NEWS: customized conveyors

SUMMARY: The design of the conveyor system is now made flexible to make room for customizations. Several industries have specific requirements and with flexible conveyor design, it has become easier to customize the configuration of the conveyors to suit the needs of the company.

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Customised conveyors on the move; Gone are the days of a 'one-size-fits-all' mentality for conveyors, with increasing demands for customised solutions. Katherine Crichton reports.
by: Katherine Crichton

1 November 2007
Manufacturers' Monthly
Volume 00, Issue 00
© Copyright 2007. Reed Business Information Limited. All rights reserved.

THE words 'innovate or perish'is something Australian manufacturers have long been accustomed to hearing and it seems in the conveyor industry at least, someone is listening.

With advances in new system technologies and innovative turn key solutions, manufacturers are increasingly enjoying the benefits of investing in quality, flexible and mobile conveyor systems, which are designed to be longer lasting, and literally change and expand with the requirements of the production line.

Paul Johnson, sales director with Adept Conveyor Technologies, says along with a higher quality of conveyor components, equipment design is more tailored than ever to suit individual applications.

“As designers, we recognise the need to offer alternative solutions to suit specific requirements as required by the user, with flexibility a key component,” Johnson explained.

“There is a genuine need to be very flexible in your approach to system design and look at equipment from other suppliers (possibly even competitors) to give customers a solution that satisfies their requirements now and in the future,” he told Manufacturers' Monthly .

New product lines and a changing structure of the manufacturing industry is also driving a shift in attitude towards conveyor systems, as Bruce Cousins, GM of Smalte Conveying Solutions, notes.

“Nowadays, production facilities are all too often closed, relocated or expanded and consequently conveying equipment requires reconfiguration as it finds a new home within the larger manufacturing group,”Cousins said.

“A shorter life cycle for a manufactured product can mean a reduced life cycle of the associated conveyors. This requires different justification of capital equipment; conveyors must be either written off when the production requirements change (which leads to price consciousness, and encourages using cheaper equipment), or re-configured and re-used to suit new applications,” Cousins said.

Delivering the goods

According to both Cousins and Johnson, a technology increasing in use and popularity, is modular and flexible conveyor systems.

Cousins says these systems can be an attractive option for manufacturers, especially in regards to the changing manufacturing industry.

“The modular design of the conveyors makes them very easy to pull down and modify as requirements change, or when they are relocated and reused.

“Without this possibility, conveyors would, at best, be shoe-horned into applications for which they were never designed, and at worst, sent to the scrap yard,”he said.

“Systems are also becoming simpler, so manufacturers can do the modifications themselves. It really is the Meccano set of conveying,” Cousins said.

Making a move

Despite some of the benefits of flexible, customised conveyor solutions can offer manufacturers, Johnson and Cousins say that one of the biggest challenges preventing mass take up of technologies such as modular conveyors, is changing the mindset of companies.

“On one level, it is just a case of users needing to realise that most applications have a solution. Sometimes it is difficult to gain acceptance of new technologies even from qualified engineers.

“Also if price is a prime consideration, the long term benefits including the ability to have an accurate and exact system to suit the application, (resulting in increased productivity etc) can sometimes be overlooked,”Johnson explained.

Cousins says with overseas companies embracing flexible and modular conveyor systems, Australian manufacturers are starting to take notice.

“These type of systems have really been embraced by the plastics industry in Europe, for example, with OEM's a major influence and as a result we see a flow-on effect locally.”
And the future of conveying systems?

Johnson believes some system suppliers are currently, and will in the future, continue to provide a more specialised approach to product selection in any conveyor system.

“We are already seeing equipment that is faster and quieter in operation and by design will include components of greater precision and higher tolerances.

“As businesses grow and become more specialized we will also see systems that are tailored to suit a narrower product range and are therefore more specific to suit the product to be handled,” Johnson said.

He also sees an increase collaboration and partnership of specialist suppliers of equipment and components specifically designed to do particular jobs.

Cousins says with increasing overseas competition and real estate getting more expensive, Australian manufacturers will get more innovative with how they incorporate conveyor systems on the factory floor, utilising elevating systems and overhead conveying to optimise layouts and improve the passage of staff and goods.

Adept Conveyor Technologies 02 9771 4655.
Smalte Conveying Solutions 03 9572 3325.
© 2008 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

credits: factiva

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