Inside the GECOM Plant: A new take on AGVs

GECOM

Location: Greensburg, Ind.

Size: AGVs operate in a 50,000-square-foot area

Throughput: Each AGV averages 129 missions in 24 hours

Products Handled: Tubs of finished goods and empty finished good tubs

Shifts Per Day/ Days Per Week: 3 shifts, 5 days a week

At GECOM’s Indiana plant, automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) are using a next-generation navigation system to deliver empty totes to the production line and finished goods to the warehouse. The fleet of five vehicles service 65 assembly lines.

GECOM refers to a task for the AGVs as a mission. Missions are downloaded to a server, known as the ANT server, and are prioritized to minimize the amount of empty travel by the vehicles.

There are two types of missions: The AGVs deliver pallets of empty tubs to the assembly line and also pick up full tubs with finished goods for delivery to the warehouse.

Empty tub drop off: The process begins when a team leader logs into Ignition, the SCADA software system. The team leader picks an assembly line that needs a pallet of empty tubs and dunnage. When the team leader starts the mission, instructions are delivered to a warehouse team (1) whose job is to retrieve a pallet of tubs required for that mission and stage them for pickup at a drop zone. Once the pallet is ready for pickup, the team closes out that task. The system then creates a mission for one of the AGVs to pick up the pallet of empty tubs and deliver it to one of 65 assembly lines (2).

Full tub pickup: The pickup process is similar to the drop off process. A team leader initiates a mission in the tablet to pick up the full pallet at the specified line and deliver it to one of 26 possible drop-off locations in the warehouse area. Red, green and yellow lights notify warehouse workers and the AGVs/production side about activity in the area. Each drop-off location has a light on the warehouse side and one on the AGV/production side. A green light indicates that a bay is open for a drop. A solid yellow light indicates that the drop is occupied by something and is not available. A flashing yellow light indicates that the AGV is enroute to that location, which tells everyone not to put anything in that location.

A flashing red light on the warehouse side tells the warehouse team that the AGV has just dropped off at that location and will be solid red on the AGV/production side. When the warehouse closes out a “bring empty mission” the light will flash red on the AGV/production side and will be solid on the warehouse side. So, at a quick glance of the drop zone someone will be able to tell how full the drop zone is with either empty tubs or finished product. Being able to separate AGV and fork truck traffic creates a safety factor for the team.

Once an AGV drops a pallet, either at the line or the warehouse, the system knows that vehicle is available for the next mission.