AMRs increase efficiency and improve ergonomics at DENSO

Like most manufacturers, automotive parts maker DENSO is always looking for ways to increase efficiency and productivity. Research showed that DENSO workers were walking up to 19 km per day moving material between production and the warehouse, spending about 60% of their time pushing carts, so a more efficient process was required.

“We knew we had a lot of people that were getting paid to move parts all day long, walking carts from one place to the other,” said TIE Engineer Travis Olinger. “But if we have people that are only conveying parts, then that’s a non-value-added activity, and we had plenty of open jobs for value-added activities within the production environment.

“We wanted to pay people to make parts for us that make us money, and not pay them to move parts that cost us money.”

The engineering team knew that the cost and lack of flexibility of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) couldn’t address the company’s dynamic environment that would require regular route changes. Additional challenges included narrow aisles for manoeuvring and heavy metal parts to be transported. In the end the team settled on MiR autonomous mobile robots (AMRs).

The MiR250 had recently been introduced, and the team was attracted to its 2 m/s speed, the payload of 250 kg to handle heavy metal parts and the ability to navigate narrow spaces. Standardising on the MiR250 shelf-lifter and ROEQ carts also allowed DENSO to expand into other areas using the same cart base and customising it for each use.

The MiR robots brought significant advantages in flexibility, safety and user-friendliness, and met other DENSO requirements as well.

“MiR stood out from the ability to use REST API calls, the intuitive nature of the fleet, the ease of mapping, ease of mission creation, ease of changing locations,” Olinger said. “It was just extremely intuitive compared to the other platforms that we looked at.”

Working with MiR partner Advanced Control Solutions (ACS), DENSO was able to develop an information flow using the REST API to support on-time deliveries, manage charging and proximity cues to prioritise missions, and allow associates on the floor to call for the robots. DENSO has also integrated the robot to automatically open the door in and out of a cleanroom area, using the MiR I/O modules to send wireless signals to the roll-up door controller.

“MiR was prepared to support us, as Denso North America, from the numbers we were going to roll out,” Olinger said. “We looked at some companies that just didn’t have that same support structure, and didn’t have that history, and we didn’t think that they could keep up.

“The information sharing has been huge. It’s not just a vendor that we’ve bought something from: they have grown with us, they have become a partner and they are instrumental in how we are now expanding.”

MiR provided a week of onsite MiR Academy training, including for DENSO employees who could be groomed into super-user roles to support the project long term. MiR has also assigned a DENSO North America-specific contact, has created a group for DENSO on the MiR community site and conducts monthly meetings with DENSO.

With support from MiR and ACS to ensure a smooth rollout, DENSO achieved initial set-up in a day and the robots were deployed to production after about a week of testing. After that, DENSO engineers were able to manage most new deployments independently.

DENSO’s ROI plans for projects are typically less than two years, but the indirect cost reduction from the MiR robots replacing conveyance achieved ROI in a year or less. Within six months of project launch, DENSO was able to cover all lines in the ignition plant with MiR robots and redeploy six workers to add greater value to the company. DENSO has also seen improvements in employee morale and ergonomics, as well as overall efficiency gains and a change in company culture with an automation mindset focused on streamlined processes. This represents a major change in how the engineering team designs production lines, with how components are delivered line-side as a primary consideration right out of the gate, not something that is considered later.

Image credit: Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR)