Guru Prasad, Assistant Vice President, CSSR and Electronics, Robotics and Discrete, ABB India, discusses the robotics and machine automation solutions they provide to enhance efficiency and flexibility in logistics planning for the cement sector.

Tell us about your robotics solutions for logistics.
ABB Robotics & Discrete Automation, as one of the world’s leading robotics and machine automation suppliers, provides comprehensive and integrated portfolio covering robots, Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), Cobots, functional packages and machine automation solutions, designed and orchestrated by our value-creating software. With the solutions we offer, we support companies of all sizes and sectors including logistics – become more resilient, flexible and efficient.
For the logistics sector, we provide a wide range of automated solutions for various applications, including depalletising, buffering, storing, and item picking. ABB is uniquely positioned to help integrate partners and end users to automate their logistics processes. With a solid foundation in applications, modular solutions, and a vast service and support network, we enable modern distribution and fulfilment centres to strike a balance between volume, flexibility, speed, and accuracy. Moving seamlessly from robots to software-enabled hardware is also an important aspect of our technological innovation strategy.
For most logistics’ solutions, the software layer that orchestrates all activities within a cross-docking area becomes critical. ABB’s Global Solution Centres have full-fledged software development teams that develop new software and customise existing software.

How does your system help cement plants find a balance between volume, speed, accuracy and flexibility?
ABB Robotics can help cement plants find a balance between volume, speed, accuracy and flexibility through their automation solutions for logistics applications. Automating cement plants can provide various benefits such as supporting the workforce. If the cement plant is to achieve the speed, efficiency and resilience required by today’s complex world, companies must integrate automation, digital connectivity and edge technologies such as AI and robotics. The successful integration of these technologies is critical to keep the plant operational in both normal and emergency situations. There are likely to be more operations that run entirely autonomously. Robotic automation is increasingly being used to tackle monotonous, hazardous and challenging tasks that can increase productivity, boost operational efficiency and generate a higher return on investment for businesses. This makes the plant safer for human workers and allows them to focus on more skilled and fulfilling tasks.
Robotics and automation systems also help in meeting the expectations for faster output. For busy and process-heavy plants, robotic automation has been shown to deliver a demonstrable return on investment through increased efficiency, higher throughput combined with improved accuracy. It offers flexibility as a way of future-proofing logistics operations against changes, in the level of demand, in the form it takes and the channels it uses.

What are your major offerings to support the logistics system of cement manufacturing?
As cement is largely packed in bags, cement plants can make their processes faster and more efficient through the usage of ABB Robotics’ solutions that have been developed for bag conveying, flattening, palletising of bags on a load plate and finally the load plate completing the truck loading. This is a full stack automation scenario for automating intra-logistics within a cement plant making them more resilient while supporting their workforce.

What impact does automation create on the logistics processes of the cement plant?
Robots are transforming logistics operations across various industries including cement. Robotic automation offers a wide range of functions. The four key areas of product handling and sorting across these and other logistics roles are, item picking, palletising, depalletising, repalletising, robotic storage and retrieval systems and singulation and sortation.

• Item picking: Equipped with high-speed vision systems to identify product codes or other data, robotic item picking is reliable, efficient and compatible with items across a range of weights, depending on the specified payload.
• Palletising, depalletising, repalletising: Whether for cases or (more often as retailers and other businesses increasingly opt for returnable systems) for tote bins, palletising and depalletising are well-established robotic options. At a manufacturer’s end-of-line, in distribution centres and many locations besides, robotic systems offer fast and efficient palletising with precise placement according to programmed pallet patterns. As well as providing reliable and secure pallet building, they avoid potential operator issues with manual handling of loads.
• Robotic storage and retrieval systems: Invaluable in an e-commerce setting where multi-product, consolidated orders need to be accurately accumulated for dispatch, a robotic storage and retrieval system uses encoded data to identify, temporarily store and match items. The repeat reliability factor is a key benefit.
• Singulation and sortation: In a parcel-sorting operation, a robot arm can be used in combination with vision systems to automatically perform singulation of packages, assess their size and redirect them for induction into the correct downstream sorting zone.
• Meeting the expectations of fast output and delivery of anything one can think of needs a logistics operation to match. For busy warehouses, robotic automation has been shown to deliver a demonstrable return on investment through increased efficiency, higher throughput combined with improved accuracy. It also offers flexibility as a way of future-proofing logistics operations against changes, not only in the level of demand but also in the form it takes and the channels it uses. With the cement industry following batch production, all activities involving intralogistics right from bag filling to truck loading have good potential scope for integrating automation solutions.

What kind of analytical data and reporting is provided by your system to bring improvements?
Typically for any intralogistics automation as a part of the manufacturing plant, the data generated involves Stock Keeping Units (SKU) being produced, where it is getting packed, how much quantity is being packed, where it is temporarily stored and how it is being prepared for despatch. All this data needs to be stored and analysed continuously to give input to a higher level of plant level automation solution like Scada/DCS. This data and its analytics are critical to ensure Work In Progress (WIP) stock matches with the Finished Goods (FG) stock.

Can your systems integrate with external applications and machinery?
Our systems are well designed and equipped to integrate with external applications and machinery. The whole objective of automation is for it to be integrated with multiple external machinery for example, filling machines, carton erectors, strapping machines, pallet packing machines and more. Additionally, integrating the automation solutions with customer’s ERP applications like SAP/Oracle and Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) applications is a common application requirement which our solutions also provide.

What are the major challenges in automating logistics systems in a manufacturing plant?
While logistics automation provides numerous benefits, businesses may face challenges when implementing and operating automated logistics processes. This automation requires extensive planning and the use of appropriate strategies. The process is not as simple as it appears and each step requires a human factor. Here are a few common challenges:

• Employee resistance to automation: Employee resistance is a significant barrier to automation. To ensure a smooth transition, effective communication, involvement, and a demonstration of the benefits of automation are required.
• Managing integration issues in automation: Integration is the key to successful automation, but challenges arise. Overcoming legacy system compatibility, data silos, and complexities requires strategic planning. By addressing these issues, businesses can improve efficiency and data accuracy.
• Lack of flexibility: Throughout the automation process, you may notice that the automation solutions are partially rigid, and it may take some time to adapt to all of the rapidly changing business needs. This lack of flexibility in automation can pose a significant challenge to the organisation.
• Communication and training for automation: Lack of collaboration and communication can be a major red flag for successfully implementing automation technology. The goal of automation technology is to provide long-term value rather than instant gratification. All developers, project managers, and business analysts must collaborate and analyse the test cases, which must be automated.
• Technical limitations of automation: One of the most significant challenges that industries face is not setting realistic expectations for automation. Many industries believe that automation technology can solve all problems and deliver the final output in a timely manner and that it is capable of resolving all task-related issues. It is practically impossible due to automation’s technical limitations.
• Data management: Data management is a major concern in this automation process. When test scripts are executed, they must be in a specific state, otherwise, there will be significant changes and you may face some negative consequences. To avoid any issues related to data reliance, it is best to write an independent and self-contained script to deal with these data-reliance challenges.

How do you plan to better logistics support to large manufacturing units in the future?
As mentioned earlier, large manufacturing units usually function through batch production of multiple SKUs. These SKUs are normally palletised for temporary storage, these pallets are stored in high bay storage solutions called Automatic Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS). These pallets are then retrieved in terms of order fulfilment requirement from the distribution channel, SKUs from the pallet are de-palletised, the de-palletised SKUs are finally loaded onto trucks of different sizes and sent for delivery. Our intralogistics solutions are powered to handle the entire gamut of such production systems, providing solutions that include robots, AMRs, other hardware and software.

• –Kanika Mathur