2008 IUV Technology Conference Special Report

2008 IUV Technology Conference Special Report

By Anne K. Richter, Contributor, IUV Magazine

A secluded golf resort in Lincolnshire, Illinois served as the venue for this year’s IUV Technology Conference. Members of the industry gathered on September 16-17 to hear about the emerging new technologies in design and engineering for “a challenging world.”

Sponsors for this year’s conference included Curtis Instruments, a world-leading manufacturer of instrumentation and controls for off-road electric and hybrid vehicles; SICK, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of sensors, safety systems and automatic identification products for industrial applications; and Thomas Equipment, Inc., manufacturer and distributor of Skid Steer and Mini Skid Steer loaders for industrial and construction applications.

Stephen Metzger, Senior Editorial Advisor for IUV Magazine, opened the conference with a brief update on the state of the economy at large, and its impact on the industrial utility vehicle industry. His remarks were timely: the global economy was experiencing one of the most turbulent weeks in history. As he spoke, world markets declined sharply on the news that U.S. authorities had decided overnight to take over troubled insurer American International Group (AIG) – a move aimed at stemming further financial turmoil that was one of the biggest government interventions in U.S. economic history.

Stephen began his presentation by alluding to the challenges that the industry would face in light of these conditions.

“Our theme this year could be characterized as innovation and new technology that increases productivity,” he said. “Because in bad times, the key to recovery is productivity.”

The morning’s keynote speaker was Greg Mason, General Manager of Jungheinrich Lift Truck Corporation, who discussed how innovation and technology within the forklift industry can profit the environment without negatively impacting profitability.

“Everywhere you look, people are talking about ‘going green’, and it’s certainly no different here within the lift truck industry,” he began.

Greg continued by explaining that for many users, the belief is that IC trucks are the only option for an industrial forklift because of their more flexible applications. “The consensus seems to be that [compared to electric trucks] IC trucks are easier to refuel, have lower cost of operations, and can basically be kept running with rubber bands and chewing gum.” However, according to Greg, this is not necessarily the case. He pointed to AC technology as a viable solution for industrial forklifts that could “meet or exceed” the standards of an IC truck, citing specific statistics comparing the performance of the two technologies. 

“With an AC forklift truck you have better lift performance, equal to or better than travel performance, and acceleration is certainly superior.” And while Greg acknowledged that “there will always be a call for DC or some sort of IC hybrid truck” for certain applications (such when the ground is wet or unpaved), he believes that electric forklifts could feasibly replace “the vast majority” of IC forklift trucks currently in operation.

Following Greg’s keynote address, several industry leaders took the stage for the Drivetrain Panel. Moderator Mark Anderson, Senior Principal Design Engineer for The Toro Company, kicked off the discussion between panelists Gabriel Venzin (President, ABM Drives, Inc.), Theodore (Ted) Bohn (Principle Investigator, Argonne National Lab – Center for Transportation Research), Jim Criscuolo (Vice President, Oerlikon Graziano Drive Systems North America), and John Updyke (Engineering Product Manager, Drivetrain Division, IUV Conference exhibitor The Hilliard Corporation).

John began by referring to Greg’s earlier presentation, stating that in his experience, there were a lot of changes in drive technology occurring in an effort to go green. “I think one of the focuses from the mechanical power transmission side has to be that we maintain that same line of thinking in an effort to improve our efficiencies ... we have to be cognizant of the fact that our goal is to transmit power to the ground as efficiently as we possibly can.”

The panelists continued by addressing questions from the audience – a common theme was the trend toward increased voltage in automobiles over the past decade.

Following a brief coffee break in the exhibit hall, attendees moved to an outdoor tent where Rudy Cuevas, Corporate Safety Administrator for Associated Material Handling Industries, Inc., & The Raymond Corporation, was on hand to give a presentation about lift truck safety training. Rudy emphasized the importance of proper training within the lift truck industry, citing the increasing number of forklift accidents occurring in large part due to inadequate instruction.

He continued by stating that safety measures “aren’t hard to do, just frequently overlooked.” For this reason, he said, employers should be proactive in reaching out to find training resources such as those offered by the Raymond Corporation, and providing workplace-specific training to their operators.

“It doesn’t make any sense to buy a $50,000 piece of equipment and not train your operators,” he explained. “Training is always a good investment.”

Throughout the first day of the conference, attendees also sat in on their choice of breakout sessions, where they heard from some of the industry’s most preeminent voices and participated in active discussion around various topics of interest. Those sessions this reporter was able to attend is reported here.

Robert Rose, Executive Director of the U.S. Fuel Cell Council, focused his session around a strong argument that fuel cells are emerging as a cost-effective alternative to battery technology in forklifts. Once again touching upon the recurring green theme, Robert stated that “the beauty of fuel cells is that there are no emissions in the conventional sense.” In addition to the environmental benefits of fuel cell technology, Robert outlined several other advantages: high efficiency, wide range of applications, high quality power, and less noise than battery-operated forklifts.

In another breakout session, Warren Clark and Landon Ball, engineering managers for E-Z-GO Textron, showcased the latest in golf cart technology. E-Z-GO is a leader in this field, counting as its clients seven of the top-ten U.S. golf courses.

“The majority of our innovations have essentially been customer-driven,” said Warren. “And were the result of significant research done to determine how to best meet our customers’ wants.”

The customers’ wants, as it turned out, were closely aligned with electric drive systems. The new system developed by E-Z-GO proved more efficient than its competitors; using 30 percent less energy on a typical round of golf without sacrificing those performance factors that were of most importance to the customers. The added efficiency enabled E-Z-GO to decrease the size of the battery pack in its carts from the biggest in the industry to the smallest; thereby significantly reducing the weight and cost of the vehicle.

After the last of the morning breakout sessions, conference attendees gathered for lunch and enjoyed a presentation by Petter Etholm, President and CEO of IUV Conference sponsor Thomas Equipment and Chairman, President and CEO of Osiris Corporation (parent company of Thomas Equipment).

Petter shared how Thomas Equipment was able to rebuild and reinvent itself to become a global competitor in the skid steer market, and turned the inspiring story into a set of ten broad “lessons learned” that “could benefit all companies going forward”: Care for Employees, Care for Customers, Re-Read Lessons 1 and 2, Manage Brand and Communicate, Build Dealer Partnerships, Maintain Top Quality, Price Right to Reflect Values, Market Niche Strategy, Financing is Key, and Think Global, Act Local. 

The afternoon breakout sessions continued with a presentation from Don Halbert, Global Product Manager for IUV Conference exhibitor Avery Weigh-Tronix, LLC. Don discussed the company’s innovative electronic weighing technology and its application to forklifts through on-board weighing data collection. The technology, which can operate on any brand of forklift, allows for greater accuracy in warehouse and shipment operations. Since Avery’s scales are on-board devices, the technology also eliminates the wear and tear and labor time that result from an operator having to drive the forklift back and forth from a stationary scale.

Michael Gandrud, Senior Engineer for Sauer-Danfoss, Inc., led another breakout session during which he gave an overview of the Integrated Hydraulic Package (IHP) concept. The IHP concept is applied toward battery-powered and electric vehicles, and seeks to reduce energy consumption while maintaining the same overall system cost.

In one of the last breakout sessions of the afternoon, attendees learned about I.D. Systems’ latest innovations in vehicle management systems, with an emphasis on industrial vehicles as virtual “data platforms” that can help improve safety, simplify fulfillment of OSHA requirements, reduce damage to the vehicles themselves, and optimize fleet performance and efficiency.

After the breakout sessions, the exhibit hall re-opened for the final event of the day: a cocktail reception that gave attendees the opportunity to mingle and visit with representatives from exhibiting companies and learn about some of the developments and innovations taking place within their respective organizations.

Gold Sponsor Curtis Instruments was on hand to show the latest in its electric vehicle technology. During a breakout session presented earlier that day by Richard McFarlane, Customer Support Engineer and group leader for Curtis, the audience had an opportunity to learn about a new application for Curtis’ electric vehicle technology: airport ground support equipment.

Despite the fact that only ten percent of airline ground support equipment is currently electric, Curtis believes that this number is likely to grow. “The push [toward electrification of GSE] is from the airlines, and from the actual airports themselves,” Richard said. With zero emissions, the electric vehicles have the potential to positively affect both the environment and the quality of work for airline employees.

Also exhibiting at the conference was Sky-Trax, provider of innovative technology solutions for warehouse operations. Monty Taylor, Program Director for Sky-Trax, would later explain during a breakout session on day two of the conference that “the vehicle is becoming more and more simply a piece of a much larger system where information has to flow back and forth.” Sky-Trax seeks to integrate automation and manual operation of warehouse vehicles; a departure from the “all or none” mentality typically associated with vehicle automation.

Altra Industrial Motion, a leading supplier of power transmission and motion control products, showcased among other things its line of “best-in-class” electromechanical actuators and controls manufactured by Altra brand Warner Linear.

Maval Manufacturing, Inc., displayed at its booth the innovative off-road and specialty steering systems that have made the company a worldwide leader in the production of off-road steering systems. Its Unisteer™ modular steering system is one of Maval’s newer concepts geared toward small vehicle manufacturers.

Also at the exhibit was IMS Gear, a company with a more than 100-year history of specializing in metal gearing, tooling and toothed-wheel engineering. Last year, IMS Gear made the decision to focus on a few select areas of expertise; in particular, standard planetary gears.

ABM Drives, Inc., a world leader for gearboxes and AC motors for battery-powered material handling vehicles, exhibited its new bevel gearbox with the industry’s tightest swing radius.

Other conference exhibitors included Caetek, which presented its state-of-the-art E3 Series software, a suite of integrated, Windows-based tools for design and documentation of electrical systems; Polygon Company, a designer, supplier and fabricator of OEM composite materials and components; Zapi, a leading European manufacturer of electronic speed controllers and associated products for application in electric vehicles; Trombetta, a world leader in industrial work solenoids and related electronic controls; Semikron, one of the world’s leading independent manufacturers of power electronics; and Sevcon, designer and manufacturer of control systems for battery-powered vehicles.

Day two of the conference began with a keynote address from Gad Shaanan, President and CEO of GadShaananDesign (sold to Worrell Design in 2007). In his presentation, Gad walked through a case study illustrating the innovation and design behind an aircraft flight simulator developed in partnership with CAE.

Ultimately, Gad explained, the new design reduced weight of the simulator by 25 percent, reduced assembly time (including in-field assembly time and staff), while also reducing overall cost: a complete success by any account and strong testimony to Worrell’s ability to meet customer needs through remarkable industrial design expertise.

Following Gad’s presentation, Jim Trufan (Senior Project Manager, St. Onge Company) took the stage to speak about those factors that drive end-user decision making within the mobile lift equipment industry. Using specific examples, Jim provided insight into which factors are of most importance to end-users, and how equipment manufacturers might best address each client’s unique needs and concerns.

Jim also highlighted the importance of understanding a client’s operations by visiting company facilities (whenever possible), and learning the ins and outs of their business, layout, and storage systems.

Conference attendees then returned to the last of the breakout sessions. Gary Raikes (Vice President of Sales for Applied Energy Solutions) spoke about how the proper application of high frequency opportunity charging can help reduce operational costs and energy consumption associated with industrial forklift batteries.

Despite being a relatively new technology with some drawbacks, there are several compelling benefits to opportunity and rapid charging, Gary stated. “It’s easy to use…simple and safe,” he said. “You can eliminate battery and other equipment, including change-out equipment. And, cost reductions – with higher frequency, high-efficient chargers we’re seeing a lower cost.”

Jim Konitsney, Business Development Manager for  Hydro Aluminum, discussed the application of light-weight aluminum extrusions within industrial vehicles. Benefits of aluminum include high strength-to-weight ratio, formability of extruded shapes, machining capability, ease of joining, corrosion resistance, and rapid, low-cost tooling that makes the metal ideal for moderate production volumes.

The IUV Conference concluded after lunch, as guests returned to their different corners of the country to face the challenges alluded to in Stephen Metzger’s opening presentation; challenges that will no doubt have an industry-wide impact for the foreseeable future.

But it was hard not to be optimistic about the industry’s capacity to meet those challenges head-on with the insight, ingenuity, and adaptability that were exemplified by the individuals who gathered in Lincolnshire for this year’s conference. It may be a “challenging world”, but this industry seems well prepared for it.