DaimlerChrysler's Twinsburg stamping plant has to move a lot of metal over long distances in order to form sheet steel into shapes such as doors and roofs for Dodge/Chrysler vehicles. The Twinsburg, Ohio plant occupies 1.5 million square feet. It has 15 stamping lines running 24/7. Millions of pounds of metal must be moved on each shift.

From a materials handling perspective, moving all those stampings offers a considerable challenge. Stamping lines are 250 feet from the raw material storage area and 2,000 feet from the shipping area.

Tugger-type automatic guided vehicles navigating the huge Twinsburg plant by laser guidance now do the metal-moving jobs once held by manned vehicles.

Over the years, manned vehicles – forklifts, tow trucks, and hi-lo vehicles – had met the handling challenge. But a fleet of 103 vehicles was required. Strict safety guidelines had to be developed and adhered to, including limiting operators moving with a full load to only drive in reverse.

DaimlerChrysler materials handling engineer Jim Petruna was asked to investigate alternative ways of handling sheet steel and stampings with a more advanced system. He was charged with finding a system that would:

• Maintain plant safety and ergonomics,
• Keep pace with changing and increasing production demands,
• Be implemented without modifying the plant or interrupting its production,
• Provide an acceptable return on investment (ROI) by reducing costs for labor and damaged materials, and
• Work effectively with the existing labor force.

"Before the project," says Petruna, "we expected that system flexibility would be one of the most important factors to achieve success. We were right on target with that belief." The flexibility of the AGV system, he adds, "saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars and drastically reduced installation time."

The tugger AGVs tow wheeled carts/racks containing parts to be delivered. The system's laser guidance can be reconfigured in a matter of minutes. Many changes can be made directly by DaimlerChrysler personnel.

Half of a 50 vehicle AGVS has been put into service in a phased implementation that is ahead of schedule. DaimlerChrysler production control manager Conrad Hawley says that the system has met "all of our cost savings goals that were originally forecasted. Throughput has increased by 25% because of reduced downtime in the pressroom and assembly areas. The documented ROI was less than one year."

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