In industries such as shipbuilding, steelmaking, heavy machinery, and construction-equipment manufacturing, transporting components and equipment weighing tens to hundreds of tons still relies mainly on human labour and traditional transport vehicles.
To address labour shortages and boost productivity, Itochu Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ROBO-HI Corporation have officially begun collaborating to deploy automation and labour-saving solutions for ultra-heavy load transport at large-scale manufacturing plants.
CHALLENGES IN ULTRA-HEAVY LOAD TRANSPORT
Although automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are widely used in manufacturing, deploying them in heavy-industry plants remains challenging.
Products and components weighing tens or hundreds of tons exceed the capability of ordinary AGVs, leaving many transport steps still done manually.
In addition, the lack of synchronisation between transport and downstream production steps often forces workers to wait for materials or equipment, generating idle time and reducing the efficiency of the entire line.
THE CTC — ROBO-HI PARTNERSHIP SOLUTION
Through this partnership, both sides will support enterprises from needs assessment all the way to deployment of the automated-transport solution.
The combined solution:
- Ultra-heavy 50–200 ton AGVs developed by ROBO-HI.
- ROBO-HI® OS — a platform for centralised management of multiple robots and autonomous vehicles.
- CTC’s experience in building IT systems, cloud computing, and system integration.
The two companies will work together to design transport plans, routes, and movement flows inside the plant, optimise the production-floor layout, and integrate with existing management systems and equipment to improve operating efficiency.
ROLE OF EACH COMPANY
[CTC]
CTC will leverage its experience deploying IT systems in manufacturing to:
- Analyse business requirements.
- Design the system architecture.
- Connect AGVs with production-management systems and on-site equipment.
- Support cloud-infrastructure deployment and system integration.
[ROBO-HI]
ROBO-HI will provide:
- Ultra-heavy autonomous vehicles from 50 to 200 tons.
- ROBO-HI® OS to centrally manage multiple robots and AGVs.
- Consulting on the choice of vehicle suited to each type of cargo.
- Design of transport routes and operating procedures based on each plant’s real conditions.
With more than 20 years of experience developing robots and autonomous vehicles, ROBO-HI helps enterprises deploy safe and effective automated-transport solutions.
TOWARDS THE SMART FACTORY
In the coming period, CTC and ROBO-HI will continue rolling out the projects under study in:
- Heavy industry
- Shipbuilding
- Steelmaking
- Construction equipment
Through the experience gained from real projects, the two companies will continue to broaden their robot-solution portfolio, refine their operation and maintenance services, and drive robot adoption at more production sites in the future.
