AGVs roll into food and bev plants

Moving beyond automotive plants and other manufacturing applications, automatic guided vehicles are replacing manned forklifts in food and beverage, consumer packaging and other industries.

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Automatic guided vehicles (AGVs), once the domain of manufacturing operations like automotive plants, are making their way into food and beverage and consumer packaging applications, replacing manned forklifts for moving raw materials and finished products around the plant. “That industry is really starting to grow,” said Mark Longacre, marketing manager for AGV supplier JBT. “It started out in manufacturing, but food and beverage is really starting to grow.”

Although, fundamentally, the purpose of AGVs is to reduce the number of forklift drivers needed in a plant, they have other benefits as well, including reduced product damage; safer, more cost-effective movement of materials; and reinforced workforce discipline.

Longacre gave an Innovation Stage presentation during PACK EXPO last week in Chicago along with Brian Keiger, chief sales officer, intralogistics, for Grenzebach, another AGV supplier. They spoke together on behalf of MHI’s Automatic Guided Vehicle Systems (AGVS) industry group.

AGVs are not for every plant. Whether or not it’s a multiple-shift operation is an important consideration, according to Keiger, who said that’s usually his first question. If you’re running a one-shift operation, for example, payback is going to take a while—likely on the order of five years. “They travel a bit slower because they have to be safe, but they are consistent,” he said. “If you only have one shift, then it makes it very hard.”

For three-shift operations, though, it’s a no-brainer. Rather than having to hire multiple forklift drivers to cover multiple shifts, that same AGV can cover all three shifts. And the return on investment (ROI) is typically on the order of one to two years.

The space available is another important issue. “If you’re very constrained with space, you could end up with some blockage issues,” Keiger said, adding that you need to make sure there’s enough space for the AGVs to make turns as well.

Tangible benefits and ROI

But there are several situations where AGVs do make sense, particularly for facilities with routine/predictable delivery of stable loads. And in the right situation, the benefits are tangible.

Benefits include one that was the theme of many of the conversations at PACK EXPO this year: flexibility. For any manufacturer that has to answer to consumers, flexibility is key. “What’s the consumer good at? Changing their mind,” Keiger said. “You have to be able to adjust, be flexible, scalable, and grow your business. You need to be adaptable. AGVs allow you to do that.” That’s part of why AGVs are really catching on in the food and beverage industry.

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