GEBHARDT KARIS®

By using KARIS^®, employees are relieved of simple as well as recurring handling tasks enabling them to focus on higher-value work. This improves operational productivity and reduces operating costs. Materials arrive on time at the next work station which improves efficiency and process reliability.

With KARIS^®, your employees can concentrate on the essentials and can devote a higher proportion of their abilities to creating value. Furthermore, ergonomics are improved and employees are relieved of recurring tasks, some of which involve heavy work. Satisfaction and motivation are improved. In addition, this improves value-added by eliminating long walking distances.

Material in current stock is loaded onto and unloaded from the AGV manually. To prevent the AGV from having to wait and lose time, a transfer station can also be used here, freeing up the AGV (see below).

• Transport between workstations within a production environment
• Transport to quality assurance facilities
• Picking and transport to the workplace (e.g. order picking of orders or assembly kits)
• Transport from incoming goods or to outgoing goods
• Supply & disposal of materials on a production line
• Consolidation of material flows through the AGV and provision at workplaces

KARIS^® can automate transport between workplace and machine, saving employees valuable time. This dispenses with repetitive tasks, enabling employees to focus on activities that create more added value. Materials arrive continuously at the next work station which improves efficiency and process reliability. Ergonomics are also improved through the elimination of long walking distances.

• Interlinking of workstations and CNC machines
• Connection of measuring and control stations
• Supply & disposal to/from an automated production line
• Supply & disposal to/from robot cells

KARIS^® vehicles automated transport between machines. This and the automatic transfer processes mean that all handling is performed entirely without personnel. Machine requirements are communicated fully automatically and are then processed immediately. No requirement notifications are overlooked, which eliminates waiting times.

Employees can focus on value-creating activities and make full use of their aptitudes to better contribute to value creation. This cuts operating costs and improves efficiency and process reliability.

• Interlinking of CNC machines
• Interlinking of CNC machines with QA machines
• Interlinking of robot cells
• Palettising of packaging machines / stretchers

Automated inventory systems significantly increase the efficiency of storage tasks. However, these systems cannot be viewed in isolation because they also need materials to be supplied to and removed from them. Very frequently, this work is performed by people. By using the KARIS^® ATV, these handling operations can be automated, enabling employees to focus on work that adds greater value. In this way, Production & Logistics grow together much more closely.

• Transport of pallets from incoming goods to an automated high-bay storage facility
• Transport from high-bay storage to production
• Transport of order-picked containers to production
• Buffering and disconnection of semi-finished goods in an automated storage system
• Space-saving storage of materials in circulation, available at all times. Valuable space on the shop floor is freed up and there is no need to search for material. Inventories are recorded and managed transparently.
• Sequencing of materials using an automated inventory system

GEBHARDT's intelligent energy management is the basis of an efficient material flow within a KARIS^® fleet. Depending on the battery charge and fleet utilisation, the cross-fleet energy management system runs the ATVs when needed to one of its fully automatic charging stations. In this way, possible process bottlenecks are bypassed at an early stage and the accumulator of the individual ATVs is operated in the battery-optimised state of charge (SOC). In combination with the demand-based charging current adjustment, depending on the current battery charge and process-dependent utilisation, smart energy management enables a long-lasting and powerful automated guided vehicle.

GEBHARDT FleetControl is a decentralised fleet management system that provides a robust and cost-efficient solution for the optimisation of material flows. The intelligence of the AGV is mirrored on all vehicles rather than on central server systems. For the user, this decentralisation means cost savings in the acquisition process, as well as low-maintenance operation during service life. In addition, driving jobs can be completed even if the fleet loses contact with the WLAN. This cost-effective total package ensures a smooth and robust material flow for the user.

The GEBHARDT KARIS^® is an intrinsically safe system. Laser scanners handle spatial orientation as well as various safety measures. The vehicle has 360° all-round visibility using two diagonally offset sensors. They are an essential component and serve to avoid collisions with obstacles and people. At the same time, they form the basis of a safety concept. In a dynamic environment, the vehicles adjust their protective fields according to speed. Depending on the process, obstacles can be avoided by a wide margin, ensuring a smooth flow of materials.  If the perimeter of a protected area is crossed, the KARIS stops immediately and does not restart until the protected area has been cleared. This assures safe man-machine collaboration without the risk of collision.