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Case Study: S.E.W. North Filtration
Discover how S.E.W. North Filtration optimized its filter cartridge production with Nipper AGVs. By automating hall-to-hall transport and outbound pallet flows, the company reduced manual workload, freed up valuable labor hours, and created a more efficient and reliable logistics process.
Challenge
S.E.W. North Filtration specializes in the production of high-quality filter cartridges for the dust removal industry. From design to final product, the company manufactures its cartridges entirely in-house.
This full-cycle production process involves a high volume of internal material handling and transport between production halls. This resulted in:
- Lost time in transport: Employees spent hours daily walking between halls, simply moving materials without adding value.
- Labor-intensive outbound flow: One person was fully occupied with moving more than 50 pallets per day through strapping, wrapping, and outbound preparation.
- Inefficiency across production: Valuable labor was tied up in repetitive, low-value tasks instead of supporting core production.
The solution
To tackle these challenges, Nipper implemented two nipper AGV's in combination with 4 pallet dispensers, linked to the production flow.
- Hall 3 to Hall 4 transport: One Nipper moves magazines containing molding caps between halls, eliminating repetitive manual trips.
- Outbound logistics: A second Nipper manages the full pallet flow, starting with pallet dispensers for delivering or picking up empty pallets and transporting loaded pallets from production through a strapper, wrapper and finally to the outbound dock.
Employees received a 4 day training on programming and operating the Nippers, ensuring a smooth transition to automation and full knowledge to adjust routes and flows.
Results
By automating these flows, S.E.W. North Filtration achieved significant labor savings:
- Hall-to-hall transport: The investment saves the equivalent of one full-time employee per year who previously walked back and forth without adding value.
- Outbound flow: With more than 50 pallets moved daily, another full-time equivalent is saved, while improving efficiency and reliability in packaging and loading preparation.
The company is already considering a third Nipper to further optimize logistics once their transport partners are ready for night-time pickups.
Find out just how easy the move towards smart can be
From the Nipper Stretch Hood to the intelligent Nipper AGV, all Nipper’s products have been designed as building blocks. They work seamlessly together with our roller conveyor, pallet elevator, turntable, and traverse systems. And can also easily be integrated into existing logistics processes and plants.
