Weasel® system receives the IFOY Award 2016
CeMAT highlight! SSI Schaefer’s Weasel® automated guided vehicle (AGV) was presented with the IFOY Award 2016 in the “Intralogistics Solutions” category on the first day of the CeMAT exhibition in Hanover.
It is being used as a fleet solution at NextLevel Logistik® GmbH, based near Schweinfurt in Germany. The Weasel® is an AGV designed for intra-company goods transport with considerably reduced investment and total operating costs.
The “International Forklift Truck of the Year” (IFOY) Award, an independent non-profit organisation, aims to recognise the best intralogistics products and solutions on an annual basis and to develop ways to assess the best technical and strategic performances in intralogistics and encourage innovation. The IFOY Award was presented by the Materials Handling and Intralogistics Association of the VDMA (German Engineering Federation). The winner was selected by an international jury of well-known specialist journalists in the European logistics industry, under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy.
It is no coincidence that the Weasel® was chosen as the best in its category; the system transports bins, cartons, trays and other products of various sizes (up to 35 kg) between workstations, goods-in, goods-out and the waste disposal areas. An internal AGV has been created, which in contrast to conventional AGVs, works without the need for complex sensors or control systems. In just three days, all the hardware and software for the system had been installed and commissioned at fashion logistics service provider NextLevel Logistik® GmbH, active in the rapidly growing e-commerce sector. Special features of the solution include the automatic RFID bulk reading in the goods-in zone and the flexibility and scalability of the system. Weasel systems are not rail-mounted and can therefore be flexibly integrated into existing structures, as the vehicles navigate along an optical track. The AGV grows with the company, and seasonal peaks in output can be handled easily using additional Weasel systems.
In these times of Industry 4.0, this is a major advantage for users as the Weasel vehicles work in a networked and self-sufficient manner, connect any operating areas and support all processes in the entire logistics environment.