Getting Practical with IoT in the Warehouse

The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of those technology trends that carries impact, but has a hard-to-define nature to it simply because of its many potential applications. Several sponsors at ProMatDX, however, offer solutions that have IoT capabilities built in to address issues such as as asset health monitoring and warehouse workforce analytics.

Autonomous mobile robot (AMR) vendors, for example, are tapping into the continuous stream of digital data from the movement of AMRs to analyze flow and productivity. Smart motors, drives, sensors that connect to the cloud can give user organizations or automation suppliers insights into asset health to improve uptime. Vendors in the mobile computing device space are offering solutions that use cloud analytics to provide workforce productivity insights.

As a result, IoT applications do not need to be thought of as science projects. In some cases, vendors have engrained IoT features and analytics into packaged, targeted solutions.

For example, GNB Industrial Power offers a cloud software solution called GNB Cloud that has a new version and module announced during PromatDX. GNB Cloud is decision-support software for companies looking to design and deploy the latest in lift truck battery and charger technologies, and maximize their performance, according to Bret Aker, VP of Software Solutions for GNB.

While end user organizations might tap into some of GNB Cloud’s monitoring functions and insights, lift truck dealers can use the solution to help their clients manage motive assets and make decisions on which type of motive power equipment best suits an operation. When used to facilitate power studies, GNB Cloud leverages wireless power loggers placed on motive power assets to capture data and feed it into modeling and what-if analysis software functions.

GNB Cloud’s “Measure” and “Model” modules help organizations arrive at informed decisions on what type of batteries best suit an operation, which is increasingly important given the many lift truck battery choices now on the market, says Aker. “We can sit down with our customers and give them a better idea of what it is needed among the many battery choices that exist, and what type of charging approach will work best,” says Aker.

A new module in GNB Cloud called “Manage” provides asset lifecycle management functions for batteries, chargers, gateways and power loggers. It lets an organization know where these connected assets are and how they are configured—data critical for equipment dealers trying to scale up their IoT-enabled services, says Aker. “With Manage, we are basically providing the back-end tools to do smart IoT,” he says.

In an online press conference prior to the show, Siemens talked up the benefits of its new Sinamics G115D, a compact drive system designed for horizontal conveyor applications. The system comprises the motor, drive and gearbox in one unit.

One of the key areas of advantage for the drive system are its connectivity options to support cloud-based analysis of asset health to achieve the uptime level that fast-paced DC operations need today, says Craig Henry, intralogistics industry manager for Siemens. The company has a IoT/cloud analytics platform called MindSphere to support such analyses.

“Silos of automation and IT are no longer an option,” says Henry. “We have to integrate and have data available through various systems in these fulfillment centers.”

Rufus Labs, a ProMat sponsor which offers wearable mobile computing devices and workforce analytics software, announced a partnership with StayLinked, which offers software for adjusting user interfaces on mobile devices. Under the alliance, users of Rufus Labs’ wearables like its Rufus Cuff Pro have the option to transform “green screen” UIs into modern graphical screens with no changes to the underlying enterprise applications.

While Rufus Labs focuses on making its devices as as effective as possible for hands-free scanning and warehouse tasks, a big part of its value add come not from the device itself, but rather the cloud analytics software that comes with it as part of Rufus Labs’ subscription-based solution, says CEO Gabe Grifoni. This approach uses cloud analytics that taps into real-time data generated by the wearables so user organizations can see and adapt to changing trends like warehouse tasks that are taking longer than the norm.

“A big part of the value picture which our customers utilize are the metrics and the labor-related insights and tools that we bring in the software,” says Grifoni.

While having a wearable that is lightweight and ergonomic is important, so too are cloud analytics on issues like slow task times, or conversely, being able to show workers how well they are doing at exceeding the norm. Additionally, the same connectivity and analytics allows for the support of social distancing alerts. As Grifoni puts it, “when we look at the worker on the floor, our key focus at Rufus is about how do we make workers more productive and keep them safe on the job? Those are really the key elements of what we do and drive everything here.”

Such vendor solutions that involve IoT and cloud analytics may not be considered major digital transformations by some, but they do point to how IoT applications don’t have stem from bespoke projects—they can be part of vendor offerings.