Conveyor Systems Case Study - Speedpac ltd

Introduction

Speedpac Ltd based in Northamptonshire is one of the UK’s leading contract packing and distribution companies.

Speedpac’s long association with a major Cosmetic Manufacturer led to a high demand of bulk stock that required repackaging into shelf ready trays to fit to the criteria specifications as specified by all the major Supermarket Retailers.

This operation involved the following key steps –

• Strip out product from existing packaging
• Automated tray erecting machines
• Hand loading the product into the new shelf ready trays
• Sleeve wrap loaded trays – 2 machines
• In line print and apply barcode labelling
• Palletising

Product per Annum – 27 million units gel loaded into 4.5 million trays

Requirements

Speedpac sourced off the shelf equipment to carry out the above process however the key to this line working efficiently was in linking all the machines together.

The new line needed to be located within a pre-determined footprint to achieve Speedpac’s preferred layout and as with most Customers keeping within the budget was a key factor.

Solution

ST Machinery Sales Ltd visited Speedpac to discuss their conveyor system requirements and a project brief was established. From this initial site visit ST engineers designed a system layout of 8 separate conveyors that would be required to integrate with Speedpac’s existing equipment.

This involved the pre loaded trays of stock dividing into two feeds – one to each sleeve wrap machine then back into a single lane to feed the print and apply labeller. To enable product spacing consistency a twin lane conveyer was required at the labeller, designed to avoid product collision and maintain free product flow at all times.