“It is the love and passion for research & development that drives us,” enthuses Dr. Thomas Gutwald, Managing Director of TRAPO GmbH. “This love of innovation and the pursuit of safe workplaces is firmly anchored in the TRAPO mission statement, along with the idea of sustainability. We are proud and grateful about the award for our TRAPO Loading System TLS 3600 in the category “Identification, Packaging and Loading Technology, Load Securing”. With this renowned prize of the intralogistics industry in our hands, we are confirmed and spurred on to courageously tackle the challenges of the future!” As part of LogiMAT, the TRAPO team will be presenting the TLS 3600 live in Hall 5 at Stand D53 – and thus autonomous loading and unloading as a continuous process.
Praise from the jury: Downtimes reduced – safety increased
“For decades, we have been striving to reduce truck idle times at the ramp,” says department head and jury member Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolf Michael Scheid, explaining the jury’s decision and praising, “TRAPO offers an improvement for box trucks in general, without special stationary equipment: a step forward. We have an approach that is not only applicable at a ramp and that includes tolerances in the alignment of the trucks,” Scheid praises the forward-looking approach.
His jury colleague, trade journalist Jan Kaulfuhs-Berger, emphasizes: “The first favorite from the loading technology sector is the TRAPO loading system TLS 3600 for automated loading of box trucks with Euro pallets. The user benefits: Increased safety and time savings.” The TLS acts automatically between the warehouse and the loading bay. Kaulfuhs-Berger praises the avoidance of personal accidents in the loading zone. The monitoring and control of the shuttles via the ME system TIM (TRAPO Intelligent Management System) was also excellent.
The evaluation also included the fact that the TLS 3600 can be integrated into any production, storage or sequencing system: “The pallets are loaded directly after forming the row; advantageous, for example, for the refrigerated area of the food industry. And thus to be used in care areas of the food industry, pharmaceutical industry and medical technology.”
No need for human presence in the loading zone
It is as quiet as a whisper in the loading zone, where there is usually bustling forklift traffic. Upon arrival, the truck driver announces his arrival from the waiting zone via the control panel of a monitor. This triggers automated loading or unloading. There is no need for human presence in this accident-prone area. The TLS realizes the handling of goods in the sense of effective overall logistics, safely, automatically and with short distances.
Perfect cooperation: vehicle plus dock
The pioneering spirit of TRAPO engineers is dedicated to inventions that sustainably optimize the automated daily routine of intralogistics. The TLS 3600 is always the right choice due to its flexibility. Two individual mobiles together allow any combination possibilities: The TLS series basically consists of the autonomously operating vehicle plus dock.
The dock is available both as a fixed and as a mobile version. The fixed version serves only one loading hatch. In the mobile version, the dock is positioned in front of up to three loading ramps, one after the other, by wheel or rail, in order to load precisely at the respective lift. For the rail-bound variant, it must be clarified whether structural changes to the hall floor are possible and desired.
For the vehicle, a choice can be made between a cable-connected or battery-powered version.
Depending on the customer’s requirements, this results in a wide range of possible applications and thus the optimum solution.
24/7 loading and unloading in three central steps
Whether conventional technology, shuttle swarm or XXL shuttle, which delivers three pallets at a time: First, up to three pallets are placed next to each other in a row on conveyor technology (step 1) and aligned. This is followed by pickup (step 2) and loading of the row (step 3). During the loading process, the subsequent row of pallets is formed and staged. A continuous process that saves time and distance.
The TLS 3600 gets its name from this special feature: it loads three pallets of 1200 kg each, corresponding to 3600 kg, in parallel in a single operation.
Autonomous loading & unloading in 24/7 operation.
In combination with automated guided vehicles, the TLS 3600 replaces the usual forklift transports between production, warehouse and loading zone. At LogiMAT, a production-ready system with components of the industry standard will be presented. Hardware and software come from a single source, and the customer has a single point of contact for all matters. Another plus: The TLS, which will go into series production, will also be presented electrically in a modular design.
Compact system for box trucks
Including the shunting distance, the TLS requires a length of around 14 metres in the loading zone. The compact TRAPO loading system is 4.40 metres long including forks, only 1.35 metres high when the lift mast is retracted, about 2.15 metres wide and accommodates up to 3.6 tons of payload. Unladen, the tare weight is 5.5 tons. The headroom is 1.60 metres. The inclination of the loading bridge is said to be 4°. For a 14-meter trailer, the loading time can be reduced to around 25 minutes with 33 Euro pallets – depending on the load.
Short distances: flexible pallet delivery via shuttle
On request, the TLS 3600 can be integrated into a fully automated context – including delivery of pallets by a shuttle swarm. As a link between high rack, goods issue and loading system, the TRAPO Transport Shuttle TTS 1200 form autonomously moving systems that safely convey pallets to the TLS 3600. An alternative is the TTS 3600, which transports three pallets at a time and is placed as a row on the TLS 3600. Integrated into TIM, the TRAPO Intelligent Management System, all processes are monitored and managed – including control of the shuttle swarm if required.
Practical information on the TLS series in the TRAPO Lounge
In exclusive TLS lounges, the sales team will answer all detailed questions on function, requirements and potentials during LogiMAT. In order to provide the trade audience with far-reaching answers, “hubs” have been equipped with monitors where outstanding features are explained in a personal conversation using both film sequences from practical experience and with the help of animations.
Stainless steel variant for the food industry
The TLS is also already in use in the care sector of the food industry. The decisive advantage: thanks to the continuous loading cycle, foodstuffs are only in the loading area between the air-conditioned warehouse and the truck refrigerated box for a short time.
