AGVs as a resilience accelerator

Small, light, modular

"Our AGVs are particularly compact and have a small turning circle, even in the tightest of spaces," says Martin Lindner, CEO of the independent Austrian AGV manufacturer Melkus Mechatronic. "This contributes in more ways than one to conserving resources and sustainability as well as strengthening operational resilience." In addition to the reduced space requirement, the low unladen weight of the vehicles also lowers their energy consumption. This effect is further enhanced by the recovery of braking energy through recuperation. Together with a sophisticated charging management system, this ensures low energy consumption and long operating times with few interruptions for recharging the batteries.

The resilience of a company stands and falls with reliable system operation. "We deliver maximum efficiency with minimum downtime," says Martin Lindner proudly." The key to this is the use of high-quality materials and mechanical designs that can withstand the rigors of everyday operation.

Another is the fully modular AGV design at the heart of the Melkus philosophy. It facilitates and accelerates development, maintenance, repair and subsequent adjustments, thus ensuring short downtimes. All essential components of Melkus Mechatronic AGVs are designed as self-contained modules. After brief training by customer personnel, these can be replaced quickly and without special tools on site. This means that operation does not have to stop until a service technician arrives.

Future-proof through flexibility

The modular, object-oriented vehicle software also enables a dynamic, easily scalable system logic that can grow with the customer's requirements and facilitates troubleshooting and fault rectification. The Sigmatek TCS fleet management system used by Melkus Mechatronic in complete systems can be maintained and adapted to changing requirements by the customer's own personnel after a short training period. The Sigmatek SlamLoc real-time navigation software not only enables short and therefore time and energy-saving routes. It also enables the AGVs to react dynamically to changes in the environment, thus preventing unplanned downtimes, for example when pallets placed on the floor obscure the contours of the hall.

As part of its future-oriented approach, Melkus uses open standards such as the VDA 5050 interface, which allows Melkus vehicles to be integrated into existing third-party systems, but also enables Melkus AGVs to be supplemented with vehicles from other manufacturers. "Manufacturer independence in the use of vehicles can also make a significant contribution to the efficiency and resilience of an intralogistics system," Martin Lindner is convinced.