ASI Warehouse Automation & Distribution

Automatic Guided Vehicles

AGV’s & AGC’s are self-guided vehicles with onboard controls and sensors.

Automated Guided Vehicles are used to transport loads of materials to a destination. Generally, this operation would be performed by forklifts, conveyors, or pallet jacks, etc. AGV’s are best utilized where automating high volume and/or repetitive material movements are required and little to no human oversight is needed to act. They are especially useful when creating “barriers” to movement (on-floor conveyor lines etc.) is not possible/desired or when changes to the facility layout occur frequently.

Batteries or inductive power from in-floor power pickups power AGV’s. Battery types for AGV’s include: Flooded Lead Acid Batteries, Thin Plate Pure Lead “TPPL,” Absorbed Glass Mat “AGM” and Lithium to name a few.

There are several different guidance options for AGV’s and choosing the correct one for your facility is very important.

In-Floor Inductive Wire Guidance

An inductive wire has a path cut into an existing slab (or poured in a new facility) that is routed throughout a facility and then covered in concrete or epoxy to be sealed into the floor. This is a simple and robust guidance type because it isn’t concerned with RF interference, moved or blocked reflectors or most of the other issues that can occur with other guidance types. Most facilities don’t use this more often because of the difficulty and costs associated with both the initial installation of the guide wire as well as the difficulty making any changes to the routes in the future.

On-Floor Magnetic Tape Guidance

This form of guidance uses a magnetic tape that is adhered to the surface of the facility floor, and the AGV/AGC uses sensors to follow the tape alomg its route. This is a popular alternative to in-floor wire guidance because of the ease of installation and simplicity of making route changes in the future. A consideration with this type of guidance is high traffic areas can cause the tape to tear or come up which causes the AGV/AGC to stop.

Laser Guidance

This is the most popular and implemented type of AGV guidance. Installers mount reflective targets throughout the facility at known positions along the various AGV’s routes.  A laser scanner is mounted on top of the vehicle and strobes the reflectors located throughout the facility to navigate. The laser scanner sends strobes out looking for reflective targets around the facility. The AGV’s control software calculates the exact vehicle position via triangulation from these returned signals and guides the vehicle along its route.

Natural Navigation

This is the newest type of navigation and uses existing objects to continuously determine where the vehicle is to remove the need for reflectors and other infrastructure.

System Benefits of AGV’s and AGC’s

• Easily adapted to existing facilities
• Carts / Vehicles can be configured to handle various applications

• Quiet and safe operation

• Cart paths can be easily modified (depending on guide path type)
• Bi-directional
• 24/7 Operations

ASI AGV/AGC Advantages vs. Traditional Fixed-Path Conveyors

• No fixed overhead or floor mounted supports required
• Minimizes dedicated floor space and allows the multi-purpose use of space
• Safety – sensors stop the AGV if someone or something blocks its path
• Programmable – With a myriad of control methods available, AGVs and AGCs can be programmed to service all areas of your facility

Conveyor Systems

Conveyor systems move products from one place to another inside a facility and may use a single type of conveyor or a combination of different types which saves time and reduces labor costs.

As an integrator, ASI can choose the best type (and manufacturer) when designing a stand-alone or integrated system.

Types

Pallet or Unit Loads

Chain conveyor moves material through production lines. They use a powered continuous chain arrangement, carrying a series of single pendants. The motor drives a chain to convey material suspended on the pendants.

CDLR Conveyor or (CDLR) is roller conveyor that powered by a series of chains to transfer power from roller to roller.

Heavy Duty Roller: The face may be straight, tapered or crowned. Rollers may also serve as the support for the load. Used to convey palletized loads.

Heavy Duty Gravity moves the load without utilizing motor power sources, usually down an incline or with a person pushing the load along a flat conveyor. Gravity roller conveyors transport products or work in process from one work area to another. For heavier loads

Case – Boxes or Totes

Belt conveyor systems have two or more pulleys (or drums), with a belt that rotates around them. Not all of the pulleys need to be powered as the powered pulley is the drive pulley, while the non-powered pulley is the idler.

24V- MDR The 24V Motor Driven Roller (MDR) is an excellent choice for fast and easy installation, low maintenance and minimal spare parts are a primary consideration. An internal motor inside the drive roller powers this quiet operating conveyor.

Line shaft A single shaft runs below the rollers the length of the conveyor. Attached to the shaft are a series of spools, one for each roller. A polyurethane belt runs from a spool on the powered shaft to each roller. The O-ring belt acts as a chain between the spool and the roller. A motor drives the shaft which makes the roller rotate pushing the product along the conveyor.

Live Roller Conveyor or Powered Roller Conveyor is the most common conveyors used in large warehouses and distribution centers. Rollers are powered through various means, moving in the needed direction.

Light duty Gravity is non-powered so gravity moves materials on a downward path or with an operator pushing product in a horizontal application.

Conveyor comes in many different sizes and configuration let ASI help you choose the right type.

Accumulation Conveyor

This category represents conveyors designed to transport items with the ability to build up a queue of products as the conveyor waits for downstream equipment to become available for further product flow.

• Zero Pressure Accumulation
• Zero Contact Accumulation
• Minimum Pressure Accumulation

Points to consider when designing a conveyor system:

• What are the maximum dimensions of the product?
• What are the minimum dimensions of the product?
• What are the average dimensions of the product?
• What is the weight of the product?
• Is the product to be conveyed fragile?
• Is the product to be conveyed wet, hot, or cold?
• Rollers can convey product with a flat bottom
• What type of product are you conveying, i.e. totes, cartons, polybags?
• What is the inbound process (receiving)? i.e., depalletizing, weighing, cubing, bar-coding.
• What is the outbound process (shipping)? i.e., palletizing, weighing, cubing, bar-coding.
• What is the rate to move the product? i.e., how many totes, cartons, case do you need to move from point “A” to point “B”

Pocket Sorters

While the pocket sorter was initially developed for the apparel industry, this type of order fulfillment technology works for any picking application that needs both accuracy and flexibility.

A Pocket Sorter consists of “pockets” which are connected to a track system with roller adapters that transport a variety of different sized articles.  Pocket sorters are very dense sequencing/storage solutions that have the ability to buffer in overhead areas to save facility space.  Products conveyed can range from flat-folded apparel goods and accessories to large-size normally non-conveyable items and even smaller items that are loose.  These systems can track each pocket individually and be used in a number of ways to provide goods to person transport.  You can integrate the sorter with induction stations, goods-to-person pick stations, and pack station which allows the pocket sorter to simultaneously increase throughput and provide dynamic access to products. The sorter delivers pockets to a packer at an order level or in an exact sequence. A pocket sorter is the ultimate goods-to-man solution because the operator only needs to remove the items from the pockets and pack them. If you want a more advanced system, you can integrate the sorter with automatic packing machines.

The flexibility with design allows you to maximize the existing footprint by utilizing “unused spaces”, instead of expanding or moving to a new facility, offering an opportunity for dramatic cost savings.

ASI’s took a slightly different approach when designing our pocket sorter and developed a heavier duty version than any others currently in the marketplace.  ASI opted for a standard component approach that easily interchanges utilizing modular components for the sorter.  Having the ability to handle heavier loads (75+ lbs loads) allows us to deliver a solution that can automatically handle more of a customers products/SKU’s which minimizes the need to consolidate loads later on due to non-conveyables etc.

This flexibility allows for complex picking, sorting, buffering, and sequencing in a cost-effective manner.

ASI is utilizing the pocket sorter in Warehouse applications, manufacturing as well as Heavy Duty Industrial applications.

A pocket sorter has many different names with “Pocket” being the most recognized name, but it can also be called a “pouch” or “bag” carrier or sorter.

Uses of the ASI HD Pocket Sorter:

• Pick and Pass Application
• Kiting operation
• Push or Pull Wall
• Transport and Accumulation

ASI’s HD Pocket Sorter Highlights:

• Can Handle 75+ Lbs. Payloads
• A speed of up to 200 FPM
• Different Carrier configurations
• Modular design
• Different Configuration
• Simple controls
• Software interface
• Various Industries

Robotic Cell Integrations

Robotic Cell Integrations are used to automate functions for a variety of purposes in manufacturing, warehousing and distribution.

Typical robotic applications include packaging and labeling, palletizing, assembly, pick and place operations, welding, painting, product inspection, etc.  There are a number of different robotic types that handle different operations (Delta Robots, Gantry Robots, SCARA, etc.). Robot arms can generally move in 2-3 axis, and the wrist can also move in 3 additional axis called yaw, pitch, and roll. Robots can handle payloads with weights ranging from less than a pound to thousands of pounds depending on it’s capacity and reach.

There are a number of different robot arm manufacturers in the world – Fanuc Robotics, ABB Robotics, KUKA Robotics, and Yaskawa being some of the largest.

A robot cell is a robot arm working with a collection of ancillary machines or peripheral equipment. A typical cell might utilize conveyor feeding the cell with a robot arm palletizing to/from one or more conveyors with pallets.  A robotic programmer or software engineer will program how the robot interacts with other devices in the cell relative to their positions in the cell and synchronizing all the peripherals with them.

Teaching the robot positions can be in done a number of ways:

 Programmers generally work offline to do the initial programming of a robot cell and once everything is mapped the processes are simulated. To save time and money designers use simulation software to create applications for a robot without depending on the physical operation of the arm and end effector.  It is also much safer to program offline and then run simulations before uploading the program to the robot to catch any errors/safety issues before “going live.”  Different robot arm providers have different programming/simulation software that provides a platform to teach, test, run, and debug programs written in a variety of programming languages.

A teach pendant is a handheld control and programming unit that teaches the robot positions. The standard features of such units are the ability to manually send the robot to a desired position and “jog or inch” to adjust a position. Robots generally run at a slower speed when using a teach pendant for safety since the user is typically test-running through a new or modified routine and needs careful positioning.

The essential robot arm peripheral is the end-of-arm-tool (EOAT). Some commonly used EOAT devices for material handling applications include picking up objects by vacuum or grippers and palletizing the items.  There are many different examples in other industries such as welding devices (MIG-welding guns and spot-welders), spray guns for painting/coating and grippers (devices that can grasp an object, usually electro-mechanical or pneumatic). End effectors are can be very simple or highly complex and can be designed to do multiple actions in concert.  They may use various sensors (including visions systems) to aid the robot in locating, handling, and positioning products.

ASI is a FUNUC Authorized Integrator and we provide robotic solutions for warehousing, manufacturing and automotive applications.