In 2020, our German partner, mR MOBILE ROBOTS, was commissioned to deploy a test installation of the GoPal solution at the Paderborn production facility. The goal was to increase efficiency by automating the internal transport of goods.
Starting with a single GoPal E24 and four pallet stations, the initial goal was to find out whether the robot could operate smoothly given the challenging environmental conditions in the production hall. These challenges included an uneven floor, navigating narrow lanes in a busy, mixed human/forklift traffic environment, metal chips on the floor as well as oily air from the processing machines.
As approx. 70 per cent of all transports, which are special goods carriers, such as pallet cages, initially lead from the individual processing centers to a centralized parts washing system, a major logistical challenge was to ensure traffic management for an efficient and smooth workflow as well as error-free processing of the autonomous jobs. As a precondition for this, some details had to be given special consideration, such as ensuring that the transport containers were correctly aligned for handling.
The solution
After the two-month test run, CLAAS was so satisfied with the results that the company decided to scale their GoPal solution to the current total of six GoPal E24 AMRs and more than 150 pallet stations, including stations at several machining centers and at the central parts washing system. When the robot arrives at the central parts washing system, the goods are automatically removed and fed into the washing system.
Robotize Partner on this project
To read the case study in German or to learn more about our German partner, please visit www.mobile-robots.de