scenic news

PRESS RELEASE

Needham, MA, April 1, 2007 – Scenic Technology Labs and announces significant breakthroughs in ‘Quiet Warehousing”, achieves ISO-LT20DB Certification for UHS (ultra high speed) conveyors

Scenic Technology Corporation (“Scenic”) Research Laboratories, a global provider of supply chain execution systems, today announced that it has developed the industry’s first less-than-20 decibel high speed conveyor system breaking a barrier that many believed would never be broken. 20 decibels is the sound equivalent of a whisper (or rustling leaves).  Scenic Labs and its partners have submitted 42 patent applications in conjunction with this technology and expect to commercialize the product with General Availability within three years.

After extensive testing, the International Standards Organization has awarded Scenic Labs with ISO-LT20DB Certification. 
“We were impressed with the systematic approach taken by Scenic Labs, they are thorough and deliberate and went to great lengths to prove they are the quietest warehousing software company in the business” said Mr. Saymour Pendejada of the ISO.

The Innovation

Working with passive magnetic levitation concepts developed at Gruppen Indadark, a German research institute, using Halach Arrays looped around the conveyor and neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets mounted on plastic totes, the researchers were able to levitate at the high speeds consistent with the range of the fastest conveyors supported today.  That, combined with Scenic’s innovated levitation picking method, where the magnets on items to be picked are electronically activated, enabling them to levitate and be silently removed from specially-designed gravity flow induction racks, has eliminated virtually all noise from the most highly automated facilities.

The Impact

“Our customers were complaining about the excessive level of noise in their facilities, making it impossible for their newest workers to listen to their MP3 Players as they performed their jobs” said Dr. Stepan Merdeux, of Scenic Labs.  Earlier research had determined that ambient sounds from in-motion diverters and rollers used in conveyor systems resulted in destructive interference with the heavy bass in today’s hip-hop sounds.  In 2002, the ILWU sent a petition to the Warehouse Education and Research Council (WERC) stating that ‘….many of our current members are complaining that Phunkt House and G.R.I.T.S sound like just-so-much-disco [sic] when they can’t hear the bass”.

Future Innovations

Dr. Merdeux believes that this announcement is the first in a long series of game-changing breakthroughs in quiet warehousing.  “Our next focus is on how to develop reusable plastic totes that can withstand extreme (<1 degree Kelvin) temperatures.  We have found that the current totes tend to shatter once we approach temperatures of -40 degrees C.  In addition, we have found that the use of magnets on totes tends to erase and render inoperable certain electronic components such as disk drives and flash memory.  We feel we must address these issues in due course in order to be able to offer our products in the real world.” Said Dr. M2 (as he’s known around the lab) and he continued “Quiet warehousing is our mission.”

International Availability and Licensing

Scenic Labs has agreed to license this technology to various distributors around the globe.  For additional information, please contact the following companies.

Representative Company, Location, Region, Contact Details

§          Wei Lie Ng, Unlimited, Hong Kong, China, Southeast Asia, 852-2355-5500

§          Gruppen Indadark, GmbH, Hamburg, Germany, Central Europe +49 (2331) 124000

§          Un Petit dans Petit,  Luanda, Angola, Northern Africa, +244 344 40011

§          Krieze ID, Johannesburg, RSA, Southern Africa +27 (21) 443 1200

§          Dropov Anduikip, Moscow, Russia, Northern Asia (095) 389-8989

About Scenic Technology

Scenic Technology Corporation is a global supply chain execution software and services company providing a solution on a services model that streamlines shipping, receiving, inventory visibility and container management between global companies and their trading partners. Scenic delivers an end-to-end solution which improves distribution operations, logistics, asset utilization and cash-flows. For more information, visit www.scenictechnology.com.

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