Automotive · Shandong, China
Company Introduction
SAIC Transmission Yantai — invested by SAIC Motor, a Fortune Global 500 company — is one of China’s largest automotive transmission manufacturing bases, with over 5.3 million transmissions produced cumulatively and the country’s first continuously variable transmission (CVT) line.
Key challenges included:
- A high-volume transmission plant requiring end-to-end material flow automation— from inbound to warehousing to line-side delivery to outbound.
- Highly mixed product types (large transmissions, small parts, and non-standard palletized loads) moving simultaneously.
- Labor-intensive, repetitive operations such as depalletizing and stackingacross multiple dock doors.
- The customer set out to build the first fully unmanned logistics line of its kind in the manufacturing industry— not just automating one station, but the entire chain.
Solution
ENGOAL delivered a fully integrated, end-to-end unmanned logistics system for SAIC Transmission Yantai, including:
→ WMS-WCS system → ENGOAL automatic loading/unloading system → Conveying system → Lift & stacking system → Magnetic-navigation AGVs → Robotic depalletizing → Large-unit automated warehouse → Small-unit fast storage system
Multiple sub-applications were industry firsts:
- Automatic loading/unloadingdeployed in a transmission plant.
- Non-standard product stacking equipmenttailored to transmission packaging.
- Universal-purpose gripperson the depalletizing robot for mixed load handling.
- The fast storage systemapplied in production-line logistics.
Results
- Delivered the first fully unmanned end-to-end logistics project in the manufacturing industry at scale.
- Multiple sub-systems — auto loading/unloading, non-standard stacking, universal robot grippers, fast storage — introduced into automotive transmission production for the first time.
- Built on top of SAIC’s existing, high-volume operation (5.3M+ transmissions) without disrupting ongoing production.
- Established Yantai as a benchmark plant for unmanned logistics in the transmission / powertrain segment.
Industry Value
This project sets a new ceiling for what “unmanned logistics” means in automotive parts manufacturing — proving that a fully integrated chain (auto loading/unloading + AGV + large/small automated warehouses + robotic depalletizing + WMS/WCS) can run end-to-end at a high-volume transmission plant. It is a referenceable template for powertrain, transmission, and tier-1 component suppliers pursuing full-chain automation.
