Autonomous Transport Vehicles Further Increase the Degree of Automation With the Help of "Sisi And Franz"

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SIGMATEK GmbH & Co KG

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The Austrian company Sigmatek produces its modular electronic components at its headquarters near Salzburg. By switching intralogistics to a driverless transport system with application-specific autonomous transport vehicles (AGVs) developed by Melkus Mechatronik, Sigmatek was able to further increase the level of automation.

The digitalization and automation of production are prerequisites for the competitiveness of manufacturing companies in globalized markets. At the same time, they significantly contribute to the availability of affordable products for consumers.

Future-Oriented Automation Systems

The owner-managed family business Sigmatek, based in Lamprechtshausen near Salzburg (Austria), covers the entire spectrum of industrial automation as a full-service provider of process, motion, and safety controls, as well as drives and visualization systems. Just like the object-oriented engineering and real-time software Lasal, the company develops and produces the entire range of industrial-grade electronic products in-house, with the exception of motors.

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This, and thanks to our flexibility as a medium-sized company, allows us to successfully compete in a market with significantly larger competitors. In line with our business purpose and given the high location costs, we aim for a high degree of automation in our production.

Alexander Melkus, Managing Director of Sigmatek

Intralogistics Ties Up Workforce

For a long time, intralogistics—the in-house material supply to workstations and machines as well as the transport of processed materials—was considered economically unfeasible to automate. Production employees had to carry out these tasks themselves, interrupting their primary work. "This was not only an inadequate occupation for our qualified personnel, who are already hard to find," says Gerald Haas, Vice President Operations at Sigmatek GmbH & Co KG. "When these specialists spend valuable time on unproductive side tasks such as internal material transport, it also represents a significant limitation to productivity."

Long Paths on Two Levels

This led to the desire for a main-time parallel, automated transport system using autonomous guided vehicles. As a first step, the transport of fully assembled control system modules from the assembly cells to the finished goods warehouse or, if needed, to a quality assurance workstation was to be automated. The transport routes can span around 328 feet. Additionally, the nine stations in total are spread across two floors. Therefore, the vehicles need to use an elevator to switch floors.

Main-Time Parallel Transport

To alleviate the workload of the existing team, Sigmatek launched a pilot project with an autonomous guided vehicle (AGV) system featuring two vehicles for transporting Euroboxes in the assembly area. Melkus Mechatronic emerged as the winner from the evaluation of various AGV manufacturers. The selection criteria included not only the expected high service quality due to geographic proximity. In addition to the manufacturer's many years of experience, Sigmatek was impressed by the compact, agile vehicles of the Melkus Q40 type. The AGVs, measuring just 16 × 16 inches, do not require installed navigation points thanks to the SLAM navigation (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) developed by Sigmatek.

They can rotate on the spot—even under a fixed load—and operate in extremely confined spaces. Additionally, they can be pushed aside effortlessly, ensuring that the aisle they travel in retains its function as an escape route. Using a mechatronic unit developed in-house by Sigmatek, the floor selection of the freight elevators was automated without interfering with the elevator's own control system. This enables the AGV system to autonomously operate the elevator. Travel orders are issued via control terminals at the transfer stations. Even this first automation step has led to a significant productivity gain. The autonomous transport system completes more than 50 trips per day.

This frees up our production employees for their core tasks and helps them maintain focus. Thus, several person-hours daily can flow directly into production.

Gerald Haas, Vice President Operations, Sigmatek

Specifically for Electronics Manufacturing

This success suggests automating the loading and unloading of the SMT lines with PCB magazines and Euroboxes via AGVs as well. SMT stands for Surface Mount Technology, a process in which circuit boards are automatically assembled, soldered, and tested on both sides with surface-mountable components. For this, the electronic assemblies pass through the line twice consecutively.

This automation step was intended to be significantly larger. While the travel orders for the AGVs in the assembly area were issued via control terminals at the transfer stations, in this case, the trips were to be initiated on-demand through a connection to the ERP software. Additionally, material transfer was not to be done manually; instead, the vehicles were to deliver the empty circuit boards in a job-controlled manner and pick up the completed electronic assemblies. The vehicles also needed to be designed to be ESD-compliant to avoid damaging the sensitive electronic assemblies through electrostatic discharge.

In just six months, Melkus Mechatronic developed the Melkus Rack Stacker BLS4060 in close collaboration with Sigmatek. "With this dynamic small AGV, we didn't create a custom special solution but a series product," emphasizes Ing. David Barth, Head of Design and Development at Melkus Mechatronic GmbH. "It meets requirements that we encounter everywhere in electronics manufacturing or precision mechanics."

Agile in Narrow Aisles

The Melkus Rack Stacker BLS4060 is suitable for the transport and handling of all standard PCB magazines as well as classic Euroboxes up to a size of 16 × 24 inches. The extremely short development time was made possible by the consistently modular design of all vehicles from Melkus Mechatronic. It was developed based on the proven compact platform AGV Melkus C4060. The LiFePO4 batteries enable an uninterrupted operating time of up to eight hours.

An extremely small footprint of 28 × 27 inches enables the autonomous transport vehicle to navigate in tight spaces. “The vehicles have to share the aisles with pedestrians here,” explains Gerald Haas. “Since they can be pushed aside effortlessly after an emergency stop, they even retain their function as escape routes.”

Automated Load Transfer

For load transfer, the AGV specialists were able to rely on field-tested components. Completely new, however, is the innovative lift system of the Melkus Rack Stacker. It allows the flexible transfer of transport goods at varying heights from 13 to 71 inches. In line with the modular concept of Melkus Mechatronic, it is equipped as a mechatronic unit with standalone control. Despite one of the two LIDAR scanners being mounted at the topmost point, the innovative AGV, with a total height of 77 inches, fits through any standard door.

The precise and efficient transfer takes place on both sides via an integrated conveyor belt system with clamping jaws to grip the load carriers. Since the Melkus Rack Stacker can rotate on the spot, load transfer can be efficiently executed even in confined spaces. An integrated RFID scanner enables the automatic identification of the containers.

Like all AGVs from Melkus Mechatronic, the BLS4060 utilizes automation technology from Sigmatek. This extends not only to the CPUs, displays, and electronic modules but also to the navigation software. They operate with SLAM navigation under the control of the intelligent Traffic Control System (TCS)—both developments by Sigmatek. This system is connected to the ERP software and warehouse management. It can translate data from material management into travel orders. "To enable the additional functionalities of the Melkus Rack Stacker, we expanded the TCS," explains Gerhard Veldman, the Sigmatek application engineer responsible for the development of Sigmatek TCS. "It now considers the height of the storage location and an offset in all directions. This resulted in TCS 3D."

Highest Acceptance for Sisi And Franz

The installation at Sigmatek has not yet reached its final stage. Additional investments are still required at the transfer stations. Nevertheless, the benefits are already very apparent. Currently, the correct racks are automatically delivered to the SMT lines based on orders from the ERP system and from there directly to the correct storage location or an inspection workstation. "This not only relieves our employees of unpopular side tasks but also helps to avoid errors," notes Gerald Haas. "Moreover, the elimination of the previous intermediate storage in the production hall has improved workplace quality and enabled the expansion from two to three SMT lines."

Among the affected employees, there is a high level of acceptance, as Sigmatek involved them in the project from the very beginning to generate enthusiasm for this forward-looking technology. They were already familiar with the reliability of the AGVs from the Melkus Q40. To better integrate the Melkus Rack Stacker, the vehicles were given the names of the former imperial couple Sisi and Franz after an internal competition. This made the new robotics duo not only a part of Sigmatek's intralogistics but also a valuable part of the team.

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