Automated Guided Vehicle Inventory Control

Coordinating material movement in an automated manufacturing environment

Client context

The client is a leading provider of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) for factory and plant environments. A central control system coordinates as many as 20 vehicles that collect material from inventory and transport it to the appropriate destination within the facility.

Business challenge

Each installation had evolved through different outside contractors. The result was uneven functionality, limited integration with surrounding systems, incomplete documentation, and insufficient coordination logic for efficient vehicle movement. The client needed a dependable platform for inventory control, automated storage, and the movement of paper pallets and paper rolls to printing operations.

The business objective was clear: help facilities move more material with fewer vehicle conflicts, reduce operational friction, and give client engineers a safer way to test changes before using them on site.

What SoloSoft delivered

SoloSoft designed a unified inventory-control platform that combined routing, operational visibility, equipment communication, administration, and simulation. The solution was shaped around real factory operations instead of presenting the technology as the product.

Operational improvements

• Adaptable operations: made it easier to configure customer-specific changes, reducing the internal support effort required for each installation.
• Extensible platform: created a clearer path for new capabilities and connections to a customer’s existing operational systems.
• Live operator visibility: gave operators a graphical view of the facility, vehicle locations, tasks, and status information.
• Safer change validation: included a simulator so teams could test facility layouts and operating changes before deployment.
• Demonstration and training: provided a version that supported product demonstrations and user onboarding.

Product capabilities

SoloSoft designed and integrated the following components into one coordinated operating environment:

• System core
  Coordinated the facility model, inventory data, vehicle information, pick-and-drop points, system events, and error handling.

• Routing and location control
  Selected efficient paths based on the facility layout and real-time operating conditions, helping resolve scheduling conflicts and coordinate vehicle movement.

• Vehicle communications
  Managed the continuous exchange of commands and status updates between the control platform and vehicles, supporting timely task completion and reduced waiting time.

• Factory-signal integration
  Brought in signals from equipment and field devices so the system could prioritize work and create the right operating task.

• Operator workspace
  Displayed the facility layout, vehicle locations, pick-and-drop points, stations, tasks, and conditions in one actionable view.

• Administration and continuity
  Managed role-based access, system information, backups, and activity logs for engineers, administrators, and operators.

• Facility configuration
  Enabled the team to configure new facility layouts and evolve existing installations as operational needs changed.

• System simulator
  Allowed the solution to be tested without physical vehicles or equipment, reducing on-site testing time and lowering change risk.

Business impact

The new platform gave the client a stable operating foundation for managing AGVs across plant environments. Its routing and coordination capability helped facilities move material more efficiently with fewer conflicts, while the integration, visibility, and simulation features made the system easier to operate, adapt, and support. This created a clearer return-on-investment case for the client’s customers and a stronger product platform for future installations.