Tom Martin, the Roanoke area Regional Director for PeakLogix, recently had the opportunity to play in a golf tournament held at the Hidden Valley Country Club in Salem, VA, to benefit Junior Achievement - a partnership between the business community, educators, and volunteers, all working together to inspire young people to dream big and reach their potential. Junior Achievement’s hands-on, experiential programs teach the key concepts of work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy to young people all over the world. It was a nice event for a good cause, and Tom says that he may accept an invitation from Junior Achievement to become involved with their Board of Directors.

“The overall theme of the show reminded me of the PeakLogix tag line, THINK EFFICIENCY. There were many companies showing automation products such as carousels, stacker cranes, mini-loads, pallet runner, conveyor, robots, and agv’s, as well as software to run businesses more effectively. The big payback was centered around the idea of LESS LABOR.”

Bob paid visits to a number of vendor booths, including Konstant, Bishamon, Fuji, Ryson, Pflow, MonoFlo, Ermanco, Mallard, Demo 3D, and Penco. He enjoyed seeing several new and exciting products… perhaps to be featured in future PeakLogix projects!

April 27th was a cold, clear day in Cleveland, and Bob entered NA2010 along with what he considered a surprisingly steady stream of people. The show provided lots of opportunity for mingling and networking, and he was able to connect with many vendors, new and old.

On Friday, as newspaper headlines read “Europe Faces More Air Travel Chaos” and “Flight Disruptions in Europe Get Even Worse,” Bob and Ron found themselves grounded in Richmond. Southern Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH’-plah-yer-kuh-duhl) glacier began erupting for the second time in a month on Wednesday, sending ash several miles into the air. Winds pushed the ash south and east across Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, and into the heart of Europe. Millions of people have been affected; Bob and Ron, itching to get to the Hanover Fair, were among them. Maybe next year…

Stay tuned for blog updates from Bob, as well as his Tweets, live from Germany; share in the adventure, and be sure to let Bob know if there are specific applications you’d like him to investigate while at the show! 

Follow PeakLogix (and Bob) on Twitter:  www.twitter.com/peaklogix

And in the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about Hanover Fair, here are a few links to explore:
Hanover Fair home page
2009 end of show report, including statistics and other facts

It’s sure to be a fun, informative, and worthwhile trip…we look forward to sharing it with you!

PeakLogix is proud to be a sponsor of this one-day conference and vendor expo for Greater Richmond’s warehouse, manufacturing, supply chain, and logistics industry professionals!  The cost is $35.00 per registrant, and Manufacturing and distribution Owners, CEOs, CFOs, COOs, General Managers, Plant Managers and VPs of Operations (individuals with P & L responsibility) are encouraged to attend.

Use this conference to stay current and learn about the latest strategies, technologies, solutions and proven techniques for cost reduction and improved efficiency in manufacturing and distribution. Learn new ways to manage transportation costs and increase profits. It is also a great networking opportunity.

Visit www.richmondwarehouseconference.com for more information or to register.

“How do I design my warehouse?”

“What’s the best way to store our materials?”

“Which way should I run my racking?”

And the answers always sound the same:

“What does the data say?”

“What unique characteristics of your business are critical for us to know so that we can optimize your layout and help you operate at Peak efficiency?”

The size of your business and the complexity of your processes will help us determine how deep a consultant or integrator needs to “dig” in order to best help you; in short, the days of “winging it” are long gone — we need to let Data drive the Design.

Bob Giberson

I have had such a wonderful time. It has been a good educational experience and I have to say “thank you” to the good people of Fuji. They couldn’t have shown me a better time or a greater experience.

Thank you again to everyone involved!

I am now on the way to the airport to begin the long journey home!

I would like to say goodbye and thank you, Japan! I hope that I can experience you again!!

All the best!

Darren

Good morning, Everyone!

This was, unfortunately, the last full day of training.  Mainly, we reviewed everything we have done in the last 4 days.  We spent quite a large portion of the day going through the customer’s software and testing it in “auto” mode.

I was able to take the covers off of one of the robots and go over all of the mechanical parts, motors, gearbox, bearings, greasing points, fittings, air lines… the works!  The Fuji product is very well designed.  Everything is easily accessible and not over-engineered.  I am very much looking forward to doing the “auto” teaching on-site and leaving them to enjoy the robots!

Tomorrow we will be getting the robots ready for shipping.  I will do a final inspection when we have finished, and they will then be crossing the “pond” for a period of approximately 2 ½ weeks to arrive on the west coast during the second week in March.

I have attached a photo that you might recognize.  It doesn’t matter where you are in the world… you can always stop for a “Slurpee!”

All the best!

Darren