Panasonic i-PRO and MOBOTIX partner on a Thermal Camera Solution
Video Insight VMS Plug-In and MOBOTIX Thermal Cameras detect elevated skin temperature and issue alerts Panasonic i-PRO Sensing Solutions Corporation of America announces the availability of a new thermal camera solution aimed at helping organizations maintain the health and safety of those entering their facilities. This solution combines MOBOTIX M16/S16 cameras with the functionality of a new plug-in from Panasonic i-PRO’s Video Insight video management systems (VMS) to automatically detect when an individual’s body temperature exceeds a pre-set threshold and provides an alert to the appropriate personnel. “We are committed to developing and delivering better solutions to help organizations restore and maintain operations during and after the global COVID-19 pandemic,” said Bill Brennan, President, Panasonic i-PRO Sensing Solutions Corporation of America. “Our new Video Insight plug-in for MOBOTIX offers businesses, schools, retail stores, and other public facilities another tool to keep their staff and guests safe.” Panasonic i-PRO’s Video Insight VMS plug-in and MOBOTIX thermal cameras combined functionality trigger an alarm when a user-defined, pre-set temperature threshold is detected. The solution can define multiple areas of interest to set up temperature readings and can be set up in either Celsius or Fahrenheit. The system also allows you to edit the temperature threshold and review the detailed thermal readings at any time.
CLARK Material Handling Company earns 2020 KEMI Destiny Award for workplace safety
CLARK Material Handling Company, a top-ten global manufacturer of forklift trucks and spare parts, has earned the 2020 Kentucky Employers’ Mutual Insurance (KEMI) Destiny Award, in recognition of the safety measures CLARK has in place to ensure workplace safety for all employees. The Destiny Awards are presented annually by KEMI to policyholders that best exemplify KEMI’s motto, “Control your own destiny.” The awards symbolize what can be accomplished when organizations work together to improve workplace safety. Policyholders who earn the KEMI Destiny Award effectively demonstrate the ability to manage a formal safety program, provide on-site training and regular safety meetings, and display an ongoing commitment to safety from all levels in the company. This is the seventh time CLARK has earned this award, which was awarded to 28 companies out of the over 24,000 members of KEMI. April Milby, the Safety Coordinator at CLARK Material Handling, said, “At CLARK, we believe in a ‘See Something, Say Something’ approach to safety. We encourage all employees to play an active role in ensuring CLARK maintains strict safety standards and empower them to speak up about potential safety hazards before they become dangerous. We are honored to receive the KEMI Destiny Award for the seventh time in 2020.” CLARK president and CEO Dennis Lawrence added, “This award is a great recognition of the efforts of all CLARK team members to create a safe place for employees to work every day.” In a statement published on KEMI’s website, Jon Stewart, President and CEO of KEMI, added, “We are extremely proud to recognize these 28 organizations for their commitment to workplace safety. These policyholders have exemplified their commitment to safety by partnering with KEMI to control their workers’ compensation cost, and most importantly working to ensure the safety and well-being of every one of their employees.”
A Partnership and a Pledge: Toyota Material Handling helps American Red Cross carry the load
North America’s leading forklift manufacturer originally partnered with the Red Cross to provide material handling equipment for any natural disaster anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. But the partnership has grown into so much more In early September, Dean Stewart got a weather warning on his phone: Category 2 hurricane to make Florida landfall in 72 hours. Despite seeing clear skies from his Columbus office – and 1,800 miles separating Toyota Material Handling’s North American headquarters from Florida – Stewart went on alert, preparing to respond as if the natural disaster was heading for his own backyard. On September 11, Hurricane Sally made landfall with winds gusting up to 103 mph, paving a path of destruction across the Florida panhandle that left thousands without power, water, or shelter. Just a few days later, as a result of a unique partnership between Toyota Material Handling and the American Red Cross, Stewart embarked on a two-week deployment to Florida, conducting major damage assessments for the Red Cross. Stewart – a TMH strategic account executive, and U.S. Army veteran – was one of a few Red Cross volunteers who were able to deploy because of the demands and restrictions created by the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘Helping People Carry the Load’ Toyota Material Handling supported Stewart’s two-week deployment, and a growing group of Toyota associates is participating in the company’s alliance with the Red Cross, a partnership formally established in 2018. TMH President & CEO Jeff Rufener championed the initiative because of his passion for the mission of the Red Cross. Instead of just making monetary donations, though, Rufener wanted to set an example for the company by dedicating time to ensure he was intimately engaged in – and committed to – Toyota’s partnership with the Red Cross. Rufener’s service as a board member for the Red Cross’ Southeast Chapter of Indiana marked the beginning of a much broader relationship, along with a pledge for a coordinated, national disaster response solution from the powerful North American Toyota Forklift network. “Toyota’s founding principle, the reason we exist, is to contribute to society. That’s why we chose to partner with the Red Cross because its mission aligns so well with ours,” Rufener said. “We are a business, so we obviously have to generate a profit to sustain ourselves, but we can never lose sight of our core purpose. Our forklift interpretation of that core purpose is ‘Helping People Carry the Load’.” Logistics are a major challenge in any disaster relief effort because, once acquired, food, water, clothing, and temporary shelter must be moved quickly and efficiently. Forklifts amplify and streamline recovery work because deploying a forklift, or a fleet of them can reduce the need for disaster response teams to manually move relief supplies. This means desperately needed supplies and materials can get to the families in need much faster and more efficiently. “The Red Cross is extremely grateful to count Toyota Material Handling as a valued partner during times of disaster,” said Brad Kieserman, Vice President of Disaster Services and Logistics for the American Red Cross. “Toyota Material Handling, its employees and dealers are always there when we need them with equipment and support to help quickly deliver aid to people impacted by disasters big and small.” In 2020, a year full of challenges, Toyota’s corporate partnership with the American Red Cross resonates more now than ever. Both organizations have become synonymous with innovation and continuous improvement. Toyota is supporting the Red Cross through these times of change with recent capital investment for a new bloodmobile that will be the first-ever mobile collection unit built with COVID-19 safety precautions in mind. North American Dealer Network Enables Rapid Response to Natural Disasters Toyota Forklift dealerships in more than 20 disaster-impacted communities across North America have quickly responded with equipment donations, volunteers, and material handling expertise within hours of a Red Cross request. Recent support includes California’s Camp Fire; tornado relief in Tennessee; flooding in Indiana and Texas; CARR wildfire; Hurricanes Florence, Michael, and Sally; earthquake relief in California, and more. Toyota dealers have provided additional assistance in the form of warehousing efficiency and logistics training, and forklift operator training for Red Cross volunteers. The largest response by Toyota dealers occurred during the fall of 2018 when Category 4 Hurricane Florence hit the nation’s East Coast in September, followed less than a month later by Category 5 Hurricane Michael, in Florida. These successive disasters caused historic levels of catastrophic damage along both the East and Gulf coasts, prompting the immediate response of multiple Toyota dealers and the dispatch of more than 50 material handling units. Strong Associate Support Beyond disaster relief assistance, Toyota Material Handling and its associates are engaged in a variety of programs that support the Red Cross through corporate giving and a heightened level of volunteerism. TMH offers its associates 16 hours of paid volunteer time each year, with eight hours specifically earmarked for the Red Cross. As one example, Toyota Material Handling associates supported “Sound the Alarm” events over the past two years. Home fires claim seven lives every day, but having working smoke alarms can cut the risk of death by half. Toyota associates installed 232 free smoke alarms, shared safety information with 375 families in at-risk communities, and raised funds to help families prepare for, respond to, and recover from home fires. Looking Ahead: Charting the Course for a Growing Partnership Toyota Material Handling is committed to providing even more support for the Red Cross in the coming years. Rufener’s vision for the partnership started with a pledge to provide any material handling equipment needed by the American Red Cross to respond to disasters anywhere in North America but has since grown into something much larger – and more powerful – than just equipment donation. “Helping People Carry the Load” has become the mantra for Toyota’s partnership with the Red Cross and has provided company associates and its dealers with a shared mission and a unifying sense of purpose. It has strengthened TMH’s corporate culture, reinforced
Episode 134 – Kinetic Eye
In this episode, I was joined by Josh Butler of Kinetic Eye. He is the Founder and CEO at Kinetic Eye, a safety platform that automates your safety monitoring and increases the prevention of safety incidents. Josh and I discuss how Kinetic Eye works, where the idea came from, and how it can help to increase safety measures in your facility. Key Takeaways Kinetic Eye is next level when it comes to safety. Their platform automates your safety monitoring by utilizing your existing security camera infrastructure and adds computer vision to monitor the actions that are being taken within the camera’s eye. By doing this, the platform is able to determine when a safety incident occurs or when one is about to potentially occur. When it detects this it alerts you through the platform and directly to your inbox so you can take action immediately. With the increase in facility sizes, it is impossible to have eyes all over the place and Kinetic Eye allows you to increase your vision from a safety perspective. So where did this idea come from? Josh is a former student of computer vision and also worked for Nio, an electric car company, implementing computer vision to help their cars from getting in accidents. As Josh and his co-workers started to realize from insurance companies that the utilization of computer vision will at some point eliminate accidents, they started to think about how this technology could be applied in different industries. That is where the idea for Kinetic Eye came from and it is a great application because there are so many potential safety issues in our industry. I personally love the concept of Kinetic Eye and think it has great potential to really make an impact on safety in distribution centers. It provides you with so much more insight into what is actually happening in your facility. From my experience, there are so many things that happen that go unreported which reduces your chances to root cause and put prevention measures in place. With Kinetic Eye’s platform, you are provided with not only additional eyes but also other tools to utilize like heat maps, statistics, and further insights to help you make your safety culture robust and effective. Listen to the episode below and let us know your thoughts in the comments. The New Warehouse Podcast EP 134: Kinetic Eye
PERMALIGHT® substrates Creativity Contest – Deadline January 31, 2021
American PERMALIGHT® is holding a contest to see how people are using PERMALIGHT® Photoluminescent Substrates to make creative glow-in-the-dark art, signs, safety products, and other original projects. Prizes for this contest range in value from $2,500-$350 and include Online Marketing Opportunities from American PERMALIGHT®’s recently launched Professional Services. PERMALIGHT® carries a variety of photoluminescent substrates – from rigid PVC or aluminum sheets, flexible vinyl, or self-adhesive flexible films. Well known in the sign-making industry for making photoluminescent “glow-in-the-dark” code-compliant staircase identification signs, PERMALIGHT® substrates can be used in a wide variety of inventive and creative glow-in-the-dark projects. Some creative projects made with PERMALIGHT® Photoluminescent Substrates To enter, take clear photos of your creative project that include the use of a PERMALIGHT® photoluminescent substrate (at least one photo in light and one in darkness showing the glow), and include a paragraph about your project and your contact details. Send entries to info@AmericanPermalight.com Must be 18 years and older to enter. The entry deadline is January 31, 2021. Full contest and prize details for the PERMALIGHT® Substrates Creativity Contest can be found on this post on their website
Pure Safety Group names Bartelson Senior VP of Sales and Marketing
Pure Safety Group (PSG), the world’s largest independent height safety product development, manufacturing, and training company, has hired Dale Bartelson as senior vice president of sales and marketing. Bartelson will oversee sales, business development, training, customer service, and commercial marketing for PSG in North America and Latin America. Bartelson has close to 20 years of experience in the industrial and safety markets. Prior to joining Pure Safety, he held a variety of sales and channel leadership positions at 3M, including national sales manager for the corporation’s Industrial and Safety Markets Center. His experience also includes developing Fastenal’s safety portfolio, before taking on director-level positions at GOJO and Capital Safety, the fall protection company that was acquired by 3M in 2015. Bartelson holds an undergraduate degree from Winona State University and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas. “Dale has a deep commitment to delivering safety solutions to customers,” said PSG CEO Jeff Ward. “He is a trusted resource in the safety community among businesses wanting to continually advance their safety portfolio and approach. His knowledge of fall protection products and innovation, and his ability to partner with companies to plan, particularly for their height safety needs, makes Dale an asset to our customers and our growing organization.”
Guardian Fall Protection unveils leading-edge Cable Lanyard
Pure Safety Group’s Guardian® Fall Protection brand has introduced a new cable lanyard, compatible with leading edges, that combines the lightweight durability of a fixed-length lanyard that permits up to 12 feet of fall protection during the event of a free fall from an at-height working surface. Through extensive research and development in Guardian’s ISO/IEC:10725-compliant laboratory, the company established rigorous leading-edge verification testing procedures to ensure consistent performance of the lanyard over a wide range of extreme conditions. Drop-tested in both a perpendicular and offset orientation against .005″ radius steel, the Guardian Cable Leading Edge Lanyard exhibited high performance and predictability – two characteristics that are mandatory when it comes to fall protection. The Cable Leading Edge Lanyards feature a vinyl-coated ¼-inch galvanized steel cable, combined with Guardian’s proprietary high-efficiency external shock absorber that keeps maximum and average arrest forces low during fall deceleration. Cable Leading Edge Lanyards are available in single- or dual-leg configurations with steel rebar or snap hooks. A high-visibility orange shock pack cover helps confirm proper application suitability, even from a distance.
Raymond introduces onboard easy attach Power Source for heated clothing
New reach truck offering helps operators stay productive in freezer applications The Raymond Corporation is announcing the Raymond® Onboard Easy Attach Power Source for heated clothing to increase operator comfort in the harsh conditions of cold chain applications, resulting in increased productivity and greater operational efficiency. The power source is for use in freezer applications and converts battery energy from a reach truck to power heated clothing. “With the Onboard Easy Attach Power Source for Heated Clothing, reach truck operators can now wear heated-insulated clothing to further increase operator comfort and productivity,” said Susan Comfort, narrow aisle product manager for The Raymond Corporation. “As an end-to-end intralogistics solutions provider, this power source is another innovative example of Raymond products and services empowering customers to run better and manage smarter.” The Onboard Easy Attach Power Source for Heated Clothing features a rocker power switch and a magnetic breakaway connector, allowing operators the freedom to easily disconnect heated clothing from the truck and leave the operator compartment. Through a DC power converter, a 24- or 26-volt battery supply of a reach truck is converted into 12 volts to power the temperature controller switch, which ultimately powers the heated clothing. The Onboard Easy Attach Power Source for Heated Clothing is now available for use with any of the Raymond 7000 Reach-Fork® Truck models and requires the additional purchase of clothing items.
Episode 130 – Peak Ryzex’s COVID Coverage
In this episode, I was joined by Jen Ward of Peak-Ryzex where she is the offering manager. We discuss how Peak-Ryzex has been helping companies during COVID-19 with their mobility solutions. I previously spoke with Peak-Ryzex prior to COVID way back on Episode 19 so it is very interesting to see how their offerings have adapted to the current environment. Key Takeaways Peak-Ryzex is a provider of end-to-end digital supply chain solutions. They help with a multitude of projects within your distribution setup and overall supply chain. They are partnered with many high-level vendors that we have also had on the show like Zebra and Honeywell. Peak-Ryzex works to help make your supply chain more efficient and productive. With COVID changing the way that we would normally do many things, Jen explains how they have seen a shift in businesses for companies and how some have pivoted to adapt to the current environment. In doing so, these companies have to remain vigilant from a safety standpoint which has created some new trends within the industry. One of them is going from a “one to many” model to a “one to one” model which means that they are now purchasing more equipment so that each individual has one and it reduces the chance of contamination by sharing devices. This is most commonly seen with wearable devices. Additionally, with handhelds and wearables, the technology has evolved to allow location tracking to understand when people are breaking the recommended six-foot distancing so that it can be addressed. 2020 has certainly increased our awareness of cleanliness and where germs can be present. There are many solutions coming into the industry to help with sanitizing and to make it an easier regular routine. One technology that I have been following and that is very interesting to me is UV light technology. Jen discusses how UV light is now being used to help to sanitize in a less evasive way than some solutions that are being sprayed or applied to areas in other ways. The UV light is UV-C which is a light that can be harnessed in many different ways like a wand, a light bar, or even incorporated into charging stations. The biggest benefit, in my opinion, is that there is no solution that is creating moisture or dampness on your technology devices which helps to prolong the life of your equipment while also keeping your employees safe. Listen to the episode below and let us know how you are keeping things clean in the comments. The New Warehouse Podcast EP 130: Peak-Ryzex COVID Coverage