolt-on
project, says Carl Marin, global solution
area leader for small to mid-sized busi-
ness (SMB) with HighJump Software, a
WMS provider.
HighJump’s Warehouse Edge, a
Cloud-based WMS, has been pre-inte-
grated to multiple ERP solutions, includ-
ing systems from NetSuite, Microsoft
and Sage. The WMS has capabilities in
areas like order waving, zone picking and
integration to warehouse automation.
HighJump has been offering these inte-
grated solutions for several years, adds
Marin, which appeals to SMBs who see
integration as a risk. “Our intention is
to reduce that risk by packaging up the
integration as a product,” he says.

mmh.com www.LoadingDockSystems.com/iDock
MODERN information management

Orchestration & analytics
Helping companies with omni-channel
challenges has a front-end order aspect
to it and a set of downstream fulfillment
execution activities, both of which need
software support, says Markus Rosemann,
www.toppercontainers.com
Get to Know Topper Containers!
vice president for digital logistics and order
fulfillment with ERP vendor SAP. Over the
years, SAP has enhanced its WMS solu-
tion known as eWM, most recently making
it an “embedded” application to the SAP
flagship ERP suite, Rosemann says. Addi-
tionally, SAP has continued to enhance its
order management functionality, in part
using e-commerce software from its 2013
acquisition of Hybris.
For some SAP users in retail environ-
ments, Hybris is used as the front-end
e-commerce platform, explains Rose-
mann, though when it comes to order-
sourcing decisions, the Hybris platform
communicates with an “Advanced
Available-to-Promise (ATP)” func-
tion in SAP’s ERP system. It is this

They are offered in

many different sizes & Companies mentioned
standard options. The in this article
standard nominal inside • Acumatica
heights are 18” or 24.”
• HighJump Software
• Priority Software
Available add-on options: • SAP
Drop Gate • Skubana
Fixed Hopper Front
HEAVY DUTY
Lifting/Crane Lugs • Tecsys
Fork Stirrups
Angle Runners Advanced ATP engine that is the key to
Fork Tubes order sourcing decisions for SAP users,
explains Rosemann, though some SAP
users who use the Hybris platform will
Paint Colors Available: have the Hybris software involved on
Blue, Gray, Black, the front-end of the process.
Green & Teal. In general, adds Rosemann, SAP has
evolved and enhanced its order orches-
tration for omni-channel, as well as
execution functions like WMS. “In the
Custom Sizes are
end, [omni-channel support] is all about
available upon request.
the orchestration of the larger process—
the distributed order management—as
well as fulfillment execution elements,”
says Rosemann.
Analytics is another WMS enhance-
ment focus for SAP, adds Rosemann.
The WMS has a set of key performance
TOPPER INDUSTRIAL / www.topperindustrial.com indicators (KPIs) called Warehouse
sales@topperindustrial.com / 800-529-0909 Insights that address issues such as
inventory slotting and labor resource

38 M a y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
 MODERN information management

planning. Currently, the KPIs are driven commerce,” says Rubin. form, from a marketplace, from elec-
by more conventional analytics and Acumatica’s Rebello points out that tronic data interchange, phone orders or
optimization techniques, but Rosemann ERP systems are no longer limited to conventional B2B orders. “Wherever the
adds that SAP is looking for opportuni- business-to-business order management. order comes from, it shouldn’t matter to
ties to apply machine learning within The right ERP solution can process and the ERP system—that is the key to
the WMS. fulfill orders from an e-commerce plat- omni-channel support,” says Rebello.
Rosemann believes machine learning’s
ability to uncover patterns in customer
order profiles, order velocity and inven-
tory levels could potentially be harnessed
Workstations that are flexible
to generate recommendations on replen- so humans don’t have to be.
ishment levels, warehouse labor require-
ments or to help support wave-less
picking. “Those are some of the ideas we
have as next steps,” says Rosemann.

New breed ERP

The omni-channel era has also seen the
rise of new types of enterprise systems
focused on omni-channel selling and
fulfillment. For example, Skubana CEO
Chad Rubin says Skubana’s solution can
be considered a “next-generation ERP
system” because it focuses on issues like
multi-site, multi-channel inventory vis-
ibility and a flexible order orchestration
function called “Order Box.”
Such capabilities, says Rubin, help a
company sell and fulfill across multiple
channels, and coordinate inventory posi- At BOSTONtec, we believe it’s better to make the job adjust to the
worker than the other way around.
tions and allocations across their own
sites, with third-party logistics (3PL) After all, a well-designed workplace can make people up to 25%
more productive and reduce health care costs. And if you’re
provider warehouses or with Fulfillment struggling with turnover, consider that talented people are much
by Amazon (FBA) sites and operations. more likely to stick around in a healthy, comfortable environment.
“We’re the new wave,” Rubin says. “We Our workstations adjust to each employee with the simple press of
allow you to operationally run your busi- a button. And while our legal team asked us not to say that they’re
ness any way you want to fulfill.” engineered to last forever, they didn’t say we couldn’t imply it.
Rather than focus on what Rubin Ready for your next generation of workstations? Let’s talk.
bostontec.com
calls “old school” ERP functionality like
accounting, Skubana’s focus is on func-
tions like multi-channel order orchestra-
tion. The system also uses intelligent
bots to automate creation of purchase
orders for approval, rather than have
workers create POs from scratch. “We
focus on the core components necessary
to equip your business for modern-day

mmh.com M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M ay 2019 39
MODERN equipment report

Add structure to
your storage goals
Racks are not immune to the constant pressure to adapt, but
alterations can present just as many opportunities for risk as reward.

BY JOSH BOND, SENIOR EDITOR

A s materials handling opera-

tions strive to become more
flexible, they take great pains
to refine processes to avoid operational
risk. Unfortunately, the fear of a sym-
bolic collapse often overshadows the
very real threat of poor, damaged or
insufficient racking. Some operations
might introduce the risk themselves
by removing or altering beams, mixing
new rack with used, or ignoring the
constant buildup of seemingly minor
dings and dents.
Raymond Weber, eastern regional
manager for Steel King Industries,
says the industry has laggards with
old, damaged rack and product stored
helter-skelter, and leaders with robust
enterprise-wide rack standards and com-
pliance programs. But, in the middle sits
the majority of rack users, where a mix
of foresight and frugality has muddied
understanding of their own rack usage.
Pallet flow rack offers great density, but is susceptible to honeycombing, or the “The middle recognizes how rack
emergence of unused lanes that sap efficiency. impacts their operation, but they

40 M a y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
think if it’s still standing the next day
they’re doing a good job,” Weber says.
“As damage adds up and throughput is
limited, they don’t realize they’re cost-
ing themselves money. They buy rack
and it’s ‘one and done.’ They never look
back to improve.”
Others do look back to make changes,
but still fail to improve. Carlos Oliver,
president of Frazier Industrial, says rack
users frequently take it upon themselves
to make drastic alterations in the name
of productivity.
“It’s common to have beams 5 feet
off the floor, then they decide later they
want to double stack,” Oliver says. “So
they take that 5-foot beam out and don’t
even know they have made their facility
much less safe. What seems to be hap-
pening is that customers are not aware
they should review any changes to shelf
beam locations.”
To be fair, rack users aren’t taking
hacksaws to their uprights, and sellers
of used rack are not trying to get away
with anything. The current regula-
tory landscape for rack is simply ill-
defined—for now. Dave Olson, national
sales and marketing manager for Ridg-
U-Rak, says the recent surge in recon-
figuration projects will likely prompt
more oversight.
“The used rack market is very loosely
controlled today, but I don’t see the
government backing off,” Olson says.
“Take the number of things we have to
go through to get official approval for a
new rack system, then compare it to the
requirements for a used one. It’s fairly
unpoliced, but that’s changing. There’s
a lot of movement in the industry to get
our arms around this.”
mmh.com
It’s a common misconception that racking is like shelving and can be put up, taken
down, moved, sold or altered at any time.
Defining the space
Olson points to the impact of e-com-
merce on rack trends. There’s still
plenty of 100% selective rack, but he
notes many in retail segments are being
supplemented with pick modules for
order fulfillment and e-commerce. An
increased amount of automation, picking
systems and conveyor systems driven by
online business has a significant impact
on rack designs.
“With e-commerce exploding, people
finally recognize that just because they
have a warehouse that handles their cur-
rent business, they can’t just plug and
play to get into online business,” Oliver
says. “You need different, all-new facili-
ties for e-commerce.”
Norm Saenz, managing director at
St. Onge Co., says single-deep rack
still dominates the market as the most
flexible rack type. However, he says
two- or three-deep pushback rack is
increasingly popular for many clients,
in addition to pallet flow rack two- to
four-deep or more. These rack types
M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M
provide a denser rack design for bet-
ter use of storage space, but Saenz
recommends considering “the honey-
combing factor.”
“The denser rack types like drive-
in, pushback and pallet flow have
an increased chance for unusable
storage positions within the rack
structure,” Saenz explains. “In any
rack design, users can’t forget about
preventing that lost storage space.”
Speaking of prevention, Saenz
says upright protectors are not used
in enough warehouses to shield rack
from lift truck impacts. The result, he
says, is many facilities are operating
with damaged rack and potentially
unsafe conditions. At the other end
of the uprights, local codes specify
height clearances ranging from 18
inches to 38 inches, which can spell
the difference between fitting one
more level of storage.
Expensive real estate is driving
demand for taller buildings and rack
systems, which are sometimes as
ay 2019 41
MODERN equipment report

The regulatory landscape for used racking

is closer to the Wild West than state-of-
the-art, but due diligence can reduce risk.

high as 120 feet. Lift truck makers have
steadily increased maximum operating
heights in support of the trend, and
automated storage systems make up the
difference.
“High-tech is exciting,” Weber says.
“Rack-supported buildings, storage
and retrieval with cranes, pallet moles,
it’s all exciting because no matter how
product moves, you still have to park
and store it. You still need rack, which
plays an integral role in automation.”
Seismic shifts
As it turns out, not all flexibility is mar-
ket-driven. The Loma Prieta earthquake
inspired much of the current rack speci-
fications. Originally, in the 1940s and
1950s, rack had been classified as office
furniture, Weber says. Over the years,
rack systems became taller, more sophis-
ticated and more integral to warehousing
and distribution operations.
“Now they’re part of the building
code, so they are now a more serious
element of operations, whether or not
people treat it as such, Weber says. I
don’t know how long it will take for the
industry to weed out that old school

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thinking, but either they’ll try to stay
competitive or they’ll wake up one day to
see the doors close.”
Because rack is part of the building
code, Weber says it has to be specifically
rated for the site and work profile. Then,
there is a regulatory curveball. Because
of the “last known event” provision, the
code is immediately updated to reflect
any seismic activity in the area.
“What was good yesterday isn’t today
because there was a nearby earthquake,
however minor,” Weber says. “A 2.2
quake in Tennessee might be a non-issue
operationally, but it changes the code
and increases the design criteria for any
future rack installations in the area.”
As a result, Olson says some retailers
with large networks are trying to stan-
dardize, buying nothing but the top-rated
seismic rack so they can relocate assets
mmh.com
MODERN equipment report
Companies mentioned
in this article
• Frazier Industrial
• Ridg-U-Rak
• Steel King
• St. Onge Co.
around the country with ease.
That’s an extreme form of risk mitiga-
tion, but Olson says one of the first steps
for many companies is to dispel the idea
that “rack is shelving. Take it down, put
it up, it’ll be fine.” Users need to think
about the long term, he says. Are they
likely to reconfigure rack at some point?
Do they want flexibility so they don’t
have to buy new rack soon? What are
M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M
the maximum loads and maximum beam
level spacing?
“If you plan ahead to spend 50% more
for the vertical frame, you can recon-
figure later with a high likelihood you
will not have to tear down that vertical
frame,” Olson says. “You pay a little more
on the front end, but it will buy you a lot
of flexibility in years to come.”
According to Olson, many procure-
ment people are evaluated on rack they
buy today without accountability when
the company has to tear it down in 10
years. On the other hand, he sees a
growing number of customers purchasing
rack with specific plans to reconfigure,
take down or replace it in five years. Or,
they might show a three-level pick mod-
ule in the capital budget, but they’re only
building one for now.
Another wildcard has stimulated the
ay 2019 43
MODERN equipment report
rack market. Like the entire materials
handling industry, Frazier’s Oliver says,
rack companies are benefiting tremen-
dously from the new tax guidelines.
“Our sales are up 30% in two years,”
Oliver says. “By accelerating depreciation
44 M a y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G
to one year, it has put capex to the top of
customers’ to-do list.”
A thousand pounds foolish
With an incentive to spend, many will
look to the used rack market for the best
bang for the buck. Used rack can be a
cost-effective and timely way to expand
or reconfigure operations, but it can also
introduce risk. As a consultant, Saenz
advises a healthy dose of caution.
“Used rack is available but not the
easiest route to take,” he says. “The exact
rack needed can be hard to find and the
quality can be suspect. For basic pallet
rack, it can be an option. For pick mod-
ules and other structural design needs,
new rack is recommended.”
Oliver also emphasizes that well-
meaning companies can quickly find
themselves exposed to risk if they are
not completely thorough. Used rack
might have an engineering stamp on a
theoretical frame design, Oliver says,
meaning it’s accurate on paper. But,
whether or not the actual product is
slightly damaged, somebody other than
a rack engineer is making the decision
on whether it works.
“They purchase the remains of a
10-year-old system, cut the bases off,
paint it, do a lot of customization and get
an engineering stamp,” Oliver says. “To
do it right, the engineer of record should
be looking at the product and separating
good from bad. For each beam, approve it,
request a repair or throw it away. Nobody
is doing that.”
Oliver estimates rack collapses drive
three new customers per year to Frazier.
In addition to damaged or insufficient
rack, common culprits include repair
kits and the commingling of rack prod-
ucts. Guidelines released by the Rack
Manufacturers Institute (RMI) spell
out how to avoid some honest mistakes.
Just because one type of rack looks like
another and is compatible does not mean
it’s interchangeable.
“If you’re dealing with an RMI mem-
ber company, you will get this level of
analysis and support,” Oliver says. “If you
go to Bob’s welding shop, I don’t know
what to tell you.”
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 ProMat 2019
SHOW WRAP UP
ProMat 2019 was the largest in its 34-year history, with registrations
of 49,718—an 11% attendance jump over 2017. The four-day expo
(April 8-11) covered 425,000 net square feet of exhibit space on two
show floors at Chicago’s McCormick Place with 938 exhibiting companies.
Here’s a small glimpse of what our team of editors saw at the show.

Dynamic storage and retrieval solutions at Kardex Remstar

For operations seeking upgrades or new automation solutions, Kardex Remstar
highlighted its cost-effective, dynamic storage and retrieval solutions. Included
are the new LR 35 Vertical Buffer Module and the Shuttle XP Vertical Lift
Module (VLM).
“The LR 35 goods-to-person bin handling solution is ideal for single-part or
small-volume orders,” explained Chelsea Tarr, content marketing specialist. “It
consists of a shelf system with automatic bin handling, picking stations and logis-
tics software, and delivers totes directly to the operator with minimal wait time.”
That functionality, Tarr noted, boosts picking performance while minimizing
energy usage and floor space.
The company also displayed the Shuttle XP VLM with pick-to-light and Power
Pick Global inventory management software leverages vertical space to free up
85% of floor space, she said. Further, the company offered live demos of its new
Chelsea Tarr, content marketing specialist, and
Remote Support platform, with both diagnostics and analytics functionality to Christina Dube, director of marketing for the
increase uptime. Americas, with Kardex Remstar’s LR 35.

Highlights from KION and Dematic press conference

During an executive briefing in Dematic NA’s booth, execu-
tives from different branches of the KION Group (Booth
S2603) overviewed the latest innovations each showcased
during ProMat.
The session kicked off with an introduction from KION
Group chief digital officer Susannah Schneeberger, who
highlighted the organization’s longevity and growth, as well as
the progress made in integrating the brands together to create
synchronized solutions for customers.
“There are three mega-trends driving long-lasting changes
in the way goods and materials are handled: energy, auto-
mation and digitization,” she said. “Among the many tools
we’re providing to help customers understand and improve
overall effectiveness of equipment, labor and automation,
we’ve created the KION Cloud, a virtual service center that
provides customers virtually unlimited capacity and flexibil-
ity for collecting and evaluating their data.”
Dematic CEO Hasan Dandashly then overviewed several
new Dematic solutions. The MicroFulfillment small footprint
order handling solution optimizes speed and accuracy while
addressing labor shortages. Dandashly also discussed a new
reverse logistics solution. “The Dematic Returns Subsystem
provides quick credit back to the consumer, flexible and pri-
oritized product inspection, and fast re-instatement of items
to inventory for re-sale within 24 hours,” he said.
Finally, he introduced Dematic iQ Virtual, a new software
module that provides a digital twin simulation and emulation
platform creating a digital environment for safe viewing of po-

46 M a y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
tential operational changes without negatively affecting day-to-day operations.
Concluding remarks from Vincent Halma, KION North America CEO,
highlighted a new, dual-use hybrid very-narrow-aisle (VNA) Linde forklift that
leverages a Dematic automation kit for autonomous or manual operation.
Halma also unveiled six new models of Linde Class II and III forklifts—in-
cluding a walkie rider, reach trucks, orderpickers and walk-behind stackers.
“We are also displaying the Dematic Sprocket asset management system that
Ken Ruehrdanz, manager of the distribution systems
allows the trucks to communicate when maintenance is needed, reducing market for Dematic, showed light-directed picking in a
downtime,” he said. MicroFulfillment center.

Toyota returned to ProMat with advanced logistics solutions

Toyota Material Handling showcased
Toyota Advanced Logistics Solutions
(TALS), a business unit formed in
2017. So far, TALS has acquired inte-
grators Bastian Solutions and Vander-
lande, who had solutions on display in
neighboring booths.
“We’re still all-in when it comes to
manufacturing forklifts, but we’re now
on a big journey to provide lots of solutions,” said Tom Lego,
national manager of training and the Customer Center for
Toyota Material Handling (TMH).
Jeff Rufener, president and CEO of TMH, said equip-
ment for handling pallets is just one part of the move-
Toyota showcased lift trucks as well as other
advanced materials handling solutions.
ment of goods through the supply chain.
“We want to go from being the world’s
largest forklift manufacturer to being
the world’s largest material handler,”
Rufener said.
TMH has also launched MyToyota
Store, an e-commerce portal with more than 600,000 parts
for forklifts and other materials handling equipment for pur-
chase online. The online resource is intended to accommo-
date the next generation of materials handling professionals
and to ensure customer uptime.

Honeywell Intelligrated showed robotic

sorter induction system system
In a press conference, Honeywell Intelligrated’s Matt Wicks, VP of product development,
discussed several new robotic solutions, including a robotic sorter induction system.
“By utilizing a robotic arm that handles a variety of package sizes and types—including
boxes, polybags and jiffy bags—the new sorter induction system streamlines labor operations
and improves productivity while allowing distribution centers to reallocate staff,” said Wicks.
The system is modular and scalable, and easily retrofits into existing induction sta-
tions, he added. Honeywell Intelligrated’s Matt Wicks,
VP of product development, with the
“Intelligent algorithms, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI)—developed new robotic sorter induction solution.
in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University—enable the robot to improve its own
performance over time. It also offers label detection and automatic reorientation,” Wicks added, noting that the system is built
on the Honeywell Universal Robotic controller, which allows the robots to “see better, think smarter and act faster.”

mmh.com M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M AY 2019 47
 ProMat 2019
SHOW WRAP UP
Handheld from Zebra reads marks up to 70 feet away
Zebra Technologies announced the release of its latest
MC9000 series enterprise-class mobile computer: the ultra-
rugged, Android-based MC9300. The new device helps
businesses keep up with growing
e-commerce demands.
“It’s our most powerful handheld
platform on our best-selling device,”
said Joe White VP and GM of enter-
Mark Wheeler, director of supply chain
solutions with Zebra Technologies,
explained the benefits of the company’s
new Android-based MC9300.
Rite-Hite’s dock safety system now an aftermarket retrofit
Key components of the Rite-Vu Hazard
Recognition System from Rite-Hite
Products Corp. are now offered as an
aftermarket retrofit—or as stand-alone
equipment—for any loading dock.
Previously, the multi-sensory safety
alerts were only available with specific
Rite-Hite products, said Chad Dillavou,
product manager.
The retrofit devices include Approach-
Vu, a drive approach visual and audible warning system;
Pedestrian-Vu, an interior dock warning system; and Lok-Vu,
an external camera that gives employees inside a real-time
Sliding dunnage system displayed at ORBIS
ORBIS Corp. featured a new bulk packaging dunnage
system for handling large, bulky automotive parts that
incorporates frame, rails and hanging fabric bags that slide.
The AdjustaPak system fits into a standard BulkPak contain-
er and can be removed and reconfigured to accommodate
different heights and bag configurations, explained Sean
Momsen, market manager.
“Packaging needs are rapidly evolving in the automotive in-
dustry due to faster vehicle lifecycles and the growing amount
of part SKUs,” he said. “This dunnage system delivers hassle-
free versatility and allows automotive supply chains to more
easily handle quick turns, diverse parts and multiple uses.”
The fabric bags are oriented vertically so there are no
48 M A Y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G
prise mobile computing. “With more than 3.2 million MC9000
mobile computers sold since 2003, we’ve made it even better
by providing an easy migration path from Windows to Android
along with 20 new features and improved ergonomics.”
White said the MC9300 improves fulfillment speed and
accuracy—and boosts productivity by as much as 10%
over other devices—because it reads direct part marks and
captures bar codes in virtually any condition from distances
of 3 inches to 70 feet. “It’s ideal for inventory management,
receiving/putaway, crossdocking and quality control appli-
cations,” he added.
Rylee Moder of Rite-Hite pointed out some of the
company’s Rite-Vu Hazard Recognition System
components at the booth display.
view of vehicle restraint/rear-impact-guard
(RIG) engagement.
“Even if an operation’s docks aren’t out-
fitted with a Rite-Hite Dok-Lok, leveler or
control system, facility managers can now
implement our budget-friendly safety alert
products incrementally and strategically
to optimize safety,” Dillavou said. “One loading dock accident
is too many; this offering is part of our mission to enhance
industrial safety worldwide.”
layers to remove at the assembly line, and more can be
purchased to create additional layers. The system comes in
sizes ranging from 48 x 45 inches to 78 x 48 inches.
ORBIS featured the AdjustaPak, a new sliding dunnage system, in its booth.
mmh.com
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 ProMat 2019
SHOW WRAP UP

Raymond debuted automated intralogistics solutions

To further optimize, connect and automate warehouses and DCs, The Raymond Corp.
highlighted its newest intralogistics solutions, which include a complete line of intelligent
warehouse, materials handling and facility solutions on display in two booths.
“Together, these industry-leading solutions help optimize a customer’s entire opera-
tion, create productivity, inspire insights through connectivity and transform operations
through automation,” said Mike Field, CEO.
Field pointed out the new Courier 3030 stacker automated lift truck, which combines
vision technology with a 72-inch vertical capability. “This truck answers an industry
need to automate end-of-line and pick-up/drop-off applications,” he said, noting that the
vehicle’s reverse motion and auto-engagement features optimize workflow and increase
The Raymond Corp. president Mike
productivity. “These functions help streamline crossdocking, transporting and sorting by Field and the Courier 3030 stacker
automating pick-to-delivery capabilities.” behind him.

Knapp announced new mobile robot, partnerships

Knapp showcased its new OSR Shuttle Evo+, a
flexible, scalable and reliable autonomous mobile
robotics solution.
Knapp’s redPilot software technology was the
winner for MHI’s Top IT Innovation Award. As
a control tower for warehousing and distribu-
tion, redPilot plans and optimizes warehouse and
distribution resources for senior supply chain
managers and their operations teams. By managing Big
Data, predictive modeling and analytics, IoT and artificial
intelligence, the software helped EDEKA, a $57 billion
grocer, to optimize 5,500 employees and seven major
distribution centers.
Karen Multer, from Knapp’s marketing department, outlined new
products, partnerships and projects.
Knapp announced it has undertaken the
biggest project in the company’s history: a 2.2
million-square-foot distribution center for
Minnesota-based Digi-Key Electronics. The sys-
tem will use more than 1,000 shuttles for a total
storage capacity of 2.7 million SKUs.
Knapp and Takeoff Technologies also highlighted the
latest developments in the partnership they announced two
years ago. A $150-million, 50-site order will include a series
of hyper-local micro fulfillment centers designed to fulfill at
least $1 billion in annual e-commerce sales.

Beumer Group’s new cross-belt line sorter

Beumer Group’s Peter Wisniewski,
marketing content specialist.
Beumer Group’s new BG Line Sorter has been engineered to be more cost effective
than previous high-speed cross-belt sorters, explained Peter Wisniewski, marketing
content specialist.
“It uses less steel than before, as well as has a new tray configuration that replaces con-
ventional discharge mechanisms with cross-belts,” he said, noting that each installation uses
standardized modules in flexible configurations to accommodate the frequent changes in cus-
tomer and market demands. That modularity also contributes to shorter commissioning times.
“Additionally, we’re helping users better ascertain changes in demand with a real-time
analytics control center that helps to optimize order flow,” Wisniewski added. “Further,
to help keep customers up and running, we’re showcasing our new smart glasses solution
for daily maintenance and support.”

50 M A Y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
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 ProMat 2019
SHOW WRAP UP

Zero-touch robotic pocket sorter at TGW Systems

Ideal for e-commerce and omni-channel retail order fulfillment and returns, TGW Systems
debuted the OmniPick zero-touch robotic pocket sorter. It leverages artificial intelligence and
smart robotics for automatic loading and unloading, said Andy Lockhart, VP of sales. “The
system’s flexibility and scalability allow it to adapt to changing business channels and shifting
inventory mix and volumes,” he said.
In operation, individual items—shoes, clothing, electronics, toys or cosmetics—are induct-
ed into the pockets after unloading by an intelligent gantry robot (or manually). Pockets with
inventory then travel to dynamic buffering for storage. When required for store or individual
customers, the items are sequenced from matrix sorters. Picks are automatically consolidated
and emptied from the pockets into shipping containers or automated baggers.
“OmniPick also handles garments on hangers and buffers returns for order fulfillment without Andy Lockhart, TGW’s VP of sales, on the
robotic induction side of the company’s
extra handling,” added Raffaele Destro, industry manager for fashion and apparel. OmniPick.

Choose from multiple Yale lift trucks, power options

Yale Materials Handling Corp. explored its full lineup of power tions available across a complete range of lift trucks,” explained
options offered across its comprehensive range of lift trucks in Steven LaFevers, VP of motive power and telematics. “This
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“Yale’s Power Suite offers the broadest choice of power op- unique operational requirements, rather than forcing them to

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52201905mmh_CCS_halfHZ.indd
M A Y 2 0 1 9 / MODERN M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
1 4/24/2019 5:15:50 PM
 ProMat 2019
SHOW WRAP UP
adapt to manufacturer constraints.” Gijo George, industry
Included in the Power Suite line up are: hydrogen fuel cells that refuel as quick- business unit director
of food and beverage
ly as 3 minutes and deliver consistent power until depletion; lithium-ion batter- at Hyster-Yale Group,
ies for simple opportunity charging with no battery maintenance and dependable described Yale’s first
dual-mode pantograph
power; lead-acid batteries with low initial acquisition costs; and internal combus- reach truck.
tion engines delivering consistent, high power in the toughest applications.

Voxware launched 2019 voice management suite

Keith Phillips, president and
CEO of Voxware, illustrated
how voice, VR and analytics
optimize processes
throughout the DC.
Voxware, a leading provider of Cloud-based voice and analytic supply chain solutions, announced
the general availability of Voxware Voice Management Suite (VMS) 2019.
With the addition of containerization support, VMS 2019 now provides full support to all
workflows in the distribution center, from receiving to put-away to packing.
“We’re taking the next step in leveraging voice technology to cover every process in the DC,” said
Keith Phillips, president and CEO of Voxware. “Analytics then helps manage not just the warehouse,
but the entire supply chain to create truly optimized operations.”
Voxware also showcased the capabilities of its augmented reality (AR) technology in three
sample scenarios: kit assembly, order picking and order packing. Voxware also hosted an edu-
cational seminar featuring Dawn Fritche, director of operations for Haggar Clothing Co. titled
“Priority #1 – How to Master the Omnichannel Experience.”

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SHOW WRAP UP
Semi-automated sealer for bubble mailers at Sealed Air
Offered through a rental program to help small-parcel interior with a paper exterior. After in-
shippers quickly scale up or down to accommodate peak serting the item in a mailer, an operator
seasons, Sealed Air’s Jeff Potts, global executive director of places the open end into a side-opening
marketing, e-commerce and fulfillment, showed off the new on the machine, which then automati-
Jiffylite Auto sealer. cally seals it in less than a second.
“It’s intended to help small-parcel shippers looking for “The product is completely sur-
an entry-level approach to increasing throughput when Sealed Air’s Jeff Potts
rounded by the packaging for better
sealing our Jiffylite bubble mailers,” Potts explained. “It demonstrated the Jiffylite product protection than fold-over
Auto sealer, targeted to
weighs about 40 pounds, so it’s easy to move from one small parcel shippers.
seals—which also create waste and
pack station to another.” require more manual handling,”
Easy-to-use, the machine uses heat and even pressure to seal continued Potts. “It’s also tamper-evident, as the seal must be
the open end of the mailer, which combines a Bubble Wrap destroyed to access the contents.”

Lucas highlighted machine learning’s potential

Lucas Systems highlighted machine learning technology at based software capabilities, Krishna Venkatasamy, chief
a seminar in the Emerging Technologies & Sustainability technology officer (CTO) for Lucas Systems, said during a
Theater on the show floor. The provider of mobile work ex- booth visit.
ecution solutions also is working on new machine-learning The capabilities aren’t analytics in the sense of having

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54 M A Y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
 ProMat 2019
SHOW WRAP UP
to dig through reports, explained Venkatasamy, but rather
a “machine learning-based recommendation engine” that
can come up with specific actions to take in areas such as
short-term labor planning, or how to improve slotting. The
engine has yet to be named but will be Cloud-based.
Venkatasamy said machine learning is well suited to ac-
curately predicting how much workforce will be needed for
specific areas of a warehouse operation given an amount of
work that needs to be executed. The idea is to harness ma-
chine learning to detect patterns and come up with quickly
reviewable recommendations.
The seminar was co-led by Venkatasamy and was titled,
“Getting Started with AI and Machine Learning to Improve
Warehouse Management.”

UniCarriers announced partnership with Rocla AGV

To offer advanced automatic guided vehicle (AGV) solutions to the Americas, UniCar-
riers Americas Corp. recently partnered with Rocla, a Finland-based materials handling
solutions provider.
Officially announced on March 28, the partnership will allow UniCarriers—as well as its
new initiative, UniCarriers Systems Solutions—to have access to a wider range of materials
handling services and solutions, two particular benefits the company discussed at the show.
“Rocla AGV solutions cover various low-lift and high-lift applications, such as counter-
balance, fork over, narrow aisle and straddle,” said Brian Markison, senior director of sales Brian Markison, senior director of
sales and marketing for UniCarriers
and marketing for UniCarriers Americas Corp. “By incorporating these solutions into their Americas Corp., with Oskari Lindstedt,
operations, our customers will notice a significant increase in efficiency and productivity.” sales director of Rocla AGV.

LINESIDE
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Creform ® carts, along with Creform AGVs enhance mixed-model
production. Production today means handling a wide variety
of parts and delivering them repeatedly to the assembly line or station.
Whether supporting small batches or one-piece-flow, carts pulled by
Creform AGVs meet the challenge to deliver those components and kits to
the assembly point in sequence and on-time. Creform, the lineside mixologist.

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Y 2 0 110:58
9 AM
 A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO:

Annual Automation Survey:

More automation, please
Modern’s 2019 automation survey proves that more warehouses
and DCs than ever are interested and investing in automated
materials handling equipment.

BY BRIDGET MCCREA, EDITOR AT LARGE

A s robots, automated equipment, artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technologies contin-
ue to make their way into the world’s warehouses and DCs, the number of companies using them
is also proliferating. Driven by the need to manage high-velocity operations with limited labor resources
while meeting the ever-changing needs of their customers, more companies are looking to automation to
help them solve their most pressing fulfillment problems.
Modern’s 2019 “Usage and Implementation of Warehouse and DC Automation Solutions” survey more
than proves this point and paints a picture of a distribution landscape that’s ripe for innovation. Conduct-
ed by Peerless Research Group on behalf of Modern, the survey assessed usage and purchase intentions
for automation systems and solutions being used in warehouses and DCs.
When evaluating such systems, companies say their top priorities are durability, reliability and uptime
(90%); support/service response time (82%); total cost of ownership (TCO), return on investment (ROI)
and maintenance costs (81%); and integration and compatibility with existing equipment (72%). Other
key considerations are parts availability, risk of obsolescence, purchase price and warranty program.
Asked about the automation they currently have in place, 42% of respondents have either fully or

56 M A Y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
 partially automated conveyance, while How important are each of the following when evaluating
38% have fully or partially done so automation systems and solutions for possible purchase?
with their labeling operations. Other
functions that have been automated Durability/Reliability/Uptime 90% 10%

include reporting (57%), replenishment

Support/Service response time 82% 16% 2%
(35%) and packaging (23%). Over the
next two years, 61% of companies want Total cost of ownership/
81% 19%
to improve their warehouse capacity ROI/Maintenance costs

utilization, 59% their picking effi- Integration/Compatibility

72% 25% 3%
existing equipment
ciency, and 55% are interested in better
Parts availability/
order accuracy. Other areas ready for 68% 30% 2%
Risk of obsolescence
improvement include labor reduction,
throughput and packaging. Purchase price 62% 36% 2%

Warranty program 55% 43% 2%

Picking and packaging
In describing their order fulfillment
Scalability 46% 50% 4%
operations (picking and packaging),
survey respondents say 49% of those Solutions are turn-key 45% 49% 6%
activities are mostly or completely
Relationship/Past experience
manual, while 42% use a mix of auto- 41% 45% 14%
with vendor, provider
mated and manual processes. Just 4%
Innovative/
of companies consider their fulfillment 38% 56% 6%
Leading edge solutions
operations to be “highly automated.” Green/Environmentally
22% 66% 12%
The highest percentage of order friendly/Energy efficiency
fulfillment activities (79%) are used for
warehousing and storage, with 58% be- Very important Somewhat important Not at all important
ing used for individual picking, packing
Source: Peerless Research Group (PRG)
and shipping in wholesale distribution
fulfillment. When asked which order How would you best describe your order fulfillment
fulfillment activities they’d like to en- operations (picking and packaging)?
hance over the next two years, compa-
nies point to full and mixed pallet load
Highly automated 4%
fulfillment (59%); individual picking,
packing and shipping in wholesale A mix of automated
and manual processes 42%
distribution fulfillment (57%); and case
and mixed-use fulfillment (57%). Mostly or all manual 49%
Of the conventional equipment
Not applicable 5%
currently in use, 93% of companies
use racks and shelving; 92% rely on
Source: Peerless Research Group (PRG)
lift trucks; 83% use dock equipment;
and 74% rely on palletizers, pallets/ using conveyor and sortation systems to carousels and vertical lifts); and 20%
totes, bins and containers. According automate their facilities, while 55% rely rely on automated packaging solutions.
to Modern’s survey, companies plan to on weighing, cubing and dimensioning Over the next 24 months, 57% of
upgrade existing or implement new lift equipment. Thirty-three percent use companies plan to shop around for
trucks (58%); racks and shelving (47%); goods-to-person picking solutions (i.e., conveyor and sortation systems, while
and dock equipment (47%) over the donor totes delivered to workstations); 55% want automated packaging solu-
next 24 months. 22% use automated storage (mini-loads, tions and 50% will invest in robotics
Right now, 63% of companies are automated storage and retrieval systems, for picking. Fifty-percent are inter-

mmh.com M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M ay 2019 57
MODERN special report
A S P E C I A L S U P P L E M E N T T O M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G

What conventional equipment is presently in use in your organization

and which will you be upgrading or implementing during the next 24 months?
IN USE PLANS TO UPGRADE/IMPLEMENT
93% 92% Lift trucks 58%
83%
74%
Racks and shelving 47%

Dock equipment 47%

34%
Palletizers, pallets/totes, 42%
bins, containers

Hoists, cranes, 31%

Racks and Lift trucks Dock Palletizers, Hoists,
and monorails
shelving equipment pallets/totes, cranes, and
bins, containers monorails
Source: Peerless Research Group (PRG)

ested in mobile collaborative robots, Choosing wisely software in the next two years, most
47% in shuttle systems/mobile robotic Of the companies that are planning are looking to fill orders faster to meet
storage, and 47% in robotics that are to evaluate or buy automated materi- customer service level agreements and
used for palletizing. als handling equipment, technology or expectations. Other investments are

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58 M A Y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
MODERN special report
being driven by faster e-commerce
order piece picking and packing, and
some companies see automated options
as a way to deal with the persistent
labor shortage.
Bryan Jensen, chairman and execu-
tive vice president at St. Onge Co., says
he’s also seeing healthy levels of interest
in warehouse automation right now,
with the tight labor market as a key
driver. “If you’re in a distribution opera-
tion that is level-loaded and doesn’t have
large seasonal, inter-week, inter-month
or inter-quarter peaks, automation can
be very effective in justifying itself
through labor reduction,” says Jenson.
“The more expensive labor gets relative
to automation’s prices not going up, the
more effective that automation is at
reducing labor and paying for itself.”
Your distribution center
needs _____________________ .
a. to retain skilled labor
b. to increase throughput
c. to use resources efficiently
d. to maintain high safety standards
e. Big Ass Fans for all of the above
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A S P E C I A L S U P P L E M E N T T O M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G
The rules shift somewhat for
operations that have to manage high
seasonal peaks and other significant
order volume fluctuations. A company
whose peak week experiences eight
times the volume of its average week,
for example, may need eight times the
automation investment. A firm that
usually has 100 full-time equivalents
working in the DC year-round, for
example, could need up to 800 to ef-
fectively manage those peaks—but only
for a very short period every Decem-
ber. “If that company buys automated
equipment to supplant half of that
800-person workforce,” Jensen points
out, “it’s going to be far too expensive
and won’t pay back.”
To help companies overcome this
issue, some automation and robot-
M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M
ics makers could offer leasing options
similar to those traditionally used by
forklift suppliers. This finds the robotics
manufacturers keeping a bevy of robots
on-hand and ready to lease as needed,
and for a price that’s lower than the
equipment’s purchase price. This also
benefits the robot manufacturer, which
can lease the equipment out multiple
times “and make significantly more than
if it just sold them,” says Jensen.
Data collection, execution &
management
Data collection technologies continue
to hold an important place in today’s
warehouses, where 86% of companies
are using bar code scanners, 74% rely
on mobile/wireless technologies, and
26% use RFID. Twenty-three percent
W E ’R E AT
T HE T OP
OF O UR
CL ASS
F OR A
R E A S ON.
AY 2019 59
MODERN special report
A S P E C I A L S U P P L E M E N T T O M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G

of firms use voice-directed and 21%
rely on pick- or put-to-light picking
technologies. The highest percentage
(60%) of companies plan to upgrade
or implement pick- or put-to-light
picking technologies over the next
two years, followed by mobile/wireless
What automated equipment is presently in use
in your organization and which will you be upgrading
or implementing during the next 24 months?
IN USE
Conveyor and sortation systems 63%
Weighing, cubing and dimensioning equipment 55%

(56%), bar code (55%), RFID (49%) or Goods-to-person picking solutions

heads-up display/vision technologies
(49%)
When asked about the supply chain
execution (SCE) systems they current-
ly have in place, 80% of respondents
are using warehouse management
systems (WMS), 38% use transporta-
33%
(donor totes are delivered to a worksation)
Automated storage including, mini-loads, AS/RS,
carousels and vertical lifts
22%
Automated packaging solutions 20%
Shuttle systems and/or mobile robotic storage and
17%
retrieval systems, such as OPEX
Automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) 15%

tion management systems (TMS), 33%

Robotics–palletizing 15%
have implemented labor management
systems (LMS), and an equal percent- A-frame picking technologies 10%
age rely on warehouse control software
(WCS). Other types of SCE software Pocket sortation 10%

currently in use include computerized

Robotics–picking 8%
maintenance management systems
(CMMS), slotting software and yard Robotics–mobile collaborative robotics 5%
management systems (YMS).
PLANS TO UPGRADE/IMPLEMENT
The companies that want to up-
Conveyor and sortation systems 57%
grade existing or implement new SCE
software in the next two years have their Automated packaging solutions 55%
sights set on WMS (56%), WCS (43%),
YMS (43%), TMS (41%) and warehouse Robotics–picking 50%

execution systems (41%).

Robotics–mobile collaborative robotics 50%
On the supply chain management
(SCM) side of the software equation, Shuttle systems and/or mobile robotic storage
47%
and retrieval systems
the biggest percentage of companies
(52%) are currently using enterprise Robotics–palletizing 47%

resource planning (ERP) systems, Automated storage including, AS/RS, mini-loads,

45%
while 51% are using customer rela- carousels and vertical lifts
tionship management (CRM) and 47% Weighing, cubing and dimensioning equipment 45%
rely on order management systems
(OMS). Other SCM solutions in use Automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) 43%

are network design and optimization Goods-to-person picking solutions

37%
software (24%); distributed order (donor totes are delivered to a worksation)
management (24%); and supply chain A-frame picking technologies 35%
planning (22%).
Respondents who want to upgrade Pocket sortation 32%

existing or implement new SCM soft-

Source: Peerless Research Group (PRG)

60 M A Y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
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an t
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MODERN special report
A S P E C I A L S U P P L E M E N T T O M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G

What data collection technologies are presently in use in your organization

and which will you be upgrading or implementing during the next 24 months?
IN USE PLANS TO UPGRADE/IMPLEMENT
Pick- or put-to-light
Bar code scanners 86% 60%
picking technologies
Mobile/wireless 74% Mobile/wireless 56%
technologies technologies

RFID 26% Bar code scanners 55%

Voice-directed 23% RFID 49%

picking technologies
Pick- or put-to-light 21% Heads-up display/ 49%
picking technologies vision technologies
Heads-up display/ 6%
Voice-directed 44%
vision technologies picking technologies
Source: Peerless Research Group (PRG)

ware in the next two years are consider-
ing ERP (64%), supply chain planning
(48%), network design and optimization
software (48%), OMS (42%) and CRM
(35%).
When procuring replacement or
spare parts for their equipment, the
majority of companies (73%) buy direct
from the manufacturer or from its
Website. Sixty-two percent of firms get
the parts from a distributor and 28%
buy direct from a systems integrator.
To handle the repair and maintenance
of the automated materials handling
equipment, 66% of companies rely
on an internal maintenance crew,
41% have service contracts with their
OEMs, and 34% set up service con-
tracts with third parties.
What are they spending?
In 2019, most companies will spend ei-
ther $100,000 to $499,999 or $1 million
to $2.49 million on materials handling
equipment and solutions (an equal 20%
of readers replied for each of these two
categories). Twelve-percent of firms
plan to spend more than $5 million,
while 32% expect to allocate less than
$100,000 for such solutions. Looking
ahead to 2020, respondents said their
investments will either stay the same
(40%) or increase (33%).
When purchasing order fulfill-
ment solutions, 71% of companies buy
directly from the manufacturer of those
solutions while 70% get them from
distributor/dealers. Another 44% work
with systems integrators that manage
the acquisition process and the integra-
tion. Asked about future purchases, 60%
plan to go direct, 55% will work with
an integrator and 42% will buy from a
distributor/dealer.
To companies that are evaluating
warehouse automation, Jensen says
to look for solutions that are proven
within those firms’ specific business
profiles. “Every operation is unique,”
he points out. “The needs of a direct-
to-consumer grocery operation are go-
ing to be very different from the needs
of an apparel operation, particularly
around the warehousing environ-
ment itself, the number of SKUs,
and the number of lines per order.
These should all be factored into the
decision-making process.”
About the survey participants
Thirty-three percent of this year’s survey
respondents are running warehouses
that are more than 250,000 square feet,
while the average facility size across
all respondents was 148,375 square
feet. These facilities either serve as
warehouses or DCs (36%), corporate
headquarters (32%) or manufacturing
plants (19%). Each of these facilities
has an average of 612 employees, with
the majority of respondents (51%) work-
ing for companies that have less than
100 workers.
The average annual revenues for
these firms was $917 million, with 28%
working for firms with less than $10 mil-
lion in revenues and 10% at companies
with more than $5 billion in revenues.
The top manufacturing industries
represented included food, beverage,
and tobacco; industrial machinery;
textiles and apparel; paper/printing;
computers and electronics; and plastics
and rubber (among others). On the
non-manufacturing side, respondents
work for business/consulting services,
retail, wholesale, and third-party
logistics providers (3PLs).

62 M A Y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
 April 8-11, 2019

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 • Storage space / cupholders behind operator
• Full suspension seat standard
• Split pedal layout with independent brake and
inching pedals is standard
Operational KION North America Corporation
• 3 yearApril 8-11, 2019
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4/19/19 2:22 PM 1 2/12/2019 10:00:22 AM
Lenze Americas OE Attachments
3 Lenze Americas Booth S1831
Lenze Americas, based in Uxbridge, MA, is a subsidiary
of Lenze SE in Germany, a global leader in industrial
automation systems. As a manufacturer of electrical and
mechanical drives, motion control and automation technol-
ogy, Lenze’s solutions are found in many material handling
applications: roller and belt conveyors, rotary and scissor
lift tables, lifting stations, palletizing systems, storage and
retrieval units, monorail overhead conveyors and AGV
systems. Our drive and automation solutions guarantee OEA-Kaup’s Telescopic Forks
a smooth connection to any upstream or downstream OEA-Kaup’s Telescopic Forks enable
system—steady or dynamic, lifting or lowering, moving or the stacking of palletized goods to
positioning—increasing the productivity of your logistic systems. the opposite side of trucks or in
double-deep racks. The hydraulic
synchronization of the forks
Lenze Americas ensures they are 100%
508-278-9100 aligned each time they’re extended.
800-217-9100
www.lenze.com
913.599.9040 | OEAttachments.com/OEA-Kaup
mhpn.com

OPEX Corporation PFlow Industries Inc.

2/1/17 12:19 PM

PFLOW, THE INDUSTRY LEADER IN VRC’S

With solutions on 5 of the 7
continents, PFlow is proud to be the

Pick. Sort. Save. industry leader in vertical lifts.

Since our inception, PFlow has
worked at building a talented
Our technologies work together to network of dealers, resellers and
MOVE INVENTORY installers to meet the needs of end
users all over the globe. It’s why we
MORE EFFICIENTLY. have successfully sold more than
18,000 lifts world-wide and remain
the best choice for safety and reliability in lifting.
As seen at
PFlow Industries Inc.
MATERIAL HANDLING SOLUTIONS (414) 352-9000
pflow.com

66 M A Y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
SHOW WRAP UP April 8-11, 2019

PalletRackAd.qxp_Layout 1 4/23/19 11:30 AM Page 1

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Steel King Industries Swisslog

Steel Guard – Tested Tougher!

Next-Generation ItemPiQ
Protecting your people, product, and
facility from collisions is one of the Swisslog’s ItemPiQ is redesigned
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and an intelligent vision system
In 1986, we set out to design the to offer higher pick rates and
toughest guard rail system in
the industry. After more than machine-learning capabilities
40,000 installations, no other that make it easier than ever
brand exceeds the rugged to implement robotic picking
design Steel Guard. in the warehouse.
Steel Guard unit shown:
42” tall unit with two levels
of three-ribbed rails.
Steel King Industries
Phone: 800.826.0203
Email: marketing@steelking.com FULLY AUTOMATED ITEM PICKING swisslog.com
www.steelking.com

Systems Inc. Topper Industrial

IoT For Your Mother Daughter Cart Delivery Solutions

Designed & Built by Topper Industrial.
Loading Docks Topper Industrial specializes in the
engineering, design & manufacturing
Facilities with loading dock of Industrial Delivery Carts and Cart
equipment from brands of Systems Systems. As a leader in the industry,
(Poweramp, McGuire, and DLM) Topper will have various custom-built
can now monitor their loading dock delivery cart types on display in booth for
activity and efficiency online with demonstration & discussion. Topper Industrial is very proud of the
iDock™ Connect, a web-based Walk Through, Wheels on the Ground Mother / Daughter Cart
software for loading dock analytics. System. It is patented under US Patent No. 10,093,334.
Ask for a demo today! It will be showcased at ProMat 2019 with various daughter cart
applications at ProMat 2019 in Chicago at booth S4812.
Topper Industrial
Systems, LLC Material Handling Equipment Solutions
800-643-5424
Sales@LoadingDockSystems.com 800.529.0909 / sales@topperindustrial.com
www.LoadingDockSystems.com/iDock www.topperindustrial.com

mmh.com M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M AY 2019 67
 April 8-11, 2019

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With a challenging labor market,
material and bulk handling applications. e-commerce pressures and the
advance of new technologies,
Newly developed IntelliDrive™ design supply chains are changing faster
drum motor incorporates permanent than ever. At ProMat 2019, Yale
magnet motor technology with integrated offered the game-changing new
VFD, simplifies belt speed selection, end rider truck, connected solutions,
yields up to 72% electrical savings compared
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FOCUS ON AGVs and Mobile Robots
Collaborative mobile robotic
solution interfaces with put wall
Built with Chuck collaborative mobile robots, the
new Mobile Sort put wall solution enables opera-
tors to intelligently pick and sort batch totes to
discrete orders. The system consists of smart
kiosks, put-to-light walls and validation sensors
that work with the supplier’s Cloud-based software
and the robots. Associates are directed by the
robot to pick batches into totes; upon comple-
tion the Chucks autonomously shuttle the totes to
take-off locations where they are unloaded onto
a mobile rack. The mobile racks are then paired
with a mobile kiosk where an associate completes
the sort of items into discrete cubbies, directed
by product images, lights and proximity sensors
to validate the task. The entire process—batching,
picking and sorting—is managed with a simplified
warehouse management system integration.
6 River Systems, 6river.com.
Handle heavy payloads with
autonomous mobile robot
The new MiR1000 a collaborative and autonomous
mobile robot automatically picks up, transports and
delivers pallets and other heavy loads up to 2,200
pounds through dynamic environments. Offered
as a safe and flexible alternative to forklifts on the
factory floor, each vehicle is outfitted with scan-
ners, proximity sensors and cameras to ensure safe
collaboration with employees, avoid objects and
navigate smoothly. The vehicles easily integrate
into existing operations without requiring changes
to the factory floor. Equipped with pallet lifts (for
U.S. and European pallet dimensions) and additional
racks, each can be up and running almost imme-
diately. Controlled from an intuitive interface on a
smart phone, tablet or PC, the robot can be further
integrated with different top modules such as pallet
forks, conveyors, a robot arm or other options to
support a range of applications. Mobile Industrial
Robots, mobile-industrial-robots.com.
mmh.com
Autonomous mobile
robot offered in
two sizes
The Freight500 and Freight1500
autonomous mobile robots
can handle large and palletized
loads. The Freight500 handles
cases and small pallets up to
1,100 pounds; the Freight1500
handles traditional palletized
payloads up to 3,300 pounds. Both feature an ultra-low profile for easy
loading and modular integration, corner-mounted LiDAR and 3D cameras
for zero-blindspot sensor coverage, a 360-degree LED light strip for maxi-
mum visibility from all angles, and fast charging up to 90% within an hour.
Fetch Robotics, fetchrobotics.com.
Robot-based, goods-to-person sortation system
To support flexible automation, a new, robotic-
based sortation system comprises modular compo-
nents to deliver higher throughput per unit area,
improving space utilization and reducing operating
costs. The artificial intelligence-enabled robotics
system can be easily scaled, making it more invest-
ment friendly and usable for a range of applica-
tions across retail and logistics industries. It can
be deployed as a goods-to-person system and is
directed in real-time by the GreyMatter warehouse
execution system, which uses AI and machine learning to provide granu-
lar control and visibility across warehouse processes to flexibly adapt the
system’s movement to address changes. GreyOrange, greyorange.com.
Robotic pallet stacker
features autonomous
pallet finding
The Max N10 modular mobile robot
platform has been expanded with
a new configuration: The Max N10
Pallet Stacker automated counterbal-
anced lift truck. The vehicle is engi-
neered without outriggers for space
savings and automatically picks and places pallets or racks from the floor
level, trailer decks, conveyors or racks up to 5-feet high. Standard payload
capacity is 1,770 pounds, while a high capacity version handles up to 2,650
pounds. With a smart pallet finding capability, the vehicle can pick pallets
that have been displaced from their last known location. Vehicle sensors
will identify the pallet, its location and orientation, then dynamically re-plan
a travel path for a successful pick. Compliant with ANSI safety standards
with non-contact collision avoidance for forward and reverse travel, the
vehicle uses natural feature navigation. Each functions under the supervi-
sion of the SurePath Fleet Controller, which allocates the optimum vehicle
to a transport task and dynamically plans its path for the fastest delivery.
AutoGuide Mobile Robots, agmobilerobots.com.
M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M ay 2019 69
FOCUS ON AGVs and Mobile Robots

Compact straddle Counterbalanced AGV

fork AGV ideal for handles heavy, palletized
pallet delivery payloads
Ideal for pallet delivery, Engineered with a heavier coun-
the Compact Straddle ter weight that allows it to handle
Fork automatic guided heavy, palletized payloads, a new
vehicle lifts loads up counterbalanced automatic guided
to 3,600 pounds to a vehicle has a load capacity of 3,968
maximum lift height of pounds and a fork height limit of
66 inches. The straddle 72 inches. The vehicle, offered as a
configuration has support replacement for traditional forklifts
legs outside the load to and pallet jacks, includes a touch
provide better support screen panel that gives real-time vehicle status and diagnostics,
for heavier and taller payload like racks, while customized stack lights give quick identification of the
pallets and rolls. The straddles also allow vehicle’s status. Safety features include a blue LED directional spot-
closed format pallets to be handled and light, front and side safety-rated laser bumpers, look down sensors
provide improved stability for higher lifts. to prevent and blind spots, LED directional lighting, warning sirens,
Using laser navigation and laser safety soft stops for controlled stops and e-stops. Battery powered and
sensing, the vehicle meets or exceeds requiring minimal charge time, the vehicle works continuously.
ANSI B56.5 specification for AGVs. Transbotics, transbotics.com.
Dematic, dematic.com.

Autonomous pallet handling

with self-driving pallet jack
A new, self-driving pallet jack includes
HIGH autonomous pallet identification, lifting

PERFORMANCE
and pickup. Enhanced onboard software
ensures faster, smoother pickups across
a variety of pallets and goods—including
pallets with bottom boards and partial
pallets. Other highlights include the
supplier’s proprietary Autonomy Stack
that instills vehicle independence with
dynamic obstacle avoidance, topological
reasoning, local decision making, high-
confidence navigation, and self-learning
capabilities. By enabling the pallet jack to
learn new skills as it works through differ-
ent demand levels, seasonal needs and
market changes, the vehicle continuously
improves its function to maximize pro-
ductivity. Vecna Robotics,
vecnarobotics.com.

Thombert 93 Shore A durometer DYALON® “A” wheels and

tires deliver the best durability on the market for electric lift
truck applications. We help you win with less downtime, lower
maintenance costs, and the best lifetime values. Heavy loads.
Longer life. More value. 800-433-3572 thombert.com

70 M A Y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G mmh.com
FOCUS ON AGVs and Mobile Robots

Robust automatic tugger provides Optimize picking,

efficient transport material movement
Robust and powerful, a new automated tugger auto- with autonomous
matically couples and uncouples from a broad range mobile robot
of trolleys and A new autonomous mobile robot
different trailer is built on a standard base vehicle
couplings. This outfitted with a choice of attach-
enables flexible ments. The self-navigating robot
and repetitive is ideal for materials movement
automatic trans- and picking assistance, perform-
port of goods ing repetitive work such as han-
throughout an dling and transporting totes and cartons so operators can focus on
operation. In picking and sorting orders. It maneuvers with natural feature navigation,
curves, the model using 2D laser scanning of fixed points within the environment to map
performs a turn- its path. For materials movement, the robot is outfitted with a motor-
ing radius of 3.94 driven roller conveyor attachment on top for smooth transfer from
feet, maximizing and optimizing turning space within a fixed conveyor to other points within a facility. To aid in picking, a light-
facility. The vehicle automatically connects to a charging directed picking attachment carries multiple totes or shipping cartons;
station to recharge its battery without manual interven- an operator in a picking zone places items in the totes, then sends the
tion. It moves at speeds up to 4.9 feet per second and unit on to another zone until all picks are complete. The robot then navi-
comes in models that accommodate loads from 1 to 3 gates to a sortation area for order fulfillment. Matthews Automation
tons. Grenzebach, grenzebach.com. Solutions, matthewsautomation.com.

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mmh.com M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M AY 2019 71
 FOCUS ON AGVs and Mobile Robots

Automated lift Self-driving tow tractor

truck learns up to incorporates rear-facing
25 miles of routes obstacle detection
The versatile 3030 stacker sensors
automated lift truck com- The GT10 Series 6 Plus self-driving
bines advanced vision tow tractor uses rear-facing sen-
technology with lift truck sors to detect obstacles while
proficiency to automate autonomously hitching to carts. This
end of line and pick-up/ new vehicle offers fully automated
drop-off activities. In addi- material movement from pick-up
tion to a vertical height to drop-off, removing the need for
of 72 inches, the vehicle can learn up to 25 miles human assistance to complete tasks
of routes that can be programmed and repro- and allowing companies to deploy
grammed for immediate redeployment. Ideal for employees to more value-added roles. Engineered to handle loads
handling and transporting goods between con- up to 10,000 pounds at autonomous speeds up to 4 miles per hour,
nected manufacturing and warehouse facilities, the vehicle operates in manual and driverless modes. Standard
the truck helps to decrease downtime when prod- safety features include a primary personnel detection system and
ucts are not moving, while its reverse motion and a secondary object detection system, as well as emergency stop
auto-engagement functions optimize workflow buttons, LED lightbar, turn signals and an acoustic warning system.
and increase productivity. The Raymond Corp., Seegrid, seegrid.com.
raymondcorp.com.

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 FOCUS ON AGVs and Mobile Robots
Reach 30-feet heights and into double-
deep storage with robotic reach truck
To maximize vertical storage space and accommodate
inventory growth driven by e-commerce, a new autono-
mous robotic reach truck is capable of depositing and
retrieving pallet loads from locations as high as 30 feet and
reaching into double-deep storage. It uses a combination
of sensors and 3D cameras for maximum precision and
effectiveness at higher-level storage locations. Maneuvering
along its path with infrastructure-
free navigation technology (which
requires no installation of wires,
magnets or tape) each vehicle uses
existing structural features like
walls, pillars or racking for naviga-
tion. This enables easy route adjust-
ment and faster startup at reduced
cost. When necessary, operators
can switch the robotic reach truck
to manual mode to handle excess
volume or other unexpected
demands. Yale Materials Handling
Corp., yale.com.
mmh.com
mmh201703_Durabelt_qtr.indd 1 2/27/2017 10:36:25 AM
Custom AGV handles transport of pressurized
fuel cylinders during manufacturing
Engineered to replace a manual cart and boost handling efficien-
cies, a custom, bi-directional automatic guided vehicle transports
large pressure fuel cylinders between five assembly and two fin-
ishing stations during manufacturing. Features include a cradle
lined with plastic to avoid cylinder damage—resting on an 8.2 x
3.28-foot steel frame—to hold and position the load. The cradle’s
locking pin rises automatically to ensure the its position during
transport. Electrically powered 100-degree rotation travel stops in
three positions: load, transport and unload. All loading is operator
initiated and route-directed with the use of a human-machine inter-
face screen to ensure safe handling; unloading is automatic. The
vehicle follows a peel and stick magnetic tape guidepath to ensure
accurate and repeatable tracking. Creform, creform.com.
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M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G / M AY 2019 73
MODERN 60 Seconds with...
Bryan Knott and
Crystal Parrott
MHI
TITLES: Chair and vice chair, The
Robotics Group (TRG), MHI
Knott is the logistics solutions busi-
ness manager for ABB. Parrott
is vice president of the Robotics
Center of Excellence for Dematic.
LOCATION: Charlotte, NC
Modern: Robotics is often news
today in warehousing and distri-
bution. Yet, robots have been in
manufacturing for decades. What
has changed and why now?
Knott: Robotics are showing up in
the warehouse for many of the same
reasons they were adopted in manu-
facturing. Lack of labor availability is
becoming a strong driver as well as
for reasons of worker safety, includ-
ing ergonomic concerns and highly
repetitive and mundane actions.
Parrott: In addition to the labor issue,
technology has advanced to the point
that incorporating robots in semi-
structured and unstructured environ-
ments is now possible through the use
of advanced vision solutions, motion
planners and gripping techniques.
Previously, they were constrained to
fixed environments.
Modern: The Robotics Group is a
new industry group for MHI. How
did it come about?
Knott: This has been a two-plus-year
effort. We wanted to create a group
of OEMs, integrators and technology
providers that would advocate for
best practices and educate end users
about the benefit of robotic-centric
applications in the materials han-
74 M a y 2 0 1 9 / M O D E R N M AT E R I A L S H A N D L I N G
dling industry. We organized a small
exploratory group and it led to more
than 50 interested companies.
Modern: Given that there are other
robotics industry associations and
organizations, how will your group
differentiate itself? What are the
areas you’ll concentrate on? And,
what areas will you leave to those
other organizations?
Parrott: There are many great orga-
nizations that address robotics. For
instance, RIA, which is now part of A3,
is a leader. That organization has done
great things in standards and certi-
fication programs as well as training
programs relative to the use of robot-
ics for all industries. Rather than dupli-
cate their efforts, our group plans to
focus on propagating the use of the
advanced materials handling technol-
ogy that benefits the logistics space
for the benefit of the industry.
Modern: One of the topics that
came up for discussion at a meet-
ing of this group at the MHI annual
meeting was: What are the barri-
ers to adoption, or why are we in
perpetual pilots? What do the two
of you think is holding back the
broader adoption of robotics in
our space?
Knott: There are a
lot of variables to a
successful robotic-
centric solution in
this segment. We
aren’t manipulating
a single item, con-
sistently and repeat-
edly with accuracy
as they do in manu-
facturing. So, we
have to combine
vision, artificial intel-
ligence and other technologies with
the articulated arm to sense the high
variability and act in a more autono-
mous way. The pilots are important
because once complete and proven
successful they are replicated and
deployed many times over within the
same facility.
Parrott: One of the key barriers
is the amount of available data on
the reliability of this technology in
warehousing environments. Those
that are using it aren’t really shar-
ing their success stories, so there
is a hesitancy to be the first. The
logistics space is extremely com-
petitive and there hasn’t been the
driving mandate to automate until
the explosion of e-commerce com-
bined with the increasing shortage
of labor. To expand now, companies
need to adopt automation with the
understanding that it will continue to
improve with operation.
Modern: For those who want to
learn more, who should get involved
with The Robotics Group and who
do they contact to learn more?
Knott: You can visit The Robotics
Group page on MHI.org. There you
can find contact information for Pat
Davidson, the MHI executive working
with the group.
mmh.com
 PERFECT
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