Three Layers of Robotics, Zero Manual Handling

At its global headquarters in Nordborg, Denmark, Danfoss Power Solutions designs and manufactures mobile hydraulics, electrification solutions, fluid conveyance, electronic controls, and software for the construction and agricultural industries — among others. It’s a central hub for Danfoss manufacturing, and like most central hubs, it’s been running up against the limits of its own floor space.

Company: Danfoss Power Solutions
Industry: Mobile Hydraulics Manufacturing
Location: Nordborg, Denmark
Local Partner: RoboTool
AMR setup: Nord Quick Mover + OMRON LD90

After a year of significant growth, the Nordborg team faced a clear constraint: the building couldn’t expand, but production had to. The answer wasn’t more storage. It was a smarter warehouse.

Together with OMRON Integration Partner RoboTool, AutoStore provider Element Logic, and OMRON Alliance Partner Nord Modules, Danfoss replaced its traditional warehouse with a fully automated system combining three layers of robotics — two OMRON LD autonomous mobile robots, an industrial robot, and an AutoStore warehouse — all working together across 860 square metres of production space. The project, launched in December 2022, was nominated for the DIRA Automation Award 2024.

THE CHALLENGE

A growth problem that couldn’t be solved by building bigger

The brief from Danfoss was unusually clean: minimise manual lifting of heavy boxes in and out of storage, make better use of the existing floor area, and build something that could scale up or down with order volume. Expanding the facility wasn’t on the table.

“The challenge was that we experienced significant growth over the past year, which resulted in a lack of physical space on our factory floor. Expanding the building wasn’t an option, so we had to come up with a smarter and more creative solution.” — Martin Ole Madsen, Manager Operations Excellence, Danfoss Power Solutions

The traditional warehouse footprint had to go. What replaced it needed to handle every step of storage and retrieval without a human hand on a box.

THE SOLUTION

Three robot technologies, one orchestrated flow

The system Danfoss, RoboTool, Element Logic, OMRON, and Nord Modules built integrates three layers of robotics into a single material flow:

• AutoStore warehouse — fully robot-operated storage, replacing the conventional warehouse footprint
• Industrial robot in a transfer cell — handles loading and unloading between the AutoStore system and the mobile robots
• Two OMRON LD mobile robots — named Egon and Yvonne after the Danish Olsen Gang film series — equipped with Nord Modules Quick Movers to transport parts to and from the AutoStore facility
• OMRON FHV7 smart camera — reads box codes on incoming items so the AutoStore system can identify and place them correctly

Parts now move in and out of the warehouse without being touched by human hands. Nord Modules’ role was developing the top module solution that allows the LD robots to interface with the transfer cell and the industrial robot — the mechanical bridge that makes the hand-off between mobile and stationary robotics work.

Clear and tangible gains

The combination delivered on every objective Danfoss set out with:

• Ergonomics: manual lifting of heavy boxes eliminated from the storage and retrieval flow
• Space efficiency: 860 m² of production space repurposed by replacing traditional warehousing
• Flexible capacity: production can ramp up or down with order volume, with no manual rebalancing
• High automation level: three robot layers — mobile, industrial, and warehouse — operating as one system
• Industry recognition: DIRA Automation Award 2024 nomination

“We were able to achieve this technically ambitious solution thanks to a strong team of skilled integrators and suppliers working closely together. And of course, we had an engaged and forward-thinking customer in Danfoss Power Solutions who encouraged us to push the boundaries of what’s possible with these technologies.” — Kenneth Jochumsen, Robotics Account Manager, OMRON

A scalable model for other manufacturing environments

The strongest signal from the Nordborg deployment isn’t the headline metric — it’s the repeatability. According to RoboTool, the combination of mobile, industrial, and warehouse robotics translates well beyond Danfoss.

“This is a solution that could easily be applied in other manufacturing environments. The combination of the different robot technologies has proven to be incredibly strong, and to me, it’s a good example of how you can develop new and forward-thinking solutions by combining known technologies.” — Niels Hansen, Sales Manager, RoboTool A/S

For manufacturers running into the same wall Danfoss did — growing demand, fixed floor area, ergonomics pressure on the workforce — the Nordborg system is a template worth studying.