Building on its initial deployment of four Dematic Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), Lactalis Australia has invested in an additional AGV for its fleet, in a bid to boost warehouse-wide efficiency at its Lidcombe Milk Site in NSW.
With the addition of a fifth AGV to operations, Lactalis is now able to expand automation to more areas within the warehouse. All five AGV units will work cohesively together, with the flexibility for each of them to operate within different areas of the warehouse to retrieve products ready for dispatch.
Kristian Brennan, National Logistics Optimisation Manager at Lactalis says the transition into site-wide automated operations with AGVs has helped Lactalis to significantly streamline its operations.
“After already experiencing major improvements to productivity with our initial adoption of Dematic’s AGVs in 2019, this new addition to the fleet will allow us to further automate our operations in both inbound and outbound zones within the warehouse,” he says.
AGVs are an innovative automated solution that use sensors and laser scanners to navigate with precision for safety around workers and any obstacle. They are powered by Lithium-Ion batteries and can drive themselves onto charging floor plates at times of inactivity to be fully charged in just 2 hours.
Lactalis Australia’s fleet of AGVs manage the transportation of pallets of milk at the Lidcombe site and are capable of lifting loads of up to 1.2 tonnes to a height of six metres. Additionally, the AGVs are well suited to working at the site’s chilled environment, which has a temperature of just 2 to 4 degrees Celsius.
AGVs are capable of operating 24/7 in both small and large spaces and managing tight traffic at speeds of up to 1.7 metres per second.