Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

location

Nippon Express to construct new Shanghai warehouse

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Nippon Express Global has begun construction on a new warehouse in Shanghai Qingpu Industrial Park.

Situated in the western part of Shanghai, Qingpu Industrial Park was opened in 1995 as an industrial park receiving key municipal-level industrial support, and its location within 50 minutes of central Shanghai has attracted electronics, biotech, and hi-tech companies.

The industrial park is located adjacent to a highway linking Shanghai with cities across Jiangsu Province, which is now developing into a major production area, and growing attention on this strategic logistics location is driving warehouse demand higher.

[Read more…] about Nippon Express to construct new Shanghai warehouse

Volkswagen to invest €1 billion in new battery cell production facility

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Volkswagen is planning to move into the battery cell manufacturing market with an investment of €1 billion in a new production facility in Europe.

The automotive giant will set up the battery cell production facility in the Lower Saxony region of its native Germany.

The company is working with the local government to choose a suitable location for the factory complex, and is likely to partner with businesses from relevant sectors.

[Read more…] about Volkswagen to invest €1 billion in new battery cell production facility

Komatsu develops electric mini excavator

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Komatsu Ltd has unveiled its electric mini excavator, based on its accumulated technological expertise of hybrid construction equipment and electric forklift trucks.

Equipped with an in-house developed new charger, high-voltage converter and other devices, it offers excavation performance on a par with the internal combustion model of the same power output, while achieving zero exhaust gas emissions and a dynamic reduction in noise levels.

Komatsu expects a wider range of applications for this machine, including construction work near hospitals or schools or in residential areas, where contractors pay special attention to exhaust gas and noise during work, as well as inside tunnels or buildings.

[Read more…] about Komatsu develops electric mini excavator

DoCoMo and Itochu to trial IoT solution for delivery fleet management in the US

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NTT DoCoMo and Itochu Logistics are planning to trial an internet-of-things solution for delivery fleet management in the US.

The system uses devices compatible with low-power, wide-area LTE-M technology to enable delivery businesses to visualize the status of outsourced trucks in their fleets.

The trial will begin in the United States on May 1, 2019. [Read more…] about DoCoMo and Itochu to trial IoT solution for delivery fleet management in the US

Industrial Internet: Ubisense launches new tracking solution for logistics

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Ubisense has released a new version of its “precision zone tracking product”, AngleID, with a range of additional features including the ability to network multiple readers.

These updates increase the area that can be covered to whole buildings and enable even more sophisticated zones to be created.

AngleID was launched in May to offer real-time precision zone tracking, offering a completely new product that sits between passive RFID proximity tracking and real-time location systems (RTLS) exact location tracking.  [Read more…] about Industrial Internet: Ubisense launches new tracking solution for logistics

A brief history of smart factories and new gadgets available to today’s manufacturers

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Jay Cadman, of Ubisense, talks about the history of smart factories and the new products today that are enabling many more businesses to realise the benefits of real-time location systems 

While the phrase “smart factory” is relatively recent, first coined at The Hanover Fair in 2011, the concept has been talked about in various forms for the past 30 years. And at Ubisense we’ve been creating smart factories for some of the world’s leading manufacturers in the automotive and discrete industries for more than a decade.

Ubisense’s Smart Factory product was originally designed to specifically help vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) tackle the challenges of managing ever increasing levels of complexity in assembly lines brought about by mass-customisation.

By placing ultra-wideband (UWB) tags on tools and mounting networked UWB sensors around the factory, we can locate and make sense of thousands of objects in a factory in real-time.  [Read more…] about A brief history of smart factories and new gadgets available to today’s manufacturers

Ubisense and Bosch Rexroth launch real-time tracking solution for aerospace industry

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ubisense AerospaceToolControl_1

Ubisense, a provider of enterprise location intelligence solutions, and Bosch Rexroth, specialists in drive and control technologies, have joined forces to launch a new system for locating and tracking objects in realtime.

Developed specifically for aerospace assembly lines, the solution combines Bosch Rexroth’s Nexo Cordless Nutrunner and Ubisense’s Smart Factory solutions to offer real-time tracking of tools (Tool Location) and tightening operations (Tool Control).

Ubisense’s readers detect the precise location of tagged Bosch Rexroth tools on the assembly lines at all times, avoiding tools being lost or misplaced with the associated disruption and need to repurchase.  [Read more…] about Ubisense and Bosch Rexroth launch real-time tracking solution for aerospace industry