RADIO DATA SYSTEMS AS A KEY PILLAR IN INTRALOGISTICS

In industry and trade, in-house material flow has gained such a high importance that in 2004 the VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau = Mechanical Engineering Industry Association) introduced the term “Intralogistics“ as a clear differentiation to logistics in the exterior such as e.g. rail and road. Intralogistics is characterized by a particularly high degree of automation of processes with usually wireless communication of transport equipment (“intelligent warehouse and storage“) associated with high demands on safety and availability in view of frequently confined and indistinct space conditions. For this reason, data radio transmission has become a key pillar of intralogistics; its ability to replace wires has decisively supported growth in intralogistics. Relevant applications are amongst others known under the terms automated guided vehicle or electric monorail conveyor.

The provision of component parts or comprehensive assembly groups (for production sequences) or objects of any kind (for shipping or warehouse processes) must be guaranteed reliably even in case of indistinct, narrow and also varying space conditions. In this process, safety and availability are the most important criteria, making high demands on control and drive technology of all intralogistics components. This includes also radio data transmission applied for wireless operation which Schildknecht AG in Murr has addressed for 35 years with high intensity. The core competence is the highest reliability of the radio link to avoid downtimes. That is achieved with the patented-registered data pre-processing technology. A very particular characteristic of this company is its business model in which the development of innovative devices and project-specific application consultancy feature the same value.

John Deere automates a lot of production processes, one is for example the tire mounting using an electric monorail conveyor.

1. The Master is located in a central control cabinet. One Master can be connected with up to 8 Slaves. The range within Bluetooth is up to 300m.

2. In applications like electric monorail conveyors, automated guided vehicles (AGV) or storage system the Slaves are located decentrally in cabinets.