The Automation Journey Episode 4

Your automated vehicle meets every standard on paper. But is your facility actually ready to operate differently? In this episode, Colin sits down with Pat Davison, Director of Standards at MHI – the largest material handling and supply chain association in North America – to cut through one of the most misunderstood areas of any automation project: the standards landscape. Pat has been involved in shaping standards and the broader framework governing how automated vehicles are designed, deployed, and operated. From risk assessment and functional safety to what compliance actually means in practice – this is the conversation most automation buyers wish they’d had before their first vendor meeting. Key Takeaways

• How to navigate ANSI B56.5, R15.08, and ISO 3691-4, what each covers, where the boundaries sit, and what framework is right for your facility
• Why compliance with a standard is not the same as a well-designed automated operation and what the gap looks like in practice
• How to approach risk assessment with confidence, a helpful framework, the NIOSH hierarchy, and why most teams underestimate what’s involved
• What functional safety means in a mobile automation context and the common mistakes operations teams make when specifying safety systems
• Why nobody wants to be first – and what that means for organisations planning their first deployment
• What questions buyers should be asking their vendors about standards and compliance that most never think to ask

Have you navigated the ANSI B56.5 or ISO 3691-4 standards for a mobile automation project? What tripped you up – or what do you wish you’d known earlier? Drop your experience in the comments.

What’s Next?

Subscribe, review, and share with others who are evaluating or implementing mobile automation and want to understand what compliance really requires before that first vendor meeting. Visit rocrich.com to discover how their team helps operations and engineering leaders implement mobile automation in even the toughest manufacturing and logistics environments.

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