The automatic loading and unloading of pallets from a truck is one of the fields with the greatest potential for automation of logistics in general and internal logistics in particular. How many trucks are loaded and unloaded throughout the world every day? Millions. The opportunity and the business niche are great, but the technological challenge is also great.
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Let it be clear from the beginning that there are many Automatic truck Loading/unloading Systems (known as ALS for short), but you can count on the fingers of one hand those that do not require modifying the truck. Fewer still are those that can also be moved between different docks to allow greater profitability of the ALS.
ALS with truck modification
They have been around for many years and many types come out. It is enough to mount roller conveyors on the truck and the docks and you have an ALS, with very good loading/unloading times. There are three requirements for this:
- Have a dedicated fleet of trucks with the necessary modifications. Generally, such modifications also decrease the height available for pallets on the truck.
- Have a dedicated dock or docks with roller conveyors at the source.
- Have a dedicated dock or docks with roller conveyors at destination.
If the prerequisites are not met, you cannot work with these ALS types.
One of the main players in ALS with truck modification is Ancra Systems. The following video shows an example of a chain ALS in operation:
ALS without truck modification
The difficulties in achieving an ALS without modifying the truck are varied and are mainly based on the fact that no two truck bodies are the same:
- The floor is uneven and the longer the truck is, the more uneven it will be.
- The dimensions are variable (length, width and height) and the more stresses and blows the truck has suffered, the more differences there will be.
In addition, artificial references cannot be installed inside the box that allow the ALS to know where each pallet is loaded/unloaded. The margins available to the ALS to introduce the pallets also play an important role.
Today there are three technologies that solve the difficulties and reach industrial solutions:
1. AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles)
There are few manufacturers or integrators of AGVs that dare to do truck loading/unloading with AGVs. Why? Mainly due to the variability between truck boxes and the little tolerance required.
AGVs in this case often use SLAM navigation inside the truck bed.
The main disadvantage of using AGVs for truck loading/unloading is their speed; and it is that AGVs will take longer to load/unload a truck than any operator mounted on a forklift. In return, AGVs have the advantage of not needing a dedicated dock for automatic truck loading/unloading.
In the following video you can see AGVs from the German company Egemin (currently owned by Dematic) carrying out loading/unloading operations:
2. Combilift CSS
The Combilift ALS does not require truck modification as it consists of a plate that moves the load. For carrying out pallet loading, the system is perfect; however, when unloading we find that inserting the plate under the pallets may be tough:
3. DF Nalon N8
DF holds the patent for one of the best industrial ALS without truck modification.This ALS has 3 features that make it a real complete system:
- It can be moved between docks by means of rails and therefore does not require a dedicated dock.
- Full truck loading time: 12 minutes.
- It is capable of both automatically loading and unloading a truck.
Long story short, there are many and varied possibilities for automatically loading/unloading a truck. The main questions when starting an ALS project are:
- Is it possible to make changes to the truck?
- Is it possible to have a dedicated dock or docks at origin and destination?
- What is the limitation in the time available for loading/unloading the truck?
- Does the truck need to be loaded or unloaded? Or both?
