ROBOTECH: Innovating Heavy-duty Stacker Crane Technology and Solutions Based on Demand

ROBOTECH?is committed to developing stacker crane products, supporting conveyor products, automated warehouse management system software and other products, and its business covers many industries. Its team can also customize non-standard designs for customers based on the specifications of the goods. Among them, the "Bull" series stacker crane?is specially developed and designed for heavy?load?logistics, which can efficiently and stably meet the automated access requirements of heavy cargo.

Recently, a journalist for logistics technology and application interviewed Mr. Zhou Weicun, Director of the Second Engineering Technology Center of ROBOTECH?Automation Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., and asked him to introduce the characteristics, related technologies and solutions, and future development trends of heavy?load?logistics.

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Reporter:?How does the industry define "heavy load logistics"? What are the corresponding products of ROBOTECH?

Zhou Weicun:?Currently, there is no clear definition of "heavy load logistics" in the industry. Internationally, for load standards, we can combine them with the European pallet standard UIC 435 to simply classify light and heavy goods. For example, standard pallets?placed irregularly on pallets can carry 1000kg of ordinary goods,?regular and flat pallets?can carry 1500kg, and compact and regular pallets?can carry 2000kg.

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With the rapid development of the logistics industry, the demand for warehouse automation and intelligence in various industries is increasing day by day. Depending on the weight and size of the goods, the handling and storage equipment used may vary, and the structural design and component requirements for logistics equipment may also vary. When logistics equipment suppliers conduct system planning, they will conduct corresponding equipment research and development design based on different planning access schemes.

The stacker crane is a flagship product of ROBOTECH. Currently, it has seven series of products: "Zebra", "Cheetah", "Lion", "Panther", "Giraffe", "Bull", and "Flying Fish". Among them, the "Bull" series stacker crane?is specially developed and designed for heavy?load?logistics, with a load capacity range of 5t to 30t, which can efficiently and stably meet the automated access requirements of heavy cargo. When the material quality exceeds the bearing range of 30t, the ROBOTECH?Austria R&D Center can customize non-standard designs?for customers based on the specifications of the goods.

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Reporter: What are the special requirements for heavy?load?logistics for stacker crane equipment?

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Zhou Weicun: Usually, when the weight of goods is too large, there are high requirements for the metal structure, loading platform, and forks of the stacker?crane, making the design more difficult. The specific characteristics and requirements are as follows:

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1). Materials. Compared to light load stacker?cranes, heavy?load?equipment has a larger overall mass, and the overall steel structure design requires the use of high-performance material components.

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2). Structure.?When the height and weight of the stacker crane are large, the column needs to be assembled and welded with steel plates. Flat steel guide rails or T-shaped guide rails need to be welded on the column. After the main steel structure is welded, stress relief treatment needs to be carried out; The lifting transmission mechanism is designed with multiple sets of movable pulleys to reduce the force on the steel wire rope, reduce the extension of the steel wire rope, and increase the service life of the steel wire rope; When designing, it is possible to consider adding a wire rope anti shaking device based on the height of the equipment.

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3). Safety.?When selecting models, the safety of heavy?load?equipment should be taken into consideration, and a customized design of the clamping mechanism is needed to use greater braking force to brake the clamp body and column guide rail; and choose a suitable heavy-duty hydraulic buffer device.?In electrical design, dual drive synchronization and anti shake control are adopted to ensure efficient and stable operation of the equipment; Use functions such as automatic address recognition and collision avoidance to improve the safety of equipment handling and storage.

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4). Energy consumption.?Compared to light load equipment, the motor power of heavy-duty?stacker?cranes is higher, and the drive power is also significantly increased, which requires greater energy conservation; At present, our equipment energy consumption level can reach IE4 level (corresponding to the new national standard level 2 energy efficiency level).

Reporter: Based on the above special requirements, what key issues need to be paid attention to when planning and designing automated heavy?load?logistics solutions mainly based on stacker?cranes?

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Zhou Weicun: In an automated heavy load logistics system, it mainly consists of core intelligent equipment such as heavy-duty rackings, heavy-duty stacker cranes, heavy-duty conveyor lines, RGVs, and warehousing intelligent system management software. To ensure stable, reliable, and efficient operation of the system while bearing a large load, high requirements are placed on the structural strength, manufacturing accuracy, and overall performance of software and hardware equipment such as rackings and stacker cranes. Generally, equipment suppliers often find it difficult to solve related problems when entering the field of heavy loads.

For example, in the design of heavy-duty stacker cranes, compared to light loads, due to factors such as weight and volume, heavy-duty equipment needs to have high load-bearing capacity while also meeting high operating speed and accuracy. When allocating storage space, it is necessary to allocate the partition of goods in the rackings reasonably to reduce the concentration?of goods on the rackings and ground caused by too dense storage.

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In the manufacturing and production process of heavy-duty models, it is necessary to process the column guide rail, which requires high machining accuracy. Especially when the equipment height is high, the welding deviation of the guide rail can cause serious wear and tear of the guide wheel during use. During the transportation process, longer columns may have certain requirements for the transportation equipment. If the specifications of heavy-duty materials are large, a larger space is needed for storage. During loading and unloading, larger lifting equipment is required, and heavy-duty equipment also needs to remove the guide wheel before reinstalling, which requires higher manufacturing and installation costs compared to light load models.

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In the manufacturing and production process of heavy-duty models, it is necessary to process the column guide rail, which requires high machining accuracy. Especially when the equipment height is high, the welding deviation of the guide rail can cause serious wear and tear of the guide wheel during use. During the transportation process, longer columns may have certain requirements for the transportation equipment. If the specifications of heavy-duty materials are large, a larger space is needed for storage. During loading and unloading, larger lifting equipment is required, and heavy-duty equipment also needs to remove the guide wheel before reinstalling, which requires higher manufacturing and installation costs compared to light load models.

Reporter:?What assistance can ROBOTECH provide for enterprises in planning and constructing heavy load logistics systems? Please provide an introduction and explanation based on specific project cases.

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Zhou Weicun:?In general, when enterprises choose to plan and construct heavy load logistics systems with a stacker crane as the main solution, the following steps are required:?selection of heavy-duty models, procurement and selection of main purchased parts, processing and production of main welding parts and components, transportation and outsourcing of large materials in the factory, storage and assembly in the factory, packaging and packaging of products before using large transport vehicles for transportation Loading and unloading to the customer's site for installation, etc.

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Based on the characteristics and needs of heavy load logistics, ROBOTECH can provide customers with a "one-stop logistics solution", which not only provides high-performance and safe intelligent equipment systems such as stacker cranes, conveyor lines, and software, but also provides professional after-sales services such as equipment maintenance and repair, and has accumulated rich project practical experience.

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1.?Shandong Weichai Project

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??- "Bull" stacker cranes

??- 7000kg & 12m & 114m & 1000 goods

??- 1600mm in length, 1600mm in width, and 1770mm in height

??- Advantages such as high efficiency, high safety, and easy management.

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In the Weichai project in Shandong, ROBOTECH designed two "bull" stacker cranes?for the customer's tooling warehouse that can carry 7000kg?of materials. The specifications for the processed goods are 1600mm in length, 1600mm in width, and 1770mm in height. The total height of the warehouse area is about 12m, and the length of the warehouse is 114m, which can store more than 1000 goods. In order to improve the problems of low space utilization, low safety, and difficulty in management of traditional storage methods, ROBOTECH has adopted a walking dual drive, lifting steel wire rope moving pulley group scheme to design the stacker crane, and set up a "rail changing mechanism" at the end of the storage area, providing an area for maintenance, making the newly built warehouse in Weichai, Shandong an intelligent automated warehouse with advantages such as high efficiency, high safety, and easy management.

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In this project, ROBOTECH used the "Bull" type stacker crane?to provide a reliable intelligent storage solution for Shandong Weichai Warehouse. The use of flexible "heavy load rail changing" technology expanded maintenance space and reduced maintenance difficulty. The stacker crane equipment operated stably and reliably, improved customer storage efficiency, and gained high recognition from customers.

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2.?Fuxin Steel Project

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??- 400 and 300 series

??- Meet the growth of its business scale

??- Area of approximately 3300m2

??- Net height of 25m

??- 2400 storage spaces

??- 1700mm & 12000kg

??- "Bull" stacker crane

??- A high stiffness V-shaped cargo fork

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The Fuxin Special Steel Production Base located in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province is one of the provincial key projects under construction, mainly producing and manufacturing 400 and 300 series?heavy-duty high-purity stainless steel hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel coils. Based on the warehousing needs of Fuxin Special Steel, to meet the growth of its business scale, improve product quality, efficiency, safety, and sustainable development capabilities, Formosa Heavy Industries and ROBOTECH have designed and delivered an automated warehouse access system in an intelligent warehousing solution, seamlessly connecting various production lines. The entire automated warehouse has an area of approximately 3300m2?and a net height of 25m. It is equipped with three Bull series stacker crane systems, including more than 2400 storage spaces, for storing finished steel coil materials with a diameter of 1700mm?and a load of 12000kg. In response to the characteristic of steel coil material being easy to roll off, the "Bull" stacker crane?also specifically uses a high stiffness V-shaped cargo fork.

The automated access system solution perfectly adapts to the production rhythm and storage needs of the factory, with a throughput of 60p/hr, which can efficiently meet the logistics needs within the factory; Compared with the traditional flat stacked storage mode, it significantly improves the utilization rate of warehouse space and saves land costs; The structure has good seismic performance and a relatively complete standard design system; Process standardization and predictable inbound and outbound schedules. It can be said that this project breaks the traditional storage mode of steel mills, solves problems such as low storage capacity, heavy storage material weight, easy rolling, and difficulty in fixing, and helps enterprises improve resource utilization and achieve overall efficiency improvement.

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3.?Jiahe New Materials Project

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??- Approximately 2422m2 & approximately 1297m2

??- Two sets of stacker crane systems

??- About?100m & about 25m

??- 2000 cargo spaces & 5000kg & up to 13000t

??- One track dual RGV, intermediate transition connection

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Guangdong Jiahe New Materials Co., Ltd. focuses on the research and development and processing of metal materials. With the continuous increase of internal coil inventory, it faces problems such as chaotic storage mode management, low production line delivery efficiency and space utilization, and low safety. It urgently needs intelligent upgrading. Finally, it chose to reach a strategic cooperation with ROBOTECH, market-oriented, and implement modern and intelligent transformation of production equipment, Realize automation and intelligent management of the entire process of aluminum coil raw materials and tailings from warehousing, storage, and outbound.

After full investigation and communication, ROBOTECH understood the product characteristics, immediately planned the Technology roadmap and gradually improved the entire solution. The entire intelligent logistics warehouse covers an area of approximately 2422m2, of which the automated warehouse area covers an area of approximately 1297m2. Two sets of stacker crane systems?have been designed and planned in the storage area with a length of about?100m?and a height of about 25m?in the roadway, including more than 2000 cargo spaces, each with a capacity of 5000kg?and a monthly outbound flow of up to 13000t.

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In this project, the "Bull" stacker crane system?also plays an important role. In order to ensure the efficiency of each transportation, the stacker crane uses advanced variable frequency motors to ensure optimized driving time. Horizontal and vertical movements can be carried out simultaneously, reducing access time. In addition, in terms of material delivery, ROBOTECH has designed a "one track dual RGV, intermediate transition connection"?mode for it, achieving functions such as aluminum coil delivery from outbound to tailings recycling/re outbound, tray/tray group recycling, etc. While meeting efficiency, it improves delivery flexibility and timeliness, and achieves cost reduction. After the project was put into use, the inventory efficiency of Jiahe Warehouse has increased by five times, and the overall raw material and tailings management in the automated warehouse has become clearer and more standardized. The degree of automation, informatization, and intelligence has greatly improved.

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Reporter: In your opinion, what is the domestic market demand for heavy load Logistics automation? Please introduce the future market prospects and ROBOTECH's development goals.

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Zhou Weicun:?In recent years, the domestic automated warehousing industry has been continuously developing. Although the market demand in industries such as tobacco, medicine, and aviation has decreased, the market demand for heavy-duty automated three-dimensional warehouses in manufacturing industries such as paper making, steel, shipbuilding, automobiles, and casting has continued to expand, and fields such as new energy have seen explosive growth. ROBOTECH will continue to take "customized design and development" as its differentiated competitive advantage, empower heavy load logistics upgrades with full process service capabilities, effectively solve pain points and difficulties for customers, and achieve cost reduction and efficiency increase.

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Looking at the global market, ROBOTECH's service landscape continues to expand. From an international perspective, the development of global manufacturing is gradually shifting to Southeast Asia. In response to the needs of these countries, ROBOTECH conducts relevant CE, SGS, TUV certification for export project products, and optimizes and improves equipment according to industry standards of each country. In recent years, ROBOTECH has accelerated its business expansion in the Southeast Asian market with rich project experience and professional solutions, actively practicing the "localization strategy", and creating a Southeast Asian project implementation team centered on Thailand, promoting market development and services in Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia; In Europe, we have centered our research and development base in Austria and have also established project delivery teams that can radiate to multiple countries in the European region, continuously consolidating the competitive barriers in the European market. By gradually establishing and improving a global sales network and after-sales service system, we will further increase our overseas market share.

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Objectively speaking, in the field of heavy-duty logistics, the proportion of some equipment suppliers in Europe is still relatively high. Domestic enterprises enter this field relatively late, and some technologies still need time to overcome. ROBOTECH is well aware that innovation is the first driving force for development. To break the monopoly position of foreign manufacturers in the field of heavy-duty logistics, we established the "ROBOTECH Technical Expert Committee" as early as October 2016, Establish a system for cultivating and developing technical talents, gather experts with significant influence in various fields of research and development and technology of the company, and build ROBOTECH's hard core strength in various aspects such as research and development innovation, engineering design, technology research and development, achievement transformation, standard promotion, talent cultivation, etc., to enhance the overall technical level and core competitiveness of the company's products. The building of soft and hard strength will enable ROBOTECH to better respond to market changes and demand upgrading, thus contributing more to the intelligent transformation of heavy logistics.

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