Product Engineering readers vote ELOshield as Gold Award winner in Safety category

ELOKON, a global provider in industrial safety technology, announced today that its ELOshield proximity detection/anti-collision system for forklifts and pedestrians received the Gold Award from Plant Engineering as the 2018 Product of the Year for safety.

The award was announced on April 8, 2019, at the annual “Engineering Awards in Manufacturing” event at the ProMat material handling trade show in Chicago.

The Plant Engineering Product of the Year Award is a premier honor for new products in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries. For the 32nd consecutive year, Plant Engineering readers voted for the winning products in 15 categories, with Gold as the highest award in each group.

“Our ELOshield proximity detection system, which uses UWB wireless technology to prevent vehicle-to-pedestrian and vehicle-to-vehicle collisions, has now won four major awards in North America and Europe,” said Kevin Bradley, Vice President of Sales and Operations for Atlanta-based ELOKON USA. “We are very proud to bring such an innovative solution for material handling safety to the workplace. Forklift accidents are always on OSHA’s top-10 list, with pedestrian injuries continuing to be a serious problem. ELOshield’s automated driver-assistance technology warns both drivers and floor workers when they are in unsafe situations, and helps stop accidents before they happen.”

The ELOshield system has two safety zones—“warning” and “protection”—which can trigger different system reactions, such as automatic vehicle slow-down. Each zone can be flexibly programmed for distance and shape.

As an option, the system now also includes a Smart Safety Vest, which alerts both pedestrian and forklift driver if they get too close. As a failsafe, the vest sends multiple warnings—by sight (long-range LED lights), sound (acoustic alarm) and feel (vibration alarm).