Pallet conveyors are an essential part of the material handling and at the end of the line operation. Choosing the right conveyor may have a direct impact on the transport period, equipment distribution and overall productivity.
The right conveyor can reduce Wayful manual steps, optimize your space and even open the door with an automated palletization solution. However, the wrong choice could lead to higher costs, unnecessary inefficient and narrow place in stocks.
To help you have these pitfalls, this manual goes through 10 basic steps to choose the right conveyor for palletization.
Laying a base for an improved palleting process
Choosing the right conveyor is more than just a practical purchase decision. It can be a strategic step to strengthen your material manipulation process.
If you are using manual pallets – where workers of the pallet palette with products – the right conveyor can help reduce dangerous ergonomic problems that can lead to physical injury and even affect mental health of employment.
Ryan Weaver, Commercial Vice President in Robotiq, explains:
“Palletization is one of the most important tasks in the production and transport process. The high risk of injury in repeated selection and stacking of heavy boxes makes it a risk to society. In addition, the boring and recurring nature of the task is hard to find and keep workers willing to do the job. ”
If you are using automated palletization, there are many other advantages. The right conveyor can help optimize your automated process and create in trouble -free and efficient workflow. Combined with robotic palletization, the conveyor is a system that helps to reduce common problems with pallets such as inefficiency, mismatch, product damage and indisputable quality of pallets.
Whether you use manual or automated pelletizing, the conveyor will place group work for an efficient and scalable palletization process.
10 steps to select the right conveyor
The selection of the ideal pallet conveyor requires a clear understanding of your operational needs, future goals and restrictions that affect deployment.
Here’s 10 steps to help you clarify that the pallet conveyor will meet your current and future vision for your end of the line:
Step 1: Decide on automated or manual pelletization
First, you have to decide whether to use the manual pallet process or an automated process. This can radically affect the selection of the conveyor. If you have considered the automation of your palletization process earlier, it is now a good time to think about it.
Manual palletization is a viable choice for small operations with occasional packaging requirements or budget limitations. In this case, you will look for conveyors that have improved manual pallets.
Automated palletization offers significant advantages, including better packaging consistency, increased safety in the workplace and space for scalable growth. Robotic palletization has become a strong strategic step for many companies over the past 5 years.
Step 2: First map your existing process
Take time to map the current manual process before selecting the conveyor. This is a key step in Lean Robotics Framework That we always suggest before people add new technology.
Robotiq Marc-Antoine Lacasse Expert application explains the importance of this step in our Free Palletizing Elearning race:
“Mapping manual tasks is the first step that really understands the application well. The added values and which were climbed. ”
You want to help with it, download our FREE MAP MAP template.
Step 3: Decid on centralized or decentralized pallets
Then you should take a step back and see how your palletizing cell fits into the overall flow of your entire device. Specifically, decide whether to use Centralized or decentralized pallets.
Centralized palletization includes the assembly of all product lines to a single lease. It can be an effective approach for high volumes and can minimize the floor space needed for your palletizing cell. However, if you have a lot of product lines, it may require a more complex network of conveyors.
Decentralived palletization deploys smaller, independent palletizing stations for processing one or small number of product lines. This can allow greater flexibility, but it may require large investments in advance.
Step 4: Define the role of the conveyor
If you want to choose the right conveyor, start defining its specific purposes. This should be quite simple after browsing the previous steps.
Ask as:
- Will transport transport will be released products, pallets or both?
- If they transport products, will they be packed or unpacked?
- If you transport pallets, what properties of the pallets themselves could affect the type of conveyor?
Each Typical palette It has unique features that can affect your choice of conveyor. For example, pallets with their legs can increase stability and longevity of storage and are well hindered Drag train conveyors.
Step 5: Clarfy Operational Features of Your Honryor
There are a stunning number of conveyors. Before looking at each type, it is useful to clarify exactly what operational boards you need from your conveyor.
For example:
- Loading capacity – Buildings are pallets or objects that transport transport?
- Environment – Is the environment dirty or the Inort High or Low Templar?
- Loading and Aloading Procedures – How will the items be loaded on the conveyor and interpreted on their destination? **
- The speed of the conveyor- How quickly must the items move to keep the correct cadence in your product workflow?
- Object properties – What properties of the products themselves can affect the selection of the conveyor? For example, items are fine, heavy or require special treatment.
The decisions that you now make will help you narrow the possibilities.
Step 6: Choose a conveyor type
Now it is time to look at different types of conveyor and compare them with the needs of your application.
Some of the many Types of conveyors include::
- Chain conveyors – They are powered by a chain and are ideal for a hard, dirty environment and high load pallets.
- Drag chain conveyors – Instead of pulling a chain, they pull out these loads. They are relatively compact and work well in a high escape.
- Plastic belt conveyors – They are ideal for loads that cannot be supported by chains or rollers, as well as a product that should not touch.
- Gravitational conveyors – These conveyors use gravity to move products. They can be simple and cost -effective.
- Poly-v Power Roller conveyors- Like chain conveyors, they use a plastic belt instead of the chain. This makes them quieter and followed for light load.
- Slays’ conveyors – Including a string of chain drives, a rigid surface provides a straight surface. They are often used in the automotive industry.
Step 7: Consider the distribution of palletizing cells
Your Palletizing Distribution of Cells It can have a huge impact on performance. By minimizing unnecessary movements, you can optimize the cycle time and improve efficiency, especially with robotic pelletization.
Different layout factors can affect the cycle time, include distances between elements, conveyor height and pallets.
Robotiq Engineer Gabriel Boucher explains:
“The distribution of a palletizing cell is usually relatively simple. However, some small changes will affect the performance of the cell quite a lot. We can improve the cycle time by simply moving some elements. ”
Step 8: Calculate the return on investment (King)
Understanding the return on investment (King) and the return period for your new transport system is necessary to provide information. By analyzing the long -term impact, it will help you justify the initial costs and also demonstrate the savings you can do.
Robotic palletization often allows you to get a quick return period before simply buy a conveyor for manual pallets.
Our King Calllator It allows you to understand the cost, savings and time frames so that you can find out how quickly your investment pays off.
Step 9: Set up for future scalabibility
The purchase of a pallet conveyor should not be just a “quick repair”. Think about how you would like to scal your paletization operations in the future. Growth often brings increased permeability and new requirements for your end of line processes.
Flexible solutions, such as modular components, make it easy to integrate other elements into palletizing cells to cope with such changes. This flexibility is why there are so many companies Turns to the collaborative paletization of the robot. Inherent flexibility of such robotic solutions makes it easier to expand and optimize palletization for a long time into the future.
Step 10: Invest in the correct automation solutions
If you are considering automating palletization and adding a new conveyor, it is important to select the correct automation solution.
Investing in palletizing automation may not be a heavy decision. With the right guidance and a clear understanding of the possibility, you can ensure trouble -free integration that solves your immediate needs and future scabibility.
Read our Wizard automated palletizing buyer To get this process a simple, action guide.
Do you also need to automate palletization?
In Robotiq we help manufacturers with automated palletization solutions that combine speed, flexibility and accuracy of robotics using easily usable software.
Whatever your current palletizer needs, our series Palletizing solution Not only does it increase productivity, but also builds up the adaptability of your operations, which will make you stay complete on the changing markets of Deday.
Contact us today to send your palletization ideas and find out how we can move your material manipulation process to the next level!
What type of conveyors did you try? Communicate Us in the comments below or join the discussion on LinkedIn or Facebook.