Elevate the performance of your conveyor system with the new SmartFlex Helix Conveyor from Dorner The tight turns and small footprint of the SmartFlex Helix Conveyors provide facilities with greater flexibility in layout for applications such as accumulation, buffering, cooling product and more. The SmartFlex Helix Conveyors’ infeed and outfeed can be positioned at any height or… Read more »
Tag: Plastic Chain Conveyors
Conveying Automation Expertise
As more companies look to automate their processing lines, they are relying on conveyor manufacturers for an assist – here’s why… By Mike Hosch Vice President, Industrial Products Group, Dorner Manufacturing New waves of technologies are transforming not only the way products are produced and packaged, but manufacturing facilities as a whole. Flexibility and connectivity… Read more »
Move Product Around Machinery with a Reverse LPZ Conveyor
A traditional LPZ conveyor is ideal for elevation changes in some facilities, but other times its footprint is too large for what the space allows. A recent customer faced this problem when they needed to move product between conveyors, but the area wouldn’t work for a regular Z-frame conveyor due to a machine being in… Read more »
Powered Side Guide Highlighted on Dorner’s SmartFlex Conveyor with FlexMove Technology
Dorner recently worked with a customer who needed to convey small plastic bottles. The solution required a number of different transfers from conveyors and other machinery. While there are many different ways to handle bottle transfers from one conveyor to the next, often times the solution relies on product back-pressure to lessen the chance of… Read more »
Added Flexibility for Dorner’s 2200 SmartFlex® Conveyor Platform with New 85 mm Width Option
Dorner’s flexible chain conveyor platform, SmartFlex®, is now available in an 85 mm width standard option. With this addition, SmartFlex Conveyors are now available in 4 standard widths: 65 mm (2.6”), 85 mm (3.3”), 105 mm (4.1”) and 150 mm (5.9”). Other sizes that can be specially ordered include: 45 mm (1.8”), 180 mm (7.1”) and 260 mm (10.2”). This new expanded… Read more »
Dorner Provides Custom Conveyor System for Labeling Application
A customer recently needed a system to move variously sized cartons through two inkjet printers. During this process, the carton needed to be justified and then transferred 90 degrees. To accomplish this Dorner provided them with a 6 conveyor system which included three 3200 Series Conveyors with Intralox’s patented Activated Roller Belt (ARB) technology,… Read more »
Lift Gate Provides Added Flexibility to SmartFlex System
Dorner’s 2200 Series SmartFlex conveyors are one of our most flexible systems available. For this application, the customer was moving bottles on a packaging line and needed added versatility. Besides utilizing the flexibility of the SmartFlex conveyor’s tight turns and long runs, the customer required a system that could accommodate multiple bottle sizes. Also, the… Read more »
Dorner Introduces Next Generation 2200 Series Modular Belt Conveyors
Dorner’s newly redesigned 2200 Series Modular Belt Conveyor features additional belt options, a sleek open frame design, and a universal T-slot and is ideal for applications within the metalworking, packaging, assembling and general manufacturing industries. The product redesign includes a number of improvements. For starters, its ladder-style, open frame design replaces traditional perforated bedplates that… Read more »
Unique Case Handling Application Highlights Flexibility of SmartFlex with FlexMove Technology
Dorner recently worked with a customer who needed to take a case and flip it 180° within a short distance. The case was slightly bulky at about 1’ x 1’ x 10”. While there are many different ways to rotate cases, the customer wanted a way to positively control the product as it rotated. Dorner… Read more »
Four Dorner Industrial Conveyor Platforms Receive Cleanroom Certification
Dorner’s 3200 Series Modular and Flat Belt conveyors, the 2200 Series Precision Move and the SmartFlex conveyor platforms have received the Ultraclean Products Approval Laboratory certification for use in ISO Standard 14644-1 Class 5, and Federal Standard 209 Class 100 rated cleanrooms. This means the four Dorner conveyors will not contribute to the contamination of… Read more »
Recirculating Conveyor for Small Parts – Video
In a recent application, a customer was looking to move small parts into a single file line so that a robot could pick the parts up one at a time and move them to the next machine. The customer will manually dump the parts onto this recirculating conveyor, a system using two conveyors moving in… Read more »
Move Product Up or Down in Minimal Floor Space with Dorner’s Expanded SmartFlex Flexible Chain Conveyor Line
When floor space is tight and applications call for the product to be moved up or down, Dorner’s trio of SmartFlex curve conveyors are the perfect answer. The SmartFlex Helical Curve, Spiral, and Alpine conveyors greatly expand the capabilities of Dorner’s SmartFlex line by giving customers the ability to move product up or down… Read more »
Transfer between Lines with Pop-up Conveyors
We’ve shown pop-up transfer tables in the past, like this one that is changing the orientation of a block of food. In the application described below, the pop-up transfer is used to move product between two packaging lines. The conveyor shown in this video is moving blocks of cheese. Dorner provided two lines of conveyors… Read more »
PACK EXPO 2015 Recap
PACK EXPO Las Vegas had a record-breaking show this year! The event welcomed nearly 29,000 attendees visiting 2,006 exhibiting companies. Read more about PACK EXPO 2015. If you didn’t have a chance to visit our booth in person, check out the video at the end to see our conveyors in action. We had many… Read more »
Pack Expo Booth Preview Part Three
Read parts one (HERE) and two (HERE). PACK EXPO 2015 is less than two weeks away! This week we are getting everything packed and ready to ship out to Las Vegas. One of the items we are sending to the show this year is our new and improved 2200 Series SmartFlex and 3200 Series conveyor loop. NEW FEATURES SmartFlex… Read more »
Recirculating Products
When moving products down a manufacturing line, there are places that can backup and cause the entire line to slow or shut down. To solve this problem recirculating conveyors can be installed on those sections of the line. This can help protect products from damage and reduce jams. These systems can be in a… Read more »
Controlling Product Flow – Sanitary Pusher
There are many options for controlling product flow on your packaging or processing line. Options such as diverters & gates, lane guiding, and pushers all provide different advantages for customers. When you need to move product off the conveyor in a perpendicular flow, a pusher may be your best option. Pushers can also be useful… Read more »
Rejecting Questionable Products
Safety is a major concern in the food manufacturing process. Manufacturers want to make sure that all the food on their line is safe and not contaminated with metal or other foreign objects. When manufacturers want to make sure they have no metal in their products they use metal detection systems on the conveyor line.… Read more »
Keeping Packaging Safe with Roller Top Belts
Today almost everything we buy is in some kind of packaging. There’s cardboard boxes, shrink wrapping, plastic packaging, and more. When we pick up a package we expect it to look nice and no be damaged. No one wants to buy a scuffed or dented package. Although most products aren’t damaged when on the production… Read more »
Reducing Product Loss
When you need to move product from one conveyor to another that’s often where challenges arise. You could just put the two conveyors as close together as possible and if your product is large enough it will go from one conveyor to the next. However, there’s still the chance of it falling into the gap… Read more »
Withstanding the Rigors of Industrial Environments
Manufacturing is a tough environment for machines. The dust, chemicals, and sharp parts found in many manufacturing facilities take their toll on machinery. Often times companies will take the care to maintain and protect the large multi-million dollar machinery in their facilities but forget about keeping up with maintenance on smaller machines, like conveyors. Conveyors… Read more »
90 Degree Transfer with Product Stager
For this application, the customer needed to complete a 90-degree transfer without having the product skew. The packages are coming out of a product sealer in batches of three. They are set at a particular width spacing which we matched with specific lane guides on the first conveyor in the system. The product travels down… Read more »
Belt or Chain, Belt vs. Chain – Not Really
What makes a belt better than a chain and vice versa? The answer is nothing. Belts are no better than chains, it all depends what your specific needs for your project are and what product you are trying to move. When choosing a belting material these need to be taken into consideration. Each material has… Read more »
Importance of Stocking Belts
Making sure your conveyor is running smoothly is key to keeping your operation running. Manufacturers often give a lot of thought to making sure that the large, multi-million dollar machinery they operate is kept running smoothly but pay little attention to the conveyors that transport their product. However, what many people don’t realize is that… Read more »