Autonomous forklifts increase safety and efficiency at Danfoss

Warehouse and Distribution Consultant, Frank Neidhardt, is proud and impressed.

After months of preparation and testing with colleagues from different parts of the organization, he has pressed the start-button to 12 self-driving forklifts in Danfoss’ Distribution Center, Rødekro, Denmark.

The forklifts are so-called VNAs – Very Narrow Aisle Forklifts. They pick and deliver packages to and from the 12-meter tall product shelves where space is crammed. “It’s fascinating to see them work, driving fully automatically picking and delivering exactly what they are supposed to. They work fast and their error-margin is practically zero. So, they clearly help increase safety and efficiency,” says Frank Neidhardt.

He adds that Rødekro is already testing another, smaller type of self-driving forklift. If tests turn out well, these forklifts can deliver new product pallets as soon as colleagues in the packing area run out of empty ones.

The potential for self-driving forklift solutions at other Danfoss sites worldwide is big. In Danfoss Slovenia they now expect to have self-driving forklifts up and running within the next few years. The factory in Neumünster, Germany, is also looking into the possibilities.

And a very high number of Danfoss factories worldwide already use so-called AGV’s (automatically guided vehicles) and other transport robots to move components from one area of the factory to another.

Category Manager, Lars Peter Christiansen, is handling the introduction of self-driving forklifts from Danfoss Procurement side. And his mailbox and Teams feed have been full of requests from other Danfoss sites interested in learning from the project in Rødekro.

“Interest is very big – which is good because I see huge optimization potential. Self-driving forklifts, stackers, and other automatic transport vehicles are difficult not to like because of all the benefits they provide. Payback time is also extremely short because these machines help reduce costs.”

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Nice videos colleagues

[qzorn]

hold on a minute, how come these trucks are not all beat up from hitting things, can't they see anything? they keep missing I-beams as where a human would hit everyone. 🤣 😯ha ha