No two projects are the same, and it’s important to be able to provide a modular solution that can be adapted to suit the customers’ requirements. Learn how Heli created specialized high-reach AGVs equipped with Kollmorgen technology to meet their customers’ needs of stacking heavy pallets of soft bags, while improving efficiency and safety.
As part of a smart automated manufacturing initiative, one Chemical Company decided to implement automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in the warehouse at their urea manufacturing plant in Xinxiang, China. The AGV fleet is tasked with moving heavy pallets of soft bags with fertilizers from the packaging facility to the storage area, and subsequently to the outbound goods area. This enabled them to increase efficiency and safety, while achieving 24-hour operation with a constant and more predictable throughput.
Spearheading this initiative, Heli implemented specialized high-reach AGVs in the warehouse, harnessing the power of Kollmorgen NDC Solutions for order routing, traffic management, vehicle navigation, and control. Utilizing laser navigation technology with reflectors over a robust 5G network, the AGVs efficiently process orders received from the Warehouse Management System (WMS), ensuring streamlined operations.
One of the requirements in this project involved the need for AGVs to stack two tiers of pallets with soft bags. With individual pallets weighing up to 3 tons, the varied compression of bag contents on each lower pallet could pose a challenge. To manage this, the AGVs were equipped with high-precision fork sensors, enabling them to execute loading and unloading tasks with a flexible position tolerance.
The Chemical Company has declared that the automation initiative is a great success. The implementation took less than 6 months from project start to an operational site, with the final AGV commissioning being completed in 45 days. Heli’s AGVs with Kollmorgen technology enables safer operation with reduced damage to goods and equipment, and higher precision and efficiency—resulting in 60% cost savings.
