Cheryl Miller posted on September 30, 2021 12:28
Bi-Level Merge Conveyor Facilitates Manual Case Packing …
with photo eye, stop clamp and ARB assist.
Winneconne, WI – Multi-Conveyor was approached by a prominent Midwest food producer to build a plant-expansion, semi-automatic case packing operation. The new line called for empty boxes to discharge from an existing case erector onto single lane conveyance to travel to a bi-level staging and packing station. The empty cases single file through two space-saving 90° curves. A photo eye sensor works in tandem with a pneumatic stop-clamp to halt cases at the manual-pack operator’s command. The cases then seamlessly transition onto a non-powered roller section to be manually filled.
Simultaneously, as the cases make their way to the packing area, the plastic filled and sealed packaging of food product run on a parallel bi-level conveyor section that resides just above the non-powered roller. The shelving and bi-level section were built at “standing height” case packing. Conveyor speeds are adjustable but set to comply with ppm rates and human packing ability.
A product-loaded, continually moving, single lane conveyor carries filled, sealed plastic packaging to the hand-pack area which is fed from an existing conveyor. The flexible sealed product conveys towards the operator who will manually place the items into the corrugated cases that are, at this point, perfectly positioned on the non-powered roller section.
A series of stainless steel collection totes were mounted to end-transfer collected product that may accumulate during the manual packing process. Or, to catch rejected, overrun product. Both shelves will be removed of excess product which is inspected for reintroduction to the line or repurposing. This exercise alleviates waste at the highest levels while maximizing production output.
At the discharge of the non-powered roller, the operator will manually sweep the open-top filled cases onto a roller belt conveyor section with a manually removable, simplistic bump turn post. The bump turn is used to rotate filled cases for alignment to the customer’s existing case sealer. Product changeover for various size cases allow the operator to put the bump turn post into or out of position in seconds. An additional assist was the use of active roller belting (ARB) to facilitate the case turning process.
The entire stainless steel constructed line met the customer’s required sanitary and safety criteria. Multi-Conveyor excels in agency compliance, giving their customers peace of mind when it comes to regulatory conformity.
To recap, the line has a total of three (3) independently powered conveyors and one (1) non-powered gravity roller conveyor that features:
- Two single lane conveyors
- Two 90° curved chain sections
- Non-powered roller conveyor
- Bi-level hand-pack station
- Photo-eyes to sense product
- Pneumatic clamp to control traffic
- Hand-pack area with staging shelves
- Removable bump case turner
Note: Product used in the editorial images were for demonstration purposes only.
About Multi-Conveyor
Multi-Conveyor is a leading manufacturer of standard and custom conveyor solutions for End-Users, Integrators, Engineering firms, Automation/Robotics, AI, OEM's and Contract
Packagers across multiple markets. Our products are multiple and unique. No single conveyor product defines Multi-Conveyor. We specialize in conveyor systems for packaging or material handling for nearly every industry, product, shape and size. Our customers report they select Multi-Conveyor for concept/design, engineering skills, quality product, best value and prompt delivery.
Multi-Conveyor excels in sanitary, easy to maintain, clean-in-place or "no tools required" belt changeover systems for nearly any industry. We direct manufacture stainless steel and mild steel construction conveyors for table top chains, modular plastic belts, fabric belting and now custom MDR. Our in-house electrical and engineering departments execute the controls, panels, devices, PLCs, VFDs, HMIs, safety, inspection and sensors needed to integrate our systems with multiple packaging platforms. Quick ship plastic chain and low-profile, small transfer, pre-engineered sanitary and non-sanitary belt systems are available for quick delivery.
All of these construction designs, technologies and solutions, along with nearly 100 conveyor videos, can be found on our comprehensive website: https://www.multi-conveyor.com.
YouTube link to the equipment in this PR: https://youtu.be/SIFnRCAk3Yg
