Unless you are pretty familiar with AGVS, it should be a high priority to visit some sites. These do not necessarily have to be close replicas of your application, but they should be representative of the general mechanical and controls complexity that is being offered by that AGV supplier for your application.
It is quite important to involve future system users and maintenance people in the evaluation and planning of an AGV system. Therefore, these people need to be part of site visits. They bring a unique perspective on the issues that differentiate potential AGV suppliers. Further, they will be the people that have to live with the system and as such their concerns are best addressed as early as possible.
You can choose to visit a site with or without the AGV vendor to accompany you. There are pros and cons either way. Much of the decision depends on your comfort level with the AGV vendor. He can be valuable in explaining details of the AGV technology and providing direct response to issues that come up during the visit. But, you also don’t want the site’s user feedback to be influenced by the vendor’s presence. If you are comfortable that won’t be the case, then having the vendor present is usually quite helpful.
