Schmaus GmbH wins the VDI Innovation Award 2018

Schmaus is taking advantage of the opportunities arising from the maturing of smart glasses for use in industry and production by recruiting people with disabilities as specialists in logistics in a way that further increases process reliability and at the same time meets the complex requirements of intralogistics. People with hearing impairments are recruited as equally qualified specialists and at the same time the complex requirements in intralogistics are met with a high level of process reliability and customer individuality.

Deaf and hearing-impaired employees are put on an equal footing with non-disabled employees with the interactive picking of items in the warehouse. Pick-by-vision compensates for impaired hearing through vision. Work instructions and inputs are displayed in the employee's field of vision. Communication between the control station and the employee is simplified. The employee can call their supervisor immediately if necessary, the foreman can request a specific employee or send an important message to everyone. The solution also supports hazard or fault messages, such as fire alarms, being sent directly to the employee. It relies specifically on the use of pictograms and thus clearly exceeds the objective of "use for hearing-impaired people".

Companies can also benefit from this innovative solution if, in addition to deaf people, they also have access to people with speech or reading disorders or foreign-language workers. When there is a seasonal increase in manpower requirements, training times are shortened and process quality increases thanks to interactive operator guidance. Pick-by-vision technology displays the essential information of a picking order in the employee's field of vision using data goggles. This assistance system can be used by hearing-impaired and hearing pickers alike. Information is only transmitted visually and not acoustically. At the same time, it represents a modern and competitive technology for warehouse processes such as order picking, storage and stock transfer. In addition to assisting with order picking, the smart glasses enable short messages to be sent and received, thus providing a common communication interface between all hearing-impaired and hearing employees.

The project 01KM141207 is funded by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs via the project sponsor Gesellschaft für soziale Unternehmensberatung mbH (gsub mbH) as part of grants from the equalization fund for supraregional projects for the participation of severely disabled people in working life.

Quote from the jury chairman Prof. Willibald Günthner: "With "Work-by-Inclusion", this time we are honoring a project that makes a major contribution to the inclusion of hearing-impaired employees in the work process. It leads to equality for all employees, as the system is used equally by hearing and non-hearing employees - it connects hearing and non-hearing employees. I am also delighted that we are able to honor a medium-sized company that has been a pioneer in the integration of hearing-impaired employees into the work process for many years - congratulations!"

Quote from member Gregor Blauermel, jury member and Chairman of the Technical Logistics Advisory Board of the VDI-GPL: "I am very pleased that we have found something of a "surprise egg" in the winner of this year's Innovation Award, who fulfills three wishes at once: an entrepreneur who is also socially committed, a technical solution that is very exciting in detail and a contribution to solving a social problem. Being able to integrate people with a disability into the work process by means of adapted aids is not only desirable, it may also help a little to remedy the existing shortage of skilled workers in intralogistics. It would be great if projects of this kind could be copied - if we can find solutions for people who are currently unemployable, everyone will be helped!"

Background

The "Logistics Innovation Prize" is awarded annually by the VDI Society for Production and Logistics (VDI-GPL). The prize is awarded to the company that has made an outstanding contribution to innovation in logistics. The winner is selected by an independent jury of competent and recognized experts. The 2017 jury consisted of:

• Prof. Dr.-lng. WiIlibald A. Günthner, Chair of Materials Handling, Material Flow, Logistics, TU Munich
• Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Ing. Gregor Blauermel, Managing Partner B416 Unternehmensberatung GmbH & Co. KG
• Rolf Müller Wondorf, Chief Editor Logistics for Companies
• Martin Schrüfer, Managing Editor-in-Chief of Material Flow and LT-manager
• Thilo Jörgl, Editor-in-Chief LOGISTIK HEUTE
• Winfried Bauer, Editor-in-Chief Conveying and Lifting
• Dipl.-Ing. Jean Haeffs, Managing Director VDI Society for Production and Logistics

The call for entries for the VDI Logistics Innovation Award 2019 will begin in fall 2018.