Amerden,AGVS New System in Packaging Manufacturing - Sponsored Whitepaper

AGV SYSTEM: INNOVATIONS FOR SPECIAL HANDLING

When a West Coast manufacturer of Packaging Products wanted to automate their finished goods transport, they looked to Amerden AGVS for help. The Operations Management had a long list of needs for the project including creation of a safe work environment, reducing labor cost, minimizing fork truck traffic, reduction of product damage and tracking their finished goods from manufacturing to storage to shipping.

Not only was this a tall order but the loads were very tall as well—up to 104” high with over 20 variations of load heights. The new system would have to create deep lane, stacked storage and track the inventory for over 4,000 pallet locations in the Warehouse and Shipping Area.

Amerden evaluated the operation and found that moving a double stack of product was the most efficient and cost effective method. But the product is light and a double stack of 104” tall loads caused problems for stability as well as for the laser guidance system. Design innovations were needed to solve the problems and Amerden was the only company that delivered the solutions.

As product exits the manufacturing lines through stretch wrappers, the PC based AGV Control System (AGVSM) dispatches one of two FLA model AGVs to the appropriate line.