A Chicago Tech Startup Advancing Warehouse Safety and Efficiency

Written by Justin Sorto, TCC Education Committee Chair

Downtown Chicago based technology startup and Traffic Club of Chicago member OneTrack is taking on the mission of increasing safety, accuracy, and efficiency at warehouses across the globe. By placing Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered cameras on forklifts transporting goods throughout warehouses, the company is providing an invaluable service to its partners. In an age where limiting the human and financial cost of accidents is crucial, OneTrack merges technology and information to make the world a safer place.

During a recent visit to the OneTrack office, I had the opportunity to meet with Peter Saul, VP of Sales and Business Development, and Marc Gyongyosi, CEO and Founder. As I walked into their Chicago Loop shared office space and met the six-person team, my first thought was this is an interesting startup concept, but what sets them apart? First, I learned about the progression of the company from its inception as Intelligent Flying Machines (IFM). IFM was founded while Marc was a student at Northwestern University, where the company created autonomous drones to fly throughout warehouses to automate the inventory process. It then evolved into OneTrack and the idea to secure AI powered camera technology to forklifts. During my visit the team showed me a demo of the product, along with the actual equipment that they are building out for a customer. The flexibility of the company allows the team to tailor their product to individual customer needs. OneTrack stands apart from its competition by creating an ongoing customer experience, where the team works directly with its customers. During the demo I was able to see the view of the forklift operator. When an incident occurs, alerts are sent to the operator as well as to management. The data that is provided to the OneTrack team offers an opportunity for managers to train and coach their teams. In the future, the data collected will help OneTrack signal the driver to potential incidents in advance, rather than after an accident occurs.

The OneTrack Process:

  • OneTrack works with the customer's warehouse management team to understand baseline safety and productivity performance and identify areas of improvement.
  • Next, the team installs OneTrack's computer-vision powered cameras and configures its machine learning algorithms to measure applicable safety and productivity data for each facility.
  • OneTrack's Client Success team completes a Go Live with the customer. They train users and build workflows to maximize operational improvements. They then track these improvements over time.

The OneTrack equipment and team works with customers to prevent accidents, drive productivity and increase accuracy in a variety of ways. This includes the use of digital checklists that are automatically backed up in the cloud to help a partner company be OSHA compliant. These are part of the day-to-day procedures that the OneTrack technology helps to automate. OneTrack recognizes, tracks, and measures forklift fleet efficiency using a multitude of data inputs. As with any continuous improvement area, finding the root cause of the problem is at the heart of finding a solution. The AI provided allows companies to detect, recognize, and predict high-level concepts from images. The technology works with warehouse management systems (WMS) to improve accuracy and ensure that product is placed in the right location/right trailer. It is important to remember that OneTrack offers the flexibility, scalability and affordability that many customers require in the current supply chain environment.

As OneTrack customer Holman Logistics says, “I am confident that the A.I. tools from OneTrack, along with our never-ending safety focus, will help us achieve our goal of accident-free operations.” (Brien Downie, President, Holman Logistics)

OneTrack helps its partners in the following ways:

-          Prevents Impacts: Decreases product and property damage and lowers the risk of pedestrian collisions.

-          Drives Productivity: Reduces idle time and empty travel time to maximize throughput.

-          Increases Accuracy: Integrates with WMS to eliminate misplaced inventory and cut down cycle counts.

When asked about the future of the company, it seems that the sky is the limit. The team at OneTrack has proven that they are willing and able to adapt as needed and disrupt the industry for the better by tackling warehouse safety head on. As their database of information grows, the company’s ability to predict, and thereby prevent, future accidents will also grow.