Automation of waste flow in manufacturing industry

Sammanfattning: Today’s society is increasingly moving towards a digitalized world where society is becoming more connected. In terms of industries, it´s extra important to keep up with this trend to be competitive, but also to be more effective. This work will be done in collaboration with the company Attindas. Attindas is a manufacturer of absorbent incontinence aids and delivers products worldwide. The purpose of this work is to investigate two different material flows at Attindas. These flows are raw materials in the warehouse and waste from production to recycling rooms. A deeper analysis is made of the different flows to investigate which parts can be automated and how to do this. The goal of this work is to develop a solution that can replace today’s manual material handling. The problem statements this work is based on is: • Which material flow of waste and raw material are the most valuable to automate? • How can the chosen material flow be automated? The work is carried out with a Design Thinking method that goes through the following steps. Find users’ needs, define needs and problems, come up with ideas and test the solution. The work is supported by a literature study that examines what has already been done and what is already on the market. The result of this work was that Attinda’s waste management is the material flow that should be automated if financial gain and efficiency are to be achieved. The solution that was constructed is an external lifting device that will be mounted on a platform AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle). Two AGVs will drive in the factory and pick up four waste wagons at a time. This is to cope with the waste flow that comes from the production lines. The conclusion of the work is that waste management is a step that Attindas can automate to go to a more automated factory and get one step closer to Industry 4.0. With the help of the new solution, which is a lifting device adapted to the waste bins. Attindas can replace manual work and automate the flow of waste from production to recycling room. By implementing this solution in the factory, Attindas will over time make a financial gain comparable to the current solution, while maintaining its efficiency.