Model for optimizing the type of integration at loading and unloading points for an AGV/AMR network in a production environment

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) are flexible and reliable options for material handling automation. While AGVs rely on tracks or predefined routes and usually require operator supervision, AMRs instead are robots which have the ability to understand and move independently in their environment. In the production field the integration level between production and logistic systems is crucial for performance and investment costs. Proper design of loading/unloading points is essential as they impact the number, level of automation, sorting/buffering level, and vehicle requirements. This work faces the specific problem of integration between the production and logistic systems from the point of view of the different levels of automation possible on the machines board between the two sectors. It presents an innovative approach that combines virtual-interactive-simulation and mathematical modeling to optimize loading/unloading points for maximum operational and economic performance. This approach simulates different scenarios and identifies the best loading/unloading points configurations optimizing the whole system performance. Four different scenarios of increasing automation are developed: pure manual case, manual buffer case, automatic buffer case, and shuttle parked at the machine case. The single cost per machine of each different scenario is evaluated as a function of the input variables of the problem, to determine whether a solution is preferable to the others given specific operational parameters. Both the case of automation with AGVs and automation with AMRs, and its consequent increase of flexibility, are considered. Lastly a specific real case study of an injection molding company is reported, to demonstrate the practical effectiveness of the developed model applied to the industrial field.