LOGISTICS

100 DAYS AFTER

MORITZ

SILZER

GK/4 – COMMUNICATION

TOPICS

1

DO YOU HAVE ANY PARTICULAR

MEMORY OF YOUR FIRST DAY IN

THE NEW POSITION?

A very pleasant one! I still remember the

warm reception I got from my colleagues.

It certainly made the start to my new job

a lot easier, and I want to thank all the

members of the GK team for that.

2

CAN YOU DESCRIBE, IN JUST

ONE SENTENCE, YOUR TEAM’S

RESPONSIBILITIES?

We communicate with the general public and make every effort to ensure that

ŠKODA AUTO is perceived in a positive

light.

3

WHAT DID YOU LOOK FORWARD

TO IN YOUR NEW POSITION?

4

 AN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT

C

YOUR JOB AND THE CHALLENGES

THAT COME WITH IT?

I like new challenges, and I want to learn

Czech now. I realise it won’t be easy, but

I will do my best. My colleagues have already taught me a few words, and I am

starting a course soon.

FLYING

INVENTORY REVIEWS

PACKAGING INVENTORY REVIEWS DONE BY DRONE!

T

here is currently no similar technology Unique data

in place to identify and count empty The LIDAR system is designed to take

packaging automatically. The PLL De- 300,000 pictures per second to generate a

partment – Logistics Planning has therefore sufficiently big package of data to be used

as the key input in generatdecided to find a third-party contractor to develop one,

ing the real-time 3D map.

What makes this

“LIDAR is a new technoloand the result is an exciting,

system unique is that

unique project.

gy used in autonomous veit is able to visually

Empty-packaging reviews

hicle control, among others.

identify and count

are time-consuming and

It is an affordable system,

packaging items while

and the user has to know

manpower-intensive[1]. Howcreating a real-time

how to generate the necesever, modern systems and

“3D map” that helps it

Industry 4.0 offer a variesary algorithms that are spewith navigation.

ty of technologies and applicific to the packaging idencations that can be used to

t i f i c at i o n a n d c o u n t i n g,

develop smart solutions for this process as navigation and also an anti-collision syswell. Are you wondering what this solution tem. We are now developing all this in coopis all about? “Using a system known as LI- eration with our contractor. While we know

DAR (Light Detection and Ranging) fitted to the processes, the contractor knows the ala drone, we test the possibility of identifying gorithms”, says Mr. Bartoníček. The innovaand counting empty packaging items in out- tion will soon be put into test operation, and

door areas. What makes this system unique the plan is to make it available to the local

is that it is able to visually identify and count staff in April.

such items while creating a real-time ‘3D

These days, the drone identifies and

map’ that helps it with navigation”, says Rob- counts about 60 percent of the packaging

ert Bartoníček, Head of PLL – Logistics Plan- stored in the outdoor areas of the CKD Cenning. The navigation is purely visual, which tre. “If the new system proves efficient, we

GPS does not offer because its location devia- would like to use it in other empty-packagtions can be as much as several metres.

ing areas as well. Their size across all the

6

ŠKODA MOBIL FEBRUARY 2018

ŠKODA AUTO plants totals about 22,000

m2”, says Mr. Bartoníček and goes on to say

that besides inventory reviews they would

like to use drones also to monitor these areas to see what has been stored where and

in what quantity and to check the packaging

“throughput”.

The next step should be to send the collected data to the brand’s logistics IT systems. So far, the data provided by the drone

app are entered manually into the respective systems by CKD Centre staff. Calculations are performed during the flight (about

10 minutes), and when the drone comes back,

the data are transmitted (via wi-fi) to a “big”

computer. “Our plan is to build a ‘nest’ for the

drone, i.e. an automatic charging station fitted with meteorological sensors. Identifying

risk factors such as strong wind or glazed

ice on the propellers, the drone will analyse

the data provided by these sensors to decide

whether conducting a flight is safe. Simply

put, we would like to have completely autonomous technology one day”, says Mr. Bartoníček. ŠTĚPÁN VORLÍČEK

I am part of Department GK/4– Communication Topics, and I write communication texts for Board Chairman Bernhard

Maier. My work is exciting, diverse and

challenging, too, and I have a very good

idea about the topics that ŠKODA AUTO

is working on and finds essential.

5

EVERY DEPARTMENT HAS SOME

KIND OF REPUTATION. HAVE YOU

ALREADY HEARD WHAT PEOPLE

SAY ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT YOU

WORK IN?

There is a general tendency to believe that

PR people just travel to the world’s most

beautiful places, stay at the best hotels and

have a simple, happy life. Some of these

ideas are correct, particularly the one about

the world’s most beautiful places: I live in

Prague, a place that I love. I am not sure

whether the ŠKODA AUTO Press Department has any particular reputation, but I do

know that the cooperation between the various departments involved is very good.

6

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS

TYPICAL OF ŠKODA AUTO? AND

WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE, IF

ANYTHING?

I like quick decision making combined with

a practical mentality. A funny thing happened to me recently: I had to scrape ice off

my windscreen and windows, and it sort of

threw me off balance because I didn’t have

an ice scraper. But then, fortunately, I came

up with a solution that I believe is completely in line with the Simply Clever motto... and that, I think, is typical of ŠKODA,

isn’t it? And the things I would change?

The canteen menu. But then again, maybe

it’s just a matter of personal preference.