Astec Conveyor Systems
Handling Update - Issue 2
Coca-Cola Enterprises
Heavy duty, special stainless steel twin chain pallet conveyor, with right angle chain roller transfer on Megabox bulk filling line.
Walkers Snack Foods
Astec's upgrade on packing lines incorporated lane dividers to provide sortation capabilities and the new space saving spiral elevator.
Spiralling Success
Following the launch of Astec's new spiral elevator as reported in the last issue of 'Handling Update', demand for the product has spiralled and surpassed all our expectations. Several spiral elevators have already been installed and are successfully operating in bluechip companies around the UK.
Astec Commit to Investment
Since moving to larger manufacturing premises over a year ago, Astec Conveyors has invested in the latest engineering production equipment in order to maintain their competitive edge, providing cost effective material handling solutions.
Astec's Managing Director Adrian Smart reported "We recently acquired a new 170K Trumpf TC2000R, incorporating high speed, innovative punching technology combined with an attractive cost-performance ratio.
Complete with off-line programming, the machine uses state-of-the-art software to un-develop three dimensional components into flat sheet format and automatically nest the components to give maximum yield from each 3000 x 1250 sheet used. The machine is capable of processing around 100 sheets per day of stainless or mild steel up to 6mm. thick."
In conjunction with the above, the factory area has been extended to provide 2,000sq.ft. of additional storage area on a mezzanine floor.
Astec Conveyors will continue to look for controlled growth, gaining efficiencies by procuring other automated machinery, and investing in qualified and experienced engineering people with a proven track record in materials handling.
Astec offer solution for Goodlife
Established for over 15 years, Goodlife Foods has been producing branded and own label meat-free products and quick frozen meal solutions, for multiple retailers, caterers and independents.
Due to an increase in both UK and overseas sales, Goodlife Foods took the decision to introduce new automated end-of-line equipment. As the result of a recommendation by a specialist packaging machinery manufacturer, Astec Conveyors was invited to put forward proposals for the most cost effective and efficient handling solution to integrate equipment.
The system needed to feed food products through a new flow wrapping machine, X-ray machine and finally an automated cartoner, which in principle appears to be simple but was complicated by space restrictions. Therefore, Astec designed and installed a loop conveying system incorporating slat band conveyors and a 180° belt bend.
Astec manufactured a series of 7.5" Flextop stainless steel food quality slat conveyors, incorporating 90° and 180° bends that transported product through the various end-of-line machines. Just prior to the auto cartoner, the slat band conveyor is fitted with a simple pre -diverter which enables product to be manually stacked down if required. At the end of the slat conveyor, product is transferred onto a 180° belt bend which is controlled by the automatic cartoner, to provide regulated feed into the machine.
Goodlife Foods Operations Director, Hubert Brady commented, "Astec Conveyors were very professional and demonstrated a clear understanding of our needs. They responded very quickly to our enquiry in designing, manufacturing and project managing the installation of the linking conveying system at Goodlife Foods, including all electrical and control equipment.
The Astec people were friendly, easy to deal with and very accommodating. They completed the project on time and within budget.
Since installation the new handling system has performed successfully and Goodlife Foods have experienced the benefits, as the number of operatives required on the line has been reduced and freed to undertake other tasks."
On the case at Walkers Snack Foods
Walkers Snack Foods of Leicester, the UK's leading manufacturer of snack food products, recently awarded Astec Conveyors a contract to upgrade packing lines for the purpose of increasing handling capacity. The existing carton handling system transferred complete filled and taped cartons from end of lines through to a number of robot palletising pick off positions. Planned modifications had to be carried out over a number of phases to achieve increased utilisation of the cells, address current operational issues and provide for a manual stack down area.
Various cartons of multipack and primary products discharge from end-of-lines via automated top/bottom case sealers to be scanned and routed to feed robot palletising cells. Cartons are transported on high level conveyors via a series of inclined belt conveyors and combine on a common transit conveyor. Where space limitations restricted the use of an inclined belt, Astec installed a versatile space saving spiral conveyor.
Because of the small foot print, Astec's spiral conveyor provided the ideal solution for transferring cartons to an upper level from within a restricted space, merging onto a common driven roller conveyor.
Strategically positioned just prior to the robot cells, Astec installed their Lane Divider, which they specifically designed and manufactured to provide sortation capabilities on processing and packaging lines. The Astec 'Divider' is very versatile and provides for very fast, smooth transport of product, minimising labour involvement and maximising sortation efficiency in many applications. Tried and tested, this machine has been utilised for sorting or combining with product detection and quality control systems for a wide variety of product categories including packed food, pharmaceutical, chemical and industrial products.
A barcode scanner determines whether the carton proceeds to the robot palletising cell whilst any coding errors or misreads are automatically diverted to a manual stack down station. In the event of a 'robot cell stop', product is also pre-diverted.
To ensure efficiency of robot palletising operations, Astec designed, manufactured and installed sections of zero pressure accumulating powered roller conveyor just prior to each cell. This cost effective automated system utilised the latest control circuitry for the control of 24V DC brushless motorised 50mm. diameter rollers, which in turn are linked to a series of rollers via drive belts. Track mounted sensor equipment signals the presence of a carton and sequentially stops the preceding independent zones to provide pressure free accumulation; these restart automatically when the zone in front becomes clear.
Kris Nash of Walkers Snack Foods reported,"Astec Conveyors were able to provide a package that met the needs of the project, with quality engineered conveyors that had previously served us reliably in the past. Therefore we did not hesitate to return to Astec when the system required upgrading."
On-line Vision System
As part of the brief, Astec Conveyors was charged with reducing the number of stoppages, which in turn would contribute to achieving the over all goal of increasing handling speeds and line efficiency.
Controlled flow and accurate monitoring of cartons in transport, plus pre-diverters positioned before the robotic palletiser cells all played a part improving line efficiency. In order to achieve greater efficiencies and identify cartons that had not been taped at the bottom, which would have obvious consequences when being vacuum lifted by robots, Astec Conveyors installed five new vision systems for online inspection. The innovative cameras are compact and easy to locate below the conveyor bed and can communicate with most PC based control systems in order to pre-divert untaped cartons away from the robot palletiser cells and virtually eliminate downtime due to faulty packaging.
It's a first for TNT and Astec Conveyors
As part of TNT's ongoing strategy to maintain market leadership in global express distribution logistics and international mail, their UK Network Development Team recently awarded Astec Conveyors the contract to design a materials handling system at their new £8.2 million Birmingham depot. TNT claim this to be the first depot operation in the UK to be fitted with a hi-tech hub-style sortation system.
Provided with an overview of the potential system layout, constraints and operating criteria, Astec Conveyors in conjunction with TNT went about designing a concept that would provide an effective reversible materials handling system that could be operated by both night and backshift workers. Previous TNT depots highlighted floor congestion when transporting bulk goods and the high maintenance costs of flexible roller conveyors as the main problems with the existing equipment.
TNT's proposal to reduce ground floor congestion included the installation of a mezzanine floor with a raised sortation conveyor system. This also was utilised to create a segregated area for handling very small packages and documents on the upper floor, whilst creating a better flow for bulk items and a marshalling area at ground floor level.
Inbound goods are off-loaded from collecting vehicles onto driven roller conveyors to be indexed to a checkpoint, where they are weighed and appropriate details printed on the delivery/routing label. Following this procedure, parcels are merged and transported on a common close pitched powered roller conveyor, and up a reversible inclined belt conveyor to mezzanine floor height. Astec designed special modular merge units with close pitched segmented rollers that minimise possible 'dead areas' to provide optimum merge / diverting capability for large parcels down to small jiffy bag items.
A barcode scanner checks and communicates information to the host TNT Universe computer and the sortation PLC system to ensure traceability, whilst performing the updates in 'real time'. Items are then discharged down designated inclined/ declined belt conveyors onto telescopic boom conveyors and into awaiting trailers to be delivered to the hub for further sorting.
Reversible Materials Handling Operation
Returning outbound parcels from the hub are unloaded from trailers at the depot and fed onto the Astec sortation system to run in reverse, back up inclined/declined belt conveyors to the mezzanine floor, then through the barcode scanner. Barcode labels on consignments are scanned and items transported back to floor level and diverted down designated lanes for van deliveries.
Astec Conveyors undertook the turnkey operation and project management, including supply of the mezzanine flooring. The line control PLC and control gear was housed in a new 'wardrobe style' control panel with special software to interface to the host TNT Universe computer system.
Sales Director of Astec Conveyors, Roger Pendleton commented, "As a manufacturer of materials handling equipment, with in-house expertise in control and automation, this enabled us to successfully control the over all project from concept to completion, on time and within budget. We worked very closely with TNT management to ensure co-ordination of materials and labour onsite and tested the system at all stages to ensure we met their specified handling criteria to the full.
I would very much like to think Astec Conveyors will be going places with more TNT projects."
Astec integrate systems at Coca-Cola Enterprises
Working in association with the main machinery supplier DS Smith Packaging Systems, Astec Conveyors was involved in the design, manufacture and integration of two major liquid filling and 24/7 packaging operations at Coca-Cola Enterprises, handling 'bag in box' and 'MegaBox' bulk syrup carriers.
Stephen Parry, Manager at DS Smith Packaging Systems commented, "Apart from being competitive, Astec demonstrated their experience and handling capability and could supply all the different conveyors for both filling systems within the given time frame to fully satisfy Coca-Cola Enterprises requirements.
Astec also provided a full project management service on behalf of DS Smith Packaging Systems, ensuring all third party suppliers were aware of their responsibilities to ensure the project was delivered on time and to specification."
'Bag in Box'
In order to streamline bulk filling operations a decision was taken to combine the filling of 10 ltr and 20 ltr 'bag in box' containers.
A spokes person for Coca-Cola Enterprises acknowledged the complexity of the system saying, "Based on our own experience of running 10/20ltr. 'bag in box' packs, we required the finished package to be orientated in certain directions to allow for specific coding requirements for different customers, but this was not to impact on line speed. Astec's design solution to these complex issues was unique, innovative and very effective."
Astec's all stainless steel handling solution included custom built equipment in the form of a 'one-to-two' lane divider, a 'Symmetric Merge' unit and 'Pack Twister' to provide accurate tracking, optimum speed flow and accurate orientation of product throughout the system for filling, ink-jet coding, sealing, shrink wrapping and palletising.
Coca-Cola Enterprises reported, "The new all stainless steel filling system is very flexible and has certainly speeded up the process, reduced manual handling and product waste, and increased accuracy of fill and packaging operations.
Change over in pack size from 10ltr. to 20ltr. is very quick, as there are no guide rails to adjust and handling system controls are not affected by change in product size."
'MegaBox System'
Astec Conveyors had to provide a system to handle the specially designed MegaBox - a tamper proof, bulk handling returnable syrup packaging system produced by ArcaSystems for Coca-Cola Enterprises. In order to convey these containers, which can carry 250ltr, Astec designed a heavy duty, special stainless steel twin chain pallet conveyor.
From store, the collapsible space saving MegaBox is manually erected and positioned on the pallet conveyor and precisely indexed for two filling stations to complete the process in an agreed controlled sequence. The system has been designed to provide maximum flexibility and each filling station can be operated independently.
A right angle chain/roller unit transfers the two filled and sealed containers into position for a forklift truck to off-load and transfer the goods to the warehouse for despatch.
As with both systems, Astec Conveyors not only supplied all the mechanical hardware and integrated the system with electrical controls, they acted as project managers liaising with all parties throughout. This was essential as there was a very tight 'time window' for stripping out old equipment from Coca-Cola Enterprises, installing and commissioning the new system. This was completed within two weeks, on time and within budget.
Andrew Baxter Projects Team Leader at Coca-Cola Enterprises stated, "From the off, Astec Conveyors demonstrated their willingness to deliver workable solutions to resolve our handling requirements and meet our challenging timescales. The system is very impressive and successfully meeting our project criteria."
Astec install spiral conveyors at Georgia-Pacific
Following the transfer of UK business from Wrexham to Horwich, leading international manufacturer and distributor of tissue, paper and packaging products Georgia-Pacific invited Astec Conveyors to tender for the contract to install a number of conveying lines carrying cartons from case packers feeding through to palletisers. The customer was looking for suppliers to provide the most cost effective proposal, utilising existing equipment where possible, whilst optimising space.
Originally an order had been placed for two case elevators, but the supplier could not deliver within the required eight week period. Therefore, whilst attending a major packaging exhibition a decision was taken to install spiral conveyors.
Project Manager, Paul Sculthorpe of Georgia-Pacific reported, "Of a number of spiral conveyors exhibited at the show, Astec's product was the one which impressed me the most. Having spoken with Roger Pendleton about the supply of spiral conveyors, I was happy for Astec to tender for the complete finished goods conveyor from end of the case packers to the respective palletisers. The key benefit of the Astec spiral is unlike any other slat bed conveyor as the slat does not run on any kind of wear strip. This means that there is no additional friction created when the conveyor is subject to load by the product being carried."
Various sized cartons were to be transported on two conveyors travelling at speeds of 30mpm from ground floor to an upper level. Inclined belt conveyors could not be located within the system as angles would be too acute and product slippage could occur. Therefore, Astec over came this problem with the introduction of two new spiral conveyors (3 & 3.5 turns) that provided continuous, smooth vertical transfer of product in either direction, whilst operating in one of the smallest foot print areas.
These versatile slat bed spiral conveyors are ideally suited to transporting cartons with ease and provide low cost, reliable conveying with minimum maintenance requirements. The modular constructed spiral conveyor only needs one drive, even for units with 12 turns, which enabled Astec to demonstrate to Georgia-Pacific substantial savings in controls and systems integration. With the ability to operate at a maximum speed of 60mpm, these units clearly met the handling criteria stipulated by the customer.
The spiral conveyors integrate perfectly with a series of driven roller conveyors located at higher level, feeding cartons along straight sections and around 90° and 180° bends to accumulate in line and provide orderly feed for the two automated palletisers.
Paul Sculthorpe of Georgia-Pacific reported "My dealings with Roger Pendleton at Astec Conveyors have been extremely good. It is refreshing to deal with a company that will go the extra mile to ensure that the customer is satisfied and Astec have surely done that. They have dealt with all our demands both efficiently and with professionalism.
The spiral conveyors had certainly raised a few eyebrows during their installation and people were sceptical to their performance. However, once they were powered up everyone was very impressed at how quite and efficient the system is and how well it runs. As with any installation, and especially a relocation, it is inevitable that equipment will have teething problems and will require some 'tweaking', but I can honestly say that the Astec system has needed no attention since the day it was turned on.
I would have no hesitation in recommending Astec or involving them with future project where relevant."
Recent Contracts News
Coca-Cola Enterprises
Milton Keynes
Integrated packaging lines for Bag in Box and Megabox bulk filling operations.
Walkers Snack Foods
Leicester
Phase 2 conveyor upgrade including carton sortation and tape sensing cameras.
Phase 3 now in progress.
United Biscuits (UK) Ltd
Harlesden
Relocation of central robotic palletisation system from Ashby, incorporating new vertical elevators, pallet conveyors and high-speed stretch wrapper.
Herma Labelling Systems
Haverhill
Conveyor system incorporating 2 print and apply labelling machines to label rolls of loft insulation.
McVities
Harlesden
Pallet handling system with interface to existing loading bay conveyors incorporating automatic pallet stretch wrapper.
