 Development Engineer Teemu Silander at Planmeca Oy. |
Planmeca is one of the world's leading dental equipment manufacturers. The Finnish high-tech company has now been using Rocla's automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in their Helsinki warehouse for three years with success.The AGV system used by Planmeca consists of two Rocla AWT-VNA AGVs supported by the Rocla MetRo warehouse management system (WMS).
Rocla has tailored the AGVs to meet Planmeca's needs, for example by applying advanced mast technology. The vehicles are equipped with design covers supporting Planmeca's brand identity.
The Planmeca warehouse in which the
AGVs operate shares the same space with the tooling and painting units. The environment is quite challenging. The aisles between the shelves are narrow and shelves are quite tall - the maximum lift height is 10 meters. The warehouse has 1800 pallet places and Planmeca uses a number of different pallet types and sizes.
 On a busy day the AGVs are moving between the conveyor, shelves and the tooling and painting units almost all the time. Click for larger image |
"When the AGVs pick up the incoming pallets from the conveyor the system already has information about the size of the pallet, the weight of the product, the FIFO date, and it also knows how many units are on the pallet. Based on this information the system makes a decision about the optimal shelf space allocation", explains Development Engineer Teemu Silander at Planmeca Oy.
Smooth operationsOn a busy day the AGVs are moving between the conveyor, shelves and the tooling and painting units almost all the time.
"They usually move the pallets about 50-70 times a day. The MetRo WMS automatically allocates the jobs for the AGVs, but of course the system also allows the priority of the jobs to be manually altered if needed", says Silander.
For navigation inside the warehouse the
AGVs use laser triangulation, with the aid of reflectors installed on the shelves and walls.
Most of the transfers are handled automatically by the AGVs but the vehicles can also be controlled manually by using a remote controller attached to the vehicle.
In the warehouse we have one shelf where we store the products, which are not part of manufacturing process, and when lifting materials on that shelf we control the AGVs manually. Manual control can also be used when the truck identifies an obstacle on its route and stops to wait for the route to be cleared, explains Teemu Silander.
Intelligent warehouse management Planmeca uses Rocla's MetRo warehouse management system to control, monitor and optimize the movement and storage of the materials within the warehouse and production. Job orders to the AGVs are sent from the MetRo workstations wirelessly.
Metro works seamlessly with our ERP system and it is easy to check the stock balance as we have two systems to compare, says Silander.
Very short payback timeBoth Teemu Silander and Tomi Mikkola, the Production and Purchasing Manager at Planmeca, see that the AGV system has brought several benefits for the company.
When people working at the tooling and painting units feed an order into the MetRo system, it hands the job out to one of the AGVs. The AGV then picks up the pallet from the shelf and delivers the materials to the processing unit in a few minutes - no need to call around to get a forklift driver to do the work, Silander says with a smile on his face.
The AGV system is easy to operate and it does not require a lot of maintenance. Batteries need to be topped up with water regularly - in addition to that you only have to wipe the dust off every now and then.
Rocla does a scheduled on-site maintenance visit three times a year, and that's all, explains Silander.
The main reasons for the investment in the AGV system are lower staff costs and improvements in logistics efficiency. There has been a significant reduction in both stock count discrepancies and lost units. The payback time has been closer to two than three years, adds Tomi Mikkola who was involved in the acquisition process of the AGV system at Planmeca.
Eero Viskari, Sales Manager at Rocla Solutions, emphasizes that the Planmeca case is not an exception in this respect.
For the AGV system purchases the payback time is often both short and easy to calculate. A simple system could pay for itself in four months, Eero Viskari points out.
For more information on Rocla's comprehensive AGV solutions please visit www.rocla-agv.comROCLA SOLUTIONS OYEmail: Send a message
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