Seegrid AMRs transform material handling for Sumitomo Drive Technologies
AMR provider delivers reliable material flow with rapid ROI for automotive component manufacturer’s expanding facilities
Seegrid Corporation, a provider of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for material handling, announced that Sumitomo Drive Technologies has selected Seegrid’s mobile automation solutions for its expanding manufacturing operations. The power transmission component manufacturer chose Seegrid’s Palion™ AMR fleet and Fleet Central™ enterprise software to support the autonomous hauling of parts and equipment between its existing 250,000 assembly facility and its new 100,000 square foot warehouse. Seegrid’s customer portfolio of global brands in logistics, e-commerce, and manufacturing utilizes the company’s automation products and services to propel corporate initiatives, reduce lean waste, and build operational resiliency.
“Reliability is a critical factor in getting parts to the line—the initial Seegrid Palion Tow Tractor workflow is 3,000 feet round trip, running up to 30-40 times per day,” said Tony Barlett, Vice President of Business Operations at Sumitomo Drive Technologies. “Seegrid had us up and running in three days—fully trained and confident, our operators immediately identified more opportunities to leverage the technology.”
“Seegrid combines proven technology with expert automation services to ensure our customers’ automation initiatives deliver ROI from day one,” said Jim Rock, Chief Executive Officer at Seegrid. “Sumitomo is well-positioned to safely and continuously optimize, adapt, and expand their use of mobile automation as their material handling requirements scale.”
Seegrid’s entire fleet of intelligent AMRs navigates dynamic industrial environments using the company’s innovative autonomy technology, Seegrid IQ, which fuses data from cameras, LiDAR, and machine learning models with the company’s proprietary 3D computer vision system. Seegrid was recently awarded for its automation technology, being named the #4 most innovative robotics company in the world by Fast Company and receiving Frost & Sullivan’s Technology Innovation Leader Award.
Sumitomo integrated Seegrid Palion Tow Tractor, named #1 in market share worldwide for automated tow tractors by Interact Analysis, an international market research authority for the supply chain automation industry, into their daily material handling workflows to increase productivity and reduce the cost of non-value-added activities. Seegrid’s automated industrial vehicle towing model safely, flexibly, and reliably automates the horizontal movement of multiple payloads up to 10,000 pounds. Sumitomo visually tracks and optimizes real-time Palion AMR material movement with Supervisor, Seegrid’s fleet management software solution.
