Conveyors

Conveyors systems are used to move goods around the warehouses, either from receiving to storage or from storage to picking and eventually dispatch. It is fully automated and it only require human intervention during feeding and discharging. Conveyors are only useful for continuous movement and the routes are fixed. 

It is high in equipment cost but it is efficient in moving goods around the warehouse. It is useful when other handling equipments could not be used. 

There are many different types of conveyors. They are automated guided vehicle, gravity roller conveyors, chutes, skate wheel conveyors, accumulation, flat belt conveyors, slat conveyors gravity conveyor systems, powered conveyors, chain conveyors, tilt try and tilt slat conveyors, overhead chain conveyors. power and free conveyors and under-floor conveyors. Today we are only focusing on automated guided vehicles and gravity roller conveyors.

Gravity Roller Conveyors

It is one of the most popular type of conveyors. It is low in power usage and as its name suggest, it uses gravity. The rollers are spring-loaded so it can be easily removed. Goods must be flat surfaced and it must be smooth and firm.

The load must be in contact with at least 3 rollers.

 It it does not, the good will tumble out.

Automated guided vehicles

It is basically vehicles that are driverless. It usually travels on a guided path either by under-floor wiring or by laser-guided or by optically marked paths. 

a lightweight production AGV

A laser-guided forklift

AGVs have the ability to make path decisions. There are a few types of decisions to be made. They are the frequency that are transmitted to them by the underground wires, pre-programmed paths and by the magnetic strips that are embedded into the floor, these strips an control the speed of the vehicle.