Case Study: BSH — two AGV types for transport and towing in home appliance production

The BSH AGV deployment covered several of the group's plants — from Lodz and Rzeszow to Nauen in Germany — and two different types of robot: the All in One Smart 2000 underride platform and the Tugger Smart Line 5000 tow tractor. It is a good example of how a single supplier can handle different transport scenarios within the same manufacturing group.

Context: home appliance production

BSH is one of the largest manufacturers of home appliances in Europe. Its plants in Lodz, Rzeszow and Nauen operate at high volume, where in-plant transport links the raw material warehouse, assembly lines and packing zones. The scale of home appliance production means a large number of repetitive transport runs — of both individual loads and entire trains of trolleys.

The transport challenge

In an environment like this, two different needs arise. The first is transporting loads on a platform — picking up, moving and setting down a container or pallet. The second is towing entire trains of the customer's trolleys between zones, where towing capacity matters, not lifting. One type of robot cannot handle both tasks equally well, which is why model selection was the starting point here.

The BSH AGV deployment — two models for two tasks

For load transport, a robot from the All in One series was proposed: the Smart 2000, with a towing capacity of up to 2000 kg — a modular platform that, depending on its configuration, operates as an underride unit with a pin, a tow tractor or a unit with a conveyor. For towing trains of trolleys, the Tugger Smart Line 5000 tow tractor was specified, with a towing capacity of up to 5000 kg, a hydraulic lifting unit and connectors for safety accessories mounted on the customer's trolleys.

Both models were fitted with standard safety blocks: certified safety scanners, light and sound signalling, emergency stop buttons and automatic charging. For the Nauen plant, a lifting robot variant (AGV Lift) was prepared in a bilingual version.

• All in One Smart 2000 — an underride platform with a towing capacity of up to 2000 kg.
• Tugger Smart Line 5000 — a tow tractor for trains of trolleys with a towing capacity of up to 5000 kg and hydraulic lifting.
• Standard safety blocks: safety scanners, signalling, emergency stop buttons, automatic charging.
• Deployments at several of the group's plants (Lodz, Rzeszow, Nauen) from a single hardware source.

The full case study with data and video footage — coming soon to the Academy. You can explore the full range of underride robots and tow tractors in the AGV and AMR robots category.