FASTEMS LLC’s Manufacturing Management Software (MMS) brings higher intelligence for automated guided vehicle (AGV) use by overseeing all production orders and resources and scheduling every detail of this complex puzzle for timely deliveries.
In recent years the number of Fastems’ CNC automation solutions using automated guided vehicles (AGV) or autonomous mobile robots (AMR) has multiplied, and the demand is rising. Typical AGV applications include material intralogistics, delivering tools to machines, and moving machining pallets between production process phases. The common goal of all the AGV projects is timely, safe, and economical transfers of production items – and Fastems is actively developing ways to apply these technologies efficiently with CNC automation.
“Today, the majority of our customer industries are using AGVs or AMRs in some way. Whether in aerospace, defense, machine building, medical or subcontracting, there are automated vehicles in many production shops,” said Mika Laitinen, solution sales director at Fastems. “When it comes to CNC automation and AGVs or AMRs, they can be of great help in reducing manual transfers and forklift operations, reducing buffer sizes, increasing the automation level, and making production flow more predictable and reproducible.”
Fastems’ MMS schedules production based on customer orders and available production resources such as machine tools, cutting tools and raw materials then prompts the AGV’s fleet management software to perform the right transfers at the right time.
“We can ensure that all the AGV transfers are done just-in-time,” according to Laitinen. “The benefits include reduced buffer storage sizes between process phases, and employees being able to prepare the right production resources in advance to reduce machine waiting times. And, when the unexpected happens such as a tool goes missing, an urgent customer order comes in, or a machine breaks, MMS adjusts the production – including the AGV movement – so that the most urgent jobs still get done in time and all the needed resources are in place when needed.”
Learn more at www.fastems.com
