Stacker cranes, shuttle and robotics
In the middle instead of around the outside
The so-called "injection principle" is an innovative material flow technology in which material is delivered in small quantities directly to the required location using autonomous transport robots. This reduces handling processes and speeds up the material flow. This principle also saves walking distances and space.
The Factory Planning Competence Center integrates the injection principle into factory layout planning in order to better position medium-sized manufacturing companies with established and often small-scale site structures and to gain additional space even without new construction measures.
Supermarket solution requires a lot of space
A common production area planned according to lean criteria usually consists of decentralized supermarkets, which are located at the individual machines in the form of flow racks. The machine operator removes the required parts from the supermarket shelf, which contains all the parts needed for the respective production step. The empty containers are then placed back on the shelves and slide out.
Making sites more productive
As much as 70 to 80 percent of the manufacturing costs of a product are determined by the planning and structure of the plant. If the factory layout is not optimally designed, unnecessary or long travel and walking distances and the associated increased costs are the consequence. With the Lean Factory Design approach, the Competence Center Factory Planning supports manufacturing companies in consistently aligning their factory according to lean criteria, creating process-oriented structures and positioning themselves more competitively.
The empty container, or rather the Kanban card attached to it, signals an order to the logistics specialist - often on a tugger train that makes its rounds through the production halls according to a fixed schedule. The logistician removes the empty container, fills it according to the order in a central warehouse and delivers it again in the next round. This solution requires a comparatively large amount of space for the supermarket shelves and involves long walking distances when operating multiple machines. In addition, the tugger train drives around the outside of the machines, which in turn requires space for paths and stops.
Idea of the injection principle
In contrast, the basic idea of the injection principle is not to supply material from outside over a large area, but to inject it into the production area in small quantities as close as possible to the location of the machines. In practice, this means supplying material from above directly to the required location - in other words, right in the middle of the route-optimized arrangement of several machines.
This reverses the direction of the material flow. The material is not supplied from the outside but from the inside, from where it then flows outwards. With the injection principle, the material is transported using modern material flow technology, which is guided along the ceiling of the hall. Only the delivery point in the form of a container elevator is required on the floor. This allows the machines to be placed closer together. Thanks to the speed and responsiveness of the system, supermarket shelves are no longer required. Empty bins are returned to the system via the bin elevator and transported to the empties station.
Decentralized swarm robots
Innovative transport robots that act as decentralized swarm robots act as so-called "enablers" for the injection principle. Servus Intralogistics, based in Dornbirn, Austria, is a provider of such a system. These solutions can be used, for example, to integrate all internal logistics processes - from incoming goods to warehouse, office, production, assembly or order picking through to outgoing goods - into an efficient, interface-free flow process. The centerpiece is the intelligent and autonomous transport robot Servus ARC3 (Autonomous Robotic Carrier). The load handling attachments integrated in the ARC enable autonomous loading and unloading on the left or right along the route. Assistants, such as lifters or switches, allow easy connection of decentralized storage locations, assembly or picking stations on different floors or buildings.
Figure 2 visualizes the approach of the injection principle. The machine operator receives all the material from the dispensing tower in the middle and fills the machines. The worker area, where the machine operator spends most of his time, can be significantly reduced compared to the conventional solution, as he no longer has to fetch the material from the edge of his area.
This enables shorter distances and smooth multi-machine operation. The employee only has to enter the machine area in the event of malfunctions, changeover processes or similar. And only occasionally do activities such as changing containers for finished products have to be carried out in the finished parts area. As a result, walking distances can be reduced by over 50 percent.
Conclusion
The injection principle offers great potential in factory and plant layout planning, especially when it comes to saving valuable space in production and storage areas.
Prof. Dr. Markus Schneider, M. Eng. Stefan Kaspar
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