14 robots are currently in use at the Písek site. Seven of them are suitable for heavy loads. These are MiR600s, which are used in the finished products area. Their task is to transport empty pallets to the assembly lines and full pallets to the logistics area. The second area of application in which MiR250 robots are used is the delivery of components from the warehouse to the assembly lines. The robots in the factory work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, covering all three shifts.

Material flow in a dynamic production environment

Before the project was launched, the logistics in production were largely based on manual processes, forklift trucks and pallet trucks without any automation. As a result, the risk of injuries and accidents at work was high. The company decided to automate the most difficult and dangerous processes. The main goal was to find a solution that would improve both safety and productivity. One of the biggest challenges of the project was to set up a flexible logistics solution that could be adapted to constantly changing conditions in the factory. The production environment is dynamic and busy; various logistics equipment such as palletizers, trolleys and forklifts meet people on the production lines. The autonomous mobile robots from Mobile Industrial Robots met all the specific requirements.

Obstacles are avoided, traffic jams are avoided

The MiR Fleet software is used to organize the operations. Together with an internal program, it optimizes the material flow to and between the lines. All communication with doors, gates, a strapping machine and other stations is fully automated. There are plans to integrate MiR Fleet into the company's ERP system. The mobile robots offer the user complete autonomy and make it easy to set up new routes without additional hardware installations, magnetic strips or barcodes. Humans and transport robots harmonize well in everyday work, as the robots have a constant view of their surroundings; they recognize people in the production environment as an obstacle and can drive around them. The robot's productivity does not suffer from such maneuvers, as it is actively programmed to avoid bottlenecks and traffic jams.