Automated guided vehicles for respiratory equipment specialist

Respiratory equipment specialist, Dahlhausen Medizintechnik GmbH commissioned Jungheinrich to automate its pallet transport between the new incoming goods area and the existing logistics area at its location in Halberstadt, Germany. The aim is to transport the large volume of goods under controlled process conditions and efficiently over long stretches. Dahlhausen delivers a full range of clinical supplies and produces respiration technology, amongst other things. The company has been working with Jungheinrich since the establishment of the Halberstadt location.

Holger Linke, managing director of Dahlhausen Medizintechnik GmbH in Halberstadt says, “We have consistently expanded over recent years. Space became limited at some point.” This meant the new incoming goods area could only be decentralised from the plant. The result was longer transport routes. “We were looking for a solution that would ensure efficient process reliability and at the same time relieve our employees from long, monotonous transports. Automated guided vehicles seemed an obvious solution,” says Linke.

Jungheinrich’s solution for Dahlhausen consisted of two ERC 213a automated guided vehicles. The trucks are Jungheinrich electric towbar stacker trucks fitted with automation and navigation components and are guided by steering software. The ERC 213a orients itself in the space using lasers and reflectors fitted along the route. Safety scanners continually check the truck’s surroundings for obstacles. This means safety is guaranteed in all directions and the truck can work in mixed surroundings with manual trucks and pedestrians.

The deployment of automated guided vehicles relieves employees from standardised routine work and lets them turn their attention to more important tasks. Automated guided vehicles help to make the most of scarce resources while also saving time and money. Thanks to automation, transport work flows also become particularly reliable and process reliability is ensured.

The Jungheinrich automated solution at Dahlhausen in Halberstadt operates as a stand-alone system. This solution can be networked at any time with the warehouse administration software used by Dahlhausen. Further automated guided vehicles can be easily added in case of future capacity expansion.