Forklift News - RFID company scoops award for innovation

Business development manager Robert Deane of Peacock Bros with the award.

Australian RFID innovator Peacock Bros, which this year celebrates its 120th anniversary, has just won an award, the 2008 Australian Industrial Product of the Year, part of the Endeavour Awards, for the supply chain solution it installed for a NZ fruit distribution company (Forkliftaction.com News #358).

Presented in Sydney last week, the award recognises the revolutionary RFID and indoor vehicle management system that Peacock Bros designed and installed for kiwi fruit packhouse, EastPak.

According to Peacock Bros marketing co-ordinator Craig McKenzie, another 23 Australian companies are now interested in implementing the system with two ready to begin a pilot project to assess how they can get the most out of the solution within their own workplaces.

"In the next few weeks, we will complete our own demonstration warehouse at our Melbourne office, with the complete system on display and working," he tells Forkliftaction.com News.

He adds the award proves the company has developed a world-class product and can consider launching it overseas.

The fruit packing warehouse’s operational efficiencies have improved dramatically, according to company administrator Donna Smit. "We have already moved over two million more trays than this time last year due to the new system," she says.

Explains McKenzie, "The company needed more than just ‘point of activity’ tracking of RFID pallets to fulfill their supply chain visibility requirements.  The resultant supply chain management system now tracks the movement of all the forklift vehicles and pallets within centimetres, every second of the day in every facility.  Continuous monitoring of activities allows for full inventory reporting on where the stock is located, quantity, expiry date and much more, as well as analysing the performance of indoor vehicles such as forklifts to ensure optimal efficiencies within the warehouses."

The solution involved forklifts being fitted with special Sky-trax optical cameras that identify their location relative to position markers suspended from the warehouse ceiling.  The location information is fed to a vehicle-mounted mobile computer which continuously relays data such as location, speed and direction to the main warehouse management system.  By adding automated RFID pallet tag readers and height sensors to the forklift, the warehouse system now knows the location and height of the tagged pallets, even if they are in motion onboard the forklift.

EastPack maintains three warehouses containing 42 refrigerated storage rooms, receiving, storing and dispatching as orders are placed.  The solution was deployed throughout its entire operation incorporating 25 forklifts which last year moved over 13.5 million trays of kiwi fruit.

The fruit packing warehouse’s operational efficiencies have improved dramatically.

Discuss Forkliftaction.com News stories in the Discussion Forums!