More and more customized options are being installed digitally

Custom digital solutions are on the rise

Intralogistics specialist Linde MH notes that an increasing proportion of COs are being installed digitally. Whereas these Customized Options—or tailor-made solutions—were primarily implemented via hardware components in the past, this is now increasingly being done through software updates. The major advantage: new digital COs can be integrated into the vehicles throughout their entire lifecycle, ensuring a high degree of investment security.

Significant added value for businesses

More than one-third of all Linde forklifts and warehouse trucks are equipped with a CO, or Customized Option. ‘These are custom-made solutions that play an important role in the internal material flow of many companies. Because they allow the truck to be tailored more precisely to the customer’s needs, ’They make the use of industrial transport vehicles safer, more efficient, and more productive. In some cases, they are even what makes it possible to use the truck at the company in the first place.", explains Stefan Prokosch, Senior Vice President of Customized Solutions at Linde MH. 

Previously, these control units were primarily mechanical in nature. Examples include trucks made entirely of stainless steel, heat-resistant joysticks, controls adapted for drivers with physical disabilities, or machines with a so-called „Pinocchio nose“ for transporting rolls in the paper industry. In addition, digital COs are now increasingly being adopted, such as automatically lowering the radio volume when reversing, a flashing light that indicates whether the driver is wearing a seatbelt, or automatic speed reduction when the truck is heavily loaded and/or the forks are in a raised position.

‘Since we cannot know today what requirements internal transportation will have to meet tomorrow, or what technical capabilities will be available then, it is important that the trucks can be equipped with new features throughout their entire lifecycle.’, according to Prokosch. The foundation for this is provided by the modern electrical/electronic (E/E) architecture and the digital twins, which are linked to the physical trucks during production. In this way, new vehicle functions can be uploaded “over the air” to the trucks while adhering to the highest safety standards.