Integerated Systems Case Studies

FINISHED GOODS

Arcadia Dairy Farm (juice bottling plant)

Project: Convey Cartons to Palletizers
Convey Pallets to an Automated Stretch Wrapper
Accumulate Wrapped Pallets

The customer needed to expand the carton filler room because of a new machine needed. Expanding the room forced them to move one of their palletizers. The decision was made to relocate both their palletizers to one location. We designed a Hytrol Conveyor System that transports filled cartons through the plant to a single location that housed their two palletizers.

The customer manually wrapped their pallets and wanted to automate with a pallet wrapper if possible. In our design, we included conveyors that transported the loaded pallets to the Orion Fully Automated Stretch Wrapper. After the pallet wrapper, pallets are accumulated for a fork truck operator. The result was an increase in production that allowed them to go from one carton filler line to two!

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AUTOMATED STORAGE/AUTOMATED RETRIEVAL (ASRS)

Project: Stage totes for pick up and drop off by an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS).

This automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) needed to store incoming parts for use in larger assemblies. The parts had to be checked, then placed in a tote, labeled, and stored in the automated storage and retrieval system.

Advanced Equipment Company used special conveyors for the infeed and the outfeed of the automated storage and retrieval system, and provided a custom cart with a conveyor deck, electric lift and custom carton flow.

Two totes on each line are lifted above the rollers for pick up by the automated storage and retrieval system. The pick-up device has two platforms that reach out over the rollers and pick up two totes at a time.

The totes are dropped off on a split roller conveyor, then accumulated for pick-up by a four level cart. Each cart level has non-powered conveyor rollers for the shelf. The cart is moved to carton flow racking, which has shelf levels that match the shelf levels of the cart. The totes are pushed onto the rack shelves.

The result? Improved efficiency with a streamlined automated storage and retrieval system.


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VERTICAL STORAGE SYSTEMS

Engine Power Source (supplier of engine parts for forklifts, generators & similar motors)

Project: Implement vertical storage system to reduce picking time

Engine Power Source (EPS) customers need parts ASAP. The ability to ship without error quickly and to have the proper parts in stock is crucial. EPS was storing their parts in a 40' x 40' 2-level shelving catwalk mezzanine. Parts picking required a lot of walking and transport of parts between levels. EPS decided to move into a new facility and consolidate the parts into vertical storage system units to take advantage of the 18' vertical height of the building.

Advanced Equipment Company consolidated the parts from shelving into three (3) 9' x 9' Hanel Lean Lifts for their vertical storage system. Parts are now protected from dust and are brought quickly to the operator through this vertical storage system. The picking window is well lighted and at a comfortable height. Picking speed has increased dramatically, along with inventory accuracy and the ability to serve the EPS customers has grown.

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OVERHEAD CONVEYORS

Fairfield Chair (furniture plant)

Project: An overhead conveyor system that quickly conveys chair frames from the 1st floor to the 3rd floor of warehouse.

The customer was designing a new layout for the production and warehousing area of their plant. In the new layout, the third floor became the storage area for product produced on the first floor. AEC designed a Unibeam Overhead Conveyor System that starts on the first floor at the end of the production lines and travels through the second floor to the third floor. On the third floor, the overhead conveyor system runs near the existing overhead conveyor system and back down to the production area. The workers can take the chair frame off the new overhead conveyor system and locate the frame to the proper location, whether it is on the existing conveyor or a staging location.

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AUTOMATIC GUIDED VEHICLES

Automatic Guided Vehicles

Project: Reduce 24/7 long distance forklift through automation.

This manufacturer produces large rolls of paper (102" high x 102" diameter weighing 2000#). These rolls are then slit into smaller rolls for consumer use. The manufacturer transported all the rolls by forklift, quite often over long distances throughout the facility.

AEC designed a system in which Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs) carry the rolls with a pole boom through the core with the core horizontal to the floor. Forklifts carry the rolls with squeeze clamps with the core vertical.

Conveyors receive the rolls from the forklifts and accumulate them waiting for pick up by the AGV. The tilt table rotates the roll from vertical to horizontal and centers the roll so the AGV can drive the pole through the core and pick up the roll for transport.

The tilt table is custom designed so the straddles of the AGVs can fit under the tilt table but still straddle the tilt table base. The tilt tables also have two "wings" that hydraulically center the roll on the table. A perfect fit, and a smart streamlined solution that boosted operations speed.

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PALLET HANDLING SYSTEM

Pallet Conveyor System

Project: Safely convey a wide range of unit load sizes between departments to improve quality of product while reducing inventory cost and minimizing operator interface.

As one of the leading manufacturers of high quality wood office furniture, Steelcase was determined to meet the highest standards of excellence in their manufacturing processes and effectuate cost savings. To assure their competitive position in the market place, they installed a group of CNC machine centers, each with full machining capability for all size panels of their wide ranging product line.

The challenge was to provide a reliable safe transport system to handle a wide range of unit load sizes between warehousing, machining and sanding departments. Reliable automatic control of the system was essential; operator interface was to be minimized.

Prior to the implementation of this project many sizes of panels had to be machined and stored in inventory ready for assembly. With the new pallet handling system, generic panels are delivered to the system and quickly manufactured to specification by CNC machines. The pallet conveyor system, under PLC control, is used to transport loads of panels from the storage area to the machining area, located across a major plant aisle. The pallet conveyor system delivers pallet loads to each machine center automatically and returns pallet loads of machined panels back across the aisle to the sanding department.

In the storage area, unit loads are delivered to the system by order picker trucks and placed on pneumatically operated pallet stands for transfer onto one of two HYTROL CRA pallet accumulation conveyors. Pallets move forward on this staging conveyor for transfer to machining or directly to sanding.

All pallet accumulation conveyors in this system are designed to handle loads 44 inches wide up to 120 inches wide. All loads are 42 inches long. Loads vary in weight from 100 pounds to 4,000 pounds. A split roller design conveyor is utilized with two accumulation zones controlled together with common sensors.

From the storage area, conveyor loads can go directly to sanding or via a transfer cart across the aisle to the machining area. This decision is made prior to transferring the load onto the pallet conveyor by placing a cone with reflective tape on loads that are to go directly to sanding and bypass machining. If a load is directed to sanding, it is transferred by means of a special powered horizontal pivoting pallet conveyor. Once transferred, these loads accumulate on a 26 foot long CRA conveyor and await transfer to the sanding department conveyor system.

Most pallets go to machining prior to sanding. They move by powered transfer cart from the storage area pallet conveyor system to the machining area pallet conveyor system. The machine area conveyor accumulates loads on the lower level and delivers loads to one of six machining centers. Each Heian CNC machine is capable of machining any load sent to it. Once the load is finished, it is transferred back to the pallet conveyor where it is lifted up to a second level conveyor system by means of a power conveyor mounted on a Southworth lift. The two level system maximizes the use of floor space and minimizes interference between the pallet conveyor system and the manufacturing function. Once on the upper level, system loads are accumulated and directed back to the transfer cart pick up station for transfer to the sanding department.

Many specials were designed and incorporated into this system. Reliability of their design was crucial to the system. Equally important was the design and implementation of the controls system. The control sequence was complex and had to monitor and control the movement of many different size unit loads. A PLC monitors and controls all movement on the system and a combination of proximity switches and photo electric controls are utilized as sensors.

Steelcase is pleased with the productivity increases with the new changes and the ability of the equipment to perform well.


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AUTOMATED PACKAGING

Slane Hosiery Mills (athletic socks manufacturer)

Project: Automate packaging processes

Slane Hosiery Mills manufacturers athletic socks for major sportswear companies at its plant in High Point, N.C. The High Point plant performs all of the operations involved in the manufacturing process: knitting, dyeing, finishing, and packaging. Until recently, the wrong materials handling system in one area of the plant was limiting employee productivity and plant output.

In the plant's packaging operation, employees receive socks from the finishing area, package them, and then send them on to shipping. For a number of years, the packaging operation was an entirely manual one. Employees loaded cartons onto sections of manually powered roller or skatewheel conveyor, then pushed the cartons along to the next work area. Due to poor system layout, the conveyors consumed more than their share of floor space, limiting the amount of space available for workstations.

Recognizing that their packaging operation needed a boost, company managers approached Advanced Equipment Co., and asked for possible solutions. AEC recommended tearing out the manual conveyor system and replacing it with a powered conveyor system specifically designed to meet the needs of both the application and the building layout.

Company managers considered a number of possible solutions, but decided that the idea of converting from an entirely manual operation to one based on the use of powered conveyor systems held the most promise. Plant Engineer Steve Ferguson recalls the logic behind their decision: "The High Point plant is our only facility that makes athletic socks. We were therefore not in a position to risk plant production by experimenting with different design approaches. We needed a system that would go in as promised, start up as promised, and perform as promised.

"Those requirements translated into a need to use a distributor that could correctly apply the conveyor manufacturer's products to our application. Regardless of the quality of the materials handling equipment, if it isn't correctly applied for the specific application, the odds that it is going to provide the solution that the user is looking for are pretty slim."

Advanced Equipment Company's installation and start-up of the new automated packaging system went without a hitch, according to Wesley Hutchins, Assistant Plant Manager at the High Point facility. "Once it was installed, it took about twelve minutes to get the whole system up and running. And it's been running with very little unscheduled downtime ever since," says Hutchins.

The new system has provided other benefits as well. Hutchins explains: "By tearing out all of the old conveyor and starting the layout design from scratch, we were able to really optimize our use of existing floor space. As a result, we have been able to add over a dozen new workstations in this area. As you can imagine, it would have been easy to cost-justify this conversion to a powered conveyor system based just on the production increase of the new workstations."

The combination of the new conveyor system and the additional workstations has produced an impressive 20 to 25% increase in plant output. And by eliminating the manual pushing of cartons on the old conveyors and reducing the amount of lifting required, the new powered conveyor system has improved employee morale.

According to Maintenance Technician Kenneth Conrad, the plant's new powered conveyor system not only delivers the goods - it does so while requiring very little maintenance. "We do have a good preventative maintenance program set up here at our High Point plant, but frankly, this new system requires very little attention."

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INVENTORY STORAGE

Robert Yates Racing (professional racing team)

Project: Relocation and design of Robert Yates Engine shop & inventory storage system

Advanced Equipment Company Beats the Challenge

Last year was a critical off-season for Robert Yates Racing (RYR). To say it was a busy season is an understatement. The Robert Yates Engine Shop was being completed and Dale Jarrett's NASCAR team was being moved from its Charlotte, NC, location to a new facility in Mooresville. On top of that, the Daytona race and a long season lay ahead.

As in the past, the purchaser for RYR called on Advanced Equipment Company in Charlotte to handle the storage needs. "Two things need to be done when RYR calls us to handle a project," says Bart Lassiter, sales representative for Advanced Equipment. "It needs to be done fast and it needs to be done right." These guys take laps at 200 miles per hour, change 4 tires and fill the gas tank in 14 to 20 seconds. They know fast. With over 40 races in 42 weeks, that's just the way these NASCAR teams live. When the season was over, RYR needed to be moved into its new locations. RYR knew they could count on Advanced Equipment based on a relationship of working together for over 20 years.

The morning after the phone call, Lassiter met with staff from RYR to discuss several rooms in the engine facility and the Dale Jarrett facility. With no time to waste, Advanced Equipment designed a layout that afternoon and evening consisting of 137 shelving sections, 39 bulk storage sections and 10 pallet rack sections, plus other odds and ends. The following day, the Advanced Equipment delivery truck arrived at RYR and nearly fulfilled a $40,000 job out of its own inventory of Lyon Workspace Products.

What equipment Advanced Equipment didn't have, Lyon Workspace Products had in stock. With the help of Bob Blattner, Lyon's district manager, the remaining equipment was filled and Advanced Equipment's inventory was restored. "For years, Advanced Equipment Company has only aligned ourselves with top quality companies like Lyon," says Daryle Ogburn, Advanced Equipment president. "So when there is a need to have an expectation met for our customers, we rely on our 43-year relationship with Lyon."

The equipment was installed and the checkered flag is waving for the Advanced Equipment Company/Lyon Workspace Products team.

This story originally appeared in the September 1, 2004 edition of The MHEDA Connection. Reprinted with permission. Copyright© Data Key Communications.


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Advanced Equipment Company provides turnkey material handling systems throughout North Carolina and South Carolina, with service in Charlotte, Asheville, Greensboro, Raleigh, Greenville/Spartanburg, Columbia, Charleston, Florence, Orangeburg, Hickory, Statesville, Winston-Salem, Durham and Fayetteville.

Advanced Equipment Company | 118 Clanton Road | Charlotte NC 28217 | 704-527-3141