October 6, 2008 — Jervis B. Webb Company will supply four SmartCart AGC Automatic Guided Carts to Western Container’s new facility in Fife, Wash. Western Container is a manufacturer of plastic bottles. SmartCart AGCs are flexible, low-cost Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs) that are ideal for moving products on an assembly line or transporting goods throughout a plant or warehouse. Guided by magnetic tape, the guidepath of the SmartCart AGCs can be installed or modified in as little as a few hours.
The SmartCart AGCs selected by Western Container are equipped with counterbalanced forks. The forks allow the SmartCart AGC to pick up a large bin from a gravity roller conveyor station, which is also provided by Webb. The bins are filled with preforms, which are in-process plastic bottles produced by injection molding machines. The SmartCart AGC transports the bin to a lid removal station, where the lid is removed from the bin. Next, the SmartCart AGC travels to one of three designated dumping stations, where the preforms are dumped into a hopper and fed into a blow molding machine that forms the bottles into their final shape. During this process, which takes just over two minutes to complete, the SmartCart AGC recharges its batteries at a nearby charging station. When the dumping process is completed, the SmartCart AGC picks up the empty bin and delivers it to an automated bin stacking device. After that, the SmartCart AGC returns to the gravity roller station, where the entire process starts over.
“The counterbalanced fork SmartCart AGCs will allow Western Container Corporation to increase efficiency and reduce operating costs at their Fife, Washington facility,” said Bruce Buscher, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the Jervis B. Webb Company. “The ultimate goal is to help Western Container streamline the identical processes across their other facilities for additional cost savings and production efficiency.”
About Jervis B. Webb Company
Jervis B. Webb Company is a subsidiary of Daifuku Co. Ltd and leading developer of innovative material handling technology and systems. Webb specializes in the design, engineering, installation and support of integrated systems used in the automotive, airport, beverage, warehousing and manufacturing industries. Webb is headquartered in Farmington Hills, Mich., with manufacturing locations in Harbor Springs and Boyne City, Mich.; Carlisle, S.C.; Canada; India; and China. The company was founded in 1919 by Jervis B. Webb who invented the forged rivetless chain conveyor that helped revolutionize mass production.
About Western Container Corporation
Western Container Corporation is a high performance company dedicated to being the premier manufacturer of PET containers for the Coca-Cola Bottling System. The company was established in 1979 by a group of Coca-Cola Bottlers who acted on the long-term need to offer a central distribution point and a reliable source of high quality low-cost plastic bottles.
