On the move: AMRs in Modern Manufacturing
Technology is being applied to meet the talent shortfall for both decision making and physical tasks.
Matt Rendall, CEO of Clearpath Robotics, provided the example of a customer in Indiana which, as a result of the worker shortages, could only operate three of its four production lines. However, by leveraging its technology, they were able to reallocate staff to open up the fourth line, creating a 25% productivity increase.
Clearpath Robotics and its OTTO Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) were acquired by Rockwell Automation in October 2023 and showcased at Automation Fair. The company has a focus on production logistics in the manufacturing sector, with a focus on automotive, consumer packaged goods (CPG) and food & beverage. According to Rendall, with Otto Motor AMRs, customers are able provide a return on Investment to customers within 12-15 months, by helping companies with their movement of materials across complex and variable manufacturing environments and layouts.
However, AMRs shouldn’t just be seen as facilitating material movement. According to Cyril Perducat, Rockwell Automation’s CTO, these assets, equipped with vision systems and lasers, are mobile edge devices able to provide an additional set of sensing by collect information on their environment. One example is referenced by Perducat was of cameras taking photos of inventory and identifying bottlenecks.
To automation solution providers, such as Rockwell, the final purpose is to help their clients to achieve the intelligent factory, which includes, but is not limited to, intelligent production and intelligent logistics. The smart factory realizes the integration within the factory through the intelligent logistics system, as well as the collaboration between the supplier side and the client side, to achieve the whole process of order delivery.
The acquisition of Clearpath Robotics and its OTTO Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) expands the portfolio of Rockwell Automation to logistics. Growth for the AGV and AMRs market has accelerated post-Covid. Omdia forecasts the global Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) and AMRs markets will grow at a CAGR of 31.7% and 29.8% respectively from 2022 to 2027.
The acquisition also helps Clearpath Robotics and its OTTO AMR to understand the requirements of logistics within different traditional factories. The challenges for independent logistics equipment suppliers can be the limited domain knowledge of logistics and production processes for different manufacturing set-ups. Leveraging Rockwell’s broad domain solutions will support the integration of AMRs from an individual piece of equipment to a connected piece of the intelligent factory puzzle.
