Lift Truck Issue: Technology’s imprint evolves

This marks the 11th year we’ve devoted a majority of our August issue to the lift truck, the steadfast workhorse of the materials handling market and the consummate backbone of nearly every warehouse and DC on the planet—no matter the level of automation being put to work inside the four walls.

As we have over the years, we offer our deep dive into the Top 20 lift truck suppliers; we roll out our reader survey that illustrates the state of lift truck usage and investment; we set the spotlight on some of the latest technological innovations; and we bring you up to speed on the lift truck accessories market.

Kicking off our Lift Truck issue this year, executive editor Bob Trebilcock tracks the continued evolution of the autonomous lift truck, a technology that opened some eyes 10 years ago and is gaining some momentum since it can reduce the number lift truck drivers a facility might need.

“Like the drones we wrote about in July, this is still an emerging technology space,” says Trebilcock. “My impression is that most of the roll outs of autonomous lift trucks with forks capable of moving pallets is outside the United States. Within the United States, it appears a lot of the activity has been around tugger applications moving carts to and from the assembly line.”

At the same time, Trebilcock says Modern has heard of more companies investigating or getting ready to pilot autonomous lift trucks due to ongoing labor issues. “They’re significantly more expensive than autonomous mobile robots [AMRs], so I don’t think we’ll see them take off as quickly as AMR technology. However, the technology is real and the energy is building.”

The labor availability challenge continues to drive the development and implementation of fleet software, telematics and operator assist features. Senior editor Roberto Michel offers a comprehensive look at how much of today’s lift truck technology is geared toward improving the productivity of the workforce.

“While the option of moving to fully autonomous lift trucks is clearly an option, as Bob points out in this month’s cover story, it begs for a careful cost/returns analysis,” says Michel. “For many operations, it’s likely that fairly conventional, though higher end lift truck models with some operator assist features, can help improve productivity and worker comfort.”

Michel also reports that added options, like telematics or semi-automated trucks that speed up order picking, offer additional benefits. “It’s like three levels of automation, in effect,” he says, “with the foundational level consisting of operator assist functions, not too unlike the type of operator functions you find in higher end passenger cars or light trucks today.”

We included a question about the adoption of autonomous and semi-autonomous forklift technology in this year’s “Lift Truck Acquisition and Usage Study.” “I guess it was no surprise that the usage numbers are fairly small, coming in at 14% in this year’s survey,” says editor at large Gary Forger.

“That number should be used as a general indicator of lukewarm buying activity at best as this technology continues to evolve,” adds Forger. “However, it’s certainly a number to watch in coming years.”