Wer ist JBT Automated Systems

JBT ist seit 35 Jahren ein Hersteller von fahrerlosen Transportsystemen. In dieser Zeit wurden über 5.000 Fahrzeuge weltweit erfolgreich ausgeliefert.

JBT hat sich auf anspruchsvolle FTS bzw. AGV Anwendungen spezialisiert, wie das Stapeln komplexer Gebinde, verwalten ganzer Block-Lager, beladen von LKW und die Handhabung von schweren Ladungsträgern größer >1,5 Tonnen. 

JBT’s besitzt eine große Softwarekompetenz mit einem eigenen, ausgereiften Flottenmanager und In-House Software-Schnittstellen Kompetenz. 

Die JBT Fahrzeuge werden komplett eigenständig entwickelt, produziert und Inbetrieb genommen. 

JBT Automated Systems ist Teil der JBT Cooperation mit Hauptsitz in Chicago USA. Die FTS/AGV Produktion erfolgt in Kingston (New York) und Leicester UK. 

Ein JBT Gegengewichtsstapler beim automatischen Stapeln eines Gestells in der Reifenindustrie. 

​JBT FTS/AGV helfen Ihnen bei:

Lager- und Lagerbewegungskosten senken:

Der Einsatz von JBT FTS/AGV Systemen ermöglicht die dauerhafte Reduktion der Kosten  eines Gabelstaplers auf 5 EURO/Std.

Lieferbeschaffenheit- und qualität erhöhen:

Der Einsatz von JBT FTS/AGV Systemen reduziert Schäden am Ladegut deutlich und erhöht obendrein die Sicherheit Ihrer Mitarbeiter.

Sendungsanzahl erhöhen:

Automatisierte Staplersysteme operieren rund um die Uhr. Das Einführen einer 3. oder 4. Schicht, sogar als Geisterschicht, ist somit sehr einfach und schnell umzusetzen.

Peaks im Lager bewältigen:​

JBT FTS/AGV Systeme können Aufträge auch Wochenenden und Feiertagen ausführen und manuelle Prozesse vorbereiten und somit PEAK Belastungen abmildern.

Facharbeitermangel begegnen:

Viele Prozesse lassen sich ökonomisch sinnvoll automatisieren. Mitarbeiter können sich auf die Verbesserung von Prozessen und Sonderaufgaben konzentrieren.

Sofortigen Return on Investment realisierbar:

Mit Hilfe individueller Finanzdienstleistungen können bestehende Logistikkosten sofort und ohne vorab Investment durch niedrigere Kosten ersetzt werden.

JBT Lösungsangebot

Staplen in Puffer- und Blocklagern

Ganze Blocklager oder Pufferlager vor oder nach Produktionsprozessen: Die JBT Stapel-Technologie ermöglicht platzsparende, vollautomatische Materialtransport- und Lagerprozesse in Ihrer Produktion oder Logistik.

JBT beherrscht das Stapeln von Gebinden 2,3,4 oder 5-Fach übereinander. Ganze Blocklager können somit rund um die Uhr verwaltet werden. Mit Hilfe der JBT Inventurfunktion des Standard Flottenmanagers kann die Lagerplatzwahl intelligent getroffen werden. JBT bietet somit eine komplette Lösung an.

Automatisches Beladen von LKW

JBT hat über 200 Fahrzeuge für das automatische Beladen von LKW ausgeliefert. Die speziell für diesen Zweck gebauten Fahrzeuge fahren wie gewöhnliche Stapler von hinten in den LKW ein und transportieren hierbei häufig zwei oder drei Ladungsträger gleichzeitig.

Hauptanwendungsfeld ist die Lebensmittel- und Getränkeindustrie. In allen Industrien in denen stetig produziert und verladen wird und die Produkte auf standardisierten Ladungsträgern transportiert werden, bieten sich ein Einsatz an.

Schwere und sperrige Ladegüter

JBT ist ein Spezialist für sperrige und schwere Ladungsträger. Ein häufiges Einsatzfeld hierfür ist der Transport von Baumaterialien wie Fertigbetonteile oder Gipskartonplatten in der Produktion. Die Fahrzeuge können bis 5 to transportieren  und stapeln.

Ein weiteres Anwendungfeld für unsere “großen” Fahrzeuge ist der Transport von mehreren Standard-Ladungsträgern wie Euro-Paletten gleichzeitig. Hierdurch wie die Anzahl der Transporte und damit die Anzahl der Fahrzeuge reduziert und der Business Case und die Sicherheit verbessert.

JBT Stapeltechnologie

Wann macht ein Einsatz von FTS Systemen ​zum Stapeln von Gebinden Sinn: 

Ihre Ladungsträger und Böden besitzen eine gute Qualität, sind also nicht sehr häufig stark beschädigt.

Mindestens zwei, idealerweise drei-Schichten Produktion um einen guten Business Case zu erreichen.

Der Bereich indem gestapelt wird, ist von Personenverkehr weitestgehend befreit oder Zäune können montiert werden.

​Automatische LKW Beladung

​

Wann macht es Sinn über das automatische beladen von LKW nachzudenken:

Sie können mind. zwei Schichten am Tag verladen oder den Prozess in diese Richtung abändern.

Sonderprozesse, wie das anbringen von Ladungssicherheit, können weiterhin manuell durchgeführt werden.

Ihre Beladungsschema können standardisiert werden

Ihre Ladegut wird aktuell mit Gabelstaplern nicht mit Hochhubwagen eingelagert.

Transport und Stapeln von Gipskartonplatten

Wann macht ein Einsatz von FTS in der Bauindustrie Sinn:

Ihr Ladegut kann gestapelt werden.

Ihr Ladegut ist stabil transportierbar, Stretch-Folie ist kein Problem für JBT Fahrzeuge!

Der Transport und das Stapeln finden Innen statt.

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5 Ways to Combat Demographic Change

By: Dennis Ramers, JBT Germany

Dennis is a Sales Manager with JBT. He manages all sales within the DACH region of Europe. 

The shortage of skilled workers is on everyone’s lips in the logistics sector. Throughout the last ten years, the boom in exports and e-commerce has led to an economic upswing and a sharp increase in the demand for logistics workers. Plus, the baby boomers are slowly but surely retiring. These retirements have accelerated, at least in Germany, as a result of the pension at 63. Now, shortages of truck drivers, forklift drivers, and order pickers have taken a toll on the labor market. In addition, the demand for age-appropriate jobs continues to rise as the average working age rises. Market responses to this change include things like more ergonomic forklift trucks. Nevertheless, labor demographics still represent a great strain on the economy in Germany and in Europe.

To stay competitive and curb the impact of these demographic changes, companies need to develop a plan of attack. Let’s explore 5 possible strategies.

1. Changing Geography

One possible approach, hiring employees from abroad or even relocating processes can help to mitigate the impact of these changing demographics. While moving operations can help ease the burden, it often proves too costly to undertake, especially when considered in the context of fewer available truck drivers. Meanwhile, the hiring of employees from abroad has been successfully practiced for many years. Logistics centres line the German-Polish border, and other facilities have dedicated bus routes to their eastern neighbours.

With the increased economic power of eastern European countries, it has become more and more difficult to solve the demand for labor this way. Salaries are rising disproportionately; more attractive local jobs are being created; and unemployment is already very low. The will to go to Germany is dwindling. For example, the Czech Republic had an unemployment rate of only 1.9% in February 2019.

2. Stocking up on Labor

Some companies have also decided to higher more employees than necessary to prepare for future challenges. With the wave of refugees entering countries like Germany, more logistics workers have entered the labor pool. This has helped expand the market and has curbed the impact of the demographic changes. Even though hiring refugees presents other challenges, specifically a lack of language skills and of qualifications, organizations see this as a short-term problem that can be overcome with enough time.

However, the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of the approach can cause serious problems. Keeping a lot of people employed isn’t cheap, especially when not all of them are actually contributing to your company’s bottom-line. I would argue that more organizations cannot afford to do this. Plus, there are no guarantees that employees will remain with the company in the long-term.

3. Automation as a Savior

Although there are multiple solutions to the demographic issue, most experts agree that automation and digitization is the best route to take. This has already proven true in logistics.  Automatic container and/or pallet storage has deeply penetrated this sector and continues to inform the way that new processes develop.

With that said, automating existing facilities and complex picking processes can be complicated and difficult. These challenges can raise the barrier of entry into automation. However, in response to these difficulties, suppliers within the market have – and continue to –  develop new, simpler and more cost-effective solutions. For example, Magazino has launched a complex order picking robot designed for e-commerce and manufacturing. Driverless transport systems like this “pick” from the shelf like humans and are easily deployed in existing facilities. But the development of this technology is an ongoing process, and most don’t believe robotics will completely replace human labor – at least not for another 10 years. Despite this projection, robotic picking still represents the future of automation within logistics.

4. Automated guided vehicle (AGV) systems

Though driverless systems are the future, this doesn’t mean that they’re new. They’ve been inside facilities for over 50 years and have automated long transport routes and the delivery of goods to lineside. Systems like this have already enabled employees to exercise their strengths – like picking smaller parts or reacting to unexpected situations.

And even though driverless systems are proven technology, they’re still improving. Powerful computers, better software, and massive improvements in sensor technology enable vehicles to do more than horizontal transport.

In fact, companies specializing in AGV systems have helped manage entire warehouses – even block stacking – completely autonomously. Advancements in the last 10 years include:

• Automatically loading and unloading trucks
• Outdoor operation
• Raw material delivery to point-of-use
• … and many more.

The price-point on these systems is an advantage as well. They work around the clock, prevent damage to your products, and do not take holidays. As a result, labor costs drop, and calculated over a six-year period, the vehicles cost less than 5€ (~$5.50) per hour. The systems also operate for at least 10 years, and often longer, because of their controlled, consistent movement. The longer a system lasts, the lower the hourly wage drops. Plus, these wages are fixed and don’t rise with inflation.

5. More Complex Fields of Work

Another advantage of driverless systems? They meet the demands of the new generation of workers. Fewer and fewer people entering the workforce want to become forklift drivers. In part, the increase in the number of college graduates has driven this change. Think about it: the youngest generation tends to be more education than their fathers or mothers – and a lot of employees who are now retiring.

Monitoring, repairing, optimizing or “managing” a fleet of automatic driverless transport systems appeals more to young employees. Plus, this work justifies the higher wages that this generation demands, given their educational qualifications. The number of academics is also on the rise, and they can be better attracted and retained with employment of this nature.

Gradual Change – Starting Today

Driverless systems thus allow a step-by-step transition to fully-automated logistics processes. This technology helps address the current and growing shortage of skilled workers. These scalable systems, which are evolving with the times, allow us to absorb demographic change and give the next generation of employees a perspective.

3 Key Drivers to Automation

Lately, automation has become the hottest trend in manufacturing and warehousing – for good reason. Ever since the Digital Revolution, automation has proven its many benefits; although, up until recently, these benefits have been constricted by technological limitations. Now, everything is connected, and computers are a mainstay of work in all of its forms.

We know that automation isn’t necessarily a new phenomenon. However, it is more impactful than it has been before. Why? Interconnectivity. The principle of the internet of things (IoT) means that devices now communicate and interact with one other. This translates into more powerful automation at a more affordable price.

Think about this for a second. In 2016, 180 million devices were connected to the internet.

Source: Statista

Projections place this number at approximately 260 million by 2020, a 45% growth rate over 5 years. Clearly, IoT translates into increased use of devices and a greater dependence on the internet and the interconnectivity it provides.

One place that IoT is having a significant, manufacturing is “transforming traditional, linear … supply chains into dynamic, interconnected systems,” and automation, in conjunction with IoT principles, is driving this.

So, why should you implement automation in your facility?

1. Reallocate Human Capital

In the digital age, human beings, with all of their creativity and brain power, are an important commodity. Why waste them on performing repetitive, boring tasks? According to WorkMarket’s 2020 In(Sight) Report, 53% of employees believe they can save 2 hours a day with automation, and 78% of leaders think automation can free 3 hours a day, or 360 hours in a year. What can that free time do for your business?

Aside from that free time, think about what this means in real dollars. According to Forbes,

Let’s suppose the average department at this Fortune 500 company has 500 employees, with an average of 3 business leaders for each respective department. Those employees make an average of $77,000 per year (or $38.50/hr), while the business leaders earn $155,395 per year (or $77/hr). The magic of math reveals that employees who save 240 hours/year offer their employers $9,240 in savings annually, while business leaders who save 360 hours per year generate $27,720 in savings. Total savings for the average department: $4,620,000 (employees) + $83,160 (business leaders) = $4,700,000.00. In one year.

All of that without cutting jobs.

2. Improve Quality

Automation facilitates smoother transfer of products, especially within manufacturing industries. Think about how an automated guided vehicle (AGV) moves compared to how a forklift moves. Controlled stops and starts versus human-directed movement that resembles your daily morning commute.

What does this amount to? Fewer dropped loads, more efficient transport, and more predictable output.

3. Reduce Costs

Perhaps the biggest driver of automation, reduced costs amount to a persuasive argument for automating. These costs come from lower human capital costs, which we examined earlier, from decreased liability, and from eliminated damage.

Decreased Liability

Forklifts are involved in numerous accidents over the course of the year. These accidents subsequently involve workers’ compensation claims and company exposure because 80% of them involve a human being. In such cases, direct costs can amount to $38,000, and indirect costs to $150,000. Aside from this, OSHA fines may apply. These can range from $12,675 to $126,749 per violation.

The benefit of moving to automation lies in its ability to virtually eliminate these accidents. This means that you and your company get to avoid unnecessary costs and potential damage to your brand reputation.

Eliminated Damage

Similarly, damage to product and to infrastructure often results from forklift accidents. This means unnecessary cost.

It’s estimated that forklift damage can add as much as 5% to the cost of a standard truck lease.

Source: CertifyMe

The National Institute of Standards and Technology states that forklift accidents cause $135 million in immediate cost. Can your company afford this?

Other drivers certainly impact the implementation of automation within manufacturing and warehousing. Your company’s overall profitability often plays a pivotal role, especially within the Fortune 500. Even if you have a smaller organization, you can quickly gain a leg up on the competition by automating. Frankly, the advantages of automating are endless. It’s the way of the future. Don’t get left behind.

Driving Long-term Savings Within Your Supply Chain

Do you know how much your supply chain costs impact your bottom-line profit? Do you know how much improving the productivity in your supply chain can increase your net profit?

In the globalised age, where competition is harder and harder, looking at internal efficiencies becomes a powerful driver for increasing net profit. A reduction of supply chain costs by 5% can impact your profit and loss (P&L) and could  potentially double net profits.

It’s not uncommon for efficiency improvements to yield annual savings of between 2 million and 10 million Euros, depending on the size of the company.

Based upon these numbers, the advantages of improved supply chain efficiency have caused many to implement long-term strategies to reduce costs. If you are thinking in adopting such a strategy, there are a several questions to consider:

• How much does your supply chain cost you today?
• How much should it be costing you?
• What’s your roadmap to strategic cost reduction look like?
• How can you use technology as a tool to achieve your financial goals?

How Much Does Your Supply Chain Cost You?

 

Before you do anything, you need to run an analysis on your supply chain costs. Depending how your systems are set-up, this can be as easy as clicking a button or as complex as forming a team to perform a thorough cost analysis. If you have a complex system, you may want to consider a suitable IT solution to ease the burden of analysis in the future. Understanding the numbers proves critical in later phases of this process.

According to The Hacket Group:

“While 94% of organizations say digital transformation will fundamentally change supply chains, only 44% have a strategy for getting there.”

In their report “Analytics: Laying the Foundation for Supply Chain Digital Transformation” the group has set the four stages of maturity to analytics capabilities.

Most companies still operate in stage 1 and stage 2, with small pockets building towards stage 3, but the trend indicates that most companies will operate on steps 3 and 4 over the next three to five years. You need to take action now in order to simply keep up with the market and your competition.

How Much Should Your Supply Chain Be Costing You?

Once you understand your supply chain costs, you need to benchmark your organisation against best-in-class supply chains in the market. The list below from Benchmarking Success shows average and best-in-class enterprises over different industries:

This benchmark can give you a sense where you stand. However, long-term cost savings need much more than a competitive benchmark goal. To achieve these savings, you need to be strategic and follow a systematic and ambitious approach.

What’s Your Roadmap to Strategic Cost Reduction Look Like?

When executing strategic, long-term cost savings plans, focusing resources to stimulate growth and differentiation matters much more than cost cutting. Strategic ambition and an underlying culture of innovation and customer-focus differentiates successful programs from those that focus solely on technology.

In PwC’s “More for less: five steps to strategic cost reduction,” the organisation notes that a strategic process to move the business forward ─ optimising rather than just cutting expenses ─  ensures your business can sustain competitive relevance and maximise its potential. This process should look like the following.

1. Start with the strategy.

A clear view of your global strategy ensures consistent understanding across your organisation. It also enables you to see how viable your projected cost returns will be five years from now, especially in the face of new technology. Plus, understanding how costs occur across business units leads to more clarity into strategy and cost projections.

2. Align costs to strategy.

Differentiate the strategically-critical costs from the non-essential costs. Targeting where resources earn the best return, rather than just cutting costs, leads to strong results. To get started on t this process, you should differentiate the capabilities needed to fuel profitable growth (‘good costs’ targeted for investment) from low-performing business and inefficient operations (‘bad costs’ targeted for overhaul or elimination).

3. Aim high.

Be bold, be brave and be creative. Look beyond what’s always been done.  Ask why. Find more alternatives. Look beyond marginal efficiency savings, and use the 10X concept to achieve a game-changing boost in capabilities. Examples include the opportunities opening in robotic underwriting or automated materials handling.

4. Set direction, and show leadership.

Deliver cost optimisation as a strategic, business transformation programme. Ensure central governance, secure senior management agreement and buy-in. Engage the workforce at all levels, and develop ways to encourage personal ownership and organisational collaboration.

5. Create a culture of cost optimisation.

Ensure you embed a culture of ownership and incentivise continuous improvement. Regularly review strategic cost reduction priorities. Update them in the same way as your business assesses the relevance of its strategy and the opportunities ahead.

How Can You Use Technology as a Tool to Achieve Your Financial Goals?

By following these guidelines, you can achieve significant savings. For example, you could implement an enterprise-wide automated guided vehicle (AGV) deployment plan. AGV systems have established themselves over the years as reliable drivers of improved efficiency and can help you achieve your 10X goals. Deploying several systems throughout an enterprise can save you up to €35 million (based upon previous customer experience).

Ultimately, carefully examining your supply chain costs and working toward improved operational efficiency can transform your business. It has the potential to maximise profits and usher your company into Industrie 4.0.

Managing Risk with the FEED Process

By: Doug Houghton, JBT Chalfont

Doug is a Sales Manager with JBT. He works primarily with food and beverage customers based in the United States. 

Have you ever heard the term “three guys in a pool?” It refers to the age-old process in which multiple bidders all receive a request for proposal (RFP) and are “tossed into the pool” in the competitive bidding process. Here, vendors attempt to drown each other. They beat each other down on price, dive deep into engineering details, and generate fixed price proposals that account for every nut and washer in the proposed system. The bidders produce a 100-page proposal that no one really wants to read. Then, the end-user typically eliminates one vendor, and the process starts all over again. Finally, a sole survivor climbs to the side of the pool, seemingly victorious, only to be thrown back into the pool by a procurement group. The crushing reality is that most of the bidders spend vast amounts of resources, human capital, and time only to get nothing for their effort.

Meanwhile, the competitive bidding process also affects those who initiate it. End-users learn about several different vendors, and most often, they have a favorite after only a few discussions. But instead of moving forward with their favorite vendor, they must sit at the edge of the pool and watch as their favorite vendor tries to drown the competitors. They can’t get the ball rolling on their project and ultimately lose out on some of the benefits of the equipment they desperately want. Then, even if their favorite emerges from the pool victorious, they watch as their procurement team pushes the vendor back into the water, where they may potentially drown again.

Throughout this process, the buyer assumes that they will get the best system solution for the best price. The three guys in the pool all get the same RFP, the same data, and the same opportunity to visit the site. As a result, the buyer ideally receives proposals that truly compare “apples to apples.” In reality, this is never the case. All too often, the RFP isn’t clear and is open to interpretation. The data may not be accurate and thus open to misinterpretation.

Let me give you an example – recently I was working with a client on large automated guided vehicle (AGV) system at one of his company’s production facilities. All the bidders were given the same data set. However, the data was interpreted one way by my team and a totally different way by a competitor. This misinterpretation caused a difference in AGV count by almost 10 vehicles! When the client asked us to explain our results, we showed the client how we had analyzed the data and line rates. Fortunately, we had spent a fair amount of time with the client reviewing their data during the bidding process, and in the end, the client agreed with our interpretation of the information. If they had chosen the competitor, then the system would not have been able to maintain throughput. They would have ended up spending more money in the long-term to make the system work.

By throwing three guys into the pool, you want to an even comparison. But, as evidenced by my recent experience, this often doesn’t happen because of the constraints placed on the suppliers in the pool. We’re all making an informed decision, but it might not be the same one. In all likelihood, what you really want out of the competitive bid process is the right solution at a fair price. That’s where the FEED process comes in.

What is FEED?

The RFP is designed to reduce risk for the buyer. We have noticed, though, that the vendor can be impacted negatively, too. The FEED process helps to eliminate risk for both the buyer and the vendor.

Front-end engineering design (FEED) is a project-development process focused on producing enough information to enable decision-makers on both sides of an agreement to buy-in on a project. This means that both parties can assess risks and make resource decisions without over-extending commitments in the process. FEED uses a stage-gate process, whereby a project must pass through formal gates at well-defined milestones before receiving funding to proceed to the next stage.

FEED 1

In FEED 1, each party (vendor and client) only expends the energy and resources needed to reach the point of making a decision to proceed. They do their “due diligence.” Everyone knows that FEED 1 will not produce a fully-designed and fully-engineered solution – this would result in an over-extension of resources. FEED 1 should only commit enough resources to bring the client to a decision-point, where they choose one vendor over others. It provides decision-makers with a level of comfort in a vendor while ensuring the vendor’s concept and pricing is in line with the return on investment (ROI) and project goals. The buyer is able to make a decision regarding a vendor’s concept and budget pricing. At this point, the buyer chooses a partner.

The deliverables for a FEED 1 proposal include:

• Preliminary
  • Schedule
  • Layout
  • Vehicle count
  • Throughput calculation
  • Scope of work
  • Software interface definition
• Detailed
  • Description of process flow
• Budget price estimate of +/- 10%

The intent of FEED 1 is not to develop a fully-designed system and detailed pricing, rather to provide enough information to allow the buyer to make a decision.

FEED 1 reaches its end-gate when a customer commits to expend more resources, which is represented by a down-payment. This down-payment serves as the gate needed to progress into FEED 2.

FEED 2

FEED 2 commences with a purchase order (PO) issued by the client in order to fund more work. This financial commitment is only large enough (typically 10% of the FEED 1 estimate) to complete the work of FEED 2, which helps avoid the over-commitment of resources by either party. FEED 2 strives to eliminate risks to both parties as technical staffs from each party deeply and thoroughly analyze the project. Each party can now commit more resources because vendor selection and funding has occurred.

 Once the vendor receives a PO, the client holds a kick-off meeting at the project site. Representatives on both sides (vendor and buyer) who attend this meeting include:

• Management
• Project Management
• IT/software
• Operations
• Sales
• Procurement

The meeting begins with a salesman reading the detailed description of the process flow (from the FEED 1 estimate). During this reading, any questionable items are recorded in corresponding areas within an action-list book. Upon completion of the reading, the groups break into focus groups and take the action-list book with them. The groups then work through the list, making decisions on items requiring further investigation, eliminating easily-answered questions, and/or clarifying misunderstandings. Both parties keep the action-list book, and it becomes part of the overall project.

In the end, the vendor and the buyer work together to design the correct system, with the right functionality, correct interfaces, and ROI requirements. The result is reduced risk for both vendor and buyer.

The entire FEED 2 process occurs within a time limit, typically 60 days. Legal and financial terms and conditions are negotiated to agreement throughout the FEED 2 process. The final gate test for resolution of FEED 2 is a contract and purchase order for the full project amount minus the FEED 2 down-payment.

Deliverables of the FEED 2 process include:

• Definitive
  • Schedule
  • Layout
  • Vehicle count
  • Throughput calculation
  • Scope of work
  • Software interface definition
• Detailed
  • Description of process flow
  • Functional specification
  • Terms of sales

At the end of the FEED 2 process, a client will issue a final PO for the entire price of the proposed system and commissioning of their system begins.

The End Result

Working through this process with a client in the food and beverage industry, they realized during the reading of the general description that even their internal team did not fully understand their process. We were able to work together to identify a cost effective solution for them. Had we not utilized the FEED process with them, this issue could have ruined the entire project. We were also able to design an AGV for them that offered more functionality to their operation. Again, this saved them money and improved their ROI. In the end, the final FEED 2 price was less than the FEED 1 budget price. We reduced risk and provided a system that was exactly what the client needed.

Is Automation Right for You?

By: Alex Escovar, JBT Araraquara

Alex is a Sales Manager with JBT. He serves the South American market and is based in Araraquara, Brazil.

Consumers are changing the way they used to do things. The globalized economy allows people to have access to different products from almost every corner of the world. While many may fret the consequences of the empowered consumer, the truth is that these changes result in greater competition, which benefits companies as much as consumers. Organizations need to stay alive in this competitive environment. This is where automation comes in.

According to McKinsey & Company, automation has a few key drivers:

“to free human workers from dirty, dull, or dangerous jobs; to improve quality by eliminating errors and reducing variability; and to cut manufacturing costs by replacing increasingly expensive people with ever-cheaper machines.”

Automation also standardizes processes, making them repeatable and controllable from a technical and economic standpoint.

Organizations need to invest time into examining what really matters for their core business. Any non-value-added operation is a candidate for automation, and even complex and very delicate jobs can now be automated because of technology’s constant advance. More and more often, we see robots performing very precise operations which were impossible to think about even as little as five years ago. Plus, collaborative robots are breaking paradigms by sharing work space with humans.

To put this in perspective, the increasing global demand for automated guided vehicles (AGVs) demonstrates that automation has become a strategic decision implemented in order to achieve far-reaching, financially-driven goals. These vehicles, which can improve efficiency in a logistics operation by automating mundane material handling, features different guidance technologies such as laser triangulation, natural-feature, optical guidance, and wire. Most often, a host computer supports the system by using a pre-programmable management system to control the fleet and by integrating into the customer´s production system. This host manages all the requests according to priorities previously established by the customer. This is where the system’s intelligence resides – it can process several complex jobs simultaneously. As production changes, the entire system has to be flexible enough to support it, so choosing the right technology makes all the difference.

By adding automation into your production, you can expect significant savings and a variety of benefits.

Labor

Not surprisingly, labor threatens any operation, not only because the associated cost which is constantly increasing, but also because it is becoming increasingly difficult to find reliable and qualified labor. Automation solves both issues. The cost of labor comes down over time, and automation offers a form of reliable, qualified labor.

Productivity

Productivity is a buzzword within many organizations. Everyone is looking to produce more while keeping costs down. Automation, and AGVs in particular, can help companies achieve this, as operational efficiency can reach as high as 99% utilization. Systems rarely stop and can work non-stop 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Overtime

Inevitably, higher uptime creates the need for working additional hours. What if organizations had the option to add or to extend a third shift without raising operational costs? As seen above, automation works continuously for exactly the same cost. In most of the cases, a three-shift operation can barely work 20-21 hours a day due to stops for lunch, unpredictable maintenance, bathroom breaks, and workplace exercises, resulting in three to four hours of waste. Think about this: if automation enables operation during additional hours, say something between 1500-2500 across a single year, does that make a difference in your operation? How much money does your company make for every additional working hour?

Safety

Safety should probably lead this list. We all know what happens when an accident occurs. No matter how big it is, a simple near-miss can cause huge problems for the company, an unions are there to remind us all the time. Automation is much safer than manual operation, and AGVs are much safer than forklifts.

Damage-related Costs

Automation means no more damage to your equipment, product, and/or facility. Even skilled operators are exposed to errors, and this can be a small issue to a significant accident, where hundreds or even thousands of pallets are effected.

Inventory Tracking

Accurate inventory is essential for the traceability of your products. The last thing you want is for things to get lost. With automated material handling, your products are delivered to the right place at the right time. Is this important for you? How much time – and therefore money – could this save you?

Increased Efficiency

Automation improves your process and eliminated unnecessary movements. AGVs, in particular, are more efficient than manual vehicles and can combine different operations into one. When you eliminate redundant operations, you reap the real benefit. How much does it cost you every time you need to touch a pallet?

Are the above items beneficial for your business? If so, automating your process will result in some real savings. Obviously, results vary from application to application, but if enterprise organizations, which have common operations between their multiple sites, decide to invest in automation like AGVs, then their savings are significantly boosted. Their ROI becomes very attractive, very quickly.