End-of-line automation solutions

Apart from cost efficiency, an important warehouse management issue is safety. The human factor often causes risks and accidents that are hard to foresee. These can be limited effectively through Elettric 80’s custom-made, end-of-line automation solutions.

The systems can automate parts, or the whole, of the end-of-line process for clients within the fast-moving consumer-goods sectors, from palletising of finished product, to stretch wrapping of pallets and storage/retrieval in the warehouse. Compared to work environments with manual, diesel-powered forklift trucks, Freeway environments are noticeably safer, due to reliable technology, calmer and free from exhaust fumes.

The transports within the warehouse are carried out by laser guided vehicles (LGVs) equipped with advanced safety technology such as proximity laser scanning, which continuously scans the immediate surrounding area, dividing it into two safety zones. When an obstacle is detected in the outer zone, the LGV slows down. If the obstacle remains and enters the inner zone, the vehicle stops completely until the obstacle is removed.

Sensors in the vehicles’ forks and around the vehicles will furthermore control their exact position when cargo is picked up and unloaded. In addition to the safety provided by this technology, a LGV is never tired or distracted and never speaks on a mobile phone or radio while driving.

In the Freeway Systems, robots palletise the goods in a stable pattern which the robotic stretch wrappers secure, in turn providing very stable pallets. The risk of goods collapsing on the pallet due to internal instability is thereby reduced to a minimum and such pallets resist even block storage in a safe way, especially when performed by LGVs.