A manufacturer’s solution that stacks up well

Overview
A leading global manufacturer of construction equipment, locomotives and engines is a new client for Cherry’s Industrial Equipment. The company, with more than 60 locations in the United States and many more globally, came to us with a particular challenge. It uses AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles) to transport bulk containers throughout one of its facilities in Southeastern United States.
 
The containers are emptied by worker-operators at different locations throughout the facility for use at their workstations. The AGVs deliver full containers to a work cell, and retrieve the empty containers on a call basis, and then bring them to a location to be stacked, and ready for shipping back to the tier supplier facility.
 
The company sought a more efficient process for the points between where the AGVs retrieve the empty containers and their final loading/stacking position, one requiring less human intervention. Cherry’s Account Manager Jordan Smith worked directly with this global manufacturer to develop and implement the solution the company sought.


The Challenge
The AGVs retrieve the empty containers and transport them to another point in the facility where they are prepared for shipment. This process was slow, requiring many touches and operator interactions to stack the containers in groups of eight on a trailer. The AGVs could bring them to a certain point, but then workers would be required to step in and complete the process. In addition to the time required for human interaction (and on a busy production floor these containers could be emptied and needed for re-stacking multiple times in any given hour), the manufacturer was aware of the increased potential for worker injury with so many points of human contact.  The company sought to reduce the risk of injury and increase its production line efficiency.

Under this system, an efficiency challenge is that on a busy production floor it could require human intervention every five or ten minutes to stack the containers.


The Solution
Jordan Smith and Cherry’s worked with the manufacturer’s team to develop an updated automation system for them to achieve their objective.
 
Jordan says, “We customized a design for this client because every facility’s needs are different.” The solution included a container dispenser with the capacity to accumulate or store containers, and the solution included adding conveyors on the front and back side, which changes the system from a dispenser to an accumulator. This was a custom-design for this client.
 
With this design, the AGVs pick up the empty bulk containers throughout the facility, one at a time, and bring them to the in-feed conveyor. Once placed on this conveyor, they feed into the container/stacker one at a time. When the stacker has reached a capacity of eight containers, the stack would proceed out of the machine and onto the exit conveyor, where multiple stacks of eight containers can be stored at the same time. Then the workers can pick up a full stack of eight and drive them into a trailer from the dock, for transport out of the facility. This eliminates many manual touches and provides an easy solution for the AGVs to simply drop a container on the conveyor, with the equipment handling the rest of the sequence before pickup.
 
Without this system, employees would need to manually stack the containers with forklifts.


The Results
Automation reduces much of the need for human hands to be involved in this process, particularly in picking up and restacking the containers. Workers drop at one side of the conveyor, and from there the system handles the transport. The return on investment for this system is many hours of human labor saved, an improved efficiency throughout the plant, and a reduction of the chance for worker injury in lifting and stacking containers.


Conclusion
Jordan says, “Our consultative process enabled us to work with the manufacturer’s team, including engineers, to design a system to further automate their production line. By working closely with the client, we were able customize a design that would fit the needs of their facility and help them achieve their goals. Our hope is that we will have the chance to assist them with their other location as needs