“Intralogistics became intelligently integrated before manufacturing.” said Dr. Andreas Gruchow, Member of the Managing Board at Deutsche Messe AG. “Logistics without intelligent IT solutions is now unimaginable.” he said at the CeMAT Preview opening.

With the slogan “Smart, networked, global – Logistics 4.0”, CeMAT 2016 preview to the main event held 31st May to 3rd June this year, had an emphasis on how digitisation and automation is going to change the world of logistics. The overarching theme in the upcoming event is going to be the impact of industry 4.0 technologies.

Industry 4.0 is a collective term embracing a number of contemporary automation, data exchange and manufacturing technologies. It had been defined as ‘a collective term for technologies and concepts of value chain organization which draws together Cyber-Physical Systems, the Internet of Things and the Internet of Services’.

Industry 4.0 facilitates the vision and execution of a “Smart Factory”. Within the modular structured Smart Factories of Industry 4.0, cyber-physical systems monitor physical processes, create a virtual copy of the physical world and make decentralized decisions. Over the Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems communicate and cooperate with each other and with humans in real time, and via the Internet of Services, both internal and cross-organizational services are offered and utilized by participants of the value chain.

Digitized, integrated, automated – Industry 4.0 is driving the future of logistics. At CeMAT Preview, exhibitors demonstrate how international logistics projects are made successful with the help of integrated material handling concepts, such as pick & pack, lift & move, store & load, manage & service.

Egemin Automation
Based in Belgium, Egemin Automation designs, integrates and maintains turnkey automated material handling solutions that increase efficiency and reduce costs of intralogistics processes in warehouses, production and distribution centers. The company aims for further growth in material handling automation and life cycle services with premium products and solutions such as the renowned automated guided vehicles (E’gv®) and automated warehouse and distribution solutions (E’wds).

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E’gv® Compact Counterbalance is a good example of how different automation solutions can be linked to perform complex logistics tasks. The compact model with counterbalance forklift is perfect for transporting standard pallets and performing standard moves. The E’gv® Compact Counterbalance is also designed for lower clearance heights of 2,032mm. Navigation is supported by an integrated navigation laser scanner, which uses reflectors installed in the room to determine and check location.

Automatic guided vehicle (AGV) systems are fully automatic transport systems using unmanned vehicles. AGVs safely transport all kinds of products without human intervention within production, logistic, warehouse and distribution environments: the clear way to reduce costs and to increase efficiency and profitability. AGV lift, rotate and shift goods, fetch loads from racks, store products in deep lanes, transport product across long distances, deliver them onto conveyors, etc.

L’Oréal Paris, the famous multinational with numerous sites in Europe and beyond, is a very important customer for Egemin Automation. Egemin has automated the internal logistics at 6 production sites of L’Oréal in Europe and the United States with all together about 100 automated guided vehicles (E’gv®’s). One of these sites is L’Oréal German plant where some 350 people work and 240 million products leave the factory every year. Fourteen vehicles work in production there every day. E’gv® transport packaging materials from the warehouse shelves to the filling lines. After filling, the finished products are collected in boxes and then stacked on pallets by a robot. As soon as a pallet with finished products is ready at the end of the filling line, the E’gv® will travel to the pick location and transport the pallet to the wrapping line.

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Meanwhile, Egemin also highlights E’tow®-in-floor chain conveyors, an intelligent internal transport system which can send goods to the correct destination. The system works on the basis of a powered chain which is integrated via a rail in the floor. The transport of goods takes place via product carriers which are connected to the in-floor chain conveyor via product carriers. Capacity is expanded very simply by adding new product carriers.

E’tow®-in-floor chain conveyors are suitable for the continuous transport of large transport volumes for example in distribution environments and for the transport of difficult to handle loads in manufacturing environments.

 

UniCarriers works on ergonomic forklifts
The UniCarriers Group was created in 2011 from the mergers of the brands Nissan Forklift, TCM (Toyo Carriers Manufacturing Co., Ltd.) and Atlet. Today, the company is headquartered in Tokyo. UniCarriers is a global developer and manufacturer of industrial trucks and offers solutions with load capacities up to 10,000kg. The flexible and individually customisable transport solutions for logistics and warehouses are manufactured at the company’s production facilities in Sweden, Spain, Japan, China and the USA.

The human vibrations that occur particularly during travel and the typical head and arm movements are frequently the cause of health problems with the back and specifically the neck and shoulder area for forklift divers. A study by the technical university in Gothenburg in co-operation with UniCarriers Group has shown that forklift drivers turn their head more than 1,000 times per hour. In addition to this, they make up to 2,000 arm movements.

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Ergonomics – the best protection against accidents
Ergonomics begins with safe entry and exit, as the driver frequently leaves the forklift during the shift. This is best guaranteed with a large, nonslip step and with the aid of a handle. The best protection against driving accidents in everyday operation is offered by good visibility on all sides. An percent of which happen when reversing. Together with a high seat position, large fields of vision due to thin mast profiles with optimum arrangement of the hydraulic hoses and electrical cables as well as slim pillars and tapered ribs in the protective cover ensure good all-round visibility.

UniCarriers offers its forklifts with an anti-reflective coloured coating of the cab roof. This reduces the reflections from lights on the hall ceiling. To help, camera systems can improve forward or rear visibility. One example is the new Tergo UFW multi-way forklift from UniCarriers, which is designed for transporting long goods. It is fitted with a reversing camera, so the ends of the load are fully visible at all times.

Cy.Pag. Srl: Safety Improvement System for forklifts
Cy.Pag. Srl is a reputed Italian company specialized in the automation industry since 1995, designed and patented an innovative active collision avoidance system (SIS – Safety Improvement System) to protect the operator and pedestrians, good being transported as well as considerably decreasing damages to trucks and infrastructures.

SIS (Safety Improvement System) range of products offers valuable tools with the aim of preventing accidents and increasing safety in working places.

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SIS.MINI collision avoidance system is an active maneuvering system for forklifts able to detect potential obstacles in the operation range of the vehicle. The system prevents and avoids the risk of collision during maneuvers and offers the possibility to automatically slow down and block the movement of the vehicle in two critical situations: 1) reverse maneuvering, 2) load lifting. Whenever an imminent collision risk is spotted, visual and acoustic signals warn the operator, the vehicle slows down and blocks, thus dramatically reducing the risk of collision.

The system consists of an ultrasonic sensor, which has been patented, and an advanced display working as a central unit. With ultrasonic sensor, the system is capable of consistently and reliably detecting an object up to 4 meters from the emission point. Side receivers allow to get echoes from lateral obstacles up to 1.5 meters. The combination of central and side sections generates a detecting angle of 180°. The advanced display may be regarded as the core of the system. It works as a central unit processing incoming signal received from the sensor. Extremely compact, it can be easily installed in the cab without the need of invasive operation.

For the particular layout of the premises or warehouse organization, as well as for the ones who do not want to active the slowing down and blocking options, SIS EASY offers a simple and effective warning system. SIS EASY warns the driver with visual and acoustic alerts. Buzzer sound frequency becomes more intense on approaching the obstacle.

In addition to the above mentioned safety systems, Cy.Pag. Srl offers Cy.VIEW, high resolution camera equipped with monitor, and Cy.LED, a focused beam of light appearing on the floor thus warning pedestrians of approaching forklift truck.d

Having workers as well as safety managers that recognize the dangers involved in working around moving forklifts trucks and know what safety equipment and devices to use to keep themselves safe, can not only prevent injuries and fatalities, but could also contribute to save money in lost production and settlement.

According to a survey carried out by Cy.Pag. Srl the installation of SIS collision avoidance system can reduce up up 80% the risk of accidents to people involved in maneuvering operations and up to 90% the risk of material damages to property.

Jungheinrich: control the complete material flow process
Jungheinrich is one of the world’s leading companies in the material handling equipment, warehousing and material flow engineering sectors. Established in Hamburg, Germany, the company offers the full range of products and services “all around the stacker”.

Jungheinrich ensures that the central and labour-intensive process for consolidating articles and jobs is faster and safer. To do this, the company offers manual, semi automatic or automatic storage systems, all from a single source – from the initial idea of their part-/automatic series trucks to the turnkey realised complete storage system. The company control the complete material flow process.

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 Automatic pallet warehouses are used for the storage of large quantities of one item with a high throughput. It’s suitable for the automatic storage of pallets, lattice boxes and individual loading devices.

 Automatic miniload warehouses are primarily for the storage of large numbers of small parts in limited quantities per item while meeting high throughput requirements. This warehouse system is suitable for the storage of boxes, cartons and trays.

 Automatic high racking storage system, a high degree of overall system availability, and a solution tailored to customers’ needs. EKXa and ETXa automatic high-rack stackers from Jungheinrich are used as the core of this warehouse system. By changing between manual, semiautomatic or automatic mode, this system is equipped for every application. Incremental automation of the warehouse functions is therefore possible. The EKXa and ETXa environment comprises standard modules such as racking, pre-zone transport technology, safety system, control system or transport management and warehouse management system (WMS). The high modularity of this system guarantees great freedom in the planning of warehouse mapping,

 Compact storage shuttle system is based on the independent fork carriages, or carriers, which pick up the pallets for stacking or retrieval and transport them independently in the racking channel. In Pallet Carrier (IPC) and Under Pallet Carrier (UPC), facilitate the efficient storage of palleted products and goods in compact channel warehouse systems.

 As overall logistical solution, Mobile racking systems comprise pallet racking (single/multi-bay racking) or cantilever racking, which is mounted on mobile stands. Equipped with motors, the racking can then be moved via rail guidance so that the required racking aisle can be opened. This operating principle enables 9 out of 10 aisles to be done away with, thereby creating new storage space. The total logistical solution with the Jungheinrich WMS (warehouse management system) achieves significant time savings in the warehouse and with the handling of goods and also facilitates a high level of space optimisation.

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easyPILOT control for significantly enhanced picking performance
Jungheinrich has also developed a new assistance / remote system to support manual order processing using ECE horizontal order pickers. This semi-automatic solution is based on a novel remote control device that can be worn on a belt or in trouser or jacket pockets. Simply tapping the remote control sets the truck in motion. In remote mode the vehicle automatically moves in unison with the driver and stops when the driver taps the remote control or a pre-set path has been travelled. This not only frees up the driver’s hands for order picking, but also saves time, because the driver no longer needs to continually climb on and off the truck.

Euipped with two laser scanners in the direction of travel and laser navigation, the ECE moves safely and parallel to the racking, reliably identifying obstacles and automatically coming to a stop. The Jungheinrich easyPILOT can be optimally combined with pick-by-voice systems, resulting in a significant improvement in order picking performance while simultaneously making the driver’s job easier.

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TRANSNORM: curve conveyors for smart picking
The TRANSNORM Group is one of the leading global manufacturers of high performance modules for container and carton conveyor equipment, as well as for parcel and airport baggage handling systems. TRANSNORM products have long service life and good performance as well as a high degree of reliability for the transport of even very sensitive goods. In addition, the ease of integrating the modules and subsystems enables expeditious system implementation. These are important prerequisites for mastering complex and highly automated material flow tasks for intralogistics on a global level.

All around the globe, TRANSNORM Belt Curves prove their performance and reliability day after day in numerous intralogistics applications and across the most diverse industries. Whether it involves the transport of bins, cardboard boxes or parcels, their belt curves ensure a gentle change of direction in the right position. This is also the case for transport at high conveyor speeds. The holistic construction concept of the TRANSNORM belt curve conveyors provides the best-in-class values in terms of energy consumption, smoothness in running and maintenance-friendliness. The results are particularly low life cycle costs and a high level of efficiency. Depending on the attributes of the goods being transported, TRANSNORM roller curves are deployed in intralogistics wherever, after diversion at 30° or 45°, a flexible and efficient solution is sought for transport over a curved route.

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Helix curves are used in conveyor systems when besides transport over a curve, there is also a difference in height that needs to be overcome. Thanks to the holistic construction concept, TRANSNORM Helix Belt Conveyors combine performance and reliability. In addition, the effective space requirement of the conveyor belt in the system layout reduces and the entire handling right up to belt replacement is highly simplified.

TRANSNORM standard Belt Conveyors are deployed in merging lines of Intralogistics systems. When it comes to merging two or three conveyor lines with a high level of throughput then the TRANSNORM Mega Merge is the ideal choice.

With the help of the TRANSNORM Roller Function Conveyors with a central drive, customers can achieve very high sorting performance with solutions that are energy-efficient and can be configured in a flexible manner. In conjunction with destination tracks arranged on one side or both sides and upstream TRANSNORM Timing Conveyors for gap formation, a complete sorting solution can be designed very quickly. TRANSNORM Roller Function Conveyors are based on 24V technology with average throughput capacities up to 1,800 pcs/h in Intralogistics.

Wherever material need to be split or merged horizontally in a constrained space, powerful Vertical Line Diverters are used. The TRANSNORM VertiSwitch® has been developed especially for this requirement. This complete diverted unit is characterised by its robust construction, modular design and the high level of dynamics of the switching movements.

With a successful combination of high acceleration and high positioning accuracy, an example of where the TRANSNORM Vertical Conveyor is being deployed is at check-in areas. At this stage itself, it is possible to undertake pre-sorting in multiple lines and at multiple levels. Its consistently modular design ensures standardised components and consequently a high degree of reliability and cost-effectiveness.

Logcom: Picavi – picking with smart glasses
Pick-by-vision has entered the world of intralogistics: With their order picking system Picavi, Logcom GmbH enables the use of smart glasses during real-time operation – the system is currently being implemented by cosmetic producer Babor, the tool steel and raw material supplier Steel Service Krefeld and a major bakery enterprise in North Rhine-Westphalia. To further optimize the use of wearables, Logcom has developed the external power supply source Picavi Power Control that specifically caters to the requirements of smart glasses-based picking.

CeMAT Preview 2016 am 23. Februar im Convention Center auf dem Messegelände in Hannover: Die internationalen Journalisten führen individuelle Gespräche mit den teilnehmenden Ausstellern und anwesenden Branchenvertretern über die aktuelle Branchentrends sowie Produktneuheiten zur CeMAT 2016

The entire process control is now performed with smart glasses – systematically step by step. Each step is confirmed by the barcode scanner integrated in the glasses: storage location number and item are checked and picking errors are eliminated.

Smart glasses with the Android operating system and WLAN are used for Picavi and the software is device and manufacturer independent. The warehouse employees wear mobile WLAN smart glasses with an integrated display. On the display they only see the information relevant at the time, depending on the context, and consequently are guided through the working process. The type and quantity of the goods are displayed for the current pick.

Once the corresponding item has been picked, a transport label with SSCC barcode is automatically printed in the driver’s cab and the smart glasses show the staging area location. Once the order is completed, the display will show the next one.

Picavi pick-by-vision is as easy as pick by light and as flexible as pick by voice. Through its specific advantages, the innovative Picavi system is tailor-made for warehouse processes with high pick density, and especially for FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) industries with their many fast movers.

Picavi pick-by-vision corrects and checks, in real time and after every process step. The picker has both hands free for work. One look – one pick – one scan – done. Moving from one pick to the next along optimized routes without tiring – saving time and unnecessary distance. Picavi ensures a precise and strict process guidance in warehouses with high pick accuracy and at the same time a high pick rate.

Magazino: picking robot TORU
Magazino, the Munich based robotics startup will be exhibiting their latest version of TORU, the picking-robot, at CeMAT. Their latest robot, names the TORU Cube, combines intelligent object recognition and precise gripping to provide excellent automated Item-specific picking functionality.

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Since the last prototype a lot has changed: The new TORU Cube can not only pick books but also larger rectangular objects – from a small paperback to a shoebox to a heavy encyclopedia to a box of screws. TORU Cube now also features a detachable picking-shelf with configurable levels of storage, providing space for up to 20 average sized books or other rectangular products. With its rotating column TORU Cube is able to reach items stored as low as 10cm from the ground up to 209cm on both sides of a warehouse aisle giving him a human-like range of motion and mobility.

TORU moves independently to a shelf, where it either grasps the object directly; or using his 3D camera equipped gripper, pulls out a container and scans the contents until the required object is found, and then stores them in its equipped removable shelf. He then brings shelves filled with multiple picked objects directly to a shipping station.

Thanks to certified safety engineering, TORU can interact in real-time with his environment. If a person steps into the robot’s path, it recognizes this and adapts trajectory immediately, meaning that TORU can safely work alongside human co-workers.

TORU can be equipped with a range of grippers, allowing the system to adapt to a changing product range. Should a warehouse stock many different types of products, multiple TORUs configured with different grippers can be used parallel to cover picking the different sizes and shapes.

Unlike humans, TORU neither tires, nor does he have to stick to working hours. The robot allows a warehouse to increase its operating time and as a result, increase its output. Errors due to fatigue and inattention do not apply to TORU.

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Automatic guided vehicles that optimize their own routes. Warehouses that automatically recognize missing inventory and order refills in real time. Systems that develop into complete service providers, thanks to innovative IT.

“Same day delivery is the buzzword of the moment.” said Dr. Christoph Beumer, Chairman of the CeMAT Executive board. “All flows of goods need to be controlled intelligently. IT makes it possible to manage complexity in logistics.”

Whether it’s about energy-saving forklifts or industrial trucks, complex conveyor systems, racking and warehouse systems or the latest in system control – you’re sure to find all the latest innovations for your special area of expertise at CeMAT in Hannover from 31st May to 3rd June this year.