BASF Corp. has theorized that greater efficiency in site logistics and transport operations can be achieved through automation and innovation. The company's implementation of automated guided vehicles (AGVs), a fully automated tank container storage yard and more on its site in Ludwigshafen, Germany, has proven the company's theory to be true.
The Ludwigshafen site is fully automated, according to Helen De Wachter, head of global supply chain for BASF. The automation project began in 2014, De Wachter said. Following an extensive testing regimen, the site converted to full automation at the end of November 2018.
De Wachter said BASF's Ludwigshafen site currently has eight of the AGVs in service, and there are several ways of letting AGVs drive automatically.
"The sites focus a lot on safety, and this is an operation that is very heavily utilized," De Wachter said, adding that the yard is equipped with a variety of sensors that promote safety.
"We've put transformers on the pavement, in the asphalt, so every three meters you've got a chance to reprogram, and that's how it positions itself," she said, discussing how to improve efficiencies in site logistics at the Petrochemical Supply Chain and Logistics conference held recently in Houston.
Additionally, De Wachter said, geo-fencing technology enables the AGV to recognize a building and maneuver around it.
"It knows where it is," she said. "We didn't believe at the time we made the decision to use the AGV that it was actually the best option, so that's why we're using the transformers. But that will change in the future, I'm quite sure."
Regardless, the AGVs can drive by themselves, but are monitored.
"We put six cameras on them, front and back, and they are monitored in the house, where a guy sits with six monitors," she said. "He's not doing anything besides checking, and we have put in some safety measures to make sure he's wide awake and very focused and can react if anything happens."
A worthwhile investment
The first two years of testing this process were met with considerable resistance, De Wachter said.
"It's been a very challenging year because we have all these things we're putting in place now," she said. "There are already a lot of tank containers in there, and we're pretty proud of that."
With a professional background in the rail sector, De Wachter noted a lot of "non-believers" fear this level of automation will "kill rail," arguing "rail is our primary way you transport chemicals, and it's the safe way to transport chemicals."
"And we're all about that," De Wachter countered. "We're not going to kill the external network or the trains that are running from the sites to other sites. What we're trying to do is optimize the on-site operation, and this is the way to do it."
"People said, 'Cool, but these AGVs and tank containers cost a lot of money,'" she said. "But you need to think about this as a project activity. It's not like, when you innovate like this, that you see the benefits at the beginning of the project. It comes as you get more people excited about it. As you get more ideas around the table, it becomes a more interesting project."
De Wachter challenged conference attendees to consider the long-term advantages of implementing automation.
"You have to think about this: Rail cars cost a lot of money," she said. "It's the maintenance cost, it's how long they're out of service. We've got millions in maintenance costs in there, only on the rail tracks.
"You might say, 'Yes, but this fully automated rail yard costs a lot of money.' And it does cost a lot of money," she concluded. "But we're saving so much money on this, it calculates itself. It doesn't look like that in the beginning, but it definitely does."
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