Energy Efficiency of AGV-Drone Joint In-Plant Supply of Production Lines

Energy efficiency plays an increasingly important role not only in supply chains, but also in in-plant supply systems. Manufacturing companies are increasingly using energy-efficient material handling equipment to solve their in-plant material handling tasks. A new example of this effort is the use of drones for in-plant transportation of small components. Within the frame of this article, a new AGV-drone joint in-plant supply model is described. The joint service of AGV-based milkrun trolleys and drones makes it possible to optimize the in-plant supply in production lines. This article discusses the mathematical description of AGV-drone joint in-plant supply solutions. The numerical analysis of the different AGV-drone joint in-plant supply solutions shows that this new approach can lead to an energy consumption reduction of about 30%, which also has a significant impact on GHG emission.