Production logistics
Automated guided vehicle system at Roche
New partnership: The pharmaceutical company F. Hoffmann - La Roche has opted for an automated guided vehicle system (AGV) from ek robotics to optimize its material flows.
At the Kaiseraugst site near Basel, ek robotics is replacing an existing AGV system and will in future be responsible for the automated transportation of high-quality pharmaceuticals with 17 automated guided vehicles (AGVs) from the Vario Move series. On a route network with a track length of approx. 1,000 meters, 16 Vario Move with telescopic forks will take over the internal transport between the production and storage areas. A Vario Move CB (Counter Balance) with counterweights and adjustable forks is used to transport cryovessels to the deep-freeze warehouse. The stainless steel coated freeze-thaw containers are filled with liquid active ingredients in temperature ranges from -20 to -40 degrees and have a transport weight of up to 1,200 kg.
As ongoing production must not be significantly affected by the changeover to the new AGV, the transition to the new system will also take place at weekends. "Thanks to the high performance of the Vario Move transport robots, we will be able to optimize system performance with a smaller number of vehicles than before. This is in line with our planned site development and convinced us just as much as the competent advice and many years of experience of ek robotics," says Mario Dobler, project manager at Roche. With a material flow simulation from ek robotics, Roche was able to define the route layout and the optimum number of vehicles even before the start of the project. The AGV simulation was also used to determine the ideal placement of the charging stations for uninterrupted operation. The SARA reporting and analysis tool will analyze the system activity after commissioning and use the results to calculate further recommendations for action in order to continuously optimize the performance of the system.
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