IFOY Audit
Finalists undergo the three-stage IFOY Audit as part of the IFOY Audit, which takes place during the TEST CAMP INTRALOGISTICS. This consists of the scientific IFOY Innovation Check, the IFOY Test and the jury test.
AGILOX AMR fleet optimizes production supply at BMW
AGILOX Services
In Regensburg, one of the largest Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) fleets in the German-speaking region is operated to supply production lines in the automotive sector. In this operation, 27 AGILOX AMRs ensure the supply of manufacturing parts for the production of body components. To ensure fail-safe operation, the AMRs communicate with each other in a networked manner.
Product name and company
AGILOX AMR fleet optimizes production supply at BMW – AGILOX Services
Category
Integrated Customer Solution
Customer
BMW Group
Implementation period
From:
01/01/2017
Until:
12/31/2023
Investment volume
€
Case Study
The Customer
The BMW Group, headquartered in Munich, is one of the largest automotive manufacturers (cars and motorcycles) globally. In Regensburg, the company operates one of the most advanced automotive production plants in Europe, spanning over 1.4 million square meters. Up to 1,000 vehicles of the BMW 1 Series, BMW X1, and BMW X2 models are delivered to customers worldwide on a daily basis.
As part of production logistics, the BMW Group’s Regensburg plant uses 27 Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) from AGILOX for material handling. In an average week, the swarm moves approximately 2,624 tons, covering around 3,294 kilometers. The fleet in Regensburg represents one of the largest AMR fleets in the German-speaking region, providing supply to production lines in the automotive sector.
Inital Situation
Before the deployment of the AGILOX Autonomous Mobile Robots, production lines were cyclically supplied using route trains. The stocking of buffer storage was done manually, and stations could only be approached and stocked within a predefined cycle.
The Solution
As part of a pilot project for robot-assisted transport solutions, the first AGILOX Autonomous Mobile Robot was installed at the BMW Group’s Regensburg plant in 2017. Following a testing phase, the fleet was gradually expanded. By the end of 2023, there are 27 AMRs in operation.
AGILOX’s solution is based on the so-called “X-Swarm Technology.” This enables individual AMRs to communicate and interact with each other, forming a swarm intelligence where computing power and material flow orchestration are distributed across the AMRs. If one robot fails, the remaining robots ensure uninterrupted flow of goods.
As of now, 27 AGILOX ONE AMRs supply manufacturing parts to workstations for the production process of body components.
Workstations are automatically stocked based on demand. In case of immediate needs, production staff can place individual orders for parts. The AGILOX ONE independently supplies the station and can also be utilized for transporting empty containers.
The user interface can be customized to each workstation, allowing for adjustments to the material flow control. The transportation of both full and empty goods occurs over distances exceeding 100 meters in mixed traffic, which includes humans, forklifts, and route trains. The devices must ensure secure transport even with the slightest changes. AGILOX’s Autonomous Mobile Robots meet all normative safety standards (2006/42/EC, 2014/30/EU, 2014/53/EU, EN ISO 12100:2013, EN ISO 13849-1:2016, EN ISO 13849-2:2013, EN ISO 3691-4:2020) and are both CE- and TÜV-certified. Seven sensors (ultrasonic, obstacle avoidance, navigation scanner, and several safety sensors) are integrated. The robots detect the smallest obstacles in their path and autonomously navigate around them. The route is replanned within milliseconds and synchronized with the entire swarm. This enables the remaining devices to promptly react to changes and ensure a disruption-free material flow supply.
Summary
Availability is one of the key metrics in the automotive industry to ensure adherence to cycle times. The use of AGILOX AMRs allows for flexible and autonomous adaptation and modification of material flows without dependence on external resources or disrupting the flow of goods. Innovative mechanisms ensure that goods are transported securely and without interruption to the workstations at all times.
Test report
At the BMW plant in Regensburg, 1300 premium vehicles roll off the production line every day.
To supply the body shop with raw materials, 27 AGILOX ONE autonomous mobile robots are at work. Over the course of time, the handling of empties in the body shop has been added, including the complete supply and disposal of load carriers.
AGILOX´s roots are in the software industry − the company used to develop and sell warehouse management software (WMS) − and has now moved into hardware production without neglecting the software.
AGILOX has its roots in the software industry − the company used to develop and sell warehouse management software (WMS) − and has meanwhile switched to hardware production without neglecting the software. Five of the six founders, who started the first major pilot project at the premium car manufacturer in 2017 after winning a BMW tender, are still on board. As befits pioneers, only one device from the Austrians was initially used at the BMW plant in Regensburg. A special feature of the integrated customer project is that BMW has independently carried out all expansions of the AMR fleet from “AGILOX #1” to the 27 devices mentioned above by the end of 2023.
BMW now operates the largest AGILOX fleet in the German-speaking region. All devices are networked with each other, can rotate omnidirectionally when stationary and use swarm intelligence to ensure the reliable supply of the body component area. Instead of a central control system, each vehicle has more or less its own master computer. “Classic” AMRs are not known to exchange their orders and each operator, in this case BMW, would have to develop an emergency concept. With the AGILOX fleet, this is not necessary. Should any obstacles arise, the other AGILOX AMRs are informed.
At the BMW plant in Regensburg, where the 1 Series, X1 and X2 roll off the production line, the AMR swarm moves an average of 2,624 tons of material in a week, covering around 3,294 kilometers. Before AGILOX deployed its equipment there, BMW supplied its production lines cyclically using classic tugger trains. The buffer stores were loaded manually, and workstations could only be approached and loaded as part of a fixed cycle.
In total, AGILOX now has over 1400 AMRs in use at its customers and provides its customers with a range of tools to map their workflow. Due to their omnidirectionality, the AMR from AGILOX are particularly interesting for existing brownfield systems. The delivery time for the devices is currently six to eight weeks. In 80 percent of cases, the commissioning time for the system is just one week. If an AGILOX must be plugged in, three minutes charging time is sufficient for another hour’s drive afterwards.
IFOY Verdict
In the automotive industry, where availability and adherence to cycle times are always important due to extremely expensive line downtimes, the use of AMR from AGILOX allows material flows to be adapted flexibly and independently – so no AGILOX employee has to travel to Regensburg. Innovative mechanisms ensure that goods can reach the workstations for body component production safely and without interruption at any time.
IFOY Innovation Check
Functionality / Type of implementation
The project took place in the context of BMW´s car body production at the Regensburg plant. The transport of sheet metal parts, which was previously carried out with manually operated tugger trains, was to be automated using pallet lifting AMRs.
The customer started with a single AGILOX-AMR in order to test the operation of automated vehicles on a small scale and then approach a smooth transition from tugger trains to automation.
Further AMRs were subsequently added to the transportation process over the course of the project, which lasted more than 7 years. The ramp-up ended with 27 vehicles. Empties and other processes were added following the implementation of the central full load process.
Novelty / Innovation
Due to the long project duration, several hardware and software versions of the AMR had to be combined. This is unusual in automation projects, as it creates difficulties for fleet integration and maintenance. In this case, the older vehicles have two-dimensional obstacle detection, whereas newer vehicles have three-dimensional sensors.
Another innovation is the highly intuitive operation of the fleet control system, which is distributed across the vehicles and can be accessed as a web interface. This allowed the customer to enter the additional processes and transport relations to be implemented largely without support from AGILOX. However, this aspect is not project-specific, but a standard feature of AGILOX AMRs.
Finally, regarding the degree of innovation and novelty, it was noticeable that there was hardly any heterogeneous traffic in the project, as in addition to the AGILOX vehicles, only a few tugger trains and rarely forklifts were on the move in the same work area.
Customer benefit
The customer benefit is rated as high, as a very robust automation result was achieved with little process adaptation effort and uncomplicated commissioning.
On the customer side, the great flexibility of the vehicles thanks to the AGILOX swarm intelligence is particularly important.
Market relevance
The market relevance is considered to be very high due to the great flexibility of the AGILOX AMRs with regard to step-by-step extensions and the possibility of customer-side adaptations, especially for highly individualized automation projects of small and medium-sized companies without pronounced automation and process planning expertise.
IFOY verdict
Overall, the commissioning project is only of average innovative strength due to the long ramp-up phase, the limited involvement of the AMR manufacturer and the use of standard vehicles with functions already known on the market.
| Functionality / type of implementation | Ø |
| Novelty / Innovation | – |
| Customer benefits | + |
| Market relevance | ++ |
| ++ very good / + good / Ø balanced / – less / — not available | |
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