Transportation

[BI Tragic]

New Crown RR 5700 Series Reach Truck

29 June 2009
Crown Equipment has unveiled the Crown RR 5700 Series of technologically advanced reach trucks that delivers greater material handling productivity, efficiency and safety.

The Crown RR 5700 includes several enhancements that improve operator confidence and control in performing challenging moves at heights up to 11 metres.

Most notably, the Crown RR 5700 is the first-ever pantograph reach truck with a traction control system designed to increase traction on wet, dusty or sealed floors.

The patent-pending Crown OnTrac™ Anti-Slip Traction Control uses the integrated Crown Access 1 2 3® control system to compare the truck’s speed with the number of revolutions per minute the drive tyre is turning to determine whether the truck has lost traction.

By reducing tyre spin during acceleration and preventing wheel lock-up during braking, the system reduces slipping and sliding.

This decreases tyre wear, increases efficiency, and helps reduce the risk of accidents and product damage. It also improves operator confidence in slick conditions, such as refrigerated or freezer applications.

Other enhancements include:

Lift and Travel Speed: The Crown RR 5700 travels seven percent faster, lifts 18 per cent faster and lowers 16 percent faster than similar reach trucks.
Cornering speed control in the Crown RR 5700 slows the truck’s speed as the steer angle increases so that turns can be negotiated more safely.

Truck performance settings can be customized to individual operator preferences.

Operator Comfort: The Crown RR 5700 includes a suspended floorboard that absorbs vibration, and trucks can be outfitted with a ThermoAssist™ package for improved operator comfort in refrigerated or freezer applications.
S-Class trucks include a padded seat, which can be adjusted to three different positions to allow drivers to sit, lean or stand during truck operation.

The S-Class operator compartment is 45 percent larger than those on other reach trucks and features a special footrest that offers postural relief while promoting a safe operating position.

These ergonomic advantages, in addition to an adjustable arm rest, work together with safety features such as an entry bar safety switch and position hold to promote safe lift truck operation while maximizing productivity.

One-Touch Rack Height Select: Available as an add-on element, a rack height selection feature allows operators to stop the forks at a specific rack level with the click of a button.
While other systems require users to choose from two entry heights for each rack level: one for pallet pick-up and a slightly higher height for pallet put-away, the Crown RR 5700’s One-Touch Rack Height Select senses whether the truck is carrying a load and adjusts rack entry height accordingly.

A tilt-position-assist function further facilitates pallet entry at upper rack levels by levelling the forks.

“The Crown RR 5700 is a major step forward in the use of onboard intelligence to improve performance and control,” says Craig Kenchington, General Manager for Marketing.

“The entire package is really more than meets the eye, as the Crown Access 1 2 3 operating system provides a platform on which we can drive innovations such as the unique traction control system and rack-height select feature.

"When combined with the Crown InfoLink® system, data can be collected and analysed across multiple trucks via the Crown Insite™ approach to improve fleet management, delivering true business intelligence within material handling environments.”

The Crown RR 5700 Series of trucks is offered in reach heights up to 11 metres with lift capacities of up to 2,000 kilograms.

The Crown RR 5700 is available with AC-powered drive and hydraulic systems, and in a double-deep reach version called the Crown RD 5700.

[Steve Bennett]

Transport and Logistics News

NXP, the independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, has announced a collaboration with Siemens on an RFID-based supply chain pharmaceutical project designed to improve efficiency from manufacture to retail.

Using NXP’s Application and System Centre (ASC, formerly known as RFID Reference Design Centre), a facility that provides real-life conditions for evaluating and optimising RFID applications, the Siemens IT Solutions & Services team created a customised RFID system to ensure a high level of read-accuracy throughout the supply chain.

The project focuses on creating a system based on NXP’s ICODE high frequency (HF) RFID technology incorporated into the labels of pharmaceutical products. The whole system is configured to comply with the latest edition of the HF Gen2 standard, which is currently under final review by EPCglobal. The aim of the installation is to accurately bulk-read several hundreds of labelled packages quickly, allowing the manufacturer to keep a thorough stock inventory at all points along the supply chain. The ASC enabled the Siemens IT Solutions and Services team to achieve industry-benchmark HF read-accuracy results. This was accomplished through the use of an advanced high-speed anti-collision concept and the optimisation of the entire system.

"We selected NXP as the chip supplier for our innovative RFID pharmaceutical project. During project planning, NXP offered us the services of its highly sophisticated ASC,” said Matthias Bruckschen, Principal Consultant SCM / RFID, Siemens IT Solutions and Services. “The facility supported our engineers, enabling them to evaluate and tune the design of the HF RFID labels. By simulating the interactions between the readers and samples, we were able to obtain first qualitative results and calibrate the solution accordingly. The support provided by NXP's ASC saved us a lot of development time and we look forward to a renewed cooperation between NXP and Siemens IT Solutions and Services in future."

Based near Graz, Austria, the ASC was created with the aim of driving the adoption of RFID technology. NXP’s team of engineers based at the ASC can help systems engineers tackle common problems and support the development of RFID projects. In addition, the facility can be used to build and test full scale supply-chain scenarios to evaluate the robustness of an RFID-based system – enabling the development of a business-ready solution and reducing development time.

“NXP’s aim in founding the ASC was to create an environment that would spur the advancement of RFID and industry-wide research through methodological analysis, test and validation of all elements of an RFID system”, said Dirk Morgenroth, director marketing, RFID, NXP Semiconductors. “We are pleased to support Siemens IT Solutions and Services in the optimisation of their implementation for pharmaceutical supply chain management, by delivering a future proof RFID system set-up prepared for HF Gen2-specified solutions”

End customers integrating RFID solutions in their businesses are demanding a fully integrated, turnkey solution that provides them with a high-level of business intelligence. NXP’s systems level approach and leadership in RFID technology enables systems integrators to design and build business ready solutions and reduce the complexities of the technology.

NXP Semiconductors

NXP was founded by Philips more than 50 years ago. Headquartered in Europe, the company has about 28,000 employees working in more than 30 countries and posted sales of USD 5.4 billion (including the Mobile & Personal business) in 2008. NXP creates semiconductors, system solutions and software that deliver better sensory experiences in TVs, set-top boxes, identification applications, mobile phones, cars and a wide range of other electronic devices.
[Tue 14/07/2009 08:22:07]

[admin2]

AustralianIT | Fran Foo | September 22, 2009

A TECHNOLOGY proposal that could slash $1 billion off the nation's transport bill has been flicked around the federal government like a hot potato.

German software giant SAP, which has been operating in Australia since the late 1980s, is trying to establish a research and development centre for the transport and logistics sector but requires federal funding.

If unsuccessful, it might be forced to take the project overseas, most likely to Singapore.

SAP, through its research arm, first began looking at setting up the $15 million centre, called a "living lab", in Australia late last year.

The company has asked for $7.5m over five years from the federal government. SAP, National ICT Australia and leading German research group Fraunhofer Institute would match the allocation.

The NSW government has agreed to contribute about $1m in cash and payroll tax concessions contingent on commonwealth funding.

The idea of building the lab was raised six months ago with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy. The proposal was then passed to Innovation Minister Kim Carr for scrutiny.

It has since landed on the desk of Trade Minister Simon Crean, said SAP Research Australia vice-president Karsten Schulz. "We've received a letter of support from (Mr) Crean but no funding arrangements yet," Mr Schulz said. "This has been dragging on for six months and we're running out of time."

The research would focus on solving information gaps that slow the movement of goods. For example, overcoming bottlenecks that hamper the efficient delivery of goods at ports.

According to Mr Schulz, since 14.5 per cent of Australia's gross domestic product is spent on transport and logistics, slashing it by 0.1 per cent would mean an annual saving of $1bn.

"There are inefficiencies along the whole supply chain which rely heavily on manual modes of communication and information exchange. With our research we think we can bring the figure down to 14.4 per cent," he said.

The main stumbling block is that the government doesn't know which funding scheme is appropriate. "Unlike Europe, in Australia there's no funding program where living labs fit in so it's falling through the cracks between three departments," Mr Schulz said at the sidelines of SAP's office opening in Brisbane last week. The plan had been to have the lab up and running by now, he said.

If the application is successful, the lab in Brisbane will immediately create jobs for 10 researchers.

SAP already has living labs in Germany and Switzerland that cover the "supermarket of the future", public safety and manufacturing.

If no decision is made within the next few weeks, SAP will be forced overseas.

"We're trying to see if we can salvage it and at least keep it in the (Asia-Pacific) region. We're thinking of pitching this to the Singapore government. Singapore is also a big transport and logistics hub," Mr Schulz said.

A spokesman for Mr Crean said SAP's concerns were being investigated and discussions between the company and government were ongoing but the government was unaware that "Singapore is in the running for the living labs project".

[admin]

Logistics, 29 September 2009

ComOps, a leading Australasian provider of business software products and services, has announced that Scott Corporation, one of Australia's leading specialist transporters of bulk solids and hazardous materials, is to deploy its risk management and safety compliance software.

Scott Corporation will use the ComOps AWS software to unify and enhance its management of safety, health and environment related data throughout the company's 15 Australian offices and two operating divisions.

The centralised system will integrate numerous existing in-house developed databases and is expected to help the company mitigate risk and more readily comply with health and safety-related requirements.

“With ComOps we are centralising and automating much of our incident reporting, occupational health and safety reporting to assist us in reducing risks and managing incidents," explains Ross Pavey, Information Systems Manager, Scott Corporation.

"We expect this to increase safety visibility and accountability, and to improve our opportunities for preventative action.”

Built-in workflows will support Scott Corporation staff and management from initial incident notification through to remedial action, escalation if required and resolution.

The software will track all activity to ensure responsibilities are met. The solution will also be used to monitor and manage staff, contractor and equipment certification records.

"We need to know which trucks are certified to handle certain hazardous cargoes and which drivers have the right certifications to match,” Pavey says.

Scott Corporation is a national carrier specialising in the transport of bulk solids and liquids by road, rail and sea. It is renowned for its expertise and for its safety record in the highly-regulated transportation of hazardous materials such as acids, liquids, chemicals, gas, cement and liquid food supplies.

Because of the nature of the materials it carries, Scott Corporation maintains meticulous safety, health and environment records and must be prepared to provide auditable reports to clients at any time.

The company selected AWS because of the breadth and ease-of-use of the software, the quality of reference sites and ComOps' proven structured implementation methodologies.

The AWS solution includes management dashboards for fast access to key performance indicator data, and web-enabled reporting for remote and branch access.

The software modules selected by Scott Corporation include: incident analysis, hazard identification and risk assessment, personnel, training records, contractor management and equipment maintenance. Implementation of the solution will begin in October and is due for completion in early 2010.

About ComOps Limited

ComOps Limited has a 37 year history in the IT industry in Australasia and listed on the ASX in 1999. The company develops, sells, implements, hosts and supports software solutions in the ERP, Business Intelligence, Mobile Sales Force Automation, e-Commerce, Retail, Risk Management & Safety Compliance, Workforce Management and Human Capital Management markets.

These solutions are used by a range of blue chip clients such as Toll Transport, Universal Publishers (Sensis), RACQ, Steinhoff Asia Pacific (Freedom Furniture), Golden Circle, Australia Post, Toshiba, Orica, Lexmark, Canon, Queensland Government, NSW Lotteries, DP World, Virgin Blue and Commonwealth Bank to name just a few.

ComOps is a Microsoft Gold Partner, Progress Premier Partner, is ISO 9001:2008 Quality Accredited and Government Endorsed

[admin]

The Australian, Edition 1 - All-round Country
TUE 15 JUN 2010, Page 022

Finding your car made easier --- DATA WAREHOUSING SMARTENS PARKING SYSTEMS



By: Jennifer Foreshew


WHEN smart parking systems developer Park Assist wanted to take its parking guidance technology to the next level, it required data warehousing.
Although a highly technical company, Park Assist recognised that data warehousing required expertise from a specialist team.
``We didn't have a data warehouse at all,'' Park Assist software development manager Ian Yamey said. ``We had a basic recording system and we really saw that the analytics and the data that we could get and learn about customers, particularly for the retail space, could be very powerful for clients.''
The company provided basic reports for car park occupancy and how long people stayed.
``We knew we wanted a data warehouse that would scale to multiple clients because at that stage we were undergoing a big growth phase and we needed something that would be flexible so that we could incorporate new types of reports and new types of sensor data that we began to collect,'' he said.
After considering several options, Park Assist engaged Sydney data management specialist Altis Consulting to build a data warehouse to maximise the yield from car parking stations across shopping malls, hospitals, airports, commercial garages, stadiums and universities.
``Having a data warehouse and full reporting system meant that we could provide intelligence to our clients about their customers and about utilisation of their sites,'' Mr Yamey said.
Park Assist originated in Australia about six years ago and now has offices in Sydney, New York and London. It combines imaging, radio frequency, wireless and networking expertise with its own technology to create world-leading parking guidance, bay sensing and enforcement systems.
Its biggest clients are Westfield, Lend Lease, Tesco, GPT and QIC.
Altis helped Park Assist define and design reports to build the data warehouse it required.
The process took six weeks of design and on-site consulting in late 2008, and has required little ongoing support.
Park Assist declined to reveal the cost of the project, which was carried out from its Sydney office. As each event is logged by a Park Assist sensor, it is recorded on a local server situated in the car park and then uploaded to the central data warehouse.
The data warehouse makes the data available to clients through Park Assist's web-based reporting system and manages archived records.
Park Assist can produce information on how many vehicles arrived in a certain half-hour period, or group staff vehicles and add up the number of visits and how long they stayed. Park Assist has a number of parking guidance systems in Australia, including Westfield Chatswood, Sydney's Queen Victoria Building, Robina Town Centre on the Gold Coast, and Rouse Hill Town Centre in Sydney's west.
``Westfield, for example, can look at their usage from the Chatswood garage and know that, based on the size of that garage and the size of their mall, that when they are designing their next site how many spaces they should build.''
Park Assist has launched an upgraded sensor that incorporates a suite of security applications and a high-resolution digital camera to offer parking guidance and detect vehicles.
``The M3 Camera Vision System offers things like the ability to find your car,'' Mr Yamey said.
``If you imagine you parked somewhere in a large parking garage and you can't remember where it is, you can now just type in your licence plate and using the information captured on those cameras it can direct you to your space.''
Park Assist is running a trial, which includes a Find Your Car kiosk, with installations due at the end of the year.
Altis has extended the data warehouse to accommodate new types of information captured by the parking sensors.
Mr Yamey said the data warehouse had enabled the company to sell systems based on its ability to provide a highly advanced reporting system compared with competitors.
``It means we can also do these other firsts, like the Find Your Car kiosk as well as enforcement based on where you park,'' he said. ``We can make sure that staff are parking in the correct areas based on their licence plate, and potentially do stolen vehicle checks.''
The company plans to use the data warehouse to interconnect and analyse data across multiple parking facilities or streets citywide.
It will be able to use the data between sites so a retailer can compare the performance of various parking stations.

CASE STUDY
Park Assist
The problem: The company needed a professional data warehousing system to accommodate future product development and growth.
The process: It engaged Sydney-based Altis Consulting to build a data warehouse.
The result: It enables highly advanced reporting to clients and allows for business expansion.

[admin]

Fran Foo From: Australian IT April 06, 2011

Peak hour traffic on Sydney's M4 in Homebush Bay Dr and Parramatta Rd. Picture: Adam Ward Source: The Daily Telegraph

BEING stuck in traffic is the bane of every motorist's existence, especially when it's a highway with no escape routes.

In NSW, drivers might be able to calculate travel times on their smartphones if the Roads and Transport Authority adopts powerful data analytics already developed for its website.

Last November, the RTA launched a three-month competition to predict travel times on the M4 Motorway, one of Sydney's most congested roads.

The transport agency wanted to forecast a motorist's travel time on the M4 from 24 hours to 15 minutes ahead of time. It offered competitors access to two years' worth of historical data, from 2008.

Local start-up Kaggle was hired to host the competition, which attracted 364 teams from around the world, all vying for the $US10,000 top prize.



Team Irazu -- José P. González-Brenes from the famed Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania and Matías Cortés of Canada's University of British Columbia -- won the challenge.

If Team Irazu's traffic model is implemented on smartphones, motorists would be able to download an RTA app and enter their location and destination, a la Google Maps, to chart their journey.

An RTA spokeswoman said it was investigating how the solution could be used.

"We are always looking at ways to improve travel times and the information available to motorists, and how it can be delivered using the latest technology," she said.

At the moment, the prediction feature has yet to be embedded into RTA's live traffic web page.

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell, fresh from his election landslide over Labor, has signalled transportation as a major priority. Team Irazu's tool would be one way to manage motorists' expectations before they set out.

According to Kaggle founder and CEO Anthony Goldbloom, the original plan was for the winning model to be plugged into RTA's website.

A version for smartphone apps could be developed based on Team Irazu's winning entry, he said. However, it was up to the RTA to decide on next steps.

Gov 2.0 taskforce chairman, Nicholas Gruen, is also chair of Kaggle, which has carved a niche as a platform for intensive data modelling and prediction competitions.

Kaggle's complex number-crunching capabilities is thanks to Amazon Web Services technology, Mr Goldbloom said.

Last week, Kaggle joined hands with Deloitte Australia to host a contest to uncover the most accurate ratings systems for forecasting chess results.

The $US10,000 contest is highly complex -- contestants first have to train their rating systems to adapt to 1.8 million game results over an 11-year period.

Their solutions would then be used to predict how 100,000 future games would fare.

By Cole Latimer, 12 April 20110

Moving down the line | Australian Mining

Digging out your resources is all well and good, but if you can't transport it, it is just an expensive rock.

Infrastructure and transport really is the last ace in the hole in mining.

And all mining companies are looking to increase their capacity at their mines and ports.

In particular, iron ore miners are trying to harness the current massive demand from China for their resource.

This is why Siemens has developed and consistently updated a rail freight system for a Pilbara based iron ore mine since 2007, so that the miner can efficiently supply this demand.

The challenge Siemens faced was to increase rail capacity and throughput; integrate a complete mine-rail-port supply chain system; and manage and control rail freight operations and scheduling.

So the technology company designed, installed and maintains the Rail Technology System (RTS) to solve these problems.

While the original system was installed in 2007 for the iron ore miner, it has since been continually updated to provide an online rail time monitoring and scheduling of its Pilbara rail infrastructure.

The underlying program in RTS is the Vicos (Vehicle and Infrastructure Control and Operating System) OC system which links the miner's pit and port operations and supply chain management system to provide the operator with greater control of rail freight movements.

It is comprised of three integrated elements - a traffic control system; an online scheduling system; and a train information management system.

The traffic control system allows operators to control rail freight movement throughout the entire system and provides train tracking, monitoring, manual and automatic route setting and blocking as well as alarm management facilities.

Vicos also allows for the integration of different applications and allows relay and electronic interlockings to be operated in a standard and easy manner irrespective of the manufacturer involved.

It also uses standard hardware, meaning that it is easily adaptable to future computer generations.

One of the most recent additions to the RTS infrastructure by Siemens was the Falko system.

The Falko system has a number of automatic functions including GPS train tracking, as well as route setting, train control, timetable management and dispatching.

Siemens senior research Matt Sunberg told Australian Mining that Falko provides an optimised planning and dispatch system that works in real time and allowed for an additional train to run on the miner's rails, increasing it to 13 trains per day.

He went on to say that Siemens is currently in the process of testing it online so that it not only monitors the freight system in real time, but can also write the train schedules as well as adapt and make changes if the situation changes.

The system's real time GPS positioning system allows the operator to refine the incoming data and lets them follow freight movements and changes in the situation.

Sunberg said this GPS tracking also provides greater cover for the rail maintenance crews, which increases safety as both they and the train drivers can now know where each other are at all times, reducing the likelihood of an accident.

This is a crucial measure as in recent years there have been a number of accidents, particularly in the Hunter, where maintenance crews working on rail infrastructure were unaware of oncoming trains until it was nearly upon them.

Only last year, a rail worker was killed in a situation such as this.

On top of this increased worker safety aspect, the system also continually monitors the infrastructure itself and measures wear and tear on the lines, allowing for predictive and preventative maintenance.

Sunberg went on to say that a major aspect of this updated system is its ability to write and adapt train schedules.

"This is a major saving in time as writing schedules and having to change them in the case of an incident, such as the Queensland floods, takes a lot of time to do," he said.

The Falko system also reduces energy consumption as the timetables produced enables time reserves and power on the line to be optimally distributed across the infrastructure to ensure effective vehicle runs.

Sunberg explained that if the train infrastructure went electric, the 'energy saving system' would provide unique power utilisation facilities.

"It uses the scheduling to effectively spread energy across the entire system, so if a train is braking then another train can use that energy to then accelerate; it is essentially a regeneration of energy.

"This reduces the miner's carbon footprint," he said.

There are currently plans to install this system in new Queensland coal rail infrastructure.