Summary

AGVS stands for Automated Guided Vehicle Systems. This is a technique that, although it has been in existence for many years, did not attract any major interest until recent years. It was the Japanese with their manufacturing plants working in "ghost shifts" that called attention to this means of conveyance and recently newspaper plants have started to use AGVS for the transport of reels of newsprint. This trend has been observed in Finland and England as well as increasingly in the U.S.A. The usual reasons given by the users for their decision to introduce an AGVS include its lower level of susceptibility to faults and its reduced maintenance requirements compared with chain-driven system, its flexibility in the event of extensions as well as its more gentle reel handling, resulting in less transport waste. Some users claim that this has led to them recovering their investments within twelve months. In view of the fact that in Central Europe, in contrast to Northern Europe and the U.S.A., little consideration is currently being given to this means of automation in our industry, we wish to explain to our Members in this Special Report the structure of the’ AGVS and to make available the first experiences of users in Finland and the U.S.A.