Webb was back with another innovation in 2006. “Our goal is to have a world-class mass production line within the next seven to 10 years,” he says. “And, with production volumes rising, we’re getting to the point where we will be able to go into mass production mode, like a lift truck, and bring the price down to a point where you can’t ignore them in distribution environments.” That includes carts that can move loads of up to 5,000 pounds, Stewart adds. “A smart cart is now in the $15,000 range,” says Stewart. Today, carts are a significant reason for the rise in the number of AGV units being produced every year. “If your production needs change, it’s very easy to move the tape and create a new layout for the line.” “With the right kind of frame, the cart can move an assembly from one workstation to another without bolting conveyor to the floor,” says Stewart. Over time, AGCs have evolved into flexible, moving production lines. Webb initially promoted them to the auto industry as an alternative to tuggers to deliver parts to the line. “We believed we had come up with a low-cost solution that reduced customers’ costs for getting into AGVs,” says Stewart. Conventional AGV makers dismissed them as a novelty. Where an AGV used a roller bed or forks to carry a load, a cart was designed to move a frame that held the product it was moving.Ĭarts didn’t make much of a splash at the show. An AGC was basically an AGV stripped down to its core: A simple, light-duty platform designed to follow magnetic tape and deliver relatively light loads of around 1,200 pounds from point A to point B. Webb had been toying with the design since 2002, according to Brian Stewart, president and co-CEO of the Daifuku Webb Holding Co., which now owns Webb. Webb introduced a new type of vehicle to the broad market: the automatic guided cart or AGC. It is a story told through the product introductions at the materials handling shows, going back to 2005.Īt the 2005 ProMat, Jervis B. Still, these new developments are hard to ignore. They can justify an AGV that is user friendly, non-intimidating and easy to maintain.” “But in my world, most end users can’t justify them. “There are a lot of great new developments out there from other companies,” adds Garry Koff, president of Savant Automation. Conventional AGV providers like Murata Machinery USA and Savant Automation are busier than ever: “There are still plenty of pallets around, and we’re seeing plenty of demand for conventional fork-style AGVs that interface with our automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS),” says Tom Meyers, national sales manager for Murata’s logistics and automotive division. In fact, Longacre contends that even the interest of lift truck manufacturers in the AGV space is a blast from the past: In the late 1990s, FMC Technologies, JBT’s predecessor, teamed up with Hyster to develop the HyBot, an automated walkie pallet truck. “The way they look and what they can do has changed, but there’s nothing in that definition that didn’t apply 10 years ago.” “We define an AGV as a computer-controlled mobile robot used to move materials around a facility,” Longacre says. and chair of the automatic guided vehicle product section at the Material Handling Industry of America (See 60 seconds with Mark Longacre, p. In some respects, the definition of an AGV has not changed in years, argues Mark Longacre, marketing manager for JBT Corp. Lift truck manufacturers are also getting into the game, including Toyota Material Handling USA, Crown, Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America (MCFA) and The Raymond Corp.Īll these new vehicles may have you wondering: Just what is an AGV? Look closer, however, and you find that each of these disparate vehicles shares something in common: They open up potential new opportunities for the market if end users embrace them.

What’s more, new players have entered the market, such as Kiva Systems, RMT, Seegrid, SI Systems, INRO and Kollmorgen. Recent ProMat and North American materials handling shows have seen the introduction of automatic guided carts (AGCs), mobile robots and, more recently, hybrid lift trucks to the AGV portfolio.

Agv robots at toyota manufacturing