MOTION SYSTEM APPLICATIONS
| courtesy Sidel
Conveyors in
warehouse automation
Conveyor functions are as varied as the applications they complete. Conveyors for discrete product transport benefit from customization to satisfy requirements — including chain and belt size, morphology and material; support frames; controller, drive, and motor or motors; mode of engagement with the drive; encoder, vision, and switch feedback; tracks, bumpers, and gates; and HMIs and plantlevel IT integration. Consider warehouse automation where the objective is ultra-fast sorting and tracking. Such applications need conveyors with servomotor functionality integrated with inspection stations fitted with machine
| courtesy Sidel
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vision. Or consider pharmaceutical manufacturing — now a trilliondollar industry, even while standards such as FDA CGMP regulations are more stringent than ever. Here, conveyors must deliver top-notch warehouse automation functions and have stainless and aluminum parts to pose no risk of contamination to expensive pharmaceutical products such as pills. Likewise, medical-device manufacture must adhere to FDA regulations that dictate equipment-sterilization schedules so conveyors in these applications withstand harsh washdowns.
WHITE VINEGAR LINES EMPLOY DRY LUBRICATION AND OTHER CONVEYORS Rising demand for white vinegar recently prompted French condiment and seasoning company Charbonneaux-Brabant to install a Sidel PET line in their new Vauvert production plant. There the company bottles white vinegar in 1 and 1.5-l formats in a flexible operation that continuously changes to satisfy supply chain and distribution demands. In fact, growing use of white vinegar as a natural and effective cleaning product spurred the expansion. As with other natural cleaning products such as baking soda and rubbing alcohol, white vinegar is also an affordable choice. Charbonneaux-Brabant three existing plants couldn’t keep pace with demand for product sold under the Charbonneaux-Brabant name as well as supermarket and private labels. “All of those sites were nearly saturated and incapable of coping with the growing demand for white vinegar without a potential risk of production shortages,” says industrial director Loïc Dionis. The main challenge in outfitting the new facility was maintaining the stringent packaging conditions required for edible product while leveraging PET packaging processes similar to those for edible oils, sauces, and dressings — all while ensuring the equipment could withstand the high acidity of white vinegar sold as a homecare product. “Charbonneaux-Brabant wanted to employ inline PET bottle blowing and turnkey solutions for a fully automatic high-speed line for the production of vinegar,” says Sidel key account manager Loïc Leon. motioncontroltips.com | designworldonline.com
11/19/19 11:09 AM
