ZF | Autonomous in-plant parts transfer

Autonomous in-plant transportation for automotive components, replacing manual cart-based transfer between warehouses and reducing per-unit transport cost by 53%.

In automotive component manufacturing and warehousing, parts often need to be transferred repeatedly between warehouses or production-related storage areas inside an industrial park. In the traditional model, staff manually pull carts across several hundred meters, creating repetitive labour demand, unstable transport efficiency, and avoidable safety exposure.

For ZF, Neolix Antz 6 are deployed as autonomous in-plant shuttles for loose automotive parts. The vehicles operate on fixed and repeatable routes between warehouse areas, replacing manual cart-based transfer with autonomous transportation. This improves the predictability of short-distance parts movement while reducing labour intensity and operating cost.

The solution is designed for high-frequency, short-distance, and repeatable in-plant logistics scenarios, making it suitable for automotive component suppliers, manufacturing parks, and industrial warehouse operations.

Results

• Per-unit transport cost reduced by 53%.
• Replaces manual cart-based transfer between warehouses located several hundred meters apart.
• Reduces repetitive manual handling and improves in-plant logistics predictability.
• Provides a scalable autonomous shuttle model for automotive component logistics.