The people at Nokian Tyres (19% owned by the Nokia telecommunications group) know are experts when it comes to tyres for cars, trucks and heavy duty transport vehicles -
and logistics. The Finns recently came out on top in a prestigious German tyre test for high speed applications. This may be the reason why the AGVs loading and unloading the
Interroll flow storage lanes at Nokian Tyres have gained such names like Schumacher, Häkkinen, and Coulthard. Every day these trucks move 180 tonnes of palletized rubber in
and out of the Interroll flow storage warehouse.
|  | It's all a matter of the right blend
The Finnish manufacture produces 14,000 car tyres and 220 tonnes of tyres for trucks and HGVs every week. Everything, from processing the raw materials through vulcanization to
the manufacture of the actual tyres, is carried out in the tyre plant in Nokia. Each individual product is dependent on the precise material mixture: a specific blend of the raw
materials together with the sulphur component. Depending on the process being used, the material has to be stored for a certain time between the different phases of mixing and
processing. The decisive factor here is the right timing.
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| | Intermediate storage on steel pallets
For the intermediate phases of the production process, Nokian Tyres places the palletized pressed rubber balls into a Interroll flow storage system. The FIFO principle of the
system is essential for the material maturing process. To ensure that wood splinters do not contaminate the sensitive compound, the rubber is stored on steel pallets. This is the
only way to meet high quality standards in this phase of production. But steel pallets are not ordinary pallets. In fact, they are capable of handling weights of up to 900 kg on
just four narrow supports. Despite the low friction, the speed of the pallets has to be reliably controlled to ensure the safety of the system. And this is a real challenge for
flow storage engineers.
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| | Safe and reliable solution
Working with Constructor Finland, Interroll put together a compact, efficient FIFO flow storage package that fully meets the project requirements. An integrated indirect brake
system uses speed controllers mounted beneath the split roller tracks. One speed controller is used to brake two rollers of each track guaranteeing safety and reliability. With a
total of 486 pallet places, the warehousing system went into operation in 1997.
Nokian Tyres engineer Janne Nyblom summarizes the advantages: "The system is simple, space-saving, and has significantly improved our productivity. Above all, it has helped
us improve our quality. In this phase of the manufacturing process, we can't afford the potential problems caused by dirt particles."
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| | Rubber flow in the future
Nokian Tyres is planning to expand. In early 2001, Interroll and Constructor Finland will supply an additional installation for 903 pallet places based on the same design.
Apparently the name for the new AGV has already been chosen: Rubens Barrichello.
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