Sumitomo Drive Technologies, a global manufacturer of power transmission and control products, needed a way to automate material movement in their recently expanded facility. After building an additional 100,000 sq. ft. facility onto an existing 250,000 sq. ft. distribution center, Sumitomo needed a solution to move materials from their warehouse to assembly lines.
With labor shortages, wasted travel time, and repetitiveness of the task, the operations team was seeking a solution that would allow their existing personnel to focus on more valuable activities. To automate this workflow, the Virginia-based facility implemented a Seegrid Palion Tow Tractor and Fleet Central enterprise software solutions. With Seegrid technology, the facility autonomously moves materials from their warehouse to their assembly lines, traveling 3,000 feet per trip, making the trip up to one hundred times per day—safely and seamlessly.
