©Intralogistik fotohansel - stock.adobe.com

Subjects:

01 What are the advantages of intralogistics solution?
02 Speed - moving forward faster and more effeciently with intralogistics systems
03 What modern intralogisitics solutions can do: Flexibility - Changeable production in the factory
04 Making the most of digitalization - with Intralogistics 4.0
05 Similar articles

Many companies still do not use the full potential of modern intralogistics solutions from manufacturers like montratec. We show how your company can also benefit sustainably from the digitalization and automation of intralogistics 4.0.

Within a company where goods or even parts have to be moved back and forth for production, many processes interlock. Here, the optimal use of available resources is at least as important as the most efficient planning possible, short distances, flexible intralogistics solutions and the associated time and cost savings. This applies both to the transport of production parts from A to B and to the transport of the finished product to the shipping department through to delivery to the customer.

Modern intralogistics offer a high degree of scalability and at the same time enormous potential to sustainably improve and shorten internal transport and automation processes. With the innovative monorail and shuttle transport system montrac®, montratec offers customized and flexible intralogistics solutions that can be optimally adapted to the internal requirements of each individual company. Still many companies do not use intralogistics systems - even though they bring only advantages in the long run.

The initial investment costs are quickly amortized, because with modern intralogistics, the internal material flow can be handled more precisely, faster, more reliably and ultimately more cost-effectively.

With modern intralogistics, manufacturing and warehousing processes are not only digitized, but intelligent and automated systems communicating with each other enable the optimization of internal material flow in production and warehousing. As a result, movements can be executed correctly faster, more accurately and, above all, more cheaply. Processes such as order picking or even storage can be automated in this way using self-learning software solutions, intelligent transport containers and interconnected machines, which in turn frees up resources among employees.

When a company invests in its intralogistics, it usually does so with the aim of not only creating greater efficiency in production or warehousing, but also to reduce costs. The competitive pressure in the market is constantly increasing, and in parallel the demands on quality, speed and service are growing. Every company wants to make optimum use of the space available for production and warehousing and not only produce high-quality goods in the shortest possible time, but also transport them reliably - whether within the company or to the customer. Customers' demands are increasing with regard to ever shorter delivery times, individual product manufacturing and individual special solutions.

All in all, intralogistics is subject to ever higher demands in terms of flexibility, dynamics and unpredictability, which is why digitally networked intralogistics systems can make a significant contribution here to increasing efficiency in daily production.

Especially when a company is concerned about using its employees as efficiently as possible in order to save costs, intralogistics solutions such as those from montratec make particular sense. It is a well-known fact that people are the most expensive resource:

If recurring, technology-controlled processes are automated in the background, employees can focus more on coordinative tasks.

Above all, this saves time, which is of enormous importance in the age of digitalization.

The complexity - How modern intralogistics systems reliably control internal processes

Industrial manufacturing is undergoing a lasting change toward flexible, dynamic structures with autonomous solutions that control themselves. Networked and automated solutions in intralogistics - such as AGVs (automated guided vehicles) and the use of AI (artificial intelligence) are coming into their own. The trend towards complex networking in intralogistics is increasing, although logistics has already been internally networked for many years and plays a central role in manufacturing.

This inevitably leads to enormous data complexity, which has to be collected and analyzed in the company in real time if possible. This is because numerous different software systems are used in intralogistics in particular, and their information and communication technologies must be compatible with each other.

For example, WMS (warehouse management systems) must serve numerous different interfaces to other IT systems within the company so that the flow of data is synchronized with the flow of materials in real time and a smooth process is ensured. However, much has changed in recent years:

New technologies and intelligent assistance systems have been developed, along with systems that have automated picking as well as cloud applications, digital camera systems, VR glasses and robots. They are all equipped with intelligent sensors, constantly analyze data from the immediate environment and can carry out a wide variety of activities on their own - completely automatically.

The networking of machines and products makes it possible to clearly structure the complexity of intralogistics processes and, at the same time, to fully exploit the potential of intralogistics.

While manufacturing in many factories is now state-of-the-art, intralogistics often still lags behind. Changeable production with a high degree of flexibility is only possible with modern intralogistics. Digital and automated intralogistics solutions can significantly shorten lead times. Faster deliveries, improved service and high precision ultimately ensure increasing sales.

Production logistics is often closely linked to picking within a factory, such as when goods are fed to the production and assembly lines. In automotive manufacturing, terms such as just-in-time and just-in-sequence have long been taken for granted. The modern warehouse is an integral part of the picking system, so that more than 1,000 picks per hour are quickly possible. Of course, none of this replaces people as an important resource in manufacturing, even though they generate the highest costs.

In the course of digitizing and automating their intralogistics, companies must therefore always keep flexibility and cost-effectiveness in mind.

Innovative intralogistics systems enable shorter transport times within the supply chain and utilize production space with maximum efficiency. Pallet conveyor systems, for example, which can be installed on a platform and in turn offer more space for production, have proven their worth. Transport systems such as the montrac® rail and shuttle transport system from montratec can be easily installed under the hall ceiling so that they do not take up any space on the floor. Fully automated inspection stations are monitored using artificial intelligence - faulty pallets can then be sorted out directly. Such systems can be optimally scaled and adapted to individual requirements in the production process or in warehousing.

Transport robots, driverless transport systems and adjustable lift systems in production also ensure maximum automation. With montrac®, for example, the intelligent control system 'Smart Logistic Technology' makes a higher-level control system superfluous - since each autonomously operating shuttle knows its transport destination and independently finds the optimal route to the respective transport destination.

The digitization and automation of intralogistics processes can, on the one hand, increase efficiency and capacity in the internal flow of materials, as machines can work both faster and around the clock.

On the other hand, automated and digitally networked intralogistics also leads to an increase in quality, as machine- and IT-controlled processes are usually less prone to errors. AGVs, for example, can also be used very sensibly in order picking, as they ensure a flexible, reliable and path-optimized material flow. Thanks to integrated switches, crossings and bypasses, the flexibly adaptable system layout of a monorail system enables optimal utilization of processing stations with different throughput times along the same transport route.

Autonomously operating transport shuttles create a link between the storage and work stations and independently handle both the supply and the disposal of peripheral work areas. They move fully automatically toward the correct shelf and, thanks to an integrated energy supply, can move forward autonomously without cables. Modern intralogistics systems such as montrac® from montratec represent a modular, flexibly adaptable solution that can be easily integrated into both new and existing systems.

Industry 4.0 stands for digitalization and self-control in production. By using intelligently networked systems that permanently exchange data and information and thus control themselves, production processes can be continuously optimized to sustainably save time, costs and effort. This is supported by digitally networked, intelligent Intralogistics 4.0 systems in which

• people
• systems
• machines
• products and
• IT

cooperate and communicate with each other to optimize the supply chain in the company.

The basis of digital logistics are objects and processes that organize and control themselves and are equipped with artificial intelligence. In this context, there is also talk of "smart intralogistics", in which EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), RFID, Big Data, GIPS or even cloud-based computers are used, among other things.

Only when intralogistics is also perfectly adapted to the requirements of Industry 4.0 in production or warehousing and functions smoothly is this possible with maximum efficiency.

For this reason, in the course of advancing digitization, it is almost inevitable that in-house logistics processes in all industrial sectors will also gradually evolve accordingly and digitize or automate internal processes.

In particular, factories with a large international customer base need secure intralogistics that safeguard sales. In factories of the future - so-called smart factories - all objects are to be digitally controlled - from the material to the transport systems to the containers in which the goods are transported. All objects will be networked with each other and will be able to communicate with each other, so that workpieces will move on their own to a conveyor belt and from there be transported by AGVs to where they will be further processed.

The automotive industry in particular has been relying on future-oriented, digital and intelligent intralogistics for some years now and clearly occupies a pioneering position. Intelligent automated guided vehicles and drones in warehouses help to maintain an overview and increase efficiency. Intralogistics in particular plays an important role in this respect, because the sometimes very long transport routes within warehouses often cost a lot of time and effort. This is because they not only have to allow escape routes and provide safety for employees, but also have to be wide enough for transport vehicles to fit through. This, of course, takes up a lot of free space that could be better used elsewhere. These areas should therefore be focused on first in order to create future-oriented, digital solutions.

Automated guided vehicles offer an optimal prerequisite for a sustainable retooling of intralogistics in factories. With their help, the number of incorrect and instructional trips can be significantly reduced, as these vehicles always navigate to the correct shelf and take the right thing with them. They are controlled by various technologies, such as

• precision lasers
• reflectors or even
• indication tracks

among others. While the majority of intralogistics warehouses today still use floor conveyors - including the classic forklift truck - AGVs rely on automatic programming. They work, for example, with a visual track that the vehicle follows on the way. Collisions with other vehicles or bottlenecks can be completely avoided in this way.

In the age of digitalization, modern Supply Chain Executive Systems (SES) ensure optimally networked and securely controlled logistics around the clock. Among other things, they have all the necessary interfaces to communicate with all other systems and devices in the warehouse.

Nowadays, information can also be easily saved in cloud solutions and digitally networked in this way. The data already collected is also constantly used to further optimize the supply chain. The system therefore learns and can make processes even simpler, faster and more secure in the future. The exchange of information is also guaranteed here by blockchains, since information and its changes are stored unchangeably in the data record within the blockchain when it is passed on by means of cryptography. It is also possible for blockchains to handle contractual matters fully automatically, such as billing a supplier (smart contract).

It is now very clear that logistics will undergo lasting and unstoppable change - and this applies above all to intralogistics in factories. Full or partial automation and the digitization of numerous processes are expected to make many things easier in the future. Innovative digital solutions not only enable simpler processes, but also digital management of different access points as well. With the help of modern warehouse management software that communicates directly with different warehouse technologies and IT systems, a company can be prepared for the many new requirements in the digital age.

Flexible, automated solutions and new technologies from montratec can also be excellently integrated into existing systems to contribute to maximum efficiency.

Although many companies in the logistics sector are still lagging behind somewhat, the first companies are already showing themselves to have made a complete switch to pioneering intralogistics solutions with maximum efficiency: drones, robots and automated guided vehicles can sustainably relieve a large number of employees and take over the same, monotonously running work processes from them. AGVs in particular are proving to be a particularly innovative and potent logistics solution with optimal prerequisites for digital conversion.

Thus, there is no question that digitization offers a great opportunity in intralogistics - nevertheless, it is indispensable to retain human workers as well, whom even a robot cannot completely replace. However, it is necessary to comprehensively train employees in the new processes. Only when a company is fully on board and gets everyone involved can digital logistics be successfully established. This is important not least because many workers fear for their jobs due to the increasing number of robots and other automation. Reservations and fears can be reduced while technical know-how is imparted to employees so that they can adapt their activities.

Last but not least, it is crucial that all new technologies within a company are always accompanied by careful planning. Start with small steps within your company and gradually work out a plan for possible optimization. This way, the complexity can be overviewed even furtherhing ut and the company grows in digitized processes.

By using modular intralogistics systems and perfect communication between all components, expansion can then still be carried out step by step. montratec will provide you with the technical innovations your company needs for a more efficient, higher-performance future in any case.

montrac® is the smart, advanced transport and automation system from montratec that allows you to digitally network your internal logistics and production processes with each other. Thanks to the modular system design, the entire system guarantees maximum reliability. If a shuttle does fail, it can be replaced quickly - the entire workflow is hardly affected.

In addition, the innovative sensor technology of our montrac® shuttles ensures safe and trouble-free workpiece transport. Even the transport of sensitive components is no problem. With our modular principle, which quickly adapts to new requirements, you can choose for yourself those components for your company that best suit your needs. And if something does change within your processes or procedures, take advantage of the flexibility of our products - there are no limits to modern intralogistics here.