Patent ID: 11922369
Assignee: COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  B  Y | IPC B  G

Claim 0:
1. An automated flow management system for managing a flow of raw materials and a flow of semi-finished products in order to carry out one or more rubber compounding processes, the system comprising:
a rubber compounding facility with a rubber compounding station in which compounding processes are carried out according to a selected rubber compound recipe, the rubber compounding station comprising several production levels that require provision of raw materials in order to carry out corresponding compounding processes at each production level; and
automated storage means having several storage levels and one or more storage levels that are linked to each production level of the rubber compounding station, the automated storage means of the management system comprising:
at least one raw material storage system with several storage levels that facilitate the storage, transfer and retrieval of the raw materials depending on the processes carried out at the production levels of the rubber compounding station, and with which the automated flow management system generates one or more flows of raw materials;
a semi-finished product storage system with several storage levels at which the semi-finished products from the rubber compounding station are stored, wherein the semi-finished products can be allocated to locations depending on the processes carried out at the corresponding production levels in the rubber compounding station, and with which the automated flow management system generates one or more flows of semi-finished products; and
one or more slave pallets permanently incorporated into each automated storage means that comprise virtual storage zones in order to facilitate management of stock and flows of raw materials and semi-finished products.