Ferro & Kell Industrial
Heavy Fabrication & Sheet Metal Assembly
Auditing Entity: DNV GL Heavy Machinery Safety & Operational Audit.
Methodology & Scope: Shop floor incident tracking review, payload stability validation up to 800 kg, and fail-safe roller-deck docking safety inspection.
| Forklift near-miss warnings | 12 incidents / quarter |
| WIP staging delay between cells | 45 minutes average |
| Forklift lease & fuel costs | $285,000 / year |
| Aisle congestion floor space | 14,000 sq ft buffer |
| Shop-floor pedestrian incidents | 0 in 18 months |
| WIP staging transfer delay | 6 minutes automated |
| Active floor footprint reclaimed | 9,500 sq ft productive space |
| Trailing cell uptime | 99.54% availability |
“Forklifts in high-density fabrication shops are accidents waiting to happen. BonafideR took human forklift traffic out of our primary pedestrian aisles entirely while speeding up work-in-progress transfer by 40%.”
Facility Background & Operational Solution
Heavy fabrication environments are harsh on automation equipment: airborne metal dust, grinding sparks, and high payloads punish standard commercial robotics.
BonafideR deployed ruggedized IP65-sealed mobile robot chassis with hardened industrial LiDAR optics and continuous thermal monitoring.
Under the RaaS agreement, BonafideR’s service team conducts regular preventive sensor cleanings and bearing checks, guaranteeing heavy industrial reliability without maintenance overhead for Ferro & Kell.
Technical Integration & Architecture Notes
Integrated with plant Epicor ERP via industrial MQTT message broker. Roller-deck docking interlocked with hydraulic scissor lifts using fail-safe optical sensors compliant with ISO 3691-4 stability protocols.