specialreport
body-weld department had to drive
long distances, navigating congested
areas to drop flow racks and pallet-loads of parts at work cells. Sudden
stops, complicated workflow paths,
and the occasional traffic jam or collision led to product damage and
delayed deliveries.
A team assigned to study the problem determined that automating the
transportation of parts to the 1 mil-lion-square-foot body-weld area—
in essence, taking human drivers out
of the equation—would eliminate
most of the delay and damage problems. Their conclusion may not be
RIDER LIFTS FOR MEZZANINES &
AUTOMATED MATERIAL LIFTS
FOR MEZZANINES
;INCREASE MEZZANINE UTILITY
;SAFER LOADING & UNLOADING
;FASTER LOADING & UNLOADING
;COST EFFECTIVE
very surprising. What is surprising is the
way TMMK accomplished that objective:
Instead of purchasing new equipment, the
factory chose to retrofit 22 of its Toyota
24-volt, AC-drive tow tractors with locally built automation kits that turned them
into automatic guided vehicles.
To develop these “home-grown” AGVs,
TMMK worked with two local business
partners—AutoGuide, an automation
specialist led by AGV innovator Paul J.
Perry, and Industrial Concepts Inc. (ICI),
a developer of custom machinery and
control systems whose president, Tim
Taylor, is a former TMMK mechanical
whiz. (AutoGuide and ICI are closely
allied; the two share a facility across the
street from TMMK, and ICI’s executives
have an ownership stake in AutoGuide.)
Utilizing the same off-the-shelf devices
already in use for other types of AGVs at
TMMK, AutoGuide outfitted the 10,000-
pound-capacity tow tractors with obstacle
and guidance sensors, radio-frequency
modems, RFID tag readers, and a touchscreen programmable logic controller
(PLC) interface, among other technologies. All of the components are contained
in a removable attachment designed by
AutoGuide. Installation is a simple matter
of drilling six holes in a tractor’s chassis,
and is the only physical change required,
according to Tim Meyer, Toyota
Production System solutions and AGV
product manager for Toyota Material
Handling U.S.A. Inc.
Flexibility was one of the reasons why
TMMK chose to convert standard, manual equipment to AGVs. The stand-alone
attachments can be installed either at the
time of purchase or lease, or after the
vehicles go into service, and they can be
easily removed and reinstalled on other
vehicles, Meyer explained during a tour of
TMMK. Drivers can switch the tractors
from automatic to manual mode simply
by stepping on a pressure-sensitive mat in
the driver’s compartment.
1-800-843-3625
www.advancelifts.com
NAVIGATING “SPAGHETTI JUNCTION”
Before the AGVs arrived in the body-weld
department, manned tow tractors
dropped off flow racks and pallets full of
parts alongside each of the robotic welding cells, which were located on both sides
