BY TOBY GOOLEY, SENIOR EDITOR
AUTOMATED EQUIPMENT
specialreport
Is there a “DIY” AGV Is there a “DIY” AGV
in your future?
IMAGINE WALKING INTO A MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENT
maintenance and repair shop, pulling standard components off the shelf,
and—with relatively little time and effort—turning an ordinary industrial
tow tractor or forklift into an automatic guided vehicle (AGV).
That day isn’t here just yet, but it’s closer than you might think. An automation project at a Toyota auto manufacturing plant in Georgetown, Ky., has
shown that it’s possible to retrofit some types of manual equipment quickly and
easily, earning a big return in terms of cost, labor, efficiency, and flexibility.
Although the project involved a manufacturing environment, it may well serve
as a prototype for bringing more AGVs to material handling environments,
where they have yet to make major inroads due to their cost and complexity.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TOYOTA MATERIAL HANDLING U.S. A. INC.
Using easy-to-install kits
made from off-the-shelf
components, Toyota
converted 22 tow tractors
at one of its plants into
automatic guided
vehicles. Plans are now in
the works to bring the
technology to DCs.
TOW TRACTOR TRANSFORMATION
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Inc. (TMMK) makes the Camry,
Venza, and Avalon models at the Georgetown facility, a 1,300-acre complex
encompassing some 7. 5 million square feet of manufacturing and assembly
space. Like all Toyota operations, the Georgetown plant adheres to the Toyota
Production System, also known as “just-in-time” or “lean” manufacturing.
Over the years, Toyota had honed production at the Georgetown plant to
a high level of efficiency. But there was still room for improvement when it
came to the internal movement of parts. The factory, built in 1988, is not as
compact as newer facilities. As a result, workers delivering materials to the
