FEATURE  Materials Handling


The automated reality


A growing number of European warehouse and distribution centre operators see driverless forklift truck technology as the optimum solution to staff recruitment and employment cost challenges, says Jason Zhang, VisionNav Robotics’ Head of Sales – Europe.


A


cross the Eurozone a shrinking labour pool is hitting the logistics sector hard. And with HGV drivers, warehouse


or der pickers and forklift operators all in short supply, supply chain disruption has become a serious issue for many organisations. In the UK, 13 per cent of respondents to a


recent survey undertaken by the leading trade association, Logistics UK, reported severe warehouse staff shortages, with a substantial decline in the availability of forklift drivers cited as a major problem. Of course, fewer staff in any traditional


warehouse, where manual picking and packing are core activities, puts signifi cant strain on the existing employees and makes an already taxing job even less appealing to potential new recruits – so it’s easy to see how the logistics industry’s worker shortage problem is likely to become worse before (if ever) it improves. Throughout Europe the lack of workers means


warehouse operators have to offer increased wages to attract the quantity and quality of the personnel they need. And the handsome fi nancial packages that are now required to tempt forklift operators or other warehouse staff are prompting more and more logistics companies to seek new ways of providing the same service levels with less staff. For many, this means switching to automation


and, unsurprisingly, a growing number of Europe’s warehouse and distribution centre operators


18 April 2022 Irish Manufacturing


consider driverless forklift truck technology represents the optimum solution to the recruitment and employment cost challenges they are facing. Driverless forklifts undertake every type of task that would be expected of a traditional manually-operated forklift – including vehicle loading and unloading, pallet put-away and retrieval in both standard and very narrow aisle racking confi gurations, as well as pallet and stillage movements throughout the warehouse. In addition to the obvious savings in labour costs that driverless forklifts bring, other benefi ts include: reduced damage to goods, racking and trucks; greater picking accuracy; and more effi cient use of the available storage space. Worldwide, Nestle, DHL and Walmart are among the high profi le businesses to have already adopted the VisionNav driverless truck system, while countless small and medium sized forklift users are also benefi ting from the solution. The ‘vision-based’ navigation technology at the heart of VisionNav’s operator-free forklifts uses a vehicle-mounted camera to sense the environment in which the vehicle is operating. Information concerning the structural design and storage system lay-out of the facility where trucks are deployed is stored as off-line maps, which the visual navigation system matches with real time images received from the camera to navigate the forklifts effi ciently and safely around the store. With multiple vehicles controlled by


the system, the trucks are directed to their next location via the shortest, fastest and safest route for optimum throughput performance. Visual navigation technology is not only highly


effi cient, it is quick and easy to install and brings a rapid return on investment. The highly fl exible technology allows driverless industrial trucks to be adopted with minimal disruption to a site’s existing intralogistics process and, typically, ROI is achieved after a period of 18-24 months. The overwhelming majority of warehouse and distribution centre operations rely on forklift trucks for the effi cient running of their intralogistics processes and when it comes to running a lift truck fl eet, the forklift driver is often the biggest cost. Salaries, bonuses, training and myriad other expenses combined with hidden extras such as the damage to goods or a building’s infrastructure caused by a carelessly driven truck or, worse still, injuries to personnel, all add up to a considerable sum.


When the cost savings they bring are added to the fact that driverless lift trucks eliminate the staffi ng issues created by the shortage of qualifi ed forklift drivers, it is not surprising that more and more companies are adopting automated lift truck technology to optimise the effi ciency of their warehouse intralogistics processes.


VisionNav Robotics www.visionnav.com www.irish-manufacturing.com


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