Conveyor system flexibility seals the deal

The continuous conveyor system – designed, manufactured and installed by CI Logistics – is being used to move boxes of butyl sealant products from the first floor of Hodgson's site to the palletising and dispatch area on the ground floor. The company has boosted production by 10% at the facility. Three suppliers tendered for the contract, but Hodgson chose CI Logistics because of its detailed design proposal. The system was also modular and more versatile than others on offer, says Hodgson's engineering manager: "Because the system is modular, it is relatively maintenance free and will be easy to adapt should we wish to carry out future modifications." The palletised raw butyl sealant arrives by lift to the upstairs extruder floor, ready prepared for the extrusion process. Raw product is fed to the production lines where each operator can produce between 50 to 120 boxes of extruded product per shift. All the extrusion lines are connected by spurs to the main conveyor system. Gates have been incorporated into some of the conveyor spur sections to allow access with a pallet truck, where necessary. When the boxes are filled with product, operators now simply push them out on to the conveyor system instead of having to place them on pallets, so reducing manual handling. Hodgson says the introduction of automation has saved time and enabled production output to increase by up to 10%.