Lianhe Technology: Unmanned forklifts create a new frontier for intelligent warehousing and logistics

With the continuous upgrading of industrial logistics automation and intelligent manufacturing, industrial logistics equipment is also constantly innovating, releasing more vitality and productivity. As one of the representative products of factory and logistics intelligence and automation, unmanned forklifts can realize the repetitive handling of production factors 24 hours a day throughout the year, greatly improving operating efficiency. Therefore, with the advantages of safety, reliability, precision and efficiency, intelligent forklifts are gradually replacing traditional manual forklifts and are widely used in the manufacturing industry.

In 2021, China's sales volume of AGV unmanned forklifts reached 7,375 units, a year-on-year increase of 110.71%. With the gradual deepening of "machine replacement for people", the rigid demand for unmanned forklifts will become more apparent, and the market potential is huge.

Regarding the development trends and developments of the industry, OFweek recently interviewed Xu Bing, general manager of Hangzhou Lianhe Technology Co., Ltd., to understand the current status of unmanned forklifts and look forward to future directions.

Develop together with the unmanned forklift industry

Before working on unmanned forklifts, Mr. Xu Bing worked in the robot and traditional unmanned forklift industries. After realizing that traditional forklifts were undergoing major changes and that automated equipment was showing great vitality, he decisively entered the unmanned forklift industry and founded Hangzhou Lianhe Technology Co., Ltd. in 2017, focusing on unmanned forklift system solutions. Currently, it has more than 50 national patents and software copyrights, and has been successively rated as "Hangzhou Young Eagle Plan Enterprise", "Technology-based Enterprise", "Hundred Talents Plan Enterprise" and "National High-tech Enterprise" .

Based on its accumulation in the forklift field, policy promotion and market demand, Lianhe already has complete technical capabilities from unmanned forklift body design to upper-level software development, and has a full range of unmanned forklift products and intelligent warehousing software products.

At present, the traditional logistics automation industry is dominated by large system integrators such as the Beijing Institute of Automation. They have outstanding capabilities in special equipment and abundant resources, but their digitalization capabilities need to be further improved. Lianhe believes that the logistics automation industry based on manufacturing is forming a new pattern. Enterprises with intelligent and information capabilities are constantly emerging, giving the industry new impetus. Lianhe is the most competitive one among these enterprises.

Technical strength creates strong products

Faced with the ever-changing market landscape, Lianhe is also constantly shaping its own competitive advantages.

The company's core team has more than 10 years of work experience in the field of forklifts and mobile robots, and can provide users with one-stop services such as planning consultation, solution design, system integration, project implementation, and after-sales support.

In terms of hardware, Lianhe not only has R&D capabilities, but also production capabilities. It currently has 11 models of unmanned forklift products in four categories (handling type, stacking type, counterbalanced heavy-duty, and full forward-moving type), covering more than 95% of the three-dimensional handling scenarios of pallet materials in industrial environments. It is also equipped with a self-developed vehicle control system that supports multiple navigation modes such as laser and vision, and the maximum repeat positioning accuracy can reach ±10mm.

All products are equipped with high-precision laser radar, infrared sensor , safety edge touch, anti-collision laser and other multi-sensor fusion safety protection strategies as standard, which can effectively ensure the safety of personnel and goods during equipment operation, and support optional 3D obstacle avoidance, pallet recognition, shelf height recognition, fork force feedback and other advanced functions.

In terms of software, Lianhe has a complete software product line covering the entire process of unmanned forklifts, covering the vehicle side, the field side and the cloud side. Considering the flexible and changeable characteristics of the operation process in the warehousing and logistics industry, Lianhe's software system is built based on a low-code approach. Customers can quickly adjust the business logic according to their own needs, bringing customers a more portable automation experience.

Lianhe believes that simply making unmanned forklifts cannot provide real value to customers. The core is to solve customers' business problems . To this end, Lianhe has created a systematic solution from software to hardware, and has created its own competitive advantage.

Taking high-level storage and access as an example, Lianhe's hardware products can quickly and accurately identify pallet identification, shelf identification and cargo space. Once there is a change in the shelf or ground subsidence, the forklift can adjust the operation in time, and the software system will also promptly determine the risk and make new instructions or call staff, ensuring safe and smooth operations from both hardware and software aspects.

Deeply cultivate the industry and empower users

At present, Lianhe's products are mainly used in high-level storage and retrieval warehouses and production line distribution, and have been widely used in industries such as electricity, military industry, medicine, and auto parts. Mr. Xu Bing said that as long as there is demand, Lianhe will bring intelligent and automated products and experiences to customers.

In view of the lithium battery industry, where automation equipment has been competing to enter the market in recent years, Lianhe has also made some arrangements early on, and currently has projects underway. Its main advantage is the cluster dispatching system independently developed by Lianhe. Thanks to advanced dispatching algorithms and high intelligent decision-making capabilities, the system supports dynamic planning of driving routes, automatic unlocking of complex routes, and other functions. It has the ability to manage hundreds of unmanned forklifts and the ability to connect with multiple brands of models.

In the future, based on the high load capacity of forklifts and the organizational capabilities of cluster dispatching systems, Lianhe Technology will focus on high-load, high-position, and high-density storage and access scenarios to avoid homogeneous competition from an application perspective. While continuing to deepen technology, polish products, and deepen scenario applications, we will continue to grasp industry and user needs and bring more and better overall solutions for smart manufacturing and smart logistics.