Jungheinrich has installed a semi-automated material handling solution at the chocolate manufacturer Ritter in Dettenhausen, Germany. With four EKS 215a mobile robots, manual EKX and EFX very narrow aisle trucks, and smart software, approximately 90 percent of the ground transport is automated. This includes the internal transport of approximately 37,000 pallets per year.
The heart of the solution consists of four EKS 215a automated guided vehicles (AGVs). Thanks to warehouseNAVIGATION, they navigate precisely through the warehouse and perform up to sixty transport orders per hour. Two automatic flow stations ensure short loading cycles and high availability during multi-shift operation.
The AGV fleet is supplemented by conventional EKX 516k and EFX 413 very narrow aisle trucks. Together, they create a continuous material flow, controlled by the Jungheinrich Logistics Interface. This system manages the combined operation of humans and machines, coordinates aisle changes, and prevents collisions using a traffic light system. For the transport of bulky big bags, Jungheinrich developed adjustments to the steering and special distance solutions to ensure damage-free transport.
Jungheinrich has implemented a special process to facilitate collaboration between automated and manual trucks. When a narrow-aisle truck signals an aisle change, all mobile robots are automatically guided out of the area. They are only released once the truck has returned to its aisle.
