 Chief sales officer Christophe Lautray, representing Linde Material Handling (left), and CEO Fabien Bardinet, representing robotics specialist Balyo. |
Linde Material Handling and robotics specialist Balyo have entered into a strategic partnership.
The two companies plan to collaborate in development, manufacturing and sales under the umbrella of Linde robotics, which is expected to extend Linde MH's solution expertise in the field. Linde MH wants to intensify its activities in the field of robotic industrial trucks, while Balyo aims to achieve a significant market penetration for its innovative technological solutions.
According to the forklift maker, demand for automated industrial trucks is growing steadily. In particular, warehouse truck operators want to standardise their in-house material flow by deploying semi- or fully automatic solutions, which will enable them to use their equipment flexibly and to prevent incorrect operation and accident risks, and reduce personnel costs.
"Our aim is to extend our range of automation solutions to offer our customers solutions having different levels of complexity," explains chief sales officer Christophe Lautray. "With Balyo, we were able to persuade the technology leader in robotics for materials handling equipment to co-operate exclusively with us so that we can now combine the best of both worlds."
Lautray says Linde MH plans to integrate Balyo's technology into most of its products gradually, while exploiting synergies in production and sales. The companies' first jointly developed products were presented at the LogiMAT exhibition in Stuttgart, Germany this week.
Balyo CEO Fabien Bardinet says his company chose to partner with Linde MH because it is "the European market leader in industrial trucks and comprises great product knowledge and a very densely knit consulting and service network".
"For us, they are the ideal partner to create the most advanced robots to (best) serve our common customers. At Balyo, we produce a unique driving system for materials handling; together with Linde MH we will offer disruptive solutions to help our customers to optimise their in-house material flows and achieve major cost savings," he explains.
Based on standard Linde trucks, robots driven by Balyo technology do not require any navigation infrastructure like laser reflectors, tracks or magnets. They use an embedded autonomous laser-assisted technology, which relies on structural features such as walls, racks or columns.
According to Linde MH, the technology enables a fast and easy installation process. First, the warehouse is charted and the data is converted into a two-dimensional map. Next the order of the routes through the warehouse and the missions assigned to the robots are defined. Equipped with laser, processor unit and digitised map, the vehicle locates itself in real time.
Changes in the warehouse, missions or routes can be implemented at any time. A comprehensive software suite allows full integration in the warehouse environment, and a simple control of the robots for the warehouse operators is available via an intuitive user interface.
The new robot family comes with a "very advanced security solution" allowing an easy cooperation with the operators and an automatic restart of the truck after a previously detected obstacle has been removed and the route is clear again. Different to other solutions, the robots analyse its environment in 3D and can restart autonomously.