Automation as the Answer to Labor Shortages
“The shortage of skilled labor has made investments easier — but also inevitable.”
The growing shortage of skilled labor is becoming an increasing challenge for many manufacturing companies. At the same time, the demand for flexibility continues to rise, making efficient workforce planning more crucial than ever.
MoldTecs has addressed this challenge by fully automating its production supply. Today, the automation platform, AnyFleet, orchestrates eight iw.hubs, completing around 1,700 missions every day.
With names like Jutta, Henry, and Sonni, the robots have become an integral part of the team, replacing three tugger trains and allowing employees to focus on more value-adding tasks.
Standardization as the Key to Successful Automation
The highly complex environment in Sonneberg comprises more than 180 different systems and machines, along with a wide variety of packaging types: a major challenge for any automation project, but one that Idealworks’ implementation process is perfectly equipped to handle.
The automation experts followed a meticulous plan, placing special emphasis on maximizing the standardization of load carriers. This approach not only addressed the site’s complexity in Sonneberg but also established a flexible foundation for scaling the system to additional processes.
The partnership between Idealworks and FLEXUS AG proved decisive: the FLEXUS system serves as a bridge, transferring orders triggered in SAP to AnyFleet, where transport missions are launched automatically.
Cross-Site Scaling Increases Efficiency
The implementation in Sonneberg was completed in record time. At MoldTecs’ site in Laval, France, eight iw.hubs are already used in similar processes, allowing proven approaches and valuable learnings to be applied at the new location.
One of the best practices transferred was the maintenance model already established in France. To ensure stable operations, an in-house team of experts was set up and, after intensive training by Idealworks, is now able to resolve issues quickly and independently.
This success story demonstrates how scalable automation solutions enable sustainable efficiency gains and enhanced operational flexibility across sites.
“With the AMRs from Idealworks, we have established a reliable foundation that combines flexibility, efficiency, and planning security.”
