The automatic forklift travels across the production hall at walking pace and almost without a sound. It stops at the pallet depot, picks up a stack of wooden pallets and drives it all the way back and around the corner on the right to the stockpiles of the palletizers, where the pallets are filled with packs of laundry detergent and transported on to the automated high-bay warehouse. When the stock runs low, the pallet magazine sends a digital signal and the vehicle gets moving again. In the meantime, its batteries are charged through a floor-integrated system. It’s a short distance of about 50 meters between the two points. Working on this short, a route would be monotonous and exhausting for an experienced forklift driver. Instead, data streams and sensors steer the pallet shuttle. The self-driving, automated guided vehicle, or AGV for short, has been used in Henkel’s liquid detergent production in Düsseldorf since 2013.
“From the time the idea first emerged, it took a while before we were able to integrate the shuttle into live operations,” says Andreas Nover. As a production engineer, he is responsible for investment projects and technical support in liquids production in Düsseldorf. Many tests had to be carried out before the self-driving forklift met the relevant security standards to not representing a threat for people or other machines. It now goes back and forth between the different stations, also on weekends and during the night. It navigates across the production hall over at least three local “satellite points”. Sensors identify obstacles early and make sure that the shuttle moves at a safe distance from people within its assigned area.
Machines adapt to each other