Picker picks another prize

Honouring the remote glove technology for order picking, the award programme’s jury recognised Crown for its dedication to design that challenges traditional thinking. Crown’s approach focuses on ideas for improving lift truck operator productivity and safety, based on a thorough understanding of the operator-forklift relationship.

In developing the GPC order picker series, the company leveraged research showing that operator time spent off the forklift can be as much as 90% of the picking cycle. To help reduce fatigue and improve productivity, Crown designed its GPC order picker with QuickPick Remote technology to advance to the next picking location with the touch of a button on the glove-mounted wireless remote, removing the need for operators to climb repeatedly on and off the truck’s platform and keeping their hands free for actual order picking. Crown reports that long-term tests by customers found that overall productivity improved by an average of 10%, with some companies reporting up to a 25% improvement.

During the test week for the International Forklift of the Year Award 2014, Dutch journalist Theo Egberts, owner of Buro Andersom and Andersom Testing, extensively evaluated Crown's QuickPick Remote system. He says: "According to Crown, the QuickPick Remote system not only improves productivity, it also improves the well-being of order pickers. Our test proved they weren’t exaggerating. The benefits of this intuitive system multiply in direct proportion to the intensity of the order-picking process. The Auto Steer Correction feature plays an important role by enabling continuous, trouble-free order picking. The cleverly-devised glove control system is the key to this successful solution.”