Conveyors are made up of at least two pulleys upon which a continuous belt revolves. Stock or products can be placed on these conveyors within workplaces to assist in transporting, transferring, loading or unloading large amounts quickly with minimal physical labour. Conveyors can be set up as permanent fixtures or be portable for increased flexibility.
Permanent conveyors may be used in situations such as transferring of ore from stock piles onto ships, transfer of boxes of stock along a factory production line, movement of grocery items along a checkout, movement of recycled items for sorting or carriage of baggage at airport terminals.
Portable conveyors allow flexibility if task requirements or products change. Portable styled conveyors can be fixed in length and shape or flexible to allow for conveyor length, height and shape to be adjusted to changing workplace needs such as the placement of a conveyor within the back of a truck to assist with loading and unloading. Most portable conveyors have castors.
Depending on the type of product to be moved, the style of packaging and the environment in which it is operated, a range of conveyor styles are available:
- gravity fed
- powered
- pneumatic in which items are pushed through a system using air pressure such as money moving from a checkout area to counting area in a shop to minimise risk of theft
- vibratory conveyors which vibrate product along its length.
Conveyor systems can be made from rollers, belts, wire mesh, metal slats, wheels, balls inset into tables or plastic for pneumatic systems. The style chosen will depend on the environment it is used in, products transferring and likelihood of exposure to chemicals, moisture or heat as some factors. They can be custom designed in various widths to travel horizontally, on inclines or declines, around corners or above the workspace with guardrails for space saving. Some conveyors can support the weight of palletised stock or drums.
Other considerations when choosing a conveyor:
- if portable—consider time taken to assemble/disassemble
- noise of unit if in enclosed area and whether any noise management strategies need to be put in place
- ability of the conveyor to cope with accumulated product if delays at end of line
- whether gravity powered rollers are suitable or powered model required
- method of operation of powered conveyor such as foot pedal, automatic sensor as products detected or push button
- whether products can be taken from any section of conveyor or just the end
- whether it will need guard rails if traveling overhead of workers.
Wheel track systems are another form of conveyor that are commonly used in store type situations on which product boxes are loaded into deep shelving. As the product at the front of the rack is removed, the others behind automatically move forward and eliminate the need for extended reaching under load.
Ball transfer tables are another type of conveyor system which assists in the transferring of products in the workplace. The link below provides more information:
Workplace solutions and adjustments
Conveyors can be customised for a wide range of applications within the workplace to reduce or eliminate the need for physical handling of stock, especially when this is done repetitively. For people with disabilities which restrict lifting capacities or for those that fatigue easily, installation of conveyor systems to reduce an element of lifting within the workplace may be appropriate.
References:
Active Lifting Equipment Co. Pty Ltd 1999, Wheel Track and Ball Transfer Units, Active Lifting Equipment Co. Pty Ltd, Adelaide, viewed 21 June 2011, http://www.activelifting.com.au/materialsHandling/lemcol/lemcolWhlTrkBall.htm.
Active Lifting Equipment Co. Pty Ltd 1999, Lemcol Castors, Wheels & Conveyors Index, Active Lifting Equipment Co. Pty Ltd, Adelaide, viewed 21 June 2011, http://www.activelifting.com.au/materialsHandling/lemcol/lemcol.htm#conveyors.
Materials Handling 2005, Gravity & Powered Conveyors, Materials Handling Pty Ltd, Sydney, viewed 21 June 2011, http://www.materialshandling.com.au/c-110-gravity-powered-conveyors.aspx.
Workplace Services 2000, Safeguards: Conveyor Safety, Government of South Australia, Adelaide, viewed 21 June 2011, http://www.safework.sa.gov.au/uploaded_files/gs63i.pdf.