Axel Springer, the major German publishing group has just completed the official sign off of a logistics system at its major newspaper printing facilities at Ahrensburg, near Hamburg. Rocla Robotruck built the automated guided vehicle system, which forms a vital part of the overall system supplied by its partner, Man Roland.

The logistics system is part of a major continuing investment in upgrading Axel Springer's large newspaper plant. Ahrensburg produces a number of national daily and regional papers including Die Zeit and Bild, and every day the plant prints in excess of 5 million newspapers.

Central role
Rocla's automated guided vehicle system is central to the logistics system as it ensures that paper reels are in the right place at the right time. Because of the nature of newspaper production this means that the robotic vehicles have to be available 24 hours a day. Pekka Paavilainen, project manager at Rocla Robotruck, explains, "We were a strategic partner in planning the whole logistics system. An automated guided vehicle system is a flexible and price competitive solution when compared to other options."

Stephan Wellnitz, an engineer at Axel Springer's Ahrensburg plant who works with the printing operation, points out that the plant already had an older wire guided robotic vehicle system as part of its previous logistics system. "We sought to benefit from the latest advances and wanted a better grade of flexibility. Rocla and Man Roland had the solution for us."


Flexibility is important
Though the number of newspapers produced each day is similar, the actual production run can vary dramatically, according to the size of the newspapers. This determines how many printing machines will run and the paper requirements. The logistics system has to cope with those daily schedule changes.

The logistics system sends instructions to Rocla's host control system, which determines the most efficient way to manage the Automated Guided Vehicles, AGVs. In this system, only eight vehicles are used to carry out all the paper supply tasks. This includes taking paper reels to and from printing machines and storage areas, removal of empty reel cores and waste paper to recycling stores. "The system is so flexible that any vehicle can be given any task," notes Wellnitz.

The AGVs are in radio communications with the host system and move through the plant using laser guidance, which is extremely accurate. "This is important because of the often confined working space," says Wellnitz.

The AGVs have not only to be reliable and robust to 'work round the clock' but also be capable of transporting the heavy reels without causing them damage, which could affect the printing operation. In one year, the plant may use up to 100,000 reels of different sizes.

Safety is also vital. "Our first concern is the safety of our people, the second is the safety of our production," says Wellnitz. The AGVs are equipped with a range of sophisticated safety features including touch bars and infrared beams that stop the vehicle when it detects an obstacle.

Specialising in the development and supply of automated guided vehicle systems, Rocla Robotruck is part of the Rocla group that employs more than 460 people and had net sales in 2001 of Euro 87.5m. Rocla Robotruck has around 100 employees at its two factories in Järvenpää, Finland and Gothenburg, Sweden.


For more information contact:

Kari Ingman
Rocla Robotruck
P.O. Box 88
FIN-04401 Järvenpää
FINLAND
Tel: +358 9 271 471
Fax: +358 9 271 471 430
Email: Robotruck@rocla.com
www.rocla.com

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