Over the years, many industries have improved the way goods are being handled and transported through various sections within the organization. As transportation of items becomes modernized, more sophisticated conveyor belt systems are being used in various industries, including bottling companies, plastic manufacturing factories, recycling centers, scrap yards, and other manufacturing plants. With conveyors, you can easily move heavy or voluminous materials from one point to another with less supervision. Many companies rely on this system to boost productivity and increase profit. For example, with conveyor belts, bottling companies would find it difficult to meet their daily production target, thereby losing lots of money in return. Also, it would be difficult for operators at airports to convey travellers’ luggage. If your business revolves around the manufacturing and transportation of materials, then you need a conveyor. However, if you have a small-scale enterprise, then consider having small conveyors to meet your business demands.
What is a conveyor system?
A conveyor system is a piece of equipment that consists of electro-mechanical moving and non-moving parts and used to transport materials from one point to another. With conveyors, business owners can save time and cost. Asides from conveying goods within the organization, they can also feed items from one spot to another. For this reason, manufacturing and transportation processes are easier, faster, and more convenient to accomplish. Depending on the size of the industry involved, conveyors can be installed to handle heavy workloads, harsh weather conditions, and move items in various directions and at odd angles.
Imagine what business would be without conveyors. Manual labour would have to be implemented, raising the cost of labour and creating several human resource complications. When compared with machines, human labour is less efficient and more expensive in the long run. A business owner would have to cater to their paychecks, remuneration, medical expenses, leaves, and other cost-intensive options. Even when these requirements are met, the output is less compared to that of machines. For this reason, innovative businesspeople in production or transportation industries improve their business process by installing industrial conveyors. Interestingly, conveyor systems cut across various industries like food, manufacturing, carriage, pharmaceuticals and many more.
Types of conveyor systems?
Conveyors that are manufactured in various shape and sizes and they are applicable to various production and transportation purposes. A part or a combination of these systems is used in diverse industries to meet specific requirements.
To begin with, there are the chain belt conveyors. Designed to handle large volumes of materials, these systems are used on the work floor. Items mostly conveyed using the chain belt conveyors are waste products; these could be scraps from various used parts. You can easily spot these conveyors in recycling plants, as they are used as feed side eject balers, mixed lines, and sorting line feeds. Chain belt conveyors are the least on the list of heavy-duty conveyors. However, they play huge roles in conveying voluminous materials.
Then there are the steel belt conveyors. They come in two designs – steel apron and piano hinge. These systems are great for transporting heavy items from one part of the building to another. Due to their heavy-weight capacities, items between 20 and 50 tons can be easily transported, making them the behemoths of conveyor systems. Steel belt conveyors are ideal for heavy feeder applications like compactors, heavy-duty 2 RAM scrap balers and heavy-duty mixed waste lines.
Slider bed conveyors fall in-between the chain belt conveyors and steel belt conveyors. They are used in applications where a chain belt can’t hold a heavy item and where the steel belt exceeds the weight class for the item type. However, this type of system can conveniently support and transport items within 1 ton to 15 tons. Additionally, they pack a speed control mechanism that makes it easy to control the operation speed. Slider bed conveyors are used to feed side eject balers and horizontal balers.
The last type of conveyor system is the MRF Sorting Line. This conveyor is a combination of the other three conveyors, namely the chain belt conveyor, steel belt conveyor and the slider bed conveyor. Depending on what your manufacturing or transportation requirements are, you can customize an MRF sorting line to suit them.
How beneficial are conveyor belts?
If you are looking for a way to conveniently move products from one point to another, anywhere within the organization, conveyors best provide such an option. With them, you have a faster and more convenient process to work with. They also cater to heavy industrial use; for example, auto manufacturing companies make use of conveyor belts to transport metal sheets and plastic parts, and workers as well. Because of their sturdy properties, they can withstand extreme conditions.
Furthermore, they are used to move items in different directions and odd angles. Unlike human beings that are prone to fatigue, conveyors can run endlessly – although they need time to rest and be serviced, just like any other machine. Nevertheless, they provide optimum performance and greater results. Food production companies heavily rely on these systems to manufacture food products at fast speeds and precision.
Enhancing workload using conveyor belts?
There are several advantages that come with using conveyors over human labor in manufacturing and other related operations. Some conveyors are equipped with an inclined based system that makes it easy to move small and large materials from one elevation to another. This feature makes it easy to run a continuous production or transportation process.
In huge manufacturing plants, items are moved from one level to another within the facility with the aid of conveyors, most likely MRF Sorting Lines. Using these systems, workers don’t need to unload items anymore, as they can be automatically unloaded. Additionally, these conveyor belts move in both directions (from left to right and right to left). Depending on the type of operation, transportation speeds can be adjusted. Conveyor belts prevent transported items from falling off, making it a preferred option to manual handling.
Industrial and future use of conveyor belts?
The importance of conveyors can’t be overstated. They are essential wherever items are moved, including manufacturing plants, bottling plants, recycling companies, and many more. One main purpose of conveyor systems is to automate various human tasks that are involved in mass production and transportation. In most manufacturing processes, items are fed onto the production line and moved. They can be easily loaded and unloaded when needed. If you have a factory that requires such tasks, then investing in a conveyor system would be a smart move.
As the manufacturing world is improving, more automated conveyor systems are coming up. Traditional conveyors are made up of motors that are connected to cables and other wiring components. However, modern conveyors are designed to operate wirelessly. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for conveyor systems.
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