7 Ways Velux is Using a Real-time Location System in Their Production Plant

[Infographics]: Creating the Forklift of the Future

By Petr Passinger | September 7th, 2022 | 3 min read

Your three-minute guide to the benefits of an RTLS-powered forklift.

The forklift is a long-standing symbol of the warehousing and manufacturing guild, and now, forklifts are being digitalized to create the smart forklift of the future. To do this, the forklift has been newly equipped with multiple IoT sensors for automatic identification, asset tracking, and geolocation using real-time location system (RTLS) sensors. This infrastructure-based RTLS makes the forklift not only location-aware but part of a comprehensive system in which the location and movement of all objects are known in real-time.

The simplest solutions are almost always the best, and this is also true for localization. If you need to track thousands of assets that are being moved from place to place, why not just track those few devices that are moving these assets to know their position? Why invest in thousands of tracking tags and their maintenance if you can track all assets by tracking only those few forklifts moving them? Read the infographic to see why tag-less tracking is an inevitable part of the forklift of the future and the Occam’s razor for asset tracking.

You can download the infographics either in poster (wider version) or web format (narrower version):

Creating the Forklift of the Future

In which scenario should tag-less tracking replace direct tracking?

  • A high number of assets (e.g., 1,000+) that needs to be tracked, increasing the costs of tracking tags and the maintenance costs linked to them.
  • The tracked object can’t be easily equipped with a tag due its specific size or shape.
  • Unreturnable packaging.
  • Extreme environmental conditions.

What scenario brings the highest ROI of tag-less tracking?

  • The client is already using an ERP/WMS.
  • The assets are big enough to be transferable via forklift only.
  • There are no additional material handling units that can transfer the asset besides those where the tag-less tracking of a package can be deployed .
  • The pallet/container contains a single asset only.

Interested in learning more about creating the forklift of the future using RTLS? Contact us for a free consultation.