Automated Guided Vehicle Systems increase efficiency and safety

AGV: FLEXIBLE, SAFE, AND RELIABLE ROBOT

Improving end-to-end solutions with advanced technology and automated systems is proven to achieve the most highly efficient, safe, and reliable factories and distribution centers. Automation safely meets all of today’s intralogistics needs without delays, risks, waste, or damage to products. In this process towards optimizing full Intralogistics operations, different types of Automatic Guided Vehicle systems play a key role. Let’s see why.

Today, AGV robots, laser-guided vehicles (LGVs), and self-driven forklifts represent the most flexible, reliable, and advanced technology to integrate all the supply chain operations. 

That’s why E80’s solutions have become increasingly relevant to customers worldwide. 

E80’s AGV and LGV fleet is wide, comprehensive, and guarantees several benefits:

• Accuracy and speed of movements.

• Customization of the solutions according to the needs and goals of each plant.

• Complete system’s real-time remote supervision thanks to the unique management software that coordinates fleet movements and intralogistics flows, dialoguing with the customer’s ERP.
• 3D mapping technology provides innovative plant layout design that optimizes AGV and LGV trajectories within plants and distribution centers, even when space is limited.
• Top-notch safety level within factories and distribution centers because E80 Group's AGVs/LGVs are built with additional safety devices, well exceeding international standards and regulation.
• Increased plant performance and efficiency due to the latest generation lithium batteries by Flash Battery®.
• 100 percent safe operations because of induction technology and wireless charging, resulting in no contact and no risk of electric arcs/discharges.


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E80 GROUP AMONG THE TOP WORLDWIDE MANUFACTURERS

By customizing state-of-the-art end-to-end integrated systems with the highest level of innovation, E80 Group is leading the Industry 4.0 transformation while benchmarking the future. 

The path to enter among the 20 top worldwide materials handling system suppliers started a long time ago, at the very beginning of factories’ automation process. It was 1992 when the first Automated Guided Vehicle was conceived for Coster Group. 

Since 1980, E80 Group has completed nearly 350 integrated factories worldwide, with more than 2,500 robotic systems and 6,500 laser-guided vehicles installed in manufacturing and distribution centers. The company's continual integration of technology advances has enabled a highly streamlined approach for the operation of material handling systems, which provide significant advantages for improved throughput, uptime, energy management, sustainability, ROI, and safety. 

How? Let’s see how E80 Group helps its customers worldwide thanks to AGVs and automated systems in material handling operations.

E80 GROUP’S AGV and LGV SYSTEMS – HIGHLIGHTS

- OPTIMIZED AND INTEGRATED OPERATIONS THROUGH THE SOFTWARE
Proprietary software custom-designed specifically for the unique needs of each manufacturing and distribution facility manages all AGVs and LGVs movements within the factory. SM.I.LE80® platform coordinates intralogistics flows and hardware systems, as well as manual and robotic activities. It allows dialog with the plant's ERP and guarantees real-time remote supervision of the entire system.

- LAYOUT OPTIMIZATION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
3D mapping technology enables E80 Group to optimize AGV and LGV trajectories within running plants and distribution centers without interrupting operations or production, thereby minimizing costs and timing. Layout development and optimization are critical to achieving the most innovative plant layout design, and 3D mapping allows E80 Group's layout experts and its customers to envision the movements of AGVs from the very first design phase.

- CUSTOMIZED SOLUTIONS TO MEET SPECIFIC TARGET
Each solution is designed to meet specific goals and business purposes. E80 customizes its systems according to the plant’s specific requirements, designing AGVs and LGVs that can be used in various industrial sectors: predominantly tissue, beverage, and food, as well as ceramics, plastics, pharmaceuticals, home, personal care, and many others.

And since AGV and LGV solutions are flexible and scalable, they can manage each phase of the flow, from inbound raw materials to the end-of-line area, into warehouses, picking areas, truck loading, and shipments.

- LITHIUM-ION TECHNOLOGY BY FLASH BATTERY®
All E80’s AGVs and LGVs are powered with the latest-generation lithium batteries Flash Battery® technology with induction charging, a technology designed to maximize factory efficiency and reduce battery wear and charging times. 

Using lithium batteries by Flash Battery® on AGVs and LGVs brings considerable advantages, and vehicles with this technology allow industries to increase plant efficiency. Among the benefits, it takes far less time for these batteries to recharge than lead batteries, and working cycles are independent of battery charging times.

Moreover, lithium batteries reduce all the management costs that would instead result from lead-acid batteries. The charging process is flexible, and during the entire lifetime, all operations of the LGVs fleet are daily and automatically remotely monitored through the “Flash Data Center” software. 

Discover all the benefits of AGVs/LGVs powered with Lithium Batteries in this article.

THE SAFEST AGVs/LGVs ENABLED WITH ULTRA-WIDEBAND TECHNOLOGY

Equally important as performance has been E80's focus on improvements to enhance safety. 
Since AGVs and LGVs are constantly in motion, operating unmanned over large areas in manufacturing and distribution, safe operation of these systems is a critical priority.
To this end, E80 Group has continually upgraded its AGVs and LGVs with the latest positioning, protective, and controls technology exceeding that of established international standards.

This commitment to AGV/LGV safety technology, coupled with E80's extensive safety training programs, has enabled the company's customers to safely operate some of the world's largest AGV/LGV integrated networks in manufacturing and distribution operations.

Our Group has now advanced its AGV/LGV safety initiatives even further with the adoption of SmartDect® ultra-wideband (UWB) technology – a short-range RF technology for wireless communication that can detect the location of people, assets (AGVs/LGVs), and objects with unrivaled precision. UWB technology uses very short radio pulses, sent every couple of milliseconds as a pattern across a wide frequency spectrum.

The receiving device onboard the AGV/LGV analyzes the incoming pattern and translates it into data which is used to accurately sense the location of people, objects, and other AGVs and LGVs in operation. UWB-enabled AGVs and LGVs guarantee the safest operation, and a significant gain in performance because it minimizes risks, collisions, and stops during operations.
This is particularly relevant, especially in mixed traffic, where people or manual forklifts operate in the same environment in which the AGVs/LGVs move. It better prevents dangerous situations from occurring.

AGVs IN WAREHOUSES: THE APPLICATIONS

From the inbound of raw materials to the shipments, through the end-of-line area and the warehouse, AGVs offer a rapid response to the needs of factories which require the complete integration of material flows.
This is relevant, especially in warehouses operations. 
LGVs and AGVs can automate the storage of various products, linking up multiple types of warehouses: Block Storage, Flow Rack, Selective, Drive-in, Easy Storage and Twin-Load.
High-bay warehouses solutions with shuttles and cranes provided by E80 are perfectly integrated with LGV/AGV technology, in order to optimize the management, flows, storage, and costs of internal plant logistics.
Moreover, the latest evolution of high-performance Laser-Guided Vehicles streamlines pallet movement also in deep-freeze warehouses, fully integrating with temperature-controlled production, warehouse, and shipping operations. Learn more about the advantages of Warehouse Automation.