The concept of the smart factory – featuring intelligent, integrated and connected processes – is at the heart of Industry 4.0 and the manufacturing world. The perfect reason for automotive manufacturer Audi to host a TechDay on the theme of the smart factory at its headquarters in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. The technology day focussed on current projects using smart technologies to improve efficiency in production and logistics.
Among them was a project using automated guided vehicles (AGVs) for internal transport. In a pilot project, Egemin Automation will be equipping part of Audi’s logistics operations at Ingolstadt with AGVs. Vehicle automation will also be provided by Egemin. April 2017 will see the start of a pilot AGV project aimed at improving internal transport at the Logistics and Goods Transport Center Ingolstadt, which is currently carried out by trained personnel using manual forklifts. For the project Egemin will be integrating an automated E’gv® HYBRID (Egemin Guided Vehicle) solution based on two FM-X 12 reach trucks manufactured by STILL, Egemin’s sister company in the KION Group. Automation will lead to space savings for Audi, as the manoeuvring areas between storage racks will be eliminated. The vehicles will also be available round the clock across all three shifts, increasing efficiency in the warehouse.
Premium automotive manufacturer Audi supplies contract manufacturing operations in China and India from the 25,000 m² warehouse, and fills up to 2,500 freight containers per year with goods from the Logistics and Goods Transport Center Ingolstadt. At the TechDay, Stefan Meier, Project Manager at Audi, showed how containers will be moved into and out of storage using an E’gv® STANDARD FLV2012/N vehicle, and explained “The components for our vehicles come to us in ‘large load carrier’ containers. In future, the automated guided vehicles will work autonomously to move the containers into and out of high-rack storage and supply the packaging areas.”
EGEMIN
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