A 10-page white paper on forklift automation identifies challenges in adopting technological advancements as an integral part of future warehousing.

The paper - "The State of Forklift Automation: Are We There Yet?" - explores technology's progress in recent years and provides guidance for those contemplating change.

Crown Equipment Corp developed the white paper following a 2012 survey of more than 300 materials handling professionals, of whom 71% identified driving down costs as the biggest challenge facing their operations.

"The technology is still maturing and is evolving to the point where it holds real promise to be an integral part of the warehouse of the future," the paper says. While automation is a powerful weapon in cost containment, many in the materials handling industry wonder "if now is the right time to make the move to forklift automation".

Tim Quellhorst, Crown senior vice president, says: "When you review the state of the technology and how quickly it is evolving, you see the answer to that question isn't always clear. There are benefits to be had today, but there are also risks if expectations are too high or insufficient resources are devoted to the effort."

The paper poses six questions organisations should address during the decision-making process and provides perspectives about the current generation and near-term evolution of forklift automation technology. The questions are:

• Do we have an application that suits current forklift automation systems?
• Do we need vehicles that can operate in manual and automatic modes?
• Will new technology introduce any safety issues?
• Is our environment ready for automation?
• Who will assume service responsibility and what are their capabilities?
• Do we have the internal resources to support the project?

New Bremen-based Crown designs, engineers and manufactures a broad range of forklifts and automation and fleet management technologies.