Offergeld Logistik

At its logistics center in Aldenhoven, Germany, Offergeld Logistik has fundamentally transformed its intralogistics operations. Instead of manual forklift transport, 32 SAFELOG X1 spin mobile robots now ensure a continuous and fully automated pallet flow.

The robots handle all pallet movements between goods receiving, the narrow-aisle warehouse, buffer zones, order picking, and shipping. Standardized transfer stations ensure a stable and efficient material flow throughout the facility.

In this video, Project Manager Dominik Borst shares insights into the project and explains the key features of SAFELOG Flow Control, the material flow software that intelligently manages and coordinates every transport order. He also demonstrates the capabilities of the SAFELOG visualization software. Every mobile robot can be located in real time, and its current status is available at a glance. The transfer stations, which serve as the interface to the high-bay stacker cranes, are also integrated into the visualization via light sensors. Their real-time status feedback provides complete transparency across the entire material flow.

REUTER

At REUTER, Germany’s largest online retailer of bathroom fixtures, lighting, and furniture,the high-bay pre-zone was automated using mobile robots. A total of 30 SAFELOG X1 spin robots are used there. The process includes pallet transport between the automated high-bay warehouse, order picking, recompaction of the pallets and re-storage in the high-bay warehouse. In total, there are 12 storage and retrieval positions, 19 picking stations and 8 workstations for replenishing the pallets. The mobile robots can wait at a total of 130 buffer positions until the workstation from which the pallet was requested is free. In a further process, orders from private customers are picked and transported to the goods display using mobile robots.

Pöppelmann GmbH & Co. KG

At Pöppelmann GmbH & Co. KG, a leading manufacturer in the plastics processing industry, material transport on large load carriers (GLT) was previously carried out manually. In order to meet the growing demands and to increase efficiency, the company now relies on SAFELOG M4 lift mobile robots. The robots take over the entire transport of the load carriers in the K-TECH division, significantly reducing the workload of the employees and optimising the production processes. The process starts with a forklift truck placing empty pallets on a floor roller at one of 12 station positions. The forklift driver confirms the provision in the system and books the carrier to a defined location. This information is processed in the MES Web and sent via an interface to SAFELOG’s Transport Order Manager (TOM) together with the destination location to be reached when this floor roller needs to be transported to a production machine. The TOM then creates an order and distributes it to an available mobile robot waiting in the buffer area. The robot starts the route to the specified destination, lifts the floor roller from the floor and drives towards the production hall. The full containers are then picked up by the mobile robots and transported to the station in the storage area, where the supply cycle is completed. In this way, empty runs by the robots are largely avoided.

Joseph Dresselhaus GmbH & Co. KG

In the central warehouse at the headquarters of Joseph Dresselhaus GmbH & Co. KG in Herford, more than 55 mobile robots from SAFELOG GmbH are in use. As part of the warehouse modernization, the entire order picking process in the brownfield environment was converted to a goods-to-person solution during ongoing operations. In addition to the automation of transportation between incoming goods, high-bay warehouse, dynamic pallet warehouse, picking islands and outgoing goods using mobile transport robots, pick-by-light systems were also installed. In combination with the connection to the fully automated shuttle warehouse and an articulated arm robot, the solution enables a considerable increase in throughput and a significant minimization of the error rate.

Mercedes-Benz Factory 56

SAFELOG’s Mobile Transport Robots are in operation in one of the world’s most advanced automotive production facility. In shopping cart and non-shopping cart processes, more than 500 mobile robots transport components to the production line. This is where the vehicle-specific assembly of the components to the S-Class, Maybach and EQS models takes place.

Roman Mayer Logistik GmbH

The logistics service provider Roman Mayer Logistik GmbH relies on SAFELOG’s Automated Guided Vehicles in its fulfillment center in Nuremberg. In order to ensure a continuous outbound transport of the goods, two AGVs of the type L1 are used for the pallet transport between sorting workstations and a fully automated wrapper. Cantilever rack stations designed specifically for the application, which are driven under by the mobile transport robots, ensure optimized ergonomics at the sorting workstations. At the same time, they enable an optimum use of the storage area, as only a small aisle width is required due to the omnidirectional travel mode of the AGVs. The fully autonomous solution works without an interface to Roman Mayer Logistik’s LFS and does not require a cost-intensive higher-level control station, as the mobile transport robots communicate with each other through agent-based control. The positive effects of using the AGVs in this process are manifold: In addition to an almost negligible risk of damage to equipment, the ergonomics at the sorting workstations could be optimized and productivity increased by 30%.

KNOLL Maschinenbau GmbH

In order to optimize the use of personnel in production, KNOLL Maschinenbau GmbH from Bad Saulgau has automated internal transport tasks with the help of SAFELOG AGVs. The AGV L1 mobile transport robots manage the complete material supply of the assembly lines from the warehouse. Through the connection to the higher-level transport control system, the worker can order the delivery or collection of materials directly via a tablet. In this way, material supply to the assembly boxes can take place just-in-time. In a further process, the AGV M3 travels along a timed circuit to defined stations to deliver semi-finished products or to collect them for transport to the warehouse. The automated guided vehicles handle up to 100 transports per day with distances of around 600 m. Thanks to the introduction of the mobile robots, employees can concentrate completely on their value-adding activities. This has made it possible to significantly increase the efficiency in KNOLL Maschinenbau’s production.

SportOkay.com

The Austrian online sports retailer SportOkay.com relies on SAFELOG’s automated guided vehicles in its logistics center. In total, 28 AGVs are used in two different processes at SportOkay.com. On the one hand, 10 AGV L1 ensure that shelves with goods are transported from the 10,000-item warehouse in the basement to the picking stations on the first floor. On the other hand, 18 AGV S2 transport picked orders from the picking stations to the packing robot. By using our Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGVs), the daily distances traveled by individual employees have been reduced by more than 80% and the probability of errors in the dispatch of goods has been reduced to almost zero. Furthermore, the automation of the logistics center facilitates the handling of a constantly growing number of orders and enables the guarantee of short delivery times.

ABB AG

At ABB AG’s production site in Ratingen, the internal material flow is continuously optimised. In 2021, the transport of gas-insulated medium-voltage switchgear in the final assembly area was automated with the help of SAFELOG AGVs. The pre-assembled switchgear is provided with a serial number and is fed into the system based on this number. By selecting the serial number, the panels can be requested to the respective workstations. SAFELOG AGV L1 are used to transport the requested medium-voltage switchgear. The total weight of the transported goods including transport aids can be up to 1,500 kg. After lifting the panels, an AGV transports them to the work station. The mobile transport robots carry out more than 100 transports a day and thus ensure ergonomic relief, an increase in occupational safety and lean processes along the value chain. Within the final assembly there are 30 different target stations, which are linked to each other via 850 different routes. After all work has been carried out, the plants are discharged at special storage locations and prepared for further transport for quality inspection, packaging and shipping. In the next stage of expansion, further internal transports as well as material supply will be automated through the use of SAFELOG AGVs. By 2025, the ABB site will have established state-of-the-art manufacturing processes, taking into account the application possibilities of digitalisation and Industry 4.0 technologies.