Three hours of manual tug work
every day. Replaced by a single AGV.

Two buildings, a hundred metres apart, and a driver in constant back-and-forth

Summa is a globally established name in precision cutting technology. From its headquarters in Gistel, the machine builder supplies vinyl and contour cutters, flatbed finishing machines and laser cutters to customers in the printing, signage, textile and packaging industries, operating in more than seventy countries with satellite offices in Boston and Nottingham. In 2023 — the year the company celebrated its fiftieth anniversary — a less visible milestone was also on the agenda: the very first AGV on its own production site.

The trigger for the project lay in the site's layout. Parts are stored, assembled and packaged in the first building; dispatch takes place in the second, some hundred metres away. That distance had to be bridged every single day — until recently, with a driver manually shuttling tugs and trailers back and forth.

"That took up almost three hours a day. Thanks to Movanis's AGV, we now have a reliable, efficient and safe solution that has taken over that process entirely."

Rik Muylle — COO, Summa

For Summa, automation was no unnecessary luxury. The outdoor yard where the tug operated is shared with staff, forklifts and delivery vehicles. Any solution therefore had to do more than save time — it also had to operate safely alongside that existing traffic, without forcing the company into a costly redesign of the site.

The flow of goods between our production and dispatch is now fully automated. It saves us an enormous amount of manual work and improves safety on the shop floor.

A carefully considered choice, confirmed by a look behind the scenes

After thorough analysis, the choice fell on the Sigma Outdoor, a tugger AGV that moves trailers of up to five tonnes, both indoors and outdoors. What proved decisive was its seamless fit with the trailer system Summa already had in place. "The system integrates perfectly with our existing infrastructure, guaranteeing a smooth rollout," says Rob Dekkers, project manager at Movanis.

The confidence required for that decision wasn't built on paper, but on the shop floor of another Movanis customer. During a reference visit to an international textile manufacturer, Summa saw the technology at work in practice. Movanis's proven track record in converting Still forklifts, its fast service and a favourable return on investment all helped tip the balance.

The route follows a fixed logic: at two coupling points, a member of staff attaches a trailer, after which the AGV drives fully autonomously to the other building — including gates that open and close automatically as it approaches. At two further points, trailers are uncoupled, and the AGV independently returns the empty ones. Every night, the vehicle makes its own way to the charging station, so it starts its first run the next morning with a full battery.

Safety on a shared site was the project's biggest challenge. Rather than substantially restructuring the yard, Movanis opted for traffic lights and clear markings, complemented by the EasyTrailer safety option. It works without additional sensors, yet still guarantees precise obstacle detection and safe turning circles. A built-in coupling check adds a further safeguard: if a safety pin isn't correctly secured, the system raises an alarm, and the AGV won't park until a trailer has been fully uncoupled.

"The investment has more than paid for itself. We're already thinking about a follow-up project, in which incoming goods would be automatically stored via a new WMS — ideally with AGVs that also operate at night. We look to the future with confidence."

Rik Muylle — COO, Summa

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