Overhead conveyors adapted for floor mounting help keep things moving smoothly at Shadwood Enterprise Limited. The company’s new production facility in North Bay, Ontario manufactures automatic portable battery charger units.

From the beginning, Shadwood management knew what it wanted – a smooth, orderly production operation. After a floor layout was prepared, Pacline Corporation of Mississauga was asked to design and supply a conveyor system to handle the product through each stage of assembly. PACLINE’s conveyor systems are usually used as overhead conveyors, however, for this application a unique twist was required.

In the North Bay facility, the Pacline Conveyor is inverted and floor mounted. Installing the overhead system in this manner allows Shadwood to convey trays fixed to the conveyor chain. Each 16 x 12 inch tray contains two compartments and is mounted on a 24-inch center. The floor stand frame supports the light banks and carpet faced assembly tables, which are 18 inches wide.

According to plant manager Paul Stroz, “The assembly process makes use of one of four Pacline inverted assembly lines, each of which are approximately 100 feet long, and one Pacline overhead conveyor approximately 150 feet long. The four inverted conveyors handle our entire range of products. Sub-assemblies are brought together “kitted” and placed on the specially designed tray. The product moves through three different stages on the inverted line. Assembly operators remove a kit from the tray, assemble, and place it back on the conveyor.”

“A particular advantage is that empty trays, and trays of “kitted” component groups are constantly circulating past the assembly operators. If they are not ready for the tray the first time round, it will pass by again. As the assembled units pass through the testing area, they are tested, labeled, and once again returned to the line.

The final process is packaging. Operators remove the finished product, and seal package it in a clear plastic protective shell. From here, the conveyor system transports them to the boxing, and palletizing area.

The lines have been designed and integrated to minimize work in process on the shop floor. Bottlenecks and balancing problems are readily noticeable.

Plant Engineering and Maintenance October 1989

Nearly 1 mile of overhead, enclosed conveyor track at Guelph Products links sequential manufacturing steps and provides transport of parts to a just-in-time (JIT) staging area prior to shipment.

The track is installed at Geulph Products’ 200,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant in Guelph Products, Ontario, located 45 miles from Chrysler’s main assembly plant in Bramalea, Ontario. Guelph, a division of Chrysler, manufactures instrument panels, door panels and steering columns for the Chrysler Eagle Premier.

To streamline the productions process, the plant partially assembles 350 instrument panels daily. The 25 lb. panels are maintained up to 1-1/2 days prior to final assembly and shipment to the main vehicle assembly line.

Providing continuous flow

The PAC-LINE™ conveyor system provides continuous flow of parts from a preliminary manufacturing area, through processing and subassembly stages, to the storage and accumulation area. Maximum conveyor travel speed is 24 feet per minute.

The system consists of four individual conveyor lines for paint, wash storage accumulation, and storage and delivery. Each line performs an important function in the manufacturing process, explains Dick Carter, maintenance superintendent.

The 700 sq. ft. long paint line transports panel components through a spray booth where a protective coating is applied to the parts. Special fixtures mounted on 24″ centers carry the vinyl instrument panel skins along the line. A separate 130 ft. long line processes smaller parts. The enclosed track design prevents the coating from reaching the conveyor chain or bearings.

The 700 ft. long wash line conveys the panels through a ceiling mounted wash tunnel. The automated line keeps the parts clean by minimizing manual handling.

The three-tier storage accumulation line provides temporary storage for up to 500 panels, or about 1-1/2 days production. Floor area for the space-saving storage bank is only 85 ft. by 30 ft. “The track’s tight turning radius, and the multi-level design enabled us to save space,” says Carter.

The lower level of the bank provides a buffer zone for panel components between manufacturing operations. The upper level, known as the “storage and delivery line”, serves as a JIT staging area.

Computers in Bramalea update vehicle build schedules continuously, advising Guelph what parts are needed and when. “When the vehicle build order (VBO) comes through,” says Carter, “we have 4 hours to get the parts to the main vehicle assembly line in Bramalea.” Once a panel is assigned to a specific VBO, it is removed from the staging line and taken to the finishing area for final assembly and shipment to Bramalea.

Published in Modern Materials Handling, December 1988

The Challenge

When a leading automotive parts manufacturer needed to install a powder coating line for condenser coils, they had two issues to resolve:

• First, they needed to conserve both the floor space and oven size as much as possible.
• Secondly, they needed to have a quality control system that would allow them to identify and address paint and assembly issues without disrupting the curing process.

The Pacline Conveyor Solution

This company used a Pacline Power and Free Overhead Conveyor as a solution. The system was designed with two separate conveyor tracks. One track carried parts for paint processing on 24″ spacing.

After processing, these parts moved onto a separate track where they were then rotated for “close pack” accumulation on 7″ spacing in the curing ovens.

On the process line track a Quality Assurance system was integrated that allowed the parts manufacturer to view paint and assembly quality without disturbing the separate curing line track.

Results

Overall, the system length was reduced by two thirds on the curing line allowing for reduced floor space and more importantly, a 60% smaller oven.

Pacline Power and Free Conveyor trolleys are over 20% smaller than most, which helped to further reduce accumulation space in the oven.

In addition, the PACLINE trolley configuration allowed for accumulation around a tight 180 degree curve in the oven, without any bumping.

An additional challenge with this system was establishing drive speed and pusher dog synchronization between the separate process and cure chains. However, PACLINE’s conveyor software addressed these issues with seamless integration resulting in a complete system that runs smoothly and efficiently.

Learn more about our Power and Free overhead conveyor systems from our Pacline Blog.

Moving long parts through multiple processes in manufacturing.

Ever notice the size of those overhead highway signs that we all rely on to get ourselves to where we need to go?  As a manufacturer or material handling organization you may wonder how items such as these – up to 50 feet long – can be maneuvered through various assembly and finishing processes.

ROCAL Inc. located in Frankfort, Ohio was facing this issue in the manufacturing of their large highway signs.  ROCAL produces a wide range of signage products including highway signs, regulatory and specialty signs.

Part of the production process for ROCAL’s aluminum signs involves a wash and chemical treatment process of the individual panels that are bolted together to make the final sign.  When ROCAL came to PACLINE, this part of the process was being done outside of ROCAL’s facility and they wanted to find a way to handle this process in-house rather than outsource it.

So the challenge was how could ROCAL carry panels up to 50 feet long within their existing manufacturing plant in a manner that would both be time and cost efficient.

The PACLINE CONVEYOR Solution

After consulting with PACLINE engineers, a compact layout was configured that both automated the feeding of panels through the washer and treatment process, while minimizing the overall footprint of the system.  To meet all the requirements of this application a Pacline Power and Free conveyor was selected.  This conveyor system offers the flexibility of using both manual and powered sections.  In addition, the powered portions can automatically buffer carriers by accumulating them in the same manner as cars accumulate behind a red light.  It can also control the flow of carriers and release them one at a time.  This accumulation and control is key to both minimizing the manpower required and maximizing the throughput of the system.

The first step of the solution is loading the conveyor.  To minimize handling of panels, the loading of the conveyor was positioned right next to the punch press where mating holes are punched into the sign panels (holes are used for final assembly).  Once the holes are punched, an operator loads the panels onto the carriers of the power and free conveyor system.  Each carrier was designed to hold multiple panels for maximum efficiency.
Next the carrier is pushed forward into a powered section of the conveyor where it is automatically queued by the power and free conveyor system in preparation for the wash treatment.  Although the panels can be very long, they are only about 3-inches thick.  This combined with the automation of a power and free conveyor is the key to being able to buffer the panels for automated feed into the washer.  Using a switch, the power and free conveyor splits into two lanes (with the front part of the carrier on one lane and the rear part of the carrier on the other), so the panels can be accumulated parallel to each other (like two tractor trailers parked parallel to each other instead of end-to-end).  Because the panels can “slide” sideways by splitting into two lanes, they do not need to navigate around large curves, dramatically reducing the floor space required.

Before feeding panels into the washer the two lanes merge into one lane again and the panels can now go through the washer lengthwise.  Additionally, some panels are 50-feet long, but others might only be 20-feet long (or less).  To minimize wasted energy of running the washer during gaps between panels the custom control system senses once the longest panel on a carrier has cleared the entrance of the washer and then immediately feeds the next carrier into the washer.  This saves energy costs and also maximizes the throughput of the system by not leaving gaps.

Once the panels complete the processing they automatically queue for unloading by once again splitting into two lanes and accumulating parallel to each other.  An operator unloads the panels and brings the carrier to the punch press location to start the cycle over again.

Results

The PACLINE Power and Free overhead system met all of the project expectations and objectives as well as preparing ROCAL for future growth of their business.  With efficient in-house processing, ROCAL can now easily handle signs up to 50 feet long, in a restricted space and achieve faster turn-around times.

Visit our blog to learn more about the PACLINE Power and Free conveyor system

In both manufacturing and warehousing, workers are constantly challenged with minimizing floor space requirements while maximizing storage capacity. Typical solutions may include installing in a few extra racks at the end of a busy aisleway, double-stacking skids on already-filled shelves or narrowing aisleways to place more product on the floor. In doing so, they must still safely maneuver and coordinate a multitude of forklifts around blind corners, and across pedestrian walkways, and track storage locations, which are constantly changing due to lack of space and shuffling of skids in small spaces.

The Challenge

This particular company was one of several located on Toyota’s supplier campus. They had been selected by Toyota to supply the foam seat cushions for the Tundra pickup truck. These foam seat cushions are produced through a molding process that involves a 90-minute cure time. During the cure time, the cushions must sit at room temperature with minimal handling to ensure a top quality product.

The Toyota seat supplier needed a solution that would not only minimize handling during transport and curing but also store up to 2,600 parts during curing. In addition, since much of the floor space in the production facility was already allotted for other process machinery, there was very little space left for the curing and storage process.

The PACLINE CONVEYOR Solution

In many manufacturing environments, such as this one, the space below the ceiling trusses, light fixtures, piping and HVAC and above the floor machinery is unused. Since most operations are conducted on or close to the ground level, this vast amount of space is typically wasted.

For this project, PACLINE supplied 2,200 feet of the PAC-LINE™ monorail conveyor with 740 custom-made parts carriers. The conveyor was ceiling-hung to take advantage of the unused overhead space and was designed to transport parts from the foam machine to the next step in the process while providing the correct amount of curing time.

Due to the limited floor space, the use of racks and increased forklift traffic were not an option and they would disrupt the flow of work far too much. Even if floor space for such racking had existed, such handling and increased forklift traffic would have required additional operators, creating a number of safety issues.

With the minimum 90-minute curing time, the customer would have required multiple custom racks for storage and a system to track the curing time of each rack. The PACLINE overhead conveyor system allowed for FIFO (first in, first out) operation to ensure the cure time was met, without any special tracking method. Operators were able to focus on molding parts without worrying about handling, storage or transportation.

PACLINE’s conveyor layout provided a compact product loading area at floor level.  The conveyor then transported the foam cushions along a zig-zag path just below the ceiling, before bringing them back to floor level for unloading. As the entire conveyor was hung from the ceiling trusses, the floor was left completely free of support posts or any other obstacles.

Approximately 400 square feet of space was employed for a small loading area, as well as an extended unloading area that supplied parts to multiple operators. Had only one unload operator been required, the floor space requirement could have been reduced to only 100 square feet.

As the building had been newly constructed, PACLINE was able to install their modular, bolt-together overhead conveyor quickly, prior to floor machinery being installed. The floor machinery contractors were able to install their equipment unhindered by the ceiling-hung conveyor mounted above them.

Results

PACLINE was able to meet all of the needs of the seat manufacturer with their PAC-LINE™ enclosed track conveyor system which was ceiling-mounted and designed to handle 2,600 parts with only 400 square feet of floor space!

The system was successfully installed – on time and under budget – and fully adhered to both the seat supplier and Toyota’s stringent requirements and codes.

Cardwell Westinghouse is a company whose history goes back over 100 years. The original Westinghouse Air Brake Company was founded by George Westinghouse in 1869. Westinghouse developed the first automatic air brake system that was installed on a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train in 1872. The efficiency of this new system greatly improved the safety and popularity of rail transportation in North America.

This tradition of improving safety and productivity is evident today in everything they do at Cardwell. Recently, John Olavarria, warranty and reliability engineer for Westinghouse, headed the productivity improvement process for the production line of their 2300 DJ self adjusting slack adjuster. The slack adjuster is an important part of the body mounted brake systems used on railroad cars. The slack adjuster helps ensure brake performance by accurately adjusting for brake shoe wear that occurs over time. At Cardwell the production of the slack adjuster from raw material to fully assembled, finished product takes place on one line.

As Olavarria began to reconfigure the production line, it became obvious that major changes were required at the assembly stage.

Manual conveyor system was inefficient and unsafe

The existing conveyor system used for assembly of the slack adjuster was a manual free trolley conveyor. The existing carriers on the conveyor line were big, bulky, heavy and becoming damaged from the manual lifting of parts onto the carriers.

Here’s how the old conveyor system worked:

The operator would manually lift the parts into the holding basket on the carrier. The operator would then push the loaded carrier from workstation to workstation with a manual voice notification that the carrier was coming. As you can easily imagine, this made it extremely dangerous due to the size and weight of the parts on the basket. Even the basket itself could seriously injure the person down stream.

The steel structure of the existing conveyor was not efficiently laid out. Designed as a continuous loop, additional unused track had been installed behind the production line in order to complete the track loop.

Modifying the existing conveyor system would have been difficult due to the amount of welding that would be required. The existing conveyor track sections would have to be welded together and the track would need to be welded to the new supports.

Another issue with the manual conveyor system was that cycle time between workstations was not consistent. If one assembler finished early they would simply push the basket to the next station, which often created a back up in that next operator’s work area. If one operator fell behind there was no way to tell if they had missed the production rate until the next hour and there was also no way to control the transfer rate of the baskets.

In addition to the safety concerns of this system, there was also significant physical strain imposed on the operators. Not only did they have to push and catch the heavy, moving conveyor baskets but they were also required to lift the 50lb slack adjuster onto and off of the basket!

New system must improve safety and reduce floor space

Olavarria set some criteria for the new assembly conveyor, it must:

• address the safety concerns when moving the carriers between operators
• be easy to load and unload in order to reduce operator fatigue and possible injury,
• be controllable and time based
• minimize floor space used

Olavarria contacted Pacline Overhead Conveyors, to discuss Cardwell’s requirements.

The Cardwell team involved in the new layout for the production line included Olavarria, Tom Hankes (Operations Manager), Brian Bodza (Maintenance Manager) and, Dave Barajas (Quality Performance Systems team member).
It was determined that the new production process would consist of two sub assembly tables and one final assembly table in line with one another. The lean reasoning behind the three assembly tables was to more evenly divide the manual work load since the assembly process took the longest time and also to reduce the work in process (WIP) of parts since now the parts that are machined in the location are assembled right there instead of having to travel down stream to a final assembly table.

In addition, since the assembly baskets needed to move only back and forth between the tables there was no need for a continuous loop in the conveyor system that went around the production cell – this change would save considerable floor space.

After understanding the project objectives Robert D’Alesio, project engineer at Pacline Overhead Conveyors recommended a solution.

The PACLINE solution:
Powered Over/ Under Conveyor System with a touch screen control panel.

D’Alesio established three major components for the project:

• the conveyor layout,
• the carrier design,
• and the control system.

Over/Under conveyor design conserves plant space

The area where the new conveyor was to be installed had to be very carefully considered due to the restricted space. Since the old continuous loop type conveyor was deemed unnecessary for the assembly job and it took up valuable space in the production area, D’Alesio recommended using the powered PAC-LINE™ Over/Under enclosed track conveyor system.

Support columns were placed in specific areas that would allow materials to flow into the area and to give the maintenance personal access to the existing machines. In some areas the existing building columns were utilized for support, further conserving floor space.

When Shadwood Enterprises Ltd., a manufacturer of portable battery charger units, opened its new plant in North Bay, Ontario, management wanted a single conveyor to move goods throughout production. They installed an inverted, floor mounted conveyor that carried the chargers between the plant’s four processing stages.

The system consisted of four identical, inverted assembly line conveyors, each approximately 100 ft long. Each conveyor was fitted with 16″ x 12″ trays, specifically designed to hold the chargers. Each tray had two compartments, and was mounted on a 24″ center.
A single conveyor transported goods to the assembly, testing, packaging, and palletizing stations. At each station, when the chargers were removed from the conveyor, the empty trays remained. Empty trays constantly circulated on the conveyor and allowed workers to replace goods onto the conveyor as rapidly as possible.

Paul Stroz, plant manager for Shadwood, described the conveyor system as “a production manager’s dream.” By moving goods to and from each station, the conveyors minimize the amount of manual work done within the plant.

The new system also occupied minimal floor space. Eighteen inch-wide assembly tables were connected directly to the conveyor’s frame. Carpet covered all of the tables to mute sound.

Published in Modern Materials Handling, 1990