Automated guided vehicle (AGV)

An AGV system is controlled by a central fleet controller that accepts orders, calculates routes and coordinates the vehicles. At Schaeffler, this is done by the cloud-based SYNAOS Intralogistics Platform, provided as software as a service. The AGVs connect to a central message broker that also links production machines, fire alarm systems, doors and traffic lights. The result is one shared architecture instead of a separate fleet manager for each fleet and each site.

VDA 5050 is a standardised interface through which automated guided vehicles communicate with a central fleet controller, regardless of the manufacturer. Operators therefore do not tie themselves to a single hardware supplier. ZF uses it to coordinate a mixed fleet from different suppliers at several sites. At Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles in Hanover, more than 135 devices, underride robots from MLR and tugger trains from Linde, communicate with the SYNAOS platform via VDA 5050.

Yes, provided all vehicles connect to the same fleet controller via a common interface. At Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles in Hanover-Stöcken, almost 100 underride robots and 40 automated tugger trains supply the assembly lines with bulk material, vehicle parts and body parts, including just-in-sequence deliveries. All vehicles communicate with the SYNAOS platform via VDA 5050. They move 9,000 racks a day, and the fleet covers around 300,000 kilometres a year.

Intralogistics automation can trigger transport orders when sensors record fill levels and storage spaces and a platform sends the order to the AGV system once a threshold is reached. ORGATEX uses optical storage-space and kanban sensors that detect pallets, containers or cartons. The data travels via Thread or industrial cellular networks to the ORGATEX Cloud, which is connected to ERP and MES via APIs. Missing supplies or delayed pick-ups become less frequent.