Danfoss Power Solutions implements AMRs

Based in Denmark, Danfoss Power Solutions is a multinational company with more than 71 factory sites in 20 countries and $7 billion in revenue. Its North American headquarters, located in Ames, Iowa, has 200,000 production square feet, along with office space and 1,000 employees.

As a manufacturer of hydraulics for the construction, agriculture and other off-highway vehicle markets, the company’s primary materials handling requirement at its North American headquarters was the connection of its assembly lines to its fixed paint line. It had automation procedures in place in assembly and then again at the paint line, but nothing to bridge the two islands of automation.

In the short term, Danfoss needed a safer solution to provide flexibility to its supply chain and help mitigate a scarcity of labor and space. In addition, the county that encompasses Ames has a historically low unemployment rate in recent years, so finding workers is a challenge. Due to the size of some of the manufacturer’s equipment, the solution needed to have a small footprint.

On a longer-term basis, the manufacturer’s five-year plan involves multiple parallel systems, so it needed a solution that could lay the groundwork for future activities—without tying Danfoss to fixed automation, such as automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) or conveyors. This assessment led the manufacturer to consider an autonomous mobile robot (AMR)-based initiative.

Danfoss implemented two AMRs to transport large payload materials from the end of assembly to the paint lines that operate three shifts, 24/7 for lights-out engineering. The AMRs enabled the company’s workers to focus on high-value production tasks, improved safety and reduced transportation waste, as robots now move products throughout the production facility.

The AMRs offer flexibility, scalability and security through fleet management software. As a plant’s layout changes over the years, a software update will ensure the AMRs continue to connect various islands of automation.

“Simple features, such as turn signals, stop zones and procedures, and regulation of speed, have made the AMRs a very visual participant for my colleagues working on the paint and assembly lines,” says Stephen Hines, manufacturing engineer at Danfoss Power Solutions’ North American headquarters.

He adds, “Without the [AMRs] in place, I’ve calculated that I would need 4.5 additional material handlers to do the work. Even if we could find the workers, which we can’t, we wouldn’t have room for them. [The AMR manufacturer] has given us the means to transform in the short-term, while creating a framework for future growth and scalability.”

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