Interview With Gabriele Macchi - interview in Food Processing +Magazine (May 2024)

The May 2024 Food Processing magazine features the latest interview with our Director of Operations Gabriele Macchi. In the course of the conversation, we talk about the new AGV from PROXAUT, an SH shuttle, the CUBE. Equipped with pallet lifting forks for transporting Euro pallets (dimensions 1200 x 800 mm), this AGV is suitable for loading and unloading roller conveyors and conveyor belts.It can operate with UDC (load units) less than or equal to 1000 kg (2204.6 lbs).

The CUBE shuttle, presented for the first time at the MECSPE exhibition in Bologna in March 2024, is a cutting edge vehicle, read the interview to discover more.

Read the interview and feature article released in May 2024 or download the PDF.   PROXAUT_-_FP_3-24_low.pdf

Mr. Gabriele Macchi, Operations Director at PROXAUT, tells us how the new automated guided vehicle was born: the CUBE. Thanks to the skills acquired in the field of R&D, Mr. Macchi has become a promoter of technological innovation and supporter of new employment policies. Listening to the market demands of this last year and after having carried out a dedicated strategic marketing study, together with the Management of PROXAUT, Mr. Macchi and his team of researchers have taken care of developing a new AGV vehicle.

"The challenge was to find a SMART solution, designing and building a small and versatile AGV, capable of carrying weights up to 1000 kg (2200 Lbs). PROXAUT vehicles, in fact, are built to work in narrow spaces, such as in warehouses where we have a few centimetres of tolerance for our automatic handling.

We have therefore used years of experience to create a small self-driving shuttle (1300 x 900 x 300 mm h) with inertial guidance capable of passing where others do not enter. There are no application and industry limitations for this automated transportation system. Do you have a Euro pallet with goods weighing 1000 kg to be transported from point A to point B? Here's the solution: CUBE by PROXAUT!

An efficient automated warehouse worker which will work for you 24/7, without going on vacation or getting sick. “I don't deny that a minimum maintenance must be done regularly, but this operation takes only a few hours a year and serves to ensure optimal performance and maintain maximum efficiency levels, also in terms of the durability of lithium batteries" Mr. Macchi tells us. "Moreover, the advantages of these forklifts with and without forks are now known: reduction of personnel and indirect costs in general, reduction of human error thanks to integration with WMS and management software, improvement of traceability and management of warehouse stocks, maximum configurability with company management systems, increase in production with 24/7 shifts, improvement of safety, optimization of flows and traffic, operation in environmental conditions hostile to man, hygiene and cleanliness".

But we are curious... We want more... What about the price? The Operations Director smiles and replies without hesitation: "I'm a technician, not a salesman. However, I can tell you that we have tried to make a low-cost shuttle. If we don’t consider the prototype presented at the fair MECSPE (6-8 March 2024 in Bologna) and LogiMAT (19-21 March 2024 in Stuttgart), we have already put a series of vehicles into production.

The trade fairs have given us the desired results, we have already concluded some sales contracts for AGV plants, including of course also several CUBEs that should be operational at the end of summer 2024. We have already had confirmation from our Production Manager that, compared to the prototype, prices have dropped: the industrialization of this model allows us to enter the market with a very interesting and competitive price!"

The challenge of a market in constant revolution does not scare Proxaut. The trade fairs of recent months and a growing market have given new life to a company that has been on the market for over 30 years. From a small family-run business, it has become part of an international group, the Middleby Corporation, a world leader in the food machinery industry. In 2022, the year Proxaut was acquired, it was named "World's Best Employer" by Forbes magazine.

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For more information:

www.proxaut.com

www.middleby.com