Manage forklift and transport orders

We too have noticed these problems with many of our customers. In conversations with our customers, the desire to “have something simple” and requests like “please, no complex forklift control system”, came up again and again.

It should be more flexible than a simple forklift call, but it should not be as rigid and complicated as a classic forklift control system. Moreover, it should be very easy to configure. And of course, your own personnel should be able to carry out all the work.

Some examples of our customers’ wishes:

• A forklift (under certain circumstances a very specific forklift) should be able to reach a certain position at the “push of a button”. The worker discusses the remaining details with the forklift driver at this position.
• At the “push of a button” or by a “level sensor”, a forklift – possibly a very specific forklift – is to be assigned a transport order for the disposal of residual materials.
• A transport order from load carriers to the next processing cell is to be generated on the basis of a signal from a PLC.
• On the basis of signals from PLCs, allocations of pallets of different types and quantities are to be created.
• A provision transport for a certain material is to be created on the basis of information from a PLC or an MES.
• Forklift drivers are sometimes also responsible for supervising the pallet conveyor systems. Therefore, you should also be informed about conveyor belt malfunctions.
• Forklift groups should be supported.
• There should be a reporting system to support the in-house continuous improvement process (CIP)

To enable you to perform these tasks automatically and efficiently, we develop a highly flexible and very easy-to-use solution. We call our product TAMAS. The name is an acronym derived from “Task Management System”.

TAMAS is an Industry 4.0 solution. TAMAS uses the most modern possibilities of app and web technologies and connects them with the classic world of automation.

TAMAS is a software tool that runs on a PC and as an app on employees' smartphones and forklift terminals. In this way, TAMAS automates and optimises the cooperation between machines and humans and between humans and humans alike.

For this purpose, TAMAS integrates the staff into the processes of a production company in an extremely intelligent and yet simple way. Regardless of whether you produce manually, semi-automatically or fully automatically. In any case, you and your employees will benefit from the improved teamwork that TAMAS automatically creates.

A production plant contains many locations where transport and handling tasks arise that a forklift driver or worker has to attend to. Some of the information is generated in control systems, some in manufacturing execution systems (MES), while in other cases the worker has to press a button or trigger a transfer order directly on his smartphone at the touch of a button; alternatively, the order may come from SAP or another manufacturer's ERP.

TAMAS consists of a server program, a configuration interface, a user interface for PCs and the TAMAS app for smartphones and forklift terminals.

After TAMAS has been installed on the server, you parametrise “order templates” for transport orders and handling orders. In doing so, you are also configuring the desired forklifts and forklift groups. You also connect TAMAS with your desired control systems (PLC) by pure parametrisation. Your control systems can then start to monitor the transport orders and handling orders you have configured.

To help you better imagine the start of a transport or handling task, I have listed some examples here:

• The empty pallets of a palletiser are running out. The PLC reports the demand to TAMAS via OPC with the pallet type and required quantity. TAMAS starts the replenishment task you have parametrised and automatically reports this task with the pallet type and the required quantity to the responsible forklift driver.
• A container for residual materials is full. The worker presses a permanently mounted button near the container. The PLC reports the source location to TAMAS via OPC, optionally also with the material to be disposed of and the load carrier type. Alternatively, the “button” can send the information directly to TAMAS via WLAN. TAMAS starts the parametrised task for disposal of the full container and automatically reports this to the responsible forklift driver, specifying the source location, the material to be disposed of and the required load carrier type. This way, the forklift driver can immediately bring along a new empty load carrier.
• A processing cell has produced enough parts for one load carrier. The worker presses a button on an operator panel. The PLC or MES reports this to TAMAS with the source location, target location, optionally also with the ID of the load carrier, material number, production order number, etc. TAMAS automatically reports the transport order with the source, destination and material information to the correct forklift driver.
• SAP EWM or an ERP of another manufacturer starts a transfer order to transport a load carrier from the source to the destination. This creates a transport order in TAMAS, which is automatically assigned to the correct forklift driver.
• Employees can also start parametrised transport tasks in the TAMAS app directly at the push of a button. TAMAS automatically reports the task to the correct forklift.
• The conveyor system goes into fault mode. TAMAS reads the information from the PLC via OPC. TAMAS starts a troubleshooting task and automatically reports the location and fault text to the responsible forklift driver.

In addition, there are many other locations where the use of TAMAS can significantly improve processes, e.g. disposing of production machines and lines, re-storage of surplus raw materials, replenishment of various materials for production, warnings and fault messages when the paper supply for EAN label printers or stretch film for pallet wrappers is running out, in-house transport tasks, e.g. of retained samples to the laboratory and much more.

If a transport task has been created, it is output to all smartphones / forklift terminals of all registered forklift drivers who belong to the configured team for processing the transport task.

Depending on the location, it may make sense to create one or more teams for forklift drivers. This enables you to immediately establish a spatial assignment of the vehicles to machines and systems.

A team can contain one or more employees. If there are several employees in the team, a new transport task is displayed simultaneously on each of the smartphones / forklift terminals. If an employee accepts the task, it is hidden on the smartphones / forklift terminals of the other team members.

When a forklift driver has accepted a transport task, this is reported by means of a status feedback to the ordering party, for example a PLC. The PLC could then activate an indicator lamp to show “Euro pallets are on their way”, for example. An MES could output a display on the screen saying “Load carrier being picked up”.

When the forklift driver has accepted a task to rectify a fault, e.g. in the conveyor system, and they need help, they can call for help at the touch of a button on his smartphone. He has the choice of calling a colleague, a mechatronics technician or his configured supervisor, e.g. the team leader, for help. The task in question is also displayed for information on the smartphones of the employees called for help.

If the worker is currently processing a transfer task and another task with a higher priority is received (e.g. troubleshooting), the worker is notified of this. He can ignore, reject or accept this new task.

If the worker accepts the task, then he has two or possibly more tasks open simultaneously.

If he is overloaded, he can return one or more of the tasks already accepted. These are then automatically submitted to all team members for processing.

“Call group” means that the transport task is offered simultaneously to all team members.

In contrast, “call chain” means that the transport task is offered to the team members in sequence. You can configure the sequence of the team members and the time for switching to the next forklift driver.

You also have the option to configure an escalation level to the supervisor, e.g. the team leader.

Once a transport task has been completed, the employee confirms this by tapping on the corresponding button in the TAMAS app. The display of the transport task is hidden on the smartphone / forklift terminal, including the smartphones of the helpers who were called.

The ordering party of the transport task, for example a PLC, MES or SAP is informed of the completion via the status channel.

Each transport task is stored with its data for an adjustable duration. The storage can be performed anonymously.

The executed transport tasks are displayed in tabular form. The view can be filtered and sorted according to various criteria.

The reporting system allows a complete export of the data to MS Excel.

To operate the TAMAS system, you need

• A Windows PC with Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016 for the TAMAS software
• Smartphones / forklift terminal for the TAMAS app for forklift drivers
• WLAN, LTE or 5G illumination for the communication of the smartphones / forklift terminals with the Windows PC
• The appropriate interface software (OPC server) for the connections from TAMAS to the PLCs of the machines

TAMAS only needs to be installed and configured on the Windows PC and the smartphones. No programming work is required for purely manual production. When PLCs are connected, the information for the tasks to be started must be available in the PLCs. The information is conveniently provided via OPC variables (OPC nodes).