Material handler equipment supplier AHS was one of the first mayor partners abroad that understood the value of the Nipper™. Zac Boehm, Director of Innovative Systems at AHS, sees the Nipper™ as one of their most valuable products. Boehm outlines AHS’ decision to become an official Integrator and their vision that lead them there in the first place.
AHS works with a strategic network of equipment manufacturers to create best-in-class fulfilment and distribution solutions for a wide variety of industries like e-commerce, medical supplies and groceries. AHS is the largest manufacturer of non-original equipment in the US. “I met Willem Lepelaars of F3 Design around three years ago”, Boehm says. “This was right around the time we at AHS shifted our focus internally to see how industrial mobile robotics (IMR) could improve warehouse processes. An important part of our job is to understand the challenges our customers experience and how we can support them with our products.”
As Director of Innovative Systems, Boehm is in charge of innovation for AHS. The Nipper™ immediately stood out to Boehm as a unique combination of robotics and fleet management. “What distinguishes F3 from a lot of other companies is that they understand their capabilities without exceeding them. F3 knows their specialty is designing a functional robot. Software design is not – instead of trying to do that themselves haphazardly, they have enlisted the help of BlueBotics, a company that does a fantastic job at that. Together, they have created an IMR that combines the best of both worlds.”
According to Boehm, the Nipper™ has the complete package of price, quality, automation – and let’s not forget aesthetics. “The Nipper™ is an eye-catcher for sure”, he claims. “Whenever you walk into a room where there’s a Nipper™ present, your eyes are immediately drawn to it. When people find out it’s not just a pretty looking gadget but actually a means to improve their warehouse logistics, we instantly have their attention.”
“The Nipper™ enables floor-to-floor transportation without an infrastructure, embodying non-value-added movement within fulfilment centres”, Boehm continues. “It is a safe co-worker for people to work with and around. It has excellent battery life, charging speed, and it is light-weight and sleek. The Nipper™ is the result of an innovative company that knows their boundaries and uses other experts to help them supplement it. F3 instead focuses on what they are good at and how they can further improve their AGV. I think this will truly change our industry, becoming a leading technology when it comes to non-value-added movement.”
F3 is proud to call AHS our first certified US Integrator. Working with them and investing in the Nipper together is an excellent opportunity to put our heads together and come up with even better ways to help out customers who are in a logistical bind. Being an Integrator, AHS works closely with out US partners and leads to understand their problem and provide solutions to solve those.
