SCDigest Editor Dan Gilmore and Materials Handling Editor Cliff Holste with Individual Reviews of Top New Solutions they Discovered on Day 2 in Chicago

No one covers ProMat 2017 like Supply Chain Digest.

Last week, we launched our Video Review and Comment for Day 1 and Day 2 of the show.

Supply Chain Digest Says... A new data platform for DCs from a inew company called SensorThink, developed in partnership with Tompkins International, is sort of a home automation system for warehouses. What do you say? Click here to send us your comments Click here to see reader feedback

Then later in the week, SCDigest editor Dan Gilmore dedicated his First Thoughts column to an overall review of the show, including a focus on just how much ecommerce is impacting materials handling systems and the supply chain. (See Trip Report: ProMat 2017.)

The daily video reviews last about 15 minutes, and may feature new solutions not of interest to all SCDigest readers

So, as we have done in the past, here we break out those longer videos into individual segments, enabling readers to browse and view just the clips that are of most interest to them.

You can view the Day 1 individual clips here: Best of ProMat 2017 Day 1 - Individual Clips

For Day 2, we'll start with Gilmore and Materials Handling Editor Holste discussing overall trends and themes they picked up after two days at the show, including the dominance of automated piece picking solutions for ecommerce at the show, and the growing apprpoach of using virtual reality systems to demonstrate materials handling systems, both generally and for specific implementations.

Gilmore and Holste on Day 2 ProMat Themes and Trends

Next, more interesting imaging solutions at this year's show from a company called Cognex. That included a new 3D imager that provides a lot of image resolution into what is exactly in a carton or tote, such as how the items are layered on top of each other. This can enable robotic pickers to operate faster or with more accuracy. German automation company Knaap was using the Cognex imager to add smarts to its robotic piece picking system. Other Cognex imagers can read a lot of damaged bar codes quite successfully.

Cognex Imagers Can Improve Robotics Pickers, Read Damaged Bar Codes

Italian mobile terminal and imager/scanner systems maker Datalogic has repurposed a sort of bar code scanning tunnel from its original application in the grocery sector for point of sale systems to reading individual items to confirm piece picks at high speeds. Could such a system also be used to read carton bar codes on a conveyor system less expensively that the arrays of readers used today? Maybe, Datalogic says, especially for smaller cartons.

Datalogic Repurposes Grocery Scan Tunnel for eCommerce 
Piece Picks, Maybe Small Cartons Some Day

Retailers using stores for efulfillment need an almost "WMS Light" type system to guide the work to drive efficiencies. Intelliigrated - now of course part of Honeywell - was presenting its new system that does exactly that, combining task management with order picking support and more.

New WMS Light for In-Store Order Fulfillment from Intelligrated

(See More Below)

A company called I am Robotics has an interesting solution for picking eaches off of static shelving. Key is an advanced vision system that is used to validate the right product is being picked and to guide the approach of the robot. The system can also be used to pick totes and do so far less expensively than alternative systems such as mini-shuttles, according to the founder and CEO.

Piece and Tote Picking Robot from I am Robotics Leverages Vision System

Gilmore closed out SCDigest's Day 2 ProMat coverage by offering a short round up of three other solutions. Those were: a new data platform for DCs from a inew company called SensorThink, developed in partnership with Tompkins International, that is sort of a home automation system for warehouses, tying together information from materials handling systems, HAVC, the electrical system, internet of things sensors and more.

Lucas Systems, known for its Voice solutions, was showing its Dynamic Work Optimizer that promises to increase efficiencies in order picking processes. Gilmore also got an update of Baxter from Rething Robotics, arguably the most prominent of the so-called collaborative robots. Companies showing increases interest, company says, but Gilmore says what's needed are a few killer apps.

Gilmore's Solution Round Up: SensorThink, Lucas, Rethink Robotics

OK, that's it for our Day 2 ProMat individual clips, and our coverage of the show for 2017.

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