Achieve Incredible Warehouse Logistics Accuracy with ASUS IoT’s Warehouse-Control System
In an advanced factory located in New Taipei City, several autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are shuttling between the production line and the warehouse. One AMR is picking up materials from the warehouse, while another is calling for an elevator to reach the designated floor and continuing to carry out the goods handling task. Some of the AMRs are responsible for transporting finished products from the production line to the shipping area. If they pass through narrow passages and encounter obstacles ahead, they will choose another path guided by the system. If the width of the channel allows, AMRs will automatically bypass obstacles and move forward. For warehouse personnel in the factory, they do not have to repeatedly transport materials as before. Instead, they can monitor the location and status of materials in real time through a display screen monitoring system, focusing on quality control and optimizing production processes.
This is a scene that often appears in the headquarter of Portwell, a global industrial embedded systems manufacturer and solutions provider, thanks to the implementation of the ASUS IoT warehouse-control system with AMR configuration. Huang KuoJen, Manager of Manufacturing Management Department at Portwell, remarked: “Since its launch in December 2023, this system has achieved a warehouse logistics accuracy rate of over 99% and saved three material-handling personnel.” These colleagues have been transferred to be responsible for more valuable management, engineering and other work, creating a vision of win-win between labor and capital.
Improved material management through AMR-connected warehouses and production lines
Previously Portwell's warehouse personnel needed to perform material preparation and transportation operation to the production line once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The process included manual material counting, transporting materials to pallets, and then using hydraulic trucks to deliver them to the production line. The finished products completed on the production line also needed to be manually transported from the production floor to the warehouse for shipment or storage, requiring up to 10 people to handle them. The locations are distributed over three different floors of the warehouse and production area.
KuoJen pointed out that in recent years, the manufacturing environment has rapidly changed, and traditional material management and transportation models are facing challenges such as process flexibility and labor shortages. In order to overcome these challenges, Portwell has partnered with ASUS IoT to introduce 5G AloT smart factories, including the use of ASUS IoT’s warehouse-control system. This process is ongoing, with Portwell endeavoring to connect all parts of its manufacturing-execution system (MES), hoping to closely connect the two ends of the warehouse and production line – with the aim of greatly improving factory operational efficiency.
Due to the complex environment of the manufacturing field and the interlocking of various operating systems, the introduction of a new system not only needs to solve environmental and system level problems, but also needs to guide operators to change their mentality and embrace new technologies.
Portwell’s KuoJen admitted that most of the situations encountered during the import process were unforeseeable issues, such as how to modify the existing elevator system so that AMRs can call the elevator to perform material-handling work, how does an AMR travel in narrow or slippery channels and how to persuade employees to continue using the system during the initial stage when the efficiency is still lower than manual operation. These tasks are crucial for the smooth integration of the new system into the manufacturing site. “To solve these problems, it is necessary to have close communication between the system manufacturer and the importing enterprise, “ said KuoJen, “We work together to overcome them one by one, so that the import benefits can emerge as scheduled."
KuoJen continued: "The most direct and obvious benefits of the warehouse-control system after its launch are the warehouse logistics accuracy rate exceeding 99% and the reduction of three material-handling personnel, as mentioned earlier. However, there are other indirect benefits behind these numbers."
Taking material preparation and transportation operations as an example, now all material quantities, travel routes and time data – from warehouse pickup, AMR transportation to unloading – are automatically recorded in the system, allowing management personnel to easily and correctly grasp the location of materials. This improves material-management efficiency and significantly reduces the incidence of misplacement, ensuring smooth operation of the production line.
ASUS IoT customizations minimize resistance from onsite personnel
Hsu ChiChao, Mechanical Research Director of ASUS Robot Mechatronic Control R&D Divsion, said that the environment and operation process of each factory are different, so the new system must have customized design in terms of software and hardware. ASUS IoT’s warehouse-control system for Portwell demonstrates such characteristics. This system integrates two major platforms, warehouse management and AMR. Warehouse management is responsible for real-time recording and updating of detailed material information, which is then handed over to AMR to handle the inbound and outbound handling of raw materials, semi-finished products, finished products, and other materials.
To meet the production line and warehousing needs of Portwell, the ASUS team conducted onsite inspections of the factory site and the operating procedure. ChiChao emphasized: "The new system needed to match the original process as much as possible and make the operation process more convenient in order to reduce the rejection mentality of on-site personnel." Therefore, on the software side, ASUS focuses on user needs and provides customized services such as an intuitive graphical user interface. In terms of hardware, the AMRs are endowed with more intelligent functions. Specifically, on the network-communication side, ASUS IoT built a custom 5G private network for Portwell, allowing the low-latency characteristics of 5G to enable AMRs to accurately and intelligently execute material transportation tasks.
Warehouse-control success built on close collaboration and continuous feedback
With a warehouse logistics accuracy rate of over 99% and the reduction in human resources, coupled with various derived benefits, Portwell's warehouse-control system has become one of the exemplary cases of digital transformation in the manufacturing industry. For manufacturing companies that are interested in introducing it, KuoJen and ChiChao have also provided suggestions.
KuoJen firstly shared his experience from the perspective of importing. He believes that communication between the enterprise and the system builder is extremely important in the early stages of design. “Each factory is unique, and both parties should clearly define the environment and specifications of each field,” KuoJen emphasized. Early communication helps both parties understand the characteristics of each scenario and the target benefits of the demand side, reducing the cost of later modifications. Secondly, the interface design of the system also needs to consider usability. "Taking Portwell as an example, our end users are operators, so the interface must ensure that they can use the system and equipment clearly and easily.”
ChiChao then put forward suggestions from the construction end. He believes that before designing a system, builders must fully understand the customer's material handling process. “The ASUS approach is to go to the site to deeply understand the customer's existing practices and then adjust the operation of AMRs based on this information,” observed ChiChao. While observing the material-handling processes, it is also necessary to have multiple and in-depth conversations with the on-site operators to understand the actual user's operation process and functional requirements of the system, and to incorporate them into the development of the system. Finally, ChiChao noted that after the system is launched, it is necessary to continuously visit and inspect its usage status, and make adjustments based on feedback from on-site operators, in order to ensure that the system benefits emerge as scheduled and of high quality.
ASUS IoT's warehouse-control system has achieved Portwell‘s initial goal of improving operational efficiency and reducing costs. In the future, Portwell and ASUS IoT will gradually enhance system performance. This strategy not only optimizes production capacity, but also serves as a demonstration of the determination and achievements in digital transformation during visits from customers or other industry officials and academia. For the ASUS IoT team, this success story will expand the brand impression in the smart manufacturing field, and continue to help them understand customer needs to provide high-performance, optimized 5G AloT smart factory architecture.