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.