Automated Guided Vehicle by BM Group Polytec

Maximum flexibility and scalability, as well as speed and process, plant and personnel safety

AGV: increasingly flexible solutions with maximum performance to face the digital transformation

From the close synergy between SEW-EURODRIVE and BM Group Polytec was born a demo solution called "AGV enslavement system" capable of extensively how it is possible to obtain, thanks to the exploration, study and implementation, maximum flexibility and scalability as well as speed and process, plant and personnel safety. The AGVs run within a pre-established circuit of LEF (Lean Experience Factory): the most integrated Digital Innovation Hub in the world.

Andrea Tonini - CSO and Partner of MB Group Polytec

"A few months after the introduction of the 5 Automated Guided Vehicles within the Lean Experience Factory in Pordenone, I can say that the collaboration with SEW-EURODRIVE was a new opportunity for us to get involved, combining mutual skills, in favor of a project that will allow LEF to illustrate how production processes could be redesigned in Industry 4.0, a first success story, which lays the foundations for a profitable synergy ".

System Integrator: BM Group Polytec S.p.A.
Location: Borgo Chiese (TN)

Founded in the early 90's from the merger of two leading companies in the automation, robotics, renewable energy and plant engineering sectors, today BM Group Polytec S.p.A. is recognized and appreciated internationally as a System Integrator specialized in solutions that, by integrating robotics, artificial intelligence, process automation and software, allow manufacturing companies that technological transformation necessary to retrain as intelligent and sustainable factories.

BM Group Polytec, headquartered in Borgo Chiese (TN), is the main operating company of BM Group, an Italian industrial group that unites companies with different speciali

Over the years, the company has based its winning philosophy on three fundamental points: flexibility and orientation towards innovation, thanks to the company's ability not only to anticipate market needs, but also to offer more and more solutions to the avant-garde; doing business together with customers, collaborators and all partner companies: in particular the attention to updating and continuous training are, together with the intense dialogue with research centers and universities and schools, the engine that feeds new ideas, personal growth and professional. Finally, the company is synonymous not only with safety, since it is able to maintain a low level of risk propensity relating to the health of workers but also of sustainability thanks to the adoption of an internal ethical and environmental policy aimed at improving its activities. aimed at protecting the environment, preventing and reducing forms of pollution; for about a year the company has been residing in the new headquarters in Borgo Chiese: a total area of about 30,000 m2 redeveloped with a careful approach to sustainability. This approach is in tune with the spirit of SEW-EURODRIVE, which for some years has wanted to take an active role in creating a sustainable future, contributing to the evolution of the social and economic system and protecting the environment at the same time. as stated in the principles behind the Be SEWstainable!

“Believing in the territory in which we have grown - underlines Alex Bottini, Head of the BM Greenpower Division and Shareholder of BM Group Polytec - is one of the values we are proud of and most of our collaborators come from nearby villages. Our new plant is totally plastic free and energetically self-sufficient: the possibility of having adequate and reserved areas for pre-testing activities and better organized offices allows us today to better welcome customers from all over the world and to continue to work to trace new development paths with a view to innovation and sustainability! ".

Customer requirements

End User: LEF (Lean Experience Factory)
Application: demo solution (AGV)

"Our solutions are the result of the experience we acquire day by day and the innovative spirit that distinguishes us - says Andrea Tonini, CSO and Partner of BM Group Polytec. We have always been open to strategic synergies and partnerships. We are convinced that the collaboration between excellence generates considerable mutual added value. The agreement with SEW-Eurodrive is an example ".

In fact, since its inception, the company has wanted to bring innovation to the industry by adopting an approach aimed at constantly developing new know-how and without focusing on the mere development of machines.

Starting from these premises, BM Group Polytec has managed to realize thanks to the partnership with SEW-EURODRIVE which, thanks to a long experience in machine, logistics and process automation, is now able to provide an integrated approach to create an ecosystem advanced technology (while preserving energy resources and the environment), a demo solution called "AGV enslavement system" of an assembly line of refrigeration compressors for the customer LEF (acronym for Lean Experience Factory): born in 2011 as experiential training center, based in San Vito al Tagliamento (PN), LEF is a digital company that over the years has consolidated thanks to the model factory and the partnership with various organizations, becoming an accelerator of lean and digital transformations and hub of relationships with the best providers of technological and organizational solutions.

Last July LEF inaugurated the new building: it is the most integrated Digital Innovation Hub in the world able to cover the entire value chain and all industrial sectors, thus allowing national and international companies to explore, test and put in practice, the latest digital technologies integrated with new work models centered on people, whatever role they play within organizations.

In order to support the digital company in the creation of over 100 digital use cases, BM Group Polytec has created, together with SEW-EURODRIVE, five Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) able to demonstrate how it is possible to obtain, thanks to exploration, experimentation and implementation, maximum flexibility and scalability as well as speed and safety of process, plant and personnel.

Our solution

Equipped with optical line guidance systems and ground transponders for commands, the AGV run within a predetermined circuit, having the parts of the compressor loaded directly by a robot. Subsequently, the vehicles go through the stations to be enslaved where the various assembly and processing phases are carried out until the finished product is obtained. However, should they run low, the Automated Guided Vehicles change route to head to the nearest charging station.

The demo solution allows you to make about 500 final products per day. AGV transport product throughout the production cycle (one-piece-flow).

AGV are equipped with:

Drives and motors for the management of the vehicle motion

PLC with AGV Basic Framework software platform

Safety PLC to ensure total movement

HMI human-machine vehicle safety interface
The entire AGV fleet is coordinated by means of the PLC logistic controller with software platform that automatically distributes orders, monitors traffic control areas

Maximum flexibility and scalability

Speed and safety of process, plant and personnel

"The demo AGV tending system created for LEF by our certified System Integrator BM Group Polytec - says Walter Volpi, System Consultant Leader TFS Transportation & Warehouse of SEW-EURODRIVE Italy -, creating a field of innovation and experimentation, is just a concrete example how smart technologies can demonstrate how real benefits can be obtained in terms of productivity, flexibility and speed ".

"For us at SEW-Eurodrive - says Carlo Peron, SEW-EURODRIVE Regional Sales Manager Drive Center in Verona - working with BM GROUP POLYTEC means being able to perfectly tailor the desired logistics application to the needs of the end customer, integrating it into his productive cycle."