The latest high-capacity automatic guided cart (AGC) from Jervis B. Webb Co. can move very large pallet loads. The 4,000-pound capacity SmartCart model 200 AGC is a battery-powered, magnetic tape or wire-guided cart with speeds from 10 to 120 feet per minute. According to Paul Hopersberger, director of marketing communications, AGCs are known as "the poor man's AGV," since they are less expensive than automatic guided vehicles but offer many of the same functions. This is a second-generation machine; the company unveiled its 2,000-pound capacity Model 100 AGC at last year's NA 2002 show.

That unit was well received, said Hopersberger, but customers wanted to move larger loads.