Toyota Motor Corporation

Toyota's UK press shop was down to one serviceable AGV from the original eight-vehicle fleet, with complex legacy infrastructure for all eight creating maintenance liability. An upturn in sales required increasing press capacity, making refurbishment insufficient — a completely new system was required within a summer shutdown window.

AND Automation designed a rail-guided vehicle (RGV) solution based on Rockwell Automation controls, integrating with the existing Allen-Bradley PLC5 infrastructure. The RGV approach offered greater robustness and simplicity than AGVs, and was delivered within budget and the tight shutdown timeframe.

Toyota achieved greater press shop uptime with a more robust, maintainable system. The solution was delivered within the summer shutdown window and original budget, enabling the increased production capacity required to meet rising sales demand.

• Rail-guided vehicle systems offer higher robustness than AGVs in harsh environments like press shops where equipment is subjected to extreme mechanical stress
• Leveraging existing PLC infrastructure simplifies integration and reduces project risk for replacement automation systems
• Time-constrained automation projects benefit from control platform compatibility between legacy and new systems