“There are very simplistic, powerful controls for the Hytrol E24EZ Accumulation Conveyor. It allows you to install much quicker than doing complex logic, photo eyes, PLCS.”
When Morinaga America’s Mebane, North Carolina candy manufacturing facility needed to design its new conveying and packaging lines the project was put up for bid. Advanced Equipment Company along with Atlantic Packaging won the bid to do the conveyor and packaging integration.
AEC’s challenge was to develop a system that would convey the product from the bagging machines into the check-weighing system which would verify the weight of the bags. From there, the bags of candy were conveyed to an operator station where operators manually unloaded the bags from an upper belt conveyor into display boxes in cartons below on an accumulating conveyor.
“The upper belt conveyor is at chest level for the manual pickers,” says AEC’s material handling specialist, Scott Hartman.
“They load the bags into display boxes below the work table attached to the lower conveyor.. Once those cartons are full, they push them onto conveyors below and release the cartons to be automatically transported down to a 3M Carton Sealer and then out into the warehouse where they’re manually palletized for shipment.”
While the final solution is a straightforward and efficient system, the road traveled to wind up there posed a challenge.
The contractor’s initial design wasn’t compatible with Morinaga’s stated goal of simplicity and couldn’t get the system up and running as quickly as possible.
“The original design had all belts rather than accumulation conveyor for the cartons,” Hartman notes.
“That’s a very outdated way of doing carton controls. Today’s technology accommodates work flow which greatly improves efficiency.” Hartman suggested changing from belts to the Hytrol E24EZ Conveyor.
“We effectively communicated the benefits of accumulation conveyor and were able to change the design for a couple of problem areas,” Hartman says.
“We used the Hytrol E24EZ Conveyor with a special design. The rollers were set lower than usual to accommodate pushing cartons onto the conveyor from the table. One of the benefits of using this system is that it’s got an automatic accumulation built into the conveyor – very user-friendly.”
In addition to being a superior system for Morinaga’s candy conveying, the Hytrol system’s simple controls allow minimal safety oversight.
- No PLC required for automatic accumulation
- Very little electrical installation required
- Zones only run when needed
- Zones can be configured for loading or unloading
Not only is this system very user-friendly, it went a long way in helping Morinaga get up and running with very minimal interruption to their operation.
“There are very simplistic, powerful controls for the Hytrol E24EZ Accumulation Conveyor. It allows you to install much quicker than doing complex logic, photo eyes, PLCS. They didn’t need a complex system like that.”
Since installation on the project finished, Morinaga has been very pleased with the consultation and work that AEC provided. The company is actually discussing upgrading it’s check-weighing system and having Scott and the AEC team reconfigure that part of the conveyor system as well.
“AEC professionals are true experts in operational efficiency and integration. Scott Hartman and his team have the experience and understanding of their clients to impact and improve operations. Their sound consultation led to a simpler and more efficient system as well as a faster installation time.”
