By providing greater visibility into impacts, handling practices, and fleet performance, connected technologies offer insight into opportunities to reduce product losses and improve operational efficiency. This not only supports cost control objectives but may also contribute to wider sustainability goals by helping minimise avoidable waste.
Busy environments, shift work, and demanding schedules can create challenges that affect consistency and efficiency. Operator assistance technologies may support performance by improving awareness of surrounding activity, encouraging consistent driving, and providing additional support in challenging work areas such as cold stores or congested warehouse zones if the specific application requires it.
Food processing operations often comprise an element of indoor handling, and parts, if not all, of the operation must take place in a clean environment. This makes electric forklifts often the go-to choice. However, battery chemistry and performance can be a consideration.
Long operating hours, multiple shifts, and temperature-controlled environments can make energy management important for food processing operations. In cold storage applications particularly, power performance can have a direct effect on operational continuity and productivity. Here, low temperatures can affect the efficiency of some battery types, making energy management a key operational priority.
Advances in battery technology are helping address these challenges.
Lithium-ion solutions, for example, can offer opportunities for fast, opportunity charging and greater operational flexibility, while eliminating some of the maintenance requirements associated with traditional lead-acid battery technologies.
When paired with fleet management data, businesses can make more informed decisions about battery charging strategies, asset utilisation, and energy consumption, supporting efficiency throughout the operation.
While individual technologies can deliver benefits in specific areas, greater value may be realised when equipment, power solutions, operator assistance systems, and data insights work together as part of a connected materials handling strategy.
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Issue 83 PECM 89