OMRON Fast and safe transport on the factory floor User Manual

Fast and safe transport
on the factory floor

Improved efficiency and seamless material
supply: in Austria, Philips is automating material
transport by

using autonomous mobile robots

from OMRON.

Jaqueline, Chiara and Sepp have been helping Philips
Austria GmbH in Klagenfurt, Austria, with the internal
transport of materials for the past two years. They are
very special colleagues because they are autonomous
mobile robots (AMRs). To increase the acceptance of
these new robot colleagues, the employees at the plant
gave them their names. The LD mobile robots from
OMRON are used in combination with solutions from an
OMRON partner, EM Technologies.

The migration from manual transport processes to mobile
robots is part of a broad modernisation project at Philips.
In its move towards Factory 4.0, the group relies step
by step on LEAN mechanisation; digitisation tools in
production and the offi ce; predictive maintenance and
quality; and automated workfl ows. The primary goal of all
of these individual projects is Smart Manufacturing.

Philips is automating material transport by using autonomous mobile robots.

Personal care with hair and beard trimmers

Founded in 1881 in the Netherlands, Philips employs more
than 73,000 people worldwide, some 300 of whom work
in Klagenfurt, Austria. This is the location of one of fi ve
worldwide Philips competence centres for personal care.
The Philips site in Klagenfurt produces, among other items,
over 23 million linear cutting elements for hair and beard
trimmers each year. These beard trimmers have lift-and­trim technology: the beard hair is fi rst lifted with the help
of special trimming attachments and then evenly cut off
by the double-acting stainless steel blades.

The migration from manual transport processes to mobile robots is part of a broad modernisation project at Philips.

Project goals: save time, increase eciency, and make
better use of employee skills

The transportation of these cutting elements in the
Klagenfurt plant was carried out for many years by
machine operators. This was a time-consuming and
inefficient process that needed to be automated in order
to relieve the burden on employees and optimise Overall
Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). This would free employees
so that they would have more time to use their skills on
other, more creative and demanding tasks.

The Future Factory programme at Philips started in 2017.
“Back then, we wanted to show our colours very quickly
and initiate the first smart manufacturing projects. The
AMRs fit well here because they can be implemented
quickly,” reports Siegfried Seufzer, Operations Manager,
Production Personal Care at Philips Klagenfurt.

Autonomous system

When choosing the right robots, the project team
compared different providers, but quickly decided on
OMRON. “The dimensions of the robot had to be small,

and that‘s where their devices fit best. We wanted a system
without tracks because it takes up less space. In addition,
the AMR can easily be linked to SAP, which was another
of our requirements. The interfaces were all there. We also
already knew OMRON. We were able to build on that,”
Seufzer comments.

Further advantages in favour of the OMRON robots
included their ease of use, the relatively high transport
speeds, and their functional reliability in confined areas.
If an AMR ever comes across an employee who is in its
way, the robot can warn them. This never involves loud
beeps or a warning tone. The OMRON devices have voice
functions; their voices are similar to those in a navigation
system.

AMRs can transport up to 70 kilos per trip

The material transport by the employees previously took
about 15 minutes a day: “Valuable time that can be used
far more sensibly,“ says Seufzer. In this context, calculations
have shown that the use of an AMR can increase the OEE
by 3%.