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Pioneering perspectives: “FORVIA doubles its AMR fleet after achieving an 11-month ROI on their initial investment”
Written by Matt, Services Delivery Manager at OTTO by Rockwell Automation.
The automotive industry—one of the first and largest sectors to manufacture at scale—was also an early adopter of automation technologies. It’s no surprise, then, that this industry has mastered the strategic deployment of autonomous material handling solutions to drive productivity gains. As a Field Services Manager during the deployment of OTTO autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) at FORVIA, a Fortune 500 leading Tier 1 supplier of automotive parts, I saw first hand how material handling automation can truly transform operations inside automotive facilities.
FORVIA introduced AMRs to improve flexibility on their constantly changing assembly lines
Floor space is at a premium in all automotive plants, and this was certainly the case in FORVIA’s Fraser, Michigan facility. As the 9th largest automotive parts manufacturer in the world, FORVIA is a household name in the automotive industry, manufacturing automotive components for Ford, GM, Chrysler, and BMW. In fact, 1 in 3 automobiles are equipped by FORVIA!
In 2018, this manufacturer sought to overcome the challenges created by traditional material handling equipment by finding a safer, more reliable solution with a smaller footprint.
FORVIA’s line has a lot of moving parts, with entire aisles appearing and disappearing daily depending on the amount of product produced. Relying on just-in-time delivery of small batches of parts, FORVIA needed a highly flexible solution.
Image 1: Aisles were mainly composed of materials, which meant they often appeared and disappeared as product was moved and used.
When evaluating material handling solutions, they determined that automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and conveyors were both inflexible and required a large footprint that was costly and complicated to change as frequently as would be required. Since every square foot of their facility needed to be earning money, it was essential that their chosen solution maximized floorspace, productivity, and flexibility. FORVIA ultimately decided that AMRs would meet this requirement.
Image 2: Two OTTO 100 AMRs moving through the facility.
FORVIA takes ownership of their AMR deployment, partnering with OTTO for hands-on training and support
When FORVIA was evaluating AMR solutions, they knew their pilot deployment would eventually scale and they recognized the importance of selecting a vendor that optimized for both a small deployment and a large one. FORVIA designed their project criteria to be future-proof as their workflow requirements grew. When evaluating AMR vendors, FORVIA sought the best-in-class fleet management software that was capable of productively orchestrating AMRs at scale.
FORVIA started their deployment with seven OTTO 100 AMRs to move material from their warehouse to various automation cells on the factory floor.
Video 1: FORVIA deployed OTTO 100 AMRs to move automotive components in stacked totes around the factory floor.
Prior to the deployment at FORVIA, OTTO was almost exclusively deploying the AMRs themselves at customer sites. Anticipating the need to deploy many more AMRs, FORVIA recognized the potential cost savings and value in learning the system inside and out, and decided to take the lead in deploying the solution. This certainly came with challenges, as this process was new to OTTO as well, but together, we prevailed.
Now, OTTO has an entire team dedicated to training customers and documenting common layouts for workflows. Over the past six years, we have developed numerous features for our software that ensures it is quick to learn and easy to commission. We have FORVIA to thank for driving this key differentiator in our award-winning software.
FORVIA doubles AMR fleet after achieving ROI in just 11 months
The first seven AMRs deployed at the Michigan facility were already transforming FORVIA’s material handling productivity and they recognized other workflows that could be automated as well. Pleased with their deployment, FORVIA expanded their fleet three times over the next two years.
One additional AMR was deployed in 2021, four more in early 2022, and finally, two more in late 2022. In total, FORVIA now has 14 OTTO 100 AMRs deployed and running, with the original seven still operating in the facility today.
In addition to improving safety and flexibility in the facility’s 24/6.5 operation, FORVIA has achieved an 11-month ROI and a 15% reduction in work cell size.
Video 2: FORVIA’s automation story, filmed prior to the deployment of the most recent six AMRs.
FORVIA is one of many automotive OEM and tier suppliers that have had their material movement process transformed by AMRs. Discover which workflows mission-critical automotive manufacturers are automating with OTTO to improve flexibility, efficiency and safety in our webinar, “Driving efficiency: How AMRs are advancing the automotive industry.”
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