It's rare in the materials handling industry to see just one company offer a particular type of equipment for any length of time. That was the case for several years in the 1980s when there was just one supplier of vertical lift modules. Now there are several suppliers.

But when it comes to work assist vehicles, there is still just one supplier, Crown, five years after introduction of this new class of equipment. In its simplest form, a work assist vehicle, called the Wave, by Crown, takes the place of a ladder in a variety of applications. This highly mobile vehicle raises and lowers a single operator to a desired height for manual putaway and picking of items.

How far have these vehicles come in that time? "Further than we had originally expected," explains Jim Moran, senior vice president of Crown.

There are now thousands used in over 350 industries. Leading end user categories include distributors of wholesale trade durable goods and industrial goods. Certain prominent big-box retailers are major users of the equipment. Other leaders include manufacturers of electronics and components as well as industrial machinery.

How the vehicles are used has gone further than anticipated too, Moran adds. Beyond expected small parts picking, they easily improve a worker's position in a number of awkward assembly operations.

Moran says work assist vehicles have done well as the work force ages and people are asked to do difficult tasks. "People find ways to accomplish what they need to accomplish. And sometimes the alternatives are not so safe or ergonomic. Work assist vehicles bring safety and ergonomics to a range of tasks," says Moran.