CASE STUDY #7 – ACCUMULATION CONVEYOR FOR PACKAGING FULFILLMENT:
PROJECT:
Electronic Packaging Fulfillment Center.
CHALLENGE:
Gravity lines that caused bottlenecks on the entire production line.
SOLUTION & RESULTS:
An Accumulation Conveyor was installed to eliminate both slow down and human motion. The idea was to eliminate the handling of product. The need was to automate part conveyance. Our customer wanted a system that could be expanded with their growing business. They had several people pushing parts which was delaying production and using more human labor than necessary. (The payback area is the outbound scanning). With this new automated system, they were able to decrease human labor down to one single employee with minimal lifting.
PRODUCT HANDLED:
Custom POS systems.
HOW IT ALL WORKS:
Order sheets are taken and given to the picking area. Picked items are placed on the automated motorized belt for packaging. Boxes continue on the conveyor line when the line is full an alarm sounds to tell the operator it’s time to pick the orders off for shipment. As the boxes are removed more boxes continue to accumulate without holding up the employee who is placing the orders on the line. The process continues until the line is empty and all orders are filled for the day. SmartMove used several methods to accumulate product lines. Since this product is bulky and heavy the customer chose to accumulate with sensors and alarms and in sections on the long-line conveyor.
