Modular Conveyor System
A conveyor system concept, built from standard modules, that moves cartons and totes between stations across the production floor. It was designed to be reconfigured whenever the layout changes.
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Problem
Much of the in-plant transport was done by hand cart and forklift. The result was uncontrolled work in progress between stations, handling damage and no visibility of where material actually was. The production layout, meanwhile, changed several times a year.
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Engineering Approach
We first mapped the material flow station by station; accumulation points and the required buffer lengths were set through flow analysis. To cope with layout changes, we defined modules with standard lengths, heights and connection interfaces.
Zone drives keep products from pressing against one another in accumulation sections, and a spiral conveyor handles the level change while saving floor space.
Project images
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Applied System
The system was structured so that its mechanical, electrical and automation layers were designed by one team. Main components:
System components
- Zone-driven roller conveyor modules
- Belt conveyor and inclined transfer sections
- 90° transfer and diverter units
- Spiral conveyor for level changes
- Barcode reading points and product tracking
- PLC, distributed I/O and zone-based flow control
