| Automated Warehouse |
Fork |
Tow |
Unit Load
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As the first shift arrives for work each morning at a mid-western injection molding company, early shipments
stand staged and ready to be loaded out, thanks to a fleet of ten automated guided vehicles. With a skeleton staff and an
efficient automated transport system, the third shift order staging process becomes virtually a “lights out” operation.
Let’s examine the automated process that has increased throughput for this facility by over 100%.
Automated VNA trucks effortlessly service in excess of 10,000 storage locations throughout this manufacturing and
warehousing environment. Extrusions are boxed and palletized by workers as they come off the extruders. The finished
goods are then manually transferred to conveyors where they are moved to designated pickup points. Conveyors equipped
with photo eyes and laser scanners detect bar code labels and pallet size. This automatically ensures that each pallet
is stored in the available space most closely matching its’ size, making the most efficient use of storage space.
It is now that the wire guided VNA trucks are sent to pick up the pallets from the conveyor stations and transport
them to a storage area within the warehouse. The AS400 WMS system is linked to the AGV system’s Host computer
TRACE, AGV Product’s own advanced traffic routing system. A pickup order is generated by TRACE and the next
available vehicle picks up a pallet from the conveyor and delivers it to the storage racks.
There are three load types at this facility, bulk or full pallets of the same product, partial pallets of the same
product, and consolidated pallets of assorted product. The later is referred to as “kitted” pallets.
TRACE notifies the AGVs to bring pallets from storage to a separate conveyor station where the kitted or same sku
pallets are manually consolidated for specific orders. These pallets are then transported to conveyors where they
are stretchwrapped and fitted with a newly generated barcode label. At this point, FLA fork type AGVs pickup the
kitted pallets and deliver to deep lane storage at a specified dock door. In conjunction, VNA AGVs deliver full
and partial pallets of the same product from storage to transfer stands, where they are then picked up by the
FLA fork vehicles and delivered to the shipping area.
This finely tuned process allows for seamless transport of product from manufacturing to order fulfillment to shipping.
AGVs have benefited the company by allowing for increased rack locations, a drastic increase in throughput and reduced
product damage. Valuable skilled labor is now available for use in other areas. Plans are already in place to expand the
AGV system as expected production increases are realized.
The AGV system uses vehicles manufactured by Hyster Company and automated by AGV Products. Although benefits realized
from the Automated Warehouse system are determined by a number of contributing factors and can vary from application to
application, success is immediately evident by an increase in storage capacity and throughput capability. |
| System Profile |
| Manufacturing Type: |
Injection Molded Parts |
| Number of AGVs: |
10 [7 VNA type and 3 Fork type] |
| Guidance Type: |
Wire |
| Load Type: |
Pallets, 1,300 lbs. |
| Operational Hours: |
24 hours/7 days |
| Rack Height: |
28" |
| Aisle Width: |
72" |
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