A fleet of AGVs keeps parts and equipment moving
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 9/15/1999
The Melroe Company, manufacturer of Bobcat skid steer loaders, uses some 65 automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) in its assembly and welding operations. The AGVs have proven to be a profitable investment in improving the company's productivity.Designed and built by Melroe with design consulting from NDC Automation Inc., the AGVs use NDC's modular control and guidance systems and Schabmuller motor-in-wheel drives. Since using the vehicles in its manufacturing process to move equipment parts, Melroe has realized a two-fold benefit: cost savings and flexibility for change.
"Before the AGVs, we used carts with steel wheels that held seven to eight thousand pounds of parts and equipment and were pushed by men from station to station on the line," says Mike Stark, Melroe's chief engineer.
Melroe has added 15 additional AGVs to move equipment in its "Star Wars III" welding area. The AGVs bring parts from various locations in the plant to the welding area. Parts are assembled and locked into their proper positions on a fixture, or jig, carried by an AGV. The parts are then tack-welded.
The AGVs used in the Star Wars area are quad drive vehicles that maneuver forward, backward, or 90 deg to either side. This allows maximum mobility in the confined space of the welding cells. Traveling to and from the weld cells, the AGVs operate in standard two-wheel drive.
"You can see the advantages of the AGVs when you compare them to other methods of moving materials from one place to another such as a mechanical system," says Stark. "once you build a fixed system, you are stuck with it. It's easy, however, to add or to modify AGV systems. If you want the vehicle to drive to one place one day, and another the next, you can do it with minimum trouble and expense."
NDC Automation
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