An AGV at a filling station

Belgian cork maker Delmenhorster Kork-Fabrik Arthur Linck GmbH (DKF) has chosen an automated guided vehicle (AGV) system for its plant.

The factory produces up to 5,000 crown corks per minute in three daily shifts.

Systems integrator Egemin Automation is installing an AGV system to convey empty and full cages, octabins and cartons to their process points. The system will allow DKF to boost production volumes even further, improve process transparency and deliver on time to customers - mainly breweries.

"Our main aim in terms of automation was an organised, reliable, transparent material flow system," says Edgar Linck, DKF managing partner. "Egemin's solution meets those requirements and more."

Linck runs the family business, founded in 1924, with his brother, Andreas.

The AGVs are used for conveying empty containers to a filling station and collecting them once the production machines have filled them. Each machine currently produces between 3,000 and 5,000 crown corks per minute. A cage or octabin takes between 330,000 and 370,000 corks. This means that each AGV can collect up to a ton of materials from the filling station.

From there, they are taken to a newly installed central station where items are checked, hygienically sealed and labelled.

The AGVs then take the containers to the adjacent warehouse. When they are not in use, the vehicles independently travel to the automatic battery-charge point.

The AGVs are laser-controlled. In the warehouse, where reflector paths can be obstructed by stacks of containers, they are controlled by magnets in the floor instead.

Egemin Automation, recently acquired by the KION Group, designs, integrates and maintains automated materials handling solutions to improve the intralogistics processes in warehouses, production and distribution.