Produsele lactate Tine sunt manipulate cu grija de un AGV Toyota

Despre TINE Tretten

TINE SA este cel mai mare producator, distribuitor si exportator de produse lactate din Norvegia. Scopul lor este sa le ofere consumatorilor alimente care vin cu o experienta mai sanatoasa si pozitiva. A trecut mult timp de cand exista o fabrica de lactate in aproape fiecare oras, iar acum sunt din ce in ce mai putine. Cu toate acestea, frica de inchidere nu este o problema printre cei 115 angajati de la TINE Dairy Tretten. Aici, forta de munca este in continua extindere, in timp ce se investeste in masini noi. Pe noua linii de productie se fabrica mai multe tipuri de branzeturi. Insa produsele diverse de terci sunt cele care aduc cele mai mari volume, cu 100.000 de cupe de terci pe zi.

Cifre si statistici

• Companie: Tine
• Locatie: Tretten, Norvegia
• Industrie: Lactate
• Aplicatii: transport orizontal, depozitare, depozit frigorific
• Echipamente: 30 transpalete manuale,1 reach truck automatizat

Automatizare acolo unde este posibil

In 2016, fabrica de lactate din Tretten a fost mutata intr-un depozit complet nou. Ca si in alte facilitati TINE, fluxurile au fost automatizate acolo unde a fost posibil. Pe langa shuttelurile semi-automate, rafturile gravitationale si benzile transportoare, a fost introdus si un AGV (vehicul ghidat automat) pentru a muta produsele lactate in depozitul de produse finite.

Toyota Material Handling a fost aleasa deoarece livrase deja solutii de automatizare pentru alte fabrici TINE, insa pentru prima data a fost implementat un stivuitor automat cu brat telescopic.

Sistemul Autopilot de la Toyota gestioneaza 1600 de locatii pentru paleti in rafturile gravitationale si este capabil sa opereze si in alte zone ale depozitului in timpul sezonului de varf.

Running up to 17 hours per day

For the past two years, the Tine dairy in Tretten has been working closely with Toyota Material Handling to get the automated BT Reflex reach truck introduced in their operation.

Both Toyota’s application engineer Frode Holm and Kristian Tande, department manager for warehouse operations at Tretten, emphasise that there was a very good collaboration and a good understanding that both parties needed the necessary time to get to the finish line.

Kristian Tande is very satisfied with the AGV from Toyota, which runs from five o'clock in the morning until ten o'clock in the evening. It has a capacity of 26 pallets per hour, depending on how high it has to lift. The goods with the highest turnover speed are therefore placed in the lowest locations.

Listing up the benefits

It does take longer for an AGV to retrieve and pick pallets compared to a manual truck with driver due to the narrow operating space at Tine Tretten. This reduces the truck speed to maximum 2.2 m/s and requires the necessary checks by the camera and adjustment of the fork position to ensure safe load handling – but above all, it brings a lot of benefits to Tine:

• Improved safety
  The automated reach truck is equipped with scanners for obstacle detection, has a blue spot to warn workers of its presence and has cameras to position the pallet correctly in the racking.
• Employee satisfaction
  “It relieves drivers from a very monotonous work task”, says Tande. “Sitting sideways, driving short stretches and placing pallets on the racking all day is both stressful and non-challenging.“
• Cost-effectiveness:
  Reduced personnel costs.
• Raised productivity
  The AGV runs 16 to 17 hours a day, without any lunch break or collisions. It can charge for a few minutes when there is no pallet on the conveyor and the connection with the wall-mounted charger for the Li-ion battery is completely automated.
• Less maintenance
  Compared to a conventional reach truck, it runs much smoother and quieter, without quick accelerations or decelerations. Consequently, the drive wheel only has to be replaced every 10,000 hours instead of every 2,500 hours. In the 3,000 hours the truck has run, it handled between 65,000 and 70,000 pallets, which is quite a lot compared to a manual truck.

Employee experience

The TINE employees notice that the AGV stops once in a while, not due to a technical issue, but for example when there is a small wood chip in front of one of the sensors.

Frode Holm states that workers can quickly get the truck up and running again, by driving the truck manually (all Autopilots from Toyota can be operated manually). Even though workers are notified by the sound of the truck stopping, Kristian Tande appreciates the text message notification, which is convenient when performing other work tasks

Growth requires more automation

Kristian explains that the capacity of 26 pallets per hour is sufficient on a normal production day, but during the porridge season significantly more is produced and then manual reach trucks are supporting the AGV.

Now that production has grown by around ten percent a year, Tine is considering purchasing an extra automated truck for the warehouse. This may need some space restructuring, as the warehouse was originally built for manual operation.

If they had to build a new warehouse today, they would adapt it better for automated trucks, with better quality of the floor and more space.

(The full business case was published in the Norwegian trade magazine Logistikk & Ledelse (Logistics & Management) no. 3-2020.)

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