The green tire ASRS control system utilizes high bay storage (HBS) infrastructure to provide inventory for over 5,000 tires in transit from tire building to curing processes. Using core robotic structure sourced from Gudel, and motion controls platforms provided by Siemens, the primary ASRS worker traverse over a 50-meter trench, handling tires in pallets of four each. Primary loading controls consist of two dual acting Gantry systems, that are responsible for conveyor loading and unloading operations.
Managing Production Demands
The green tire ASRS manages production demands in several ways. The first primary servicing maintains steady infeed from upstream tire building conveyors. As tires enter the system, serial number, model number, and storage operation data are received from plant MES, dictating how the ASRS should handle individual tires. Tires can assume three status indications from the infeed: store, reject, priority bypass. The ASRS processes the tires, palletizing like tires for storage in the high bay, rejecting tires for quality reasons, or bypassing priority tires to meeting curing demands.
Another mechanism by which the ASRS services production demand is automated retrieval. For pallets stored in the high bay, the plant MES system is capable of scheduling and requesting retrieval of specific tire types to service curing and order needs. The plant MES queues requests and then the green tire ASRS dispatches the primary pallet handling platform and gantries, all while balancing inventory recall with infeed demands.
The green tire ASRS operates on Siemens controls platforms. Utilizing customized PLC and Motion control software, the central control systems provide support for product tracking, robotic dispatching, and operator interfacing. The flexibility of Siemens control platforms was critical to improving system functionality, reliability, and safety. The Siemens toolchain aided significantly in supporting a multi-developer team, aiming to deliver in a high demand production environment.