What You Need to Know Before Automating Intralogistics with AGVs & AMRs

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) are no longer fringe technologies. They’re increasingly being adopted by manufacturers to facilitate material movement across plants, a process known as intralogistics.

But as these technologies become more mainstream, so too does the pressure to prove their ROI. It’s no longer enough to move boxes between static points. Today, AGVs and AMRs are expected to integrate into complex, dynamic workflows and operate as part of a broader, connected system.

This shift creates new challenges for manufacturers and the systems integrators who support them. Two of the most significant problems—orchestration and interoperability—often determine whether an automation project delivers measurable value or becomes a costly underperformer.

Keep reading to explore what causes these challenges and how you can solve them.

How to Identify Potential Challenges

Before you can solve orchestration or interoperability issues, you need to identify which one is most likely to impact your next project. Start by asking yourself these questions:

Will this project require automated vehicles from multiple vendors?

This is a strong signal that interoperability will be a critical concern, especially if those vehicles use different communication protocols.

Are you automating complex processes that change frequently?

If workflows involve dynamic production schedules, exception handling, or multi-system coordination, you’re likely to face significant orchestration challenges.

Will the vehicles need to interact with people, equipment, or enterprise systems in real time?

This requires both orchestration and interoperability, ensuring your automated vehicles can respond intelligently within a broader production context and work safely alongside humans.

Do you need scalable, future-ready automation?

If so, addressing both challenges from the outset is essential. Even if you’re starting with a small fleet or a single use case, orchestration and interoperability are foundational to long-term success.

Learn more about the challenges that come along with integrating AGVs and AMRs in this blog: Intralogistics Integration: Why Middleware is the Key to Overcoming API Limitations.

The Role of Orchestration in Automation Projects

Orchestration is the strategic coordination of robots, equipment, software, and people. It’s a task that is rarely straightforward, especially when automated vehicles are expected to take on complex and dynamic tasks once handled by humans.

Even basic tasks like material replenishment depend on effective orchestration. For instance, the MES must trigger a request based on the production schedule and bill of materials, and the vehicle must coordinate with the infeed conveyor to complete the pallet drop.

To achieve this level of coordination, you need the ability to effectively plan, schedule, monitor, and handle exceptions all in one place. When evaluating solutions, look for key features such as:

• A Centralized Platform: Facilitate task execution and real-time monitoring with all required components, from robots to software, in one place.
• Dynamic Task Allocation: Execute tasks based on factors such as location availability, robot status, and inventory management priorities.
• Traffic and Workflow Optimization: Predict potential conflicts or delays with real-time data.
• Integration with Enterprise Systems: Connect WMS, ERP, MES, conveyors, scanners, doors, and more, to receive key data and updates.

By addressing orchestration challenges, you can lower costs, reduce downtime, and ensure production stays on track.

The Importance of Interoperability Across People and Technology

Interoperability is the ability for different systems and machines to communicate and work together in the same environment. For automated vehicles, it means robots from multiple manufacturers—each with distinct maps, protocols, and operating logic—can function cohesively within a shared space. Achieving this can be challenging, as many vehicles are not built to interface with those from different vendors. This results in delays, inefficiencies, and in worst-case scenarios, deadlocks—where two vehicles get too close to each other and freeze up, requiring manual intervention.

Another critical factor is human interaction. Robots must work safely alongside people, which requires capabilities like obstacle detection and avoidance and customizable human-machine interfaces (HMIs). These features ensure collaboration between humans and machines while maintaining productivity and safety.

When looking to solve interoperability challenges, manufacturers typically turn to one of these two solutions:

• Global Fleet Planners: A centralized system allows robots to detect each other and intelligently plan routes by operating on a single map using a common protocol.
• Communication Standards: Standards like VDA 5050 or MassRobotics Interop provide a common framework to achieve interoperability.

While these solutions are still maturing and can take years to fully implement, orchestration software provides an immediate bridge. By handling mission planning, coordinating priorities, and preventing deadlocks in real time, this software helps manufacturers unlock the value of automation without waiting for full interoperability to arrive.

Why You Need to Address Both

Most organizations run into orchestration issues first, since every AGV or AMR deployment requires some level of orchestration to coordinate with other systems and keep operations running smoothly. Interoperability issues, on the other hand, typically surface later, once additional fleets are introduced.

While these challenges may appear at different stages, addressing them together is key to long-term success. That’s why forward-thinking manufacturers and systems integrators tackle both problems from the start. This is where orchestration software like LIFT makes a difference. By addressing both orchestration and interoperability in a single, scalable platform, LIFT helps manufacturers avoid costly disruptions, accelerate deployments, and build a strong foundation for future growth.

Learn more about LIFT and see what it can do in our on-demand webinar, “LIFT Live: Product Tour & Demo.”