Case Introduction
With the continuous development of the new energy industry, the lithium battery production is also undergoing a new round of large-scale upgrades. To enhance product quality and production efficiency, lithium battery enterprises are introducing intelligent equipment in various stages of production and assembly.
The process of lithium battery production, from raw materials to finished products, involves a series of manufacturing processes. In each stage, there are tasks related to material handling, transportation, as well as storage and logistics management. By leveraging robotic technology, efficiency can be significantly improved, meeting high-precision process requirements.
In this case study, the focus is on a lithium battery manufacturing company, showcasing the practical application of unmanned forklifts in different handling processes.
Project Background:
Before adopting the Multiway Robotics unmanned forklift solution, the company used manual forklifts for mechanically demanding and highly repetitive tasks, leading to high production costs. Additionally, the factory layout was complex, requiring high precision, and involved a large number of automated devices that needed to work in coordination, making manual operations challenging.
The project covered multiple indoor and outdoor areas, including retrieval points, temporary storage zones, and buffer zones. The application of unmanned forklifts was expected to significantly enhance material handling efficiency, accuracy, and flexibility, enabling full automation of the entire process within the factory.
Solution:
Multiway Robotics addressed the customer's needs by introducing pallet truck, effectively meeting material handling requirements. Upon receiving tasks from PAD (Portable Application Device), the unmanned forklift would transport full pallets of goods from retrieval points to temporary storage areas. After 48 hours of storage, it would automatically transport the goods to the buffer zone.
Challenge 1: What to do about the tight on-site layout?
The on-site material pathways and loading/unloading passages are all single lanes, resulting in limited space for the operation of unmanned forklifts. To address the issue of narrow pathways, Multiway planned a 1-meter-wide retrieval passage in the temporary storage area, enabling the separation of pedestrian and vehicle traffic within the region.
Challenge 2: How to manage frequent indoor-outdoor scene transitions?
Transitioning from indoor to outdoor environments poses more complex challenges for unmanned forklifts, such as outdoor navigation and positioning, as well as unexpected weather conditions. Leveraging advanced laser navigation and positioning, the unmanned forklifts can adeptly handle intricate environments, facilitating efficient coordination between indoor and outdoor operations.
Challenge 3: How to address condensation resulting from temperature transitions?
The temperature in the tempering room is 45°C, higher than in other areas, leading to condensation when the unmanned forklifts enter or exit the room. Prolonged exposure to condensation could impact their operational lifespan. To tackle this, Multiway established a dew removal waiting area at the entrance of the tempering room and equipped the robots with special dew removal devices on their bodies, ensuring their long-term effectiveness.
Challenge 4: How to handle the requirement for a 48-hour storage period?
Goods need to be stored in the temporary storage area for a duration of 48 hours before being transported to the buffer zone. Multiway's proprietary RCS scheduling system automatically issues transport instructions after the goods have been stored for 48 hours, eliminating the need for manual intervention.
Multiway Robotics offers an integrated software and hardware delivery platform that seamlessly integrates with customers' upstream systems such as WMS (Warehouse Management System), MES (Manufacturing Execution System), and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). This allows for efficient vehicle scheduling and easy task dispatching, ensuring the optimal solution for logistics and efficiency, while enabling end-to-end tracking and refined management of cargo information.
Furthermore, Multiway Robotics provides an open WCS (Warehouse Control System) standard interface, connecting all the devices throughout the entire process, including elevators, automatic doors, conveyor lines, and more.
Project Benefits:
According to feedback from the on-site implementation of the unmanned forklift solution, the efficiency of material handling and product qualification rate has significantly improved. The solution has achieved regional unmanned handling and seamless equipment integration, resulting in reduced labor costs.
By adopting Multiway Robotics' intelligent logistics solution, the lithium battery production process's material handling and storage requirements are effectively met through automation, digitization, and intelligent processes. This leads to increased production efficiency, enhanced product quality, reduced operational costs, establishment of closed-loop factory data, and overall advancement in the manufacturing sector.
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Email: sales@mw-robot.com
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