Intelligent Transportation Systems: Automated Guided Vehicle Systems in Changing Logistics Environments.

The usage of Automated Guided Vehicle Systems (AGVS) is growing. This has not always been the case in the past. A new record of the sells numbers is the result of inventive developments, new applications and modern thinking. One market that AGVS were not able to thoroughly conquer yet were rapidly changing logistics environments. The advantages in recurrent transportation with AGVS used to be hindered by the needs of flexibility. When nowadays managers talk about Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) there is no reason not to consider AGVS. Fixed guidelines, permanent transfer stations and static routes are no necessity for most AGVS producers. Flexible Manufacturing Systems can raise profitability with AGVS. When robots start saving billions in production costs, the next step at same plants are automated materials handling systems. Today, there are hundreds of instances of computer-controlled systems designed to handle and transport materials, many of which have replaced conventional human-driven platform trucks. Reduced costs due to damages and failures, tracking and tracing as well as improved production scheduling on top of fewer personnel needs are only some of the advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]