7 Tips to Ensure AGV Commissioning Success - BlueBotics

“An ideal installation happens when the AGV buyer is well prepared, which helps you to be well prepared”

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GUILLAUME ROSA-SERRANO – BlueBotics systems engineer

This means, of course, that your customer must have considered its desired AGV operation in-depth.

To ensure that is the case, here is a quick checklist of questions to ask prior to your arrival on-site:

“An ideal installation happens when the AGV buyer is well prepared, which helps you to be well prepared,” says BlueBotics systems engineer Guillaume Rosa-Serrano. “If everything can be prepared well in advance – routes, actions, nodes – then your installation team will just need to concentrate on tuning the vehicle and mapping the site.”

2. NEVER install an AGV that is not ready

According to BlueBotics’ VP of Development, Grégoire Terrien, probably the worst mistake a company can make is to try and install a vehicle that is not ready.

“If everything can be prepared well in advance – routes, actions, nodes – then your installation team will just need to concentrate on tuning the vehicle and mapping the site”

“Many companies – especially startup producers – feel the need to grow fast and therefore rush to install a vehicle that is not ready to be installed. This never goes well,” he explains. “It means effectively finishing your vehicle at the customer’s site, which gives a terrible impression and usually leads to bad vehicle performance.”

3. Pay close attention to environmental factors

This should be part of the planning process, but it is worth highlighting: do not underestimate the potential of small environmental factors to bring a commissioning process to a grinding halt.

System engineer Guillaume Rosa-Serrano provides an example: “The laser scanners used for localization on one company’s AGV were 2.7 meters above the ground. At one customer’s site the floor sloped down to the center in a soft V-shape, to make sure any water drained away. The AGV was supposed to see the walls of the room as references. The initial installation was done with empty pallets in place and everything worked fine. But, when real pallets were added, the AGV would always become lost because the full pallets were 2.60 meters high which, with the V-shaped floor, meant the AGV could not see any walls at all.”

Once the issue was detected, the team were able to quickly correct it – but this example demonstrates that the environment must be taken into account.

4. Have components ready

It is important to have access to your vehicle’s components during installation in order to avoid delays, says Terrien: “This is particularly important for drives – you might need to tune their parameters or replace them if not. You should also prepare safety components so you have these on hand, like redundant encoders.”

5. Simulate and test

Before deploying your client’s AGVs, always try to fully simulate the project you have created.

In the case of automated vehicles that run on BlueBotics’ ANT lite+ platform, simulations are carried out using ANT server software. This allows you to simulate not only basic missions such as single-vehicle picking and dropping, but even full fleet operations including traffic management.

The value of such a thorough check should not be underestimated. It is perfectly possible, for example, to solve all traffic issues fleet ahead of time – vastly reducing you and your client’s stress level when they finally click “GO”.

“Before deploying your client’s AGVs, be sure to fully simulate the project you have created.”

Camille Boymond of BlueBotics’ project management team (previously a systems engineer), describes a recent commissioning that went smoothly due to the simulations run beforehand: “Working together with our customer, a leading AGV producer, we simulated the end client’s project, which was an installation of five vehicles. Through this, we managed to solve all the traffic issues in advance. We even developed specific devices for the client that we were also able to test.”

The team had been assigned four days to get everything up and running, Boymond says. “We changed a few details on the vehicle to have the behavior the customer wanted, then we tested all the positions with all the vehicles to ensure high accuracy. In the end, we could already prove on day three that the project worked. That meant we had plenty of time to solve those unplanned issues that always pop up and we could leave the site with the client’s AGVs running in production exactly as expected.”

6. Ensure your client’s team are well trained

In addition to careful planning, your client’s own staff will also determine success of their AGV program.

Therefore, it pays to encourage your client to do the following:

• Minimize staff stress and resentment by communicating clearly and ahead of time about its AGV program. What will the vehicles be doing? How and where will they work? How will their staff need to interact with your products? Some customers find that ‘personalizing’ their AGVs – giving them visible names or adding faces or even just eyes) – can help to create a more harmonious relationship between your client’s humans and its mobile robots.
• Inform staff when and how the AGV commissioning process will take place. Your client won’t want its staff to be distracted by the process and, equally, you don’t want them to slow down the installation team’s work – so ask your client to keep staff fully informed in order to avoid surprises.
• Make sure the staff who will operate the AGVs are well suited to the job and train them well.
• Also, ensure more than one person receives this valuable education. If your client bestows all this knowledge on only one team member and they then leave the company, or get sick, the success of the entire AGV program will be put at risk – which could reduce your company’s future revenue.
  

In addition to fully training your client’s AGV operators, it is also a good idea to create – or help them to create – an operation manual. Your navigation technology partner, such as BlueBotics, can likely help with this.

7. Be patient & flexible

It is rare for the commissioning process to go 100% smoothly. While you can minimize the pain to a large extent, there will almost always be some hiccups.

One key to success is your relationship with your customer’s team. Be flexible, communicate well, and together adopt a problem-solving mindset,” explains system engineer Armand Lamouille. “A positive spirit of collaboration will make commissioning vehicles more likely to succeed and make the experience more pleasant overall.”

Lastly, and especially if you are new to commissioning AGVs, never underestimate the time required to fine-tune a project before launch. This will take longer than you imagine, but it will be time well spent because it will minimize your client’s future support requests.

Interested in learning more?

AGVs–automated guided vehicles–are mainstream. You see them in increasingly diverse applications and functioning in areas of the supply chain that may have seemed impossible a few years ago. Especially as e-commerce continues to accelerate and consumers demand more and faster shipments, companies must innovate to meet demand. AGV technology is ready for real-world use and can provide the answer, but is it a good fit for you?

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“If  you use the traditional formula of comparing hard numbers (cost of AGVs vs. the systems and labor they replace) you’ll get a numerical answer, but that’s not enough. It should only be the start of your evaluation.”

–Scott Matlock, General Manager, L&A, Muratec USA

What are your load characteristics?

AGVs can handle most any load, from pallets to totes. A load characteristic analysis can help you understand if AGVs are a fit for you:

• Type of load: Pallet, container, tote, bale or other load types
• Load dimensions: height, width, depth
• Load characteristics: are loads consistent in their centers of gravity, or other factors that might impact handling
• Load weight: AGVs have specific load capacities that must be observed

Accurate load profiles mean your AGVs will handle your products in ways that ensure proper handling and safety.

How will AGVs fit your future growth?

Whether it’s carousels, conveyors, robots or AGVs, every automation decision must be filtered through the prism of return-on-investment. One of the main factors is how the AGVs can factor into future growth. The key is to understand how many units to deploy and how many you may need as your business grows. Ideally, your AGV fleet should be able to handle peak throughput, but also have a minimal number of idle units during slow periods.

How will AGVs integrate with your existing systems and processes?

Above: AGVs interface with conveyors and high-speed doors in a pallet handling application

One of the strongest reasons to consider AGVs is their operational flexibility. They can work anywhere you have floor space and a defined process.

Interface points

AGVs can interface with conveyor lines, AS/RS systems, racks, trailers or other points. Different types of AGVs are designed to work with various loads and must be correctly specified.

AGVs’ ability to operate in tight areas, spin in place and execute movement in multiple directions lets you add them to the end of a conveyor line or AS/RS system. They can deliver picks to workers or picking carts in fixed positions where workers fill orders directly from shelves, carousels or carton flow. You can easily establish or change routing, which gives you the flexibility to adapt to seasons, market adjustments, re-slotting or other SKU changes.

In terms of layout factors, AGVs may be the most flexible type of automation. They don’t require dedicated space and can easily be routed and re-routed as needed. Their low-level design, tight-space transport and ability to interface with conveyors makes them very easy to add to your operation

How will AGVs work in your space and workflow?

AGV implementations rely on material flow and workspace. What paths would the AGVs take? What other types of product transport are either necessary or possible? Remember that AGVs can help you optimize space by reducing the amount of floor area used by fixed-location equipment. They maneuver through aisles, down trafficways, in tight spaces and between or around structural elements. AGVs don’t directly save space, but their flexibility can help you optimize yours because you can design safe, efficient traffic routing that is all controllable by process.

Shifts, hours and workflows

The hours of operation, the number of shifts and number of workdays a week should be part of your information package. These factors can alter the types of AGVs needed as well as the number of machines necessary to run the system. Navigation, charging and other factors also come into play. If there are definable business surges, could a potential system handle them?

Do AGVs fit your maintenance, repair and support capacity?

Manual processes require more personnel management, while automated equipment always requires maintenance and repair costs. You’ll need to maintain and service your AGVs, or have a third-party partner who can do that for you. Don’t forget that you’ll need IT support and other services for your implementation.

Read more: New Rules for Industrial Automation ROI

Is your facility environment suitable for AGVs?

What are the factors?

• Air quality and environment: Be sure your proposed solution can operate within the parameters of any ambient moisture or airborne debris. If your facility operates outside standard temperature, humidity or other standard conditions, further questions apply. For example, are you operating in a cold chain or cleanroom environment? These conditions don’t mean you can’t utilize AGVs, but you’ll have to take them into account as you move forward. Many AGV types can operate in these conditions.
• Floors are crucial. Most implementations are on standard concrete floors, but if your application involves pick modules, mezzanines or other specialty floors, their surfaces should be evaluated for suitability. If you deploy AGVs on other surfaces, the durability of those surfaces should be defined.

If AGVs operate on any elevated platform, that platform’s point-load capacity should be able to handle the weight of the vehicle and its maximum load in motion. Some floor decks are built just for AGV operations, so it’s absolutely possible to operate on these surfaces with adequate forethought and process definition.

How will the implementation affect plant safety?

Above, left – Muratec A8 Counterbalance Forklift, which stacks and destacks pallets at heights up to 34 feet; center – Muratec Premex SLX automated forklift loading a pallet rack; right – Muratec A4 driverless forklift, a versatile AGV for distribution operations that can lift pallets up to 19 feet and carry 4,400-pound payloads. 

People may object to “more things moving on the floor,” but things–mostly forklifts–are probably already moving on the floor. Driverless forklift implementations could even reduce the number of operating vehicles. Reducing human interactions in those areas is the key.

We were asked by one customer to help clear a congested dock operation of forklift logjams by replacing forklifts with AGVs. When dozens of forklifts need to access the same limited number of dock doors, AGVs do not add to the traffic load — and may reduce it. Because they’re software-driven and flexible, you can dictate priorities for access far easier than you could by trying to coordinate forklift drivers. This might also allow a net reduction in the number of vehicles that use the area.

Pedestrian safety evaluation

• Operate where people shouldn’t: Critically, AGVs can move chemicals or other hazardous materials in harsh environments, which will allow you to remove people from those spaces and roles. The ROI on safety has always been difficult to calculate, but it’s an extremely important factor. When there are mixed forklift/pedestrian zones, consider AGVs to help reduce the number of people in the zone.
• Reducing pedestrian-forklift interactions can make almost any warehouse safer. AGVs are far easier to regulate than human-controlled forklifts. They will always obey the traffic rules you set in place and can integrate with warning systems, overhead doors and automated gates for pedestrian safety.

One of the most important–and often most overlooked–automation considerations is safety. AGVs can help remove people from areas where interactions with machinery, heavy loads and processes can endanger them. Always weigh safety gains in your analysis.

How will AGVs affect labor considerations?

You probably know that we may be in the toughest time in modern history to hire and retain labor, and that it’s going to be harder in the coming years. AGVs should be in the mix for forward-thinking companies who want to find ways to cope with labor availability issues, along with AS/RS, other types of robotics, conveyors and other automated systems.

Like many types of automation, AGVs allow you to operate with fewer people. They let you add shifts when shift workers are either unavailable or in short supply, as do many other types of automation. Where they distinguish themselves is in their flexibility–particularly labor flexibility.

Labor flexibility factors to consider

• Geographic flexibility: Labor is in short supply in America’s urban centers, where 75% of the American population lives. Urban and adjacent counties account for just 10% of the geographic area of the United States, which means that if you need to operate outside those areas, you’ll find staffing harder every year. AMRs can reduce labor dependence in remote, geographically diverse locations. AGVs replace specific types of labor and let you redirect available staff to more productive activities.
• Ergonomic flexibility: The ergonomics of accessing a more diverse workforce are well-documented. Ideally, if you can employ a broader range of people, you’ll have a larger candidate pool. If everyone has to be able to walk 5 or 10 miles a day in a distribution operation pushing heavy picking carts, your pool is more limited compared to goods-to-person situations. AMRs let you reduce walking, which has always been desirable, by delivering goods virtually anywhere in the facility.
• Seasonal flexibility: If it’s tough to staff full-time workers, but seasonal spikes are even worse. AGVs are unique in that they can be added or reduced in an operation to help cope with seasonal demands. This reduces your reliance on adding temporary workers during the hardest time of the year to add them.

AGVs  can serve as a connecting point between fixed machinery and fluid processes. They can help you bridge the gaps and add definition to storage and transport processes that help you optimize your systems when labor markets are tight.

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