Mobile Robot Guide

  • Home
  • News
  • Systems / Platforms
    • Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs)
    • Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs)
    • Autonomous Forklifts
    • Drones / UAVs
    • Other Systems / Platforms
  • Markets / Industries
    • Agriculture
    • Construction & Mining
    • Consumer / Office
    • Defense / Security / Public Safety
    • Education / Research
    • Healthcare / Medical
    • Hospitality / Travel
    • Logistics / Warehouse / Transportation
    • Manufacturing
    • Retail / Wholesale
    • Energy / Utilities
    • Other
  • Applications
    • Move
      • Delivery
      • Intralogistics
    • Perform
      • Disinfecting
      • Telepresence
      • Manipulating
      • Vacuuming
      • Washing
    • Sense
      • Inspection
      • Search
      • Surveillance
      • Surveying
      • Mapping
      • Exploration
    • Other Applications
      • Development
      • Research
  • Resources
    • AMR Glossary
    • FAQ
    • Case Study
    • Find a Vendor
    • What is Robots as a Service
    • Mobile Robot Standards
    • Websites
      • The Robot Report
      • Robotics Business Review
      • Collaborative Robotics Trends
    • Webinars and Digital Events
    • Publications
      • Robotic Solutions for COVID-19
    • Newsletter
  • Events
    • 2021 Robotics Weeks
    • Robotics Summit & Expo
    • RoboBusiness Direct
    • Field Robotics Forum
    • 2022 RBR50 Awards
    • R&D 100
  • Podcast
    • Podcast Archives

Danfoss Deploys OTTO 1500 AMR for material handling

By Mike Oitzman | August 27, 2021

OTTO 1500 robot moves material at Danfoss factory

An OTTO 1500 robot moves material at Danfoss factory. | Image credit: OTTO Motors

Challenge

In 2020, the North American headquarters of Danfoss Power Solutions took a crucial first step on a five-year plant transformation to remain competitive in the global marketplace. To achieve this, Danfoss needed to improve their material and information flow throughout their facility by automating critical material handling processes.

The need to automate also stemmed from key challenges they were experiencing at the Ames, Iowa facility, including:

  • Labor shortages: Historic unemployment rates in the area
  • Employee safety: Improving the high near-miss incident rate
  • Floor layout: Limitations from existing infrastructure monuments

Tasked with finding an automation solution to address business needs, resolve key challenges, and position the company for future growth, Manufacturing Engineer Stephen Hines researched flexible automation solutions that could easily be adapted and extended in the manufacturing facility.

OTTO AMR interfaces with conveyor to acquire material.

OTTO AMR interfaces with conveyor to acquire material. | Image credit: OTTO Motors

Solution

Danfoss automated the movement of finished goods from multiple assembly lines to a fixed paint line at the facility. This had been a potential bottleneck and was a critical element of achieving plant transformation.

Stephen considered a number of material-handling options to automate the movement between the two siloed islands of automation. He quickly eliminated conveyors — the equipment would worsen the facility’s existing problem of limited floor space — and forklifts because they require more operators, adding to the labor shortage issue. After comparing AGVs and AMRs, he ruled out use of AGVs because the guide-by-tape smart carts would run into conflict with forklift operators and would require ongoing maintenance to modify routes.

Stephen ultimately decided that Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) best met the project requirements based on numerous criteria.

OTTO selection criteria

 

Assessing AMR solutions on the market, Danfoss chose the OTTO Motors’ OTTO 1500 heavy-duty AMR for five specific reasons:

  1. No physical infrastructure required with minimal upkeep
  2. Safest material handler with suite of visual indicators, leading-edge onboard sensors and forklift mimicking
  3. Intuitive experience for operators and integration with existing software
  4. Biggest payload on the market to move “a thousand pounds in one go”
  5. Dedicated technical support with detailed resources and responsive personnel

“Once we got to see the Fleet Management software in action, it was apparent—right out of the gate—that OTTO is head and shoulders above the competition. We can make the AMRs function just like our forklift operators would—in under five minutes.”

— Stephen Hines, Manufacturing Engineer, Danfoss Power Solutions

Stephen built a strong business case focused on productivity, cost savings and safety to substantiate the investment in the OTTO solution. With OTTO, plant productivity would improve considerably—increasing daily capacity and runtime as the AMRs could run 24/7.

Additionally, he compared the cost of achieving the heightened productivity using human operators to an AMR, which demonstrated that OTTO AMRs represented a superior approach for improving response time and reducing delivery lead times.

Lastly, Stephen knew that by making the facility safer for workers, Danfoss Power Solutions would recognize important complementary benefits from fewer contacts between humans and the material handling process.

To introduce the AMRs into the facility, Danfoss worked closely with the OTTO Motors team to ensure a successful implementation. In the stabilization period, Stephen developed KPIs for cycle time, scrap percentage and equipment uptime, which were tracked on a weekly and monthly basis.

Once the handoff was complete, the Danfoss team leveraged OTTO’s Fleet Manager software solution which provides extensive system logging, fleet monitoring, and performance management. This data is a key enabler of continued stabilization and optimization efforts and simplifies ongoing performance management.

“OTTO really brought to us the most reliable performance that we could see in the market. Today, people see AMRs as the connection between our assembly lines and our paint systems—we want to make that a standard of our material flow across the factory”

— Will Miller, Director of Operational Services, Danfoss Power Solutions

Results

By implementing OTTO AMRs into the Ames, Iowa facility, Danfoss was able to improve production capacity and efficiency while achieving the following results:

  • 5 fewer material handlers to be hired
  • No additional carts, forklifts or equipment needed
  • 2.8 year ROI
  • 40% internal rate of return
  • Reduced safety exposure by 70,000 hoist touches

“OTTO has given us the means to transform in the short term while creating a framework for future growth and scalability—now we can dream big.”

— Stephen Hines, Manufacturing Engineer, Danfoss Power Solutions

You may also like:

  • otto motors robots
    OTTO Motors’ autonomous mobile robots now available worldwide
  • RBR50 2021
    2021 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award Winners

  • OTTO Motors updates its heavy payload OTTO 1500 AMR
  • an aerial view of images of Chris Anker Sørensen painted on soccer pitch
    Tour du France tribute to Chris Anker Sørensen painted by…
  • Karl Wente receives new Monarch Tractor
    Monarch Tractor denied autonomous permit by Cal/OSHA
  • Melonee Wise Fetch Zebra robots
    Melonee Wise Joins the TAILOS Board of Directors

Tell Us What You Think! Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Related Articles Read More >

scallog system
Groupe Blondel to deploy Scallog AMRs at Airbus site
refraction ai autonomous vehicle in front of achick-fil-a
Chick-fil-A deploys Refraction AI last-mile delivery service
tally robot
Simbe and Wakefern Food Corp. to put Tally in stores
Prime Robotics Mobile Shelf
Allen Distribution improves warehouse productivity with Prime MobileShelf

RBR50 Innovation Awards

The Robot Report Listing Database

THE ROBOT REPORT PODCAST

July 1, 2022
Brian Gerkey from Open Robotics discusses the development of ROS

Recent Articles

  • Brian Gerkey on the success of Open Robotics and ROS
  • an aerial view of images of Chris Anker Sørensen painted on soccer pitch Tour du France tribute to Chris Anker Sørensen painted by robot
  • Anders Beck introduces the UR20; California bans autonomous tractors
  • Karl Wente receives new Monarch Tractor Monarch Tractor denied autonomous permit by Cal/OSHA
  • Melonee Wise Fetch Zebra robots Melonee Wise Joins the TAILOS Board of Directors

Latest Robotics News

Subscribe to the Mobile Robot Guide newsletter

Check out our COVID-19 resources page

Subscribe to the Mobile Robot Guide newsletter

Tweets by RoboticTips

Mobile Robot Guide
  • The Robot Report
  • Robotic Business Review
  • Collaborative Robotics
  • Field Robotics Forum
  • Healthcare Robotics
  • Robo Business
  • Robotics Summit & Expo
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search

  • Home
  • News
  • Systems / Platforms
    • Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs)
    • Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs)
    • Autonomous Forklifts
    • Drones / UAVs
    • Other Systems / Platforms
  • Markets / Industries
    • Agriculture
    • Construction & Mining
    • Consumer / Office
    • Defense / Security / Public Safety
    • Education / Research
    • Healthcare / Medical
    • Hospitality / Travel
    • Logistics / Warehouse / Transportation
    • Manufacturing
    • Retail / Wholesale
    • Energy / Utilities
    • Other
  • Applications
    • Move
      • Delivery
      • Intralogistics
    • Perform
      • Disinfecting
      • Telepresence
      • Manipulating
      • Vacuuming
      • Washing
    • Sense
      • Inspection
      • Search
      • Surveillance
      • Surveying
      • Mapping
      • Exploration
    • Other Applications
      • Development
      • Research
  • Resources
    • AMR Glossary
    • FAQ
    • Case Study
    • Find a Vendor
    • What is Robots as a Service
    • Mobile Robot Standards
    • Websites
      • The Robot Report
      • Robotics Business Review
      • Collaborative Robotics Trends
    • Webinars and Digital Events
    • Publications
      • Robotic Solutions for COVID-19
    • Newsletter
  • Events
    • 2021 Robotics Weeks
    • Robotics Summit & Expo
    • RoboBusiness Direct
    • Field Robotics Forum
    • 2022 RBR50 Awards
    • R&D 100
  • Podcast
    • Podcast Archives