Yale Materials Handling Corporation has announced an industry-first suite of operator assistance technologies that warehouses can use to help reinforce forklift operating best practices.

Yale is offering new operator assistance technologies

The Yale Reliant solution automatically adjusts the truck's performance based on proximity to pedestrians and obstacles, load weight, equipment status and location-specific rules. The technology is the product of more than 29,000 hours of research and development invested by Yale's parent company, Hyster-Yale Group.

The solution triggers audible and visual alerts to inform operators of proper operating protocols and initiates truck performance reduction based on facility-specific rules, while leaving the operator in ultimate control of the equipment.

"Advanced dynamic stability is the core technology of Yale Reliant. It applies performance limitations to equipment without introducing a 'jerk' event that can upset stability," says Kevin Paramore, emerging technology commercialisation manager, Yale Materials Handling Corporation. "Rather than controlling performance based solely on equipment and load status, it scales beyond that, acting based on proximity and location information to account for the complexity of warehouse environments."

In practice, this suite of technologies enables a broad range of functionality. For example, warehouses can set the desired following distance between equipment, and Yale Reliant can automatically limit speed to maintain proper distance. Operations can implement location-based rules to limit travel speed at the end of aisles, exclude equipment from pedestrian-heavy zones and much more. Yale Reliant also can apply performance controls in a variety of scenarios based on truck sensors and inputs, such as restricting travel and lift functions if a load exceeds the weight limit and reducing cornering speed to avoid upsetting stability.

Yale Reliant is currently deployed on five common warehouse models and available on a select range of the company's lift trucks.