Conveying technology

Conveyor technology moves goods over a limited distance within a plant – from goods-in to the store, from machine to machine, from the belt to the dock. Its task is to bridge a distance, not to change the position of an individual part.

Two families are distinguished. Continuous conveyors produce a steady stream along a fixed route. Discontinuous conveyors work in individual cycles: pick up, travel, set down, return.

Continuous conveyors include belt conveyors, roller conveyors, chain conveyors and overhead conveyors. They are stationary, run constantly and achieve high throughput as long as goods and route stay the same. Changing the route means rebuilding.

Discontinuous conveyors are cranes, hoists, forklift trucks, pallet trucks and automated guided vehicles. They are flexible in route and goods but achieve less per unit of time and – except for driverless systems – tie up one person per trip.

Conveying ends where a part no longer just has to be transported but picked up deliberately, rotated, aligned and set down at a specific place. That is handling. In practice it sits at the ends of every conveyor line: loading onto the belt, taking off the roller conveyor, loading into the machine.

A crane is both at once – discontinuous conveyor and hoist. It becomes a handling device only with a lifting attachment that guides the load rather than letting it swing.

A conveyor line is as fast as its slowest transfer. If parts are taken off by hand at the end of the roller conveyor, the person sets the cycle – and carries the load. That is exactly where the physical strain arises that the layout does not show.

When planning, it therefore pays to look at every transfer: what weight, how often, at what height, with what accuracy? The answers show whether the transfer is acceptable by hand, needs a lifting aid or should be automated.