Schaeffler: GoPal® AMRs integrated into internal industrial flows
Schaeffler — a global automotive and industrial supplier with more than 5,300 employees in Romania — is automating internal transport between the warehouse and the production lines. Novomatix has delivered several GoPal® projects across multiple production halls in Romania, with a mixed fleet of Robotize GoPal® E24 and E24W AMRs for just-in-time (JIT) line feeding with bearing rings and for finished goods pickup at the end of the line.
How the GoPal® AMRs work
in Schaeffler's industrial flows
The robots support JIT line feeding with bearing rings and collect pallets of finished goods at the end of the line, in the real space of Schaeffler's industrial halls.
Extensive industrial operations,
internal transport that cannot stop
Schaeffler — a global automotive and industrial supplier with more than 75 years of activity in motion and mobility — operates in Romania with more than 5,300 employees. Within these operations, internal transport links the warehouse to the production lines and the lines to the finished goods areas, in high volumes and with a variety of load carriers. Novomatix has delivered several GoPal® projects across multiple Schaeffler production halls in Romania.
Against this background, recruiting warehouse staff became increasingly difficult, and the clear expectation was to have processes ready to run 24/7, without pauses and without interruptions. Internal transport automation was needed to support JIT line feeding with bearing rings as well as finished goods pickup in other halls, without losing performance within the existing space constraints.
A mixed GoPal® E24 & E24W fleet, and load carriers for special loads
Across several projects in multiple Schaeffler production halls in Romania, Novomatix integrated a mixed fleet of Robotize GoPal® E24 & E24W AMRs, together with pallet stations, call buttons connected to GoControl FMS, and auxiliary I/O boxes for automatic door opening.
Two main internal transport scenarios taken over by AMRs
The robots support JIT line feeding with bearing rings and collect pallets of finished goods at the end of the line, moving them to the warehouse — precisely the most repetitive routes in Schaeffler's production.
Transport orders raised from the line, allocated by GoControl FMS
Operators raise a transport order through a physical or virtual button; GoControl FMS — the fleet management system — allocates the task to the first available robot. Auxiliary I/O boxes let the robots open the doors between zones automatically, for a continuous flow between halls and sectors.
Load carriers designed and engineered by Novomatix
For oversized loads — in particular bearing rings up to 1,600 mm in diameter — the load carriers were designed and engineered by Novomatix, supported by structural calculations and technical documentation, and developed with technical collaboration from the Polytechnic University, so that the robots handle standard and oversized units alike.
Continuous internal transport, in the real conditions of the existing halls
The implementation covers two main internal transport scenarios — JIT line feeding and finished goods pickup — in real industrial space, without major reorganization of the existing halls.
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JIT line feeding, managed from request to return
The line operator initiates the material request; the AMR collects the matching load carrier from the warehouse and delivers it to the line, picks up the empty pallet delivered earlier, and returns it to a dedicated station in the warehouse — the JIT loop is closed, with no manual intervention along the route.
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Finished goods pickup at the end of the line
In other halls, the robots collect pallets of finished goods from the end-of-line areas and transport them to the warehouse, continuously freeing capacity in critical production zones.
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Loads of up to 1,300 kg, standard and oversized units
The AMRs carry EUR half-pallets, EUR pallets, and the load carriers Novomatix designed and structurally verified for bearing rings of up to 1,600 mm, at loads of up to 1,300 kg per transport.
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Safe movement within the existing industrial space
The solution runs in halls whose aisles are not particularly generous, without major infrastructure changes — the AMR systems were integrated directly into the halls' current operation.
“One of the major benefits offered by the GoPal® AMR robots is their ability to operate in spaces that are not very generous. This made it possible to integrate the AMR system into the existing production hall without modifications.”
Implementation summary
- Customer
- Schaeffler — production operations in Romania, more than 5,300 employees
- Solution
- Internal transport automation with a mixed AMR fleet
- Robot
- Robotize GoPal® E24 & E24W
- Applications
- JIT line feeding with bearing rings; finished goods pickup, end-of-line → warehouse
- Maximum load
- Up to 1,300 kg per transport
- Load carrier types
- EUR half-pallet, EUR pallet, and load carriers designed and engineered by Novomatix — supported by structural calculations and technical documentation — for bearing rings of up to 1,600 mm
- Infrastructure
- Pallet stations, call buttons connected to GoControl FMS, auxiliary I/O boxes for automatic door opening
- Orchestration
- Traffic management, navigation rules, robot route map, a hub for robots and smart accessories, reporting, and KPIs.
- Novomatix role
- Systems integrator and engineering: delivery of several GoPal® projects across multiple Schaeffler production halls in Romania, flow definition, infrastructure sizing, AMR configuration, design and engineering of load carriers for oversized loads with supporting structural calculations and technical documentation, and implementation coordination
“Implementing automation in classic production flows represents, for any manufacturer, a licence to operate in the future, and that is why we will continue to develop the next business-critical projects together with our partner, Novomatix.”
Where the same type of solution works
The same approach makes sense in plants with intensive internal transport between the warehouse and production: JIT line feeding with raw materials, finished goods pickup at the end of the line, or movements between connected industrial halls.
It becomes particularly useful where warehouse recruitment is difficult, where predictable 24/7 operation is required, and where the existing aisles and spaces do not allow major changes to the hall. In such contexts, the ability of the AMRs to operate in spaces that are not very generous matters as much as the volumes transported.
Want to see whether a similar flow makes sense in your application?
We start from your internal flows — JIT line feeding and finished goods pickup — and look together at where GoPal® AMRs can take over the repetitive transport within your existing process.