Trust Is Good, Control Is Better

In principle, conveying technologies differ in regard to the definition of function, the mechanical design and, of course, the control system. Even if it is very small, an intralogistics system is only conceivable if it has several of these technologies. The material flow management above the equipment technology is covered in the chapter "Software Implementation". Here reference is made to the special themes of horizontal integration.

The physical transport of goods and the data routing must be continuously synchronized. This is not insignificant even within a technically homogeneous conveyor layout. The formation of a complete system from several conveying technologies is a very demanding task.

The quality requirements of the data synchronization are not defined through normal operation but through the error scenarios. Besides this principle function of horizontal integration there is also a series of requirements such as the collective restarting of the entire system or uniform error handling independent of the conveying technology.

The second cross-section concerns the technologies. Material flow technology utilizes a wide spectrum, of which Swisslog specialists have profound knowledge.

IT is just one of these, possibly even the most important. Hardware is deployed in logistics projects, from the simple PC to the fully redundant server. Dimensioning and installing such systems is a core competence of Swisslog, as is the handling of the different operating systems and databases together with a whole range of tools. Programming – in several languages – is a qualification in itself.

Identification technology is a further example of the bandwidth of technologies in material flow engineering such as rarely used optical character readers, widely used bar codes and even less common two-dimensional barcode and transponders – and the most current: RFID.

This brief summary represents just a selection of all the competences of Swisslog’s engineers:

Professional management of mechanical engineering for various conveying technologies.

• Drive technology
• Energy and data transmission technologies
• Sensory analysis
• Network technology for information transmission
• Electrical engineering for switch cabinet planning and installation wiring
• Safety and accident prevention