A DC VELOCITY SPEED CHALLENGE
Sponsored by Seegrid
Where the rubber meets
the robots
Robotic Industrial Trucks make smart moves at automotive supplier YUSA.
TODAY’S AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURING PLANTS
operate under lean principles. They keep very few assembly parts on hand and instead rely on suppliers to deliver
them just in time when needed at production lines. That is
why a supplier such as YUSA Corporation must design its own
systems to be highly dependable so that its production flow keeps
up with its customer’s manufacturing demands.
YUSA is a producer of rubber components for Honda. Its manufactur-
ing facility in Washington Court House, Ohio,
As a Japanese-owned company, YUSA oper-
ates on a framework of continuous improve-
ment, always seeking ways to be more efficient
in its operations. Last September, YUSA installed
three GP8 Robotic Industrial Trucks from
Seegrid to automatically transport finished
parts from 52 production and packing lines to a
staging area in the warehouse, where they are
made ready for shipment to Honda’s manufac-
turing plants. These Robotic Industrial Trucks, a new category of indus-
trial trucks that operate without a worker, use vision guidance to auto-
mate their way throughout the facility.
“We wanted to reduce the traffic coming from the manufacturing
area to the warehouse, as we have a lot of associates that must walk
there and there is little room for lift trucks,” explains Adonis Bristow,
plant industrial engineer. “Secondly, our flow changes continuously, so
we also wanted a system that would be flexible to adapt to our chang-
ing business needs.”
The Seegrid robotic trucks fit these requirements perfectly. They travel
along pre-learned routes directed by their vision-guidance systems,
which allows them to work very efficiently in the facility’s tight travel
lanes. If an object happens to block the path, safety sensors quickly stop
the truck to avoid any impact. As a result, the risk of accident and injury
has been virtually eliminated compared with manually operated vehicles.
Joe Guard, a warehouse associate, sees the advantages in using the
robotic trucks to make work easier in his area. “I’m pretty impressed
with them. We can see how much of a help in manpower they provide,”
he says.
Each robotic truck starts its work at a home position adjacent to the
packing areas located within the manufacturing cells. A worker known
as a wrangler manually places the truck into position, loads a pallet of
finished materials, and inputs the code for a pre-determined route into
the truck’s keypad. The robotic truck then begins
its quick journey to the warehouse, guided by
Seegrid’s vision system. Upon arrival, the truck
automatically deposits its load at a staging
position. From there, a conventional truck
places the load into racking until readied for
shipment to Honda’s plants. The robotic truck
then returns to manufacturing to pick up additional products. As containers are emptied in
the warehouse, the trucks can also be programmed to return the containers to the manufacturing cells.
The robotic trucks maintain a continuous
flow from manufacturing that keeps products moving. “They never take
a lunch break. They are always there when needed,” says Bristow.
The dependability of Seegrid’s Robotic Industrial Trucks has also allowed
YUSA to reallocate three workers to other tasks, saving labor costs.
“We’ve also been able to reclaim half of the area where we had to
previously stage the products for forklifts to gather them,” adds Darla
Barnes, engineering specialist.
The trucks additionally provide flexibility, as they can easily be programmed for new routes and more can be added as other transport
tasks are needed.
For YUSA, Seegrid’s Robotic Industrial Trucks have definitely proven
to be a move in the right direction.
For more information on Seegrid’s Industrial Robotic Truck
solutions, call 877-SEEGRID or visit www.seegrid.com.
To watch a short video showing Seegrid Robotic Industrial Trucks in operation at the YUSA manufacturing
facility in Washington Court House, Ohio, go to www.dcvelocity.com and click on the Velocity Video.
