Adapting technology for improved forklift safety
THE CHANGING warehouse is shaping forklift truck usage and increasing the need to integrate existing safety equipment as well as adapt and innovate with new technologies. Whatever the layout of a warehouse, or loading bays outside for goods-in and dispatch, all areas can benefit from a safer environment.
One of the most critical areas of forklift utilisation for warehouse managers is addressing dynamic speed, particularly in a compact warehouse. There are a variety of different technologies that can be deployed here for different situations e.g. driver aids for high bay, Lidar detection for narrow aisles etc. but the trick is to understand the situation and adapt technology to suit the requirement.
Transmon worked with one of its customers who had high level order pickers working in narrow aisles on free moving trucks shifting left or right within the aisles to allow pickers to select items as high up as 6m. The customer needed a solution that would automatically reduce the forklift drive speed and alert drivers of other trucks and pedestrians that a particular truck was about to leave the aisle and join the main warehouse floor. Usually for this kind situation a forklift would need either a rail or wire guidance system along with RFID tags or magnets set in the floor to create the zones. This approach was not an option for this particular application as the trucks were free-roaming so another solution was needed.
An Ultra-wideband zoning system with fixed and mobile sensors offered the most appropriate solution with zones at the aisle ends. When entering the zones the system raises the alert on the truck and slows it down, either entering or exiting the aisle and at either end.
