A new automatic guided vehicle (AGV) made its debut this week at ProMat 2011. The AGV combines Crown Equipment Corp.'s PC 4500 series rider pallet truck with an order picking and software suite from Dematic.
The vehicle is the result of an alliance between Dematic, a supplier of logistics systems for warehouses, DCs, and manufacturing plants, and Crown, a major lift truck manufacturer. The alliance is known as LaserTrucks+.
The first new vehicle arising from the alliance makes use of AGV technology that Dematic gained as part of its acquisition last year of HK Systems. The vehicle is aimed at mixed-case picking applications. Although the truck is based on Crown's rider-aboard pallet trucks, David Berhorn, chief technology officer for Dematic said during a press conference at ProMat that drivers would only drive the truck in emergency situations. "It is not a dual mode truck," he said.
John Baysore, president and CEO of Dematic North America, said the vehicle could offer DCs significant gains in driver productivity, safety, and damage reduction. He said Dematic expected to begin beta testing the new vehicle in customer facilities sometime in the next few weeks.
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