Three Key Advantages of Mother Daughter Carts and AMRs

Through the years, the use of mother-daughter tugger cart solutions in conjunction with autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) has become increasingly common. We're now at the point that for many applications it's considered a Lean best practice. Mother Daughter carts provide three key benefits: improved safety, inventory reduction in the assembly line area, and improved material handling efficiency. In this blog, we will take a deep dive on these advantages and how you can get the most from them.

Improve Safety

The term "fork truck free" has become the first initiative for many facilities beginning their Lean journey. Primary motivators for this initiative are often not just efficiency related, but are also focused on improving safety in the workplace. Whether it's fork trucks or tiggers, operating heavy machinery manually poses a risk of personal injury or product damage. 

Case studies have shown that installing AMRs in conjunction with mother-daughter carts reduce personal injury and product damage. AMRs allow material movement to be predictable, dependable, and available in environments that may not be suitable for worker safety.

Recently, a larger paint manufacturer installed AMRs to address safety concerns. They allowed the AMR guided mother-daughter cart system to travel with material through production areas that were unsafe for human traffic. With the precision of an AMR, the route was timed to function alongside conveyors, which enabled them to travel closer to the production line than the manual route. With this system: parts moved more easily in the larger paint manufacturer, they saved space in the plant, and reduced damage to parts.

Reduce Inventory in the Assembly Area

There are many wastes to consider when evaluating the efficiency of a production system—time, space, effort, and inventory are just a few. These wastes are all measurable and directly affect profitability. While maintaining adequate inventory is a requirement for production, too much inventory in the production area perpetuates other wastes. In particular, too much inventory:

• Causes work environments to become cluttered
• Reduces wasted effort 
• Increases potential for error

The use of an AMR and mother-daughter cart train system enables you to store materials off-line where they can be then loaded and sequenced to support production. This method enables items to be brought to the line according to a schedule. If necessary, they can be placed in order and in the best location without any manual intervention. If materials can be replenished and displayed in rack or cart form, consider replacing your existing layout with a mother-daughter cart system and use an AMR to run the delivery route.

Increase Efficiency

While moving inventory off-line is a way to save space and add error proofing to a process, it is often viewed as inefficient due to the distance required to transport materials back to the work area. Having a material handler transport these parts from one area to another is not an efficient use of time and resources. Utilizing a mother-daughter cart with an AMR to transport parts reduces the waste of human effort and improves productivity.

Mother-daughter systems allow for carts to remain coupled while unloaded, which is more efficient than cart trains. These trains require manual effort to decouple carts and replenish line side inventory. When unloading is complete, the tugger train can be sent back to the replenishment area to be loaded for the next supply run. An AMR cart delivery system is dependable, so operators quickly adapt and support them as welcomed additions to the team.

AMRs and Mother Daughter Carts are Leading the Way

The use of mother-daughter tugger cart solutions in tandem with AMRs marks a milestone in material handling practices. As a Lean best practice, this innovative, flexible solution presents three key advantages: improved safety, inventory reduction, and enhanced material handling efficiency. By embracing these groundbreaking technologies, businesses can unlock higher levels of productivity, safety, and profitability, revolutionizing the way materials are handled in the modern workplace to meet customer demand.