This story is about us! Rockwell Automation is a global leader in industrial automation and digital transformation, helping manufacturers become more resilient, agile, and sustainable. Our 250,000-square-foot Twinsburg, Ohio, manufacturing facility produces programmable logic controllers (PLCs), sensors, switches, relays and other control devices for the automotive, food and beverage, and life sciences industries.
Challenge
- Relied heavily on cart-based material movement, with 52% of daily trips completed manually
- Pulled operators away from value-added production work, limiting operational efficiency
- Lacked synchronization between IT, OT, and automation systems, contributing to material delivery delays and production downtime
- Required additional floor space to stage and buffer work-in-process inventory
- Contributed to employee fatigue, with operators walking more than 8 hours per day to support material movement
Solution
- Deployed three OTTO® 100 Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) with 40 red staging carts to transport raw materials from kitting to four assembly lines
Deployed three OTTO® 100 Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) with 40 red staging carts to transport raw materials from kitting to four assembly lines
- Automated repetitive material transport to reduce manual intervention and support consistent material flow
Automated repetitive material transport to reduce manual intervention and support consistent material flow
- Introduced FactoryTalk® Orchestration™ to advance the facility toward fully autonomous production logistics
Introduced FactoryTalk® Orchestration™ to advance the facility toward fully autonomous production logistics
- Connected FactoryTalk® ProductionCentre® MES with OTTO Fleet Manager through REST APIs to coordinate material transport based on real-time production status
Connected FactoryTalk® ProductionCentre® MES with OTTO Fleet Manager through REST APIs to coordinate material transport based on real-time production status
- Used configurable, rule-based workflows to automatically dispatch AMR missions as production orders progressed through manufacturing
Used configurable, rule-based workflows to automatically dispatch AMR missions as production orders progressed through manufacturing
Result
- Generated $162,000 in annual savings by reallocating employees to higher-value tasks and increasing production volume
- Reduced work-in-process staging space by 50% and increased space utilization by 70%
- Reduced production line downtime by 20%
- Achieved a return on investment within 1.5 years
- Expanded to three additional Rockwell facilities with more to come, with Twinsburg serving as a production logistics showcase facility
Our Twinsburg manufacturing facility relied heavily on cart-based material transport, with approximately 52% of daily material movement trips completed manually. This created high labor dependence and significant non-value-added operator activity, with operators walking more than 8 hours per day to move material.
At the same time, a lack of synchronization between IT, OT, and automation systems contributed to delayed material deliveries, excess work-in-process inventory on the facility floor, and production downtime. Together, these challenges limited production efficiency and made it more difficult to scale operations.
To solve these challenges, Rockwell’s Twinsburg facility launched a multi-phase transformation program centered on OTTO autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and FactoryTalk Orchestration.
Phase 1: Automating material movement with OTTO AMRs
Rockwell deployed three OTTO 100 autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) equipped with 40 red staging carts to automate the movement of raw materials from the kitting area to four assembly lines. The autonomous robots were manually dispatched by operators to handle repetitive material transport, allowing operators to focus on value-added production work while supporting a consistent flow of materials to the lines.
Phase 2: Orchestrating production logistics
While Phase 1 automated material movement, operators still needed to manually request work-order materials. FactoryTalk ProductionCentre was not integrated with the AMRs, so manual triggers could be inconsistent, contributing to product delays and large zones of staged inventory on the facility floor. Rockwell’s Twinsburg facility advanced to Phase 2 with the introduction of FactoryTalk Orchestration to fully automate and orchestrate material movement based on production demand.
This solution connected the plant’s manufacturing execution system (MES) directly with OTTO Fleet Manager while providing a standardized approach to integrating connected IT and OT systems, including ERP and future warehouse execution systems (WES). Using configurable, rule-based, no-code workflows, FactoryTalk Orchestration automatically dispatched robots as production orders progressed through manufacturing, enabling material movement to respond to real-time production demand. Built within existing Rockwell technology, the solution provided a familiar experience for operators and could be deployed remotely to the Twinsburg site, reducing implementation time and disruption to plant operations. This approach addresses customer needs for robust, scalable integration between robots, devices, and enterprise systems while reducing reliance on fully customized integrations.
This innovation moved the facility beyond robotic transport and into true autonomous production logistics orchestration. Instead of people requesting movements, the production system itself initiated them, allowing operators to focus on value-added work while ensuring materials moved in response to production demand.
The multi-phase deployment delivered measurable improvements in labor efficiency, production flow, and operational performance. Phase 1 generated $162,000 in annual savings by automating manual material movement, allowing employees to be reallocated to higher-value tasks within the facility to increase production volume. With FactoryTalk Orchestration, the facility reduced work-in-process staging space by 50%, increased space utilization by 70%, and reduced production line downtime by 20% through more timely, predictable material delivery. The deployment also reduced material wait times, improved overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), lowered scrap rates, and improved employee safety by reducing repetitive transport activity. The project achieved a return on investment within 1.5 years.
Twinsburg has since become a customer-facing showcase for production logistics, allowing prospective customers to see the technology operating in a live manufacturing environment. By applying the production logistics approach to its own operations, Rockwell is demonstrating its confidence in the approach and its potential to deliver measurable results. The success established a repeatable template that has already been extended to three additional Rockwell facilities, with additional brownfield and greenfield deployments planned. The initiative demonstrates how a production logistics approach can transform manual, fragmented processes into connected, autonomous operations that deliver measurable gains in productivity, efficiency, cost, and scalability.
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