Vetex's updated Sidewinder ATX-3000

Vehicle Technologies Inc (Vetex) plans to deliver an Airtrax-branded Sidewinder omni-directional-wheel-technology forklift to the US Department of Homeland Security for use at a facility in Harvey Point, North Carolina.
Nicholas Fenelli, president of Vetex, in Trenton, New Jersey, and once chief operating officer of Airtrax Inc, says the forklift is likely to be delivered in May.
The new Sidewinder is going to a location with a sometimes mysterious, secretive history. Harvey Point was a naval auxiliary air station for seaplane training during World War II, a base for the naval P6M jet seaplane program from 1958 to 1963 and, more recently, a highly restricted site for clandestine US warfare and counter-terrorism training and testing activities.
Separately, Vetex has licensed the makers of Teun BV fully-automated materials handling systems to use Vetex-produced or sold omni-directional products. "Components for prototype development were shipped to them in mid-2009, pilot production [occurred] in early 2010 and shipments for continuous series production are forthcoming," Fenelli says.
Vetex has offered to support, build or market the Teun equipment in North America, and those offers are under consideration, he says.
René van Glabbeek's Teun system of container loading and unloading equipment is a new operation for logistics solutions developer and distributor Ergo Log BV, of Den Bosch, the Netherlands. The "teu" portion of the name refers to the acronym for the 20-foot equivalent unit, used to measure transport container capacity.
Meanwhile in the US, Vetex is developing an updated Sidewinder ATX-3000 forklift and a RoboMate mobility platform in Ewing, New Jersey. Manufacturing and assembly are taking place in Bristol, Pennsylvania.
Vetex has established distributor agreements for the new Sidewinder with Lift Works Inc, of West Chicago, Illinois, and the Las Vegas, Nevada, facility of H&E Equipment Services Inc.
Martin Stark is president and owner of the Lift Works dealership, which is active in sales, leasing and parts in the used Sidewinder market. Lift Works also carries new and used equipment from Skyjack, Genie and Snorkel and is a Snorkel area dealer.
Publicly traded multi-brand H&E, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has about 28,500 US customers, primarily in the west coast, intermountain, south west, Gulf coast, south east and mid-Atlantic regions.
For decades, the US Department of Defence, universities and industry players have pursued the concept of omni-directional wheel technology. A Swedish inventor patented an early-stage version, which the US Navy purchased and held until the patent expired in 1990. The navy transferred the technology to Airtrax in 1996 through a cooperative research and development agreement.
Fenelli was involved in early stages of the original Sidewinder under the auspices of Airtrax, which filed security disclosures with regulators from April 1999 through to May 2008.
Airtrax began Sidewinder production in 2005 and discontinued manufacturing in March 2006 after building about 60 of the omni-directional forklifts (Forkliftaction.com News #272).
"By July 2007, all units had been sold," Fenelli says.
Amid business and financial turmoils, Airtrax operations ceased in early 2008. The business entity continues to exist on paper with William F Hungerville, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as acting Airtrax chairman.
Fenelli led an effort in early 2009 to establish licence agreements with Airtrax, and Vetex now holds three of those technology pacts. Ironically, Vetex is paying to use the rights to technology patents for which Fenelli was largely responsible.
Upgraded software in the current Sidewinder model provides greater ease of operation, longer battery shift life and reduced roller wear along with more reliable sensor technology and a new operator interface, according to Vetex.