ProMatDX 2021: Powering a more productive fleet

Industrial battery technology continues to advance, allowing warehouse managers and equipment operators to more effectively and efficiently manage their fleets. Examples of this are everywhere at the ProMatDX show, being held online this week.

Day two of the show kicked off Tuesday with an education session on wireless charging technology hosted by Germany-based technology firm Wiferion GmBh. Company leaders explained how wireless chargers without contacts are changing the way energy is transferred to automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and industrial trucks in facilities around the world. They focused on “in-process charging” which they say can eliminate vehicle downtime and reduce fleet size by up to 30%. Other benefits include the elimination of expensive charging areas that take up valuable facility space, and reduced maintenance requirements.

Also during the show, GNB Industrial Power unveiled added services to its GNB Cloud battery and charger management tool. A new IoT-based solution helps dealers and end-users more easily manage all of the motive power assets across their sites, “whether they have 10 or 10,000 assets across one or 1,000 sites,” according to the company. Essentially, the tool helps end-users know where their equipment is and how it is functioning by managing all aspects of their power assets—including batteries, chargers, and gateways—in the cloud. The technology works for all types of battery systems.

The latest version of GNB Cloud is targeted to dealers who are looking for better tools to deploy connected IoT systems and provide customers with online asset management, according to the company. It allows dealers to easily manage their customers’ batteries and chargers to offer them enhanced services such as “Power by the Hour,” in which customers are charged monthly based on their level of usage, according Bret Akers, vice president of software solutions for GNB.

ProMatDX 2021 takes place April 12-16 online.