Kollmorgen and Sky-Trax Become Partners

Included in the strategic alliance are goals of furthering development of guided vehicles by expansion of their capabilities for materials handling applications. The companies expect demand for Guided Vehicles to increase as distribution centers continue to seek process improvement and optimization.

Sky-Trax/Kollmorgen products will be marketed to both traditional lift truck and automated vehicle operations. The aim is to enable manned and driverless vehicles to work safely and cooperatively together in today’s warehouse and factory environments.

Kollmorgen’s AGV Systems business unit is an automation technology partner primarily for driverless applications such as Automatic Guided Vehicle Systems (AGVS). Its solutions are provided via channel partners offering system integration and automated truck/vehicle supply and services. Sky-Trax is the inventor and commercial provider of Optical Real-Time Location Systems for tracking goods, vehicles and guiding autonomous vehicles in any size facility. The company’s location tracking and automatic data collection systems are designed for indoor industrial vehicles, primarily in warehouses.

“The agreement with Kollmorgen provides an unprecedented opportunity for our two companies to challenge each other to achieve the next generation of navigation and guidance products for the materials handling world. As partners we will work together toward the shared goal of introducing new technologies and designing higher performance products for a new class of guided vehicles,” says Larry Mahan, Sky-Trax president and COO.

“By partnering with Sky-Trax we extend our NDC Suite,” notes Mattias Byström, general manager, AGV Systems at Kollmorgen. “We will now offer an alternative solution for navigation in warehouse aisles and open floor high stacking of goods.”