In recent years, the forklift industry has hitherto unknown technological innovations. Despite the impact of COVID-19, data still show growth. Driven by a series of factors: the rise of e-commerce, increasing labor costs, environmental regulations and the digitization of data and analysis, the industry is forced to adopt new technologies to maintain relevance and efficiency.
Four major innovation trends have emerged in the past few years: automation, digital connectivity / Internet of things (IOT), safe and environmentally sustainable equipment design and practice, all of which are driven by the impacts already mentioned: e-commerce, environmental sustainability, improving Internet services and increasing labor costs. Many forklift technology innovations aimed at improving efficiency are also conducive to improving safety. Sensor technology is a good example. It can not only improve productivity through data collection, but also link and integrate to include security functions.
JLT mobile computer, headquartered in Sweden and the United States, has designed a rugged mobile computer that can be modified to any forklift regardless of the power supply. Jlt6012 series has a variety of integrated sensors, which can collect data and manage everything from forklift acceleration, direction, battery voltage and current, ambient light and temperature to fuel consumption and maintenance requirements. Christian funk, business development director, said that the jlt6012 series is designed to adapt to a variety of environments, including warehousing, transportation and ports. Funk said, "integrated sensor technology can bring endless advantages, taking vehicle safety as an example. We can create software that darkens the screen when forklifts are driving. This eliminates the risk of drivers being distracted by looking at the screen while driving and causing accidents. The same sensors can be used to alert drivers to environmental conditions such as vibration and shock."
Innovation does not always mean developing new things. It also improves the performance of existing products and works better.
Carlo fallarini, global marketing manager of BOLZONI group, believes that the real innovation is to improve productivity and safety by improving product performance, or develop a new way of doing things. Fallarini said that BOLZONI's electric accessories drew inspiration from the real world and developed innovative solutions. "Smart" CTX series fixtures are fully computerized and automated with integrated fixture testing to ensure minimum fixture pressure - operators do not need to guess and avoid out of roundness due to excessive clamping force. The new technology also allows both logistics managers and operators to use integrated information.
Safety and efficiency are important drivers of innovation. Arnold Vetter, CEO of Vetter industry, said that these goals have created breakthrough solutions. Vetter's smartfork technology is an integrated management system. Starting with the integrated camera in the fork, Vetter realized that other functions could be installed, such as sensors for measuring distance, occupancy, weighing and inclination. Vetter smartforks can assemble a series of sensors according to customer specifications and customize them to meet requirements, and all sensors can be fully integrated.
Smartfork flash is a simple but effective security feature consisting of a set of LED strips connected to the inside and outside of the front fork. The strip on the inside of the fork shows the depth into the pallet for efficient and safe picking up of goods. The external strip has programmable lights that can be visualized in a dark or unclear environment and can be seen from a distance.
