AGV Applications - Where are Automated Guided Vehicles Used?

These are the main applications of automated guided vehicles:

Automotive

Food&Beverage

Healthcare&Pharma

Packaging

Paper and Printing

Production

Warehouse and Distribution

  

What are the main applications of Automated Guided Vehicles?

AGVs are employed all over the place. There is no industry or business that does not have its own form of automated guided vehicle. In this post, I will highlight some of the most intriguing and effective uses of automated guided vehicles.

Note that I will focus on AGV Robots rather than Autonomous Mobile Robots (also called AMR).  If you want to understand better the difference between agvs and amrs check this article: AGV vs AMR. What is the best?

Now let's see these outstanding applications and some nice video, from AGVs in manufacturing, to hositals and warehouses. Let's dive in 

 

AGVs in AUTOMOTIVE

AGVs are used in the automotive industry in the following areas:

• Chassis lines
• Engine and gear box assembly lines,
• Final assembly and trim manufacturing processes,
• Just-in-time parts
• Pre-production staging,

   

AGVs in FOOD & BEVERAGE

This type of production requires a very delicate handling process as the products are sensitive to human impact. Among a number of applications in this field, AVGs are often used for:

• Transporting baking trays between the ovens and the production lines.
• In both the production and transportation of food and beverage containers.
• Integrating certain applications with shuttle-shelving systems inside warehouses with high bay areas.

 

HEALTHCARE & PHARMA

   

 

Currently, the pharmaceutical industry is making more and more use of AGVs to meet the high demands of both quality and hygiene.

They're regularly being used for transporting medical devices pallets from the high-temperature sterilization cells to deep-stacking radio shuttle warehouses.

In addition, AGVs can interface with Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS) for many pharmaceutical business applications.

AGVs are used in Hospitals to transport meals, waste bins, linen, sterile supplies, etc. Learn more here: AGV Hospital

  

AGVs in the PACKAGING Industry

In the packaging industry, the use of AGVs is on the rise. From companies that are producing packaging materials to others that are regularly using packaging for many of their products, a large number of them have said that AGVs have had a positive impact on their organizations. These days, AGVs are reliably delivering major savings to all segments of the packaging industry.

Typical packaging applications include:   

• Moving empty pallets, cans, bottles, containers, labels, layer or slip sheets, lids/caps, wrappers, and more.
  

• Transporting from the end of the product line to staging or storage.
  

• Delivering materials from their storage to their point of use.

 

AGVS for the PAPER & PRINTING Industry

The paper and printing industry was actually one of the first sectors to utilize AGVs for transporting and handling massive paper reels and then storing them in printing facilities and paper mills.

In printing plants, AGVs move the paper reels from the stripping stations into the high-bay warehouses. Then, they can deliver them directly to the presses.

   

AGVs in General Production Industry 

AGVs can also be utilized for moving materials from a warehouse to the production lines or from one production line to another. Today's AGVs can be connected via production computer systems and operating in synchronization with production flow requirements and manufacturing orders.

AGVs can also be used as an AGV Assembly Line  production lines replacing old fashion chains, mats or conveyors. 

   

AGVs in WAREHOUSE & DISTRIBUTION    

Increased productivity, seamless scaling, and lower labor costs, all within the same footprint are some of the benefits of AGVs in the fields of warehouse and distribution.

The use of AGVs in warehouses is not new, tipical racking warehouses are efficiently managed by Automated Reach Trucks or Very narrow Aisle AGV.  

AGVs in warehouses means that workers are capable of doing more work faster, easier, and much more accurately than they ever could before.

The use of Autonomous Mobile Robots in warehouses and distribution centers can not only bring the work to the worker but also eliminate all of the unproductive walking time for significantly lowering cycle times and improving productivity.

In addition, AMR warehouse improves health safety and workplace ergonomics while also helping with the recruiting and retention of workers.

Workers don't have to push those heavy carts or spend their days walking behind robotic carts that only end up slowing down and limiting their productivity. 

With AGVs, warehouses can process more orders with less labor and faster with increased flexibility for seamlessly scaling whenever needs change or the business grows.

  

The end result is lower cycle times, more picking, and less walking, eliminating the wasteful and unproductive walking time and making the workflow easier and much faster.

Because AGVs bring the work to the worker, they can focus on what they do best, which is picking.

In fact, AGVs can dramatically improve worker productivity by two to three times, which enables lower labor costs, higher pick rates, and exceptionally faster cycle times. And, when necessary, workers can even alternate between picking, re-stocking, and putaway tasks seamlessly, which helps improve an operation's overall efficiency.

E-commerce fulfillment of today is centered around the ability to deliver a first-class experience to clients and customers.

The major challenge is efficiently delivering improved productivity but also with lower facility and labor costs while still managing organizational growth, volume spikes, and seasonal peaks. Just adding more people is definitely not the easiest option nor the best.

And, as the needs of companies worldwide grow and change, AGVs can make scaling and adapting of today's e-commerce retailers to today's evolving demands much easier. This, in turn, means meeting and exceeding customer expectations.

 

    

What materials can be transported by an AGV?

• Raw materials
• Work-in-process
• Finished products

AGVs are currently being used in a wide range of applications, like transporting raw materials that include (but are not limited to) metal, paper, plastic, and rubber. One example of this is the transporting of raw materials from a receiving dock to a warehouse or even directly to the production line.

AGVs are capable of consistently and reliably delivering necessary raw materials with no need for human intervention. This further ensures that there is no interruption in a company's production line output.

Self guided vehicles don't just transport raw materials but are also utilized in work-in-process applications and transporting the completed goods, thereby supporting manufacturing or production lines.

In a work-in-process application, AGVs would move the parts or materials from one workstation to the other or from a warehouse to the production lines. This provides the efficient movement of those materials that are needed for the manufacturing process.

Without them, the manufacturing process could simply come to a halt because processing lines ran out of materials and a worker would have to retrieve the materials needed and then manually transport those materials to the production lines.

AGVs are also widely used in the process of picking and handling (both inbound and outbound) for replenishment.

One example is that AGVs could be used for transporting inventory from the receiving bay to the storage locations.

They could also transport materials from long-term storage locations to a forward-picking location for the express purpose of replenishing stock. This can ensure that sufficient inventory will be readily accessible to the pickers, which makes the entire order-picking process much more efficient.

 

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