HOLLAND TOWNSHIP -- Egemin Automation is literally raising the roof for its new robotic, high-lift, forklift the Lion.

The company has just opened a $500,000 35-foot-tall plant addition at 11818 James St. to build and test its new automated, high reach forklift that is capable of lifting 5,500 pounds of material to a height of 25 feet.

“This is our newest Automated Guided Vehicle System for commercial, warehouse and industrial use and we didn’t have anywhere at our plant to test run the production vehicles,” Egemin Director of Engineering Tom Kaminski said.

Like most of the Egemin automated material handling products, the Lion has computers and sensors that can tell it where to travel in a plant, when to stop, what to pick up and where to deliver it -- all done without any onboard operator.
The company has sold its systems to companies including Miller/Coors, Kellogg, Chrysler and Menard’s.

“We’ve been making AGVS since the 1970s when we developed an automated mail and package handing cart that were purchased as delivery carts for each of the 100 plus floors of the Sears Tower,” Kaminski said.

The company still produces the mail and package delivery carts plus automated front and side loading forklift vehicles, truck loading products, heavy-duty forklifts for the printing industry, haulers and customized material moving products.
“The AGV systems use internal guidance systems to follow a planned path that can be painted or wire imbedded in the floor or have laser guided systems,” Scott Kwilinski, Egemin Director of Solutions Engineers said.

Cost of a Lion system, including installation of workplace internal guidance, costs about $230,000.

Because the systems don’t need lights to see, Kwilinski said clients often use the Egemin AGVS is darkened warehouses to save on energy costs.

To demonstrate how safe the AGVS is in a work environment, Kwilinski stepped in front of a Lion on the test track. The robot sensed him, flashed safety lights and stopped.

Egemin Automation CEO and President Jerry Dekker said the Holland Township division is the North American manufacturer produces about $20 million to $30 million in products annually and is part of the Belgium-based Egemin Group, a $150 million a year in automated materials handling equipment.

“Since 2010 we have doubled sales in the U.S. and Canada,” Dekker said.
The Holland Township company has about 80 employees with a staff of 30 engineers.