Your Facility Is Running
PSI Technics GmbH – Reading time approx. 7 minutes – Factory Automation – Positioning Solutions – Stacker Cranes – Bridge Cranes – ASRS – Retrofitting
Your Facility Is Running – But Is It Running as Well as It Could?
Process optimization for warehouse logistics, industrial automation, and production technology – from analyzing actual conditions through modernization to maintenance. PSI Technics delivers intelligent positioning solutions for stacker cranes, bridge cranes, and automated conveyor systems, tailored to each facility and independent of the make or model.
The Problem: Facilities That Could Do More
In many production plants and warehouses, the same pattern appears again and again: The facility runs, production works – but only as well as it always has. Motion sequences that were configured years ago. Positioning behavior no one has questioned. Drives fine-tuned once at commissioning and never revisited.
The consequences are quantifiable: manufacturing costs higher than necessary, resources not fully utilized, quality that varies because processes are not consistently aligned, and a lack of transparency that prevents fast reactions to change. Traditional positioning solutions that do not adequately account for the behavior of industrial vehicles are a frequent root cause – producing oscillations that drive up wear, cause premature failures, and lengthen cycle times.
PSI Technics addresses exactly this – with sophisticated software and custom project management that make your processes faster, more transparent, and increasingly flexible.
System integration and optimization lead to faster, more transparent and increasingly flexible processes – minimizing manufacturing costs, maximizing resource utilization, and enhancing product quality for a decisive competitive advantage.
Motion and performance analysis across industries: from steel production and process visualization to high-bay warehousing and automotive body handling – revealing optimization potential in the entire system.
From Concept to Operation – One Partner, Every Stage
PSI Technics is your competent and reliable partner for industrial control systems and process automation across production and warehouse logistics. Support begins in the early planning stage with technically sound advice. Once the concept is defined, a dedicated project manager guides you through every phase – from design to full plant operation.
What distinguishes this approach: consulting and design begin in phase one and continue across every stage. Training and service come at the end – not as a conclusion, but as the beginning of a lasting partnership that extends well beyond the warranty period.
The PSI Technics realization process – from planning through installation and commissioning to ongoing operation with data collection, system optimization, and continuous service.
Positioning Solutions
Precision Under the Most Demanding Conditions
Positioning systems are used throughout production and logistics to automatically control industrial vehicles and material handling systems. PSI Technics specializes in intelligent, efficient solutions for process and warehouse logistics – including stacker cranes, bridge and overhead cranes, hoists, shuttle cars, material lifts, freight elevators, and elevating transfer vehicles.
Wherever time-optimized and spatially accurate positioning at predefined coordinates is required, PSI Technics provides an advanced closed-loop positioning control system, specifically tailored for logistics facilities and reliable under the most demanding conditions.
In a fully automated high-bay warehouse, for example, the system instructs stacker cranes to move to a storage position’s target coordinates so that all storage and retrieval operations are carried out with high accuracy in the shortest possible time. Compared to conventional positioning systems, it optimizes motion sequences, compensates for mast oscillations, and continuously reduces system wear.
Time savings during short movements compared to conventional positioning systems: the optimized speed profile increases throughput by up to 15 % while shortening total travel time.
Compensating Oscillations – the Core of Precise Positioning
The greatest challenge in dynamic positioning is oscillation. The faster a vehicle accelerates and stops, the more its structure oscillates afterward. Play it safe and travel slowly, and you lose throughput; travel too fast, and you risk inaccuracy, higher wear, and structural strain.
Advanced closed-loop control resolves this conflict. The difference is dramatic when measured directly.
Machine model identification: the calculated model (solid curve) closely tracks the vehicle’s actual measured behavior (fine line), including the oscillations that occur in practice. The more accurately the model captures this behavior, the more precisely the control system can compensate for it.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Almost complete compensation of oscillations means less strain on the structure, longer component life, and the freedom to travel faster without sacrificing precision. Oscillation is a common disturbance that challenges all types of positioning systems – addressing it at the control level is what separates a modern positioning solution from a conventional one.
Bridge Cranes – Precision Across Large Spans
A bridge crane spans many meters of hall width, and its load must reach exactly defined positions – reliably, repeatably, and without straining the structure. Cranes with two drives, one on each runway side, must run in perfect synchronization. If one side leads, the bridge skews, precision suffers, and mechanical strain rises. When two cranes lift a load together, the demand on synchronization rises further.
For these applications, PSI Technics provides dedicated capabilities: synchronous control keeps long-span bridges running true, while a tandem operation function enables two independently driven cranes or trolleys to move a shared load in exact synchronization.
Bridge cranes play a vital role in production and warehouse logistics. Continuous day-to-day operation places particular strain on mechanical components – where precise, synchronized control extends the life of crane, rails, and wheels.
STRAIGHT-RUN CONTROL FOR BRIDGE CRANES
Skewing – often caused by load swing, uneven driving forces, or worn rails – subjects crane wheels and rails to heavy wear. A dedicated straight-run control system continuously keeps the wheels centered on the rails: ultrasonic sensors measure each wheel’s position, and the controller applies precise velocity corrections to either drive while the crane is moving.
The result: significantly reduced wear, extended maintenance intervals, fewer downtimes, and a longer service life for crane, rails, and wheels – even for older cranes and long spans.
Automated Vehicles & Conveyor Systems – Proven Worldwide
The same positioning technology drives a broad range of automated industrial vehicles and conveyor systems: elevating transfer vehicles, vertical material lifts, hoists, shuttle cars, and freight elevators. And it is proven in demanding applications at leading companies worldwide:
| Installation Type | Customer | Location |
| Elevating Transfer Vehicle (ETV) | Hactl – Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals | SuperTerminal 1, Hongkong |
| Vertical Material Lift | Volkswagen AG | Vehicle Body Warehouse, Wolfsburg, Germany |
| Shuttle Car | Robert Bosch GmbH, Automotive | Karlsruhe, Germany |
| Stacker Cranes (RFZ) | SKF Logistics Services | Tongeren, Belgium |
Automated storage and retrieval: precise positioning of shuttle cars and stacker cranes ensures fast, reliable storage and retrieval operations in high-density warehouses.
FROM AIR-CARGO TERMINAL TO AUTOMOTIVE PLANT
The breadth of these references demonstrates the flexibility of the approach: at Hactl’s SuperTerminal 1 in Hong Kong it positions elevating transfer vehicles, at Volkswagen’s vehicle-body warehouse in Wolfsburg it controls vertical material lifts, at Bosch in Karlsruhe it moves shuttle cars, and at SKF in Tongeren it modernized stacker cranes step by step – without replacing system components or drives.
Fast Commissioning Through Self-Learning Characterization
A major advantage of the modern positioning solution is its self-learning characterization: the system automatically determines the ideal travel profile and detects control parameters on its own. It performs the time-consuming control-loop modeling process automatically and searches for the optimum parameters – tasks that previously required a specifically trained commissioning engineer.
The impact is measurable: instead of several days, commissioning now takes only a few hours. A self-learning algorithm continuously adapts to the behavior of the controlled vehicle, automatically calculating a machine model that best describes its behavior based on the system’s response.
The result is improved dynamics and reduced wear for highly dynamic systems – with commissioning times shortened even in highly complex logistics facilities.
Self-learning characterization automatically builds a machine model from the system’s response: the calculated model (solid curve) matches the measured behavior (fine line) across both the acceleration and deceleration phases – the basis for optimized travel profiles and reduced wear.
“The retrofitting was well-organized and well-prepared. As a result, the new positioning systems were commissioned even prior to the completion date. The precision and performance were convincing, and the occasional downtimes of the previous system are no longer an issue – guaranteeing reliable warehouse operation for years to come.”
— Jürgen Bastek, Manager of Maintenance, Volkswagen AG
Optimization, Modernization, Retrofitting – Objective and Independent
PSI Technics helps you optimize the performance of your installation – from analyzing actual conditions through modernization to maintenance, and irrespective of the make or model. Unlike approaches that focus on individual components, PSI Technics optimizes your entire logistics system.
Two services are central to this, specifically designed for optimization, modernization, and retrofitting:
- Motion & Performance Analysis – comprehensive evaluation of a facility’s motion sequences to identify performance optimization and energy-saving potential, with graphical representation of the motion profile.
- Virtual Modeling (Finite Element Method) – a digital model of the facility that reveals loads, weak points, and optimization potential – for existing installations as well as new ones still in the planning stage.
Together, these services enable PSI Technics to identify performance and energy-saving potential objectively – whether for an existing facility or a new installation in the planning stage. The result is measurable: cost reduction at increasing throughput.
“The references of PSI Technics’ positioning solution and the excellent service quality were crucial for our investment decision.”
— Toby Wong, Technical Coordinator, Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd. (Hactl)
At-a-Glance Management – Condition Monitoring
As facilities invest in automation to compete in a global marketplace, the demand for real-time insight into operations grows. A condition-monitoring dashboard provides all relevant information about your industrial vehicles, cranes, and conveyor systems at a glance – a platform for process optimization that simplifies maintenance and parameterization.
Optimization potential becomes visible too: a matrix showing how frequently a machine services storage and retrieval positions quickly reveals throughput-improvement opportunities – with the secondary benefit of reduced system wear. Status reports can be delivered automatically in Excel or PDF format.
Live Status Timeline
A timeline provides a quick overview of the latest status messages; click any message for detailed data or an in-depth analysis of a single system.
Trend Statistics
Statistics reveal current trends in system behavior, potential interference, and its frequency – giving service teams insight into the machine’s inner workings.
Maintenance Scheduling
Create and track maintenance appointments across all shifts, with automatic reminders for important service intervals.
Energy Monitoring
Automatically measure energy consumption over defined periods to identify peak-consumption windows – without affecting throughput or positioning.
Modernization instead of replacement: a needs-based positioning solution increases the lifetime of existing installations while making them future-proof for Industry 4.0 – without a complete system overhaul.
Implementation and live operation of a positioning solution in a fully automated high-bay warehouse.
See a Positioning Solution in Action
The following video shows – using one of PSI Technics’ positioning solutions as an example – how a modern positioning solution is installed and how it performs in real-world operation. In the example shown, the system navigates the stacker cranes of a fully automated high-bay warehouse precisely to the target coordinates of the storage locations, carrying out storage and retrieval operations gently, with high accuracy, and in the shortest possible time. Mast oscillations are almost completely compensated, significantly reducing the strain on the installation.
The video shows both sides: first the straightforward conversion and installation, then the system in live operation. Visible in the example:
- Easy, fast conversion
- Highly efficient performance and throughput optimization
- Cycle time reduction of up to 33 %
- Significantly increased service life and reduced process costs
- Low-maintenance operation with Industry 4.0 interfaces
- Applicable for every type of AS/RS
The solution shown is one example from the PSI Technics portfolio. Which positioning solution is right in a given case depends on your installation – and we are glad to advise you objectively and independent of the make or model.
The Question That Counts
When did you last examine your facility systematically for optimization potential? Are there processes that have run the same way for years – not because they are optimal, but because no one has taken the first step to analyze them? Is your positioning system still running on technology whose production was discontinued long ago, with spare parts increasingly hard to obtain?
PSI Technics takes that first step with you. Objectively, economically, and with a single goal: to create genuine competitive advantage through automation that truly fits your facility – faster, more precise, longer-lasting, and future-proof.
Ready to Unlock the Full Potential of Your Facility?
Whether you are planning a new installation or looking to modernize an existing system in controls and drives, our application engineers analyze your facility and recommend a positioning solution tailored to your specific environment – objectively and independent of the make or model.
Email: support@psi-technics.com
Phone: +49 (0) 2630 91590-0
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
An industrial positioning solution is a closed-loop control system that moves automated vehicles – such as stacker cranes, bridge cranes and shuttle cars – to predefined target coordinates with high accuracy and in the shortest possible time. It calculates optimized travel profiles, compensates for oscillations and continuously reduces system wear.
A modern positioning solution can reduce cycle times by up to 33 % and increase throughput by up to 15 % compared with conventional positioning systems, mainly by eliminating creeping speed and optimizing acceleration and deceleration profiles.
Mast oscillations are compensated at the control level: a self-learning system builds an accurate model of the vehicle’s motion behavior and counteracts oscillations in the closed control loop. This achieves almost complete compensation, which lowers structural strain and allows higher travel speeds at full precision.
Yes. Modern positioning solutions are a straightforward replacement for the discontinued Trimble (Spectra Precision, Geotronics) ICS5000, TCS4000 and ASC systems. Existing communication protocols, I/O signals and analog set-point values can continue to be used, so no intervention in the existing process control is required. PSI Technics also provides global service, support, repairs and spare parts for these legacy units.
Because the system automatically characterizes the machine and detects the optimum control parameters, commissioning takes only a few hours instead of several days, and no specifically trained commissioning engineer is required.
Yes. PSI Technics works independently of the make or model. Positioning solutions replace PLC- or drive-based installations that use distance sensors from manufacturers such as SICK, Pepperl+Fuchs, Leuze or T&R Electronics, and are compatible with all common motor drives.
Positioning solutions are used for stacker cranes, bridge and overhead cranes, hoists, shuttle cars, material lifts, freight elevators and elevating transfer vehicles – and are applicable to every type of AS/RS.
