Mantis Informatics Inc: ProMat 2019 Interview

Lee Rector met us at the booth for Mantis at Promat 2019 in Chicago. We interviewed Ioannis Panagiotopoulos last year at MODEX– this year, it was Lee’s turn to join us!

Mantis is a leading global provider of warehouse management solutions, automation, and optimization services. They’ve been around for over twenty-five years, and currently operate in over 30 countries around the world. They only just started entering the market in North America less than two years ago. However, their Canadian subsidiary has already contributed to substantial growth for them in the past few months.

One of the products exhibited by Mantis at ProMat was a new VVR headset. The entire device was designed with workers in mind. Smart-glasses place all their weight on the bridge of the nose. Glasses or headsets with some kind of screen are also known to cause headaches or eye problems over time. Frankly, anything worn for eight hours at a time can go from mildly uncomfortable to almost torturous.

“Safety’s a large component of any warehouse these days. We wanted to make sure that when we bring a product to market, it satisfies all aspects of the client requirement.”

The VVR headset combines visual, voice, and RFID capabilities in a single combined, wearable unit. It comes with a microphone that receives vocal commands, a visual scanner, and an RFID tag to help confirm the correct positioning of handled products.

In addition to the headset itself, the unassuming hat beneath was also an impressive feat of engineering. Though it looked like a common baseball cap, it was anything but. The cap was actually made with hardened materials and special foam to provide the same protection of a safety helmet. A normal ball cap’s button would push into a worker’s skull over time, so this hat has a smooth crown instead. The weight of the headset is meant to be evenly distributed across it.

Additionally, Mantis has many clients working in high-heat geographical locations in the Middle East. As such, the mesh materials and gaps within the hat’s framing provides special ventilation. Mantis designed the entire cap and headset to prevent overheating and discomfort.

The technology is still quite new and unfamiliar for some organizations. However, they’re seeing rapid improvement in productivity and performance. And frankly, many of their workers absolutely love the headset.

Mantis Informatics’ focus on warehouse workers and customer service helps to set them apart.

“Recently we just did a very large eCommerce project…and [the client’s] expectation was a six-to-eight-month cycle to get up and running. We had them up and running inside 120 days; which lends to the credibility of our product line. Rapid implementation at a lower cost, with the same success rate.”

Also, given the broad market encompassed by material handling and logistics, Mantis doesn’t serve merely one specific vertical. “We virtually touch every type of product,” Lee explained to us. “What we don’t do is ad hoc implementation.” Mantis may work with nearly any kind of facility, but they do work to ensure that their services are what that potential client actually needs. They’re not going to try and make money by implementing their products where unsuited.

With Mantis Informatics, customer service clearly comes first.

 

 

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