French aerial lift and telehandler manufacturer Manitou has installed more Autonomous Mobile Robots – AMRs for short, at is aerial work platform plant in Candé near its Ancenis headquarters in France.
The company has been trialling three EffiBOT-XS intelligent robots or carts, from Effidence, the company with which it formed a strategic production and distribution partnership in 2020. It has now added two more units which automatically deliver components to the production lines as sensor on the line or in a work station see that they are required. All units are equipped with Effidence’s 3D-CartGRIP XS gripping which grabs and secures the stillages to the cart.
The mobile robots are all controlled by the Effidence fleet manager programme, and aim to automate tasks that were previously manual, to improve working conditions and efficiency. It is apparently easy to makes changes in order to adapt to production line changes, including location and configurations.
Manitou said: “This showcase of Industry 4.0 was commissioned at the end of 2021 to assemble Manitou Rough Terrain aerial platforms. The state of the art plant, combines automation and robotic assistance. It is now 5 AMRs, rather than 3, that are working alongside the operators. These compact AMRs, assembled by LMH, Manitou group's subsidiary dedicated to warehousing equipment, and robotised by Effidence, are equipped with a gripping module, the 3D-CartGRIP XS, which enables them to grip the load safely and to move in a perfectly stable manner.”
Michel Merceron, project manager for the new Candé plant added: "The close collaboration between Manitou and Effidence was essential for the roll-out of this project. After a necessary fine tuning phase, we have achieved the objectives set thanks to this automation, namely safer co-activity with existing flows on the site. The operators are delighted to be working with the robots, which are now part of their daily routine.
The following video shows the AMRs with the 3D Cart grip on an indoor/outdoor cart
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