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Master of
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Engineering
REN188
The signpost for the future
of automation
Synchronised automation is offering a
solution to problems bedevilling automated
processes across a broad range
of industries, such as pharmaceutical,
warehousing, engineering, logistics,
materials handling, food and beverage
and transport.
Global robotics and logistics automation
technology leader Swisslog has
found that as automation accelerates,
a common concern is that if a machine
goes offline, the entire system suffers.
But this is becoming less and less of a
problem through synchronised automation,
which is a natural evolution of
islands of automation, explains Martin
Kohl, Swisslog senior consultant, who
has more than 18 years’ experience in
global logistics automation.
Mr Kohl says that the megatrends driving
digitalisation and industry 4.0 – such
as urbanisation, ageing society, increased
health focus, e-commerce, increasingly
digital lives and regulations –
mean that better technology utilisation
is needed to optimise supply chains and
achieve tangible benefits.
Evolution from islands of automation
to synchronised automation
“The concept of islands of automation
means users can have several automated
processes working in isolation, which
can be linked up with automatic guided
vehicles (AGVs), with end-to-end integration,”
says Mr Kohl.
“Swisslog takes this one step further
with its synchronised automation systems.
The technologies are still separate,
meaning that a problem with one
machine won’t affect the whole system,
but the major difference is that each
island can talk to each other and work
together to achieve efficiency benefits,”
he said.
The major benefits of this approach include:
• Redundancy – if one cell goes down,
there are several others accessible, or
use of a temporary manual cell
• Flexibility for growth with additional
cells, and ability to grow in specific
areas
• Full integration of robots and AGVs
Swisslog is currently working on a major
logistics automation project in Sydney
with leading robotics integrator Andrew
Donald Design Engineering (ADDE) for
bio-pharmaceutical company Astra-
Zeneca, where synchronised automation
is being utilised to optimise flexibility
and redundancy.
This advanced solution involves ADDE’s
robotic palletising, shrouding, wrapping
and labelling technologies, linked with
Swisslog’s platform AGVs on two levels
to manage all pallet logistics.
Crucially, there are no major single
points of failure in the system, with a
manual cell used for redundancy if any
process goes down temporarily, explains
Mr Kohl.
“This is a great example of utilising
synchronised automation, advanced
robotics and platform AGVs to deliver
benefits in efficiency, flexibility and redundancy,”
he says.
The future of warehouse automation
“When we think about the future of
warehouse automation, fully automated
case picking is the final mile to deliver
end-to-end efficiency and traceability,”
says Mr Kohl.
Swisslog’s ACPaQ fully automated
mixed pallet robot-based order picking
system is an example of an advanced
warehouse automation technology that
utilises islands of automation to deliver
mixed-case, store-ready pallets for end
customers.
The ACPaQ technology analyses and
processed data and optimises the best
stacking pattern, to ensure stability. The
system can also build the pallet in reverse
drop sequence for replenishment
at store level.
“This is a perfect example of an endto
end supply chain that optimises how
product moves through the system
while maintaining reliability and traceability
throughout,” says Mr Kohl.
/postgrad
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