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Smart logistics and Industry 4.0 have created an ever growing demand for data input as a tool to optimise supply chains and reach required profit levels. RAVAS forklift scales provide data on material flows, making these data available to the proper people and software platforms in a company's organisation, through the integration of connected trucks. These data allow companies to streamline their supply chains and reduce their cost. Smart attachments like RAVAS iForks will shift lift truck value away from mere materials handling, in the direction of data sampling.


Smart attachments sample data on connected trucks

Take the example of an LTL carrier, handling a constant stream of inbound pallet shipments every day, and shipping them out to their destination in freight trucks and sea containers. Let's say that a fleet of connected forklift trucks offloads these pallet shipments from inbound freight trucks, providing a continuous stream of data on these materials to the company's ERP system. Every pallet lifted out of the freight truck is identified, weighed on the forks of the lift truck, and dimensioned. The resulting data set on the pallet shipment is communicated with the ERP system. And all this on the fly, en route from a freight truck to a buffer zone in the company's warehouse.

These data, sampled during the first minute that a pallet spends on its cross docking journey through the warehouse, allow the ERP system to increase the company's efficiency, reduce its cost and optimize its revenue. The number of pallet movements within the warehouse is reduced to the necessary minimum, eliminating driving back and forth to floor scales and static dimensioning equipment. The inbound and outbound destination of the pallet is known the moment it is lifted out of the freight truck.

Information on the weight and seize of the pallet, sampled on the connected lift truck, allows the ERP system to optimize load factors on outbound freight trucks and correctly invoice their customers. Container weights are computed and declared to the shipping company for SOLAS purposes while compiling the loading list in the ERP system, before a single pallet has been loaded into the container. All thanks to data sampled on the smart attachments of connected trucks.

A distant prospect? No, all this is available technology, in proven products.


iForks: a smart attachment for forklift trucks

RAVAS iForks are a smart attachment for forklift trucks. These weighing forks replace the standard forks on a truck. From that moment on, everything lifted on these forks is weighed at the same time. The weight information is represented on a driver display in the cabin of the truck, and can be shared with an ERP or WMS via the user?s existing wireless network. Integration with ID-scans and other devices, like dimensioning equipment, produces extensive data sets on materials moving through the supply chain. Information that provides immediate cost reductions. And RAVAS mobile weighing devices provide this weight information on the fly, without disrupting work cycles or internal logistics.

The trend is 'Connect me'. RAVAS mobile weighing systems provide connectivity and integration: from the level of system integration, right down to data collection Apps for smart phones and tablets. RAVAS iForks are the perfect example of a smart attachment for forklift trucks. Existing attachments are equipped with sensors, to make them smart and allow integration within the Industry 4.0 environment. Fleets of trucks, connected via the Internet of Things, provide real-time input for global supply chain management. Smart attachments will shift truck value away from mere materials handling, in the direction of data sampling.