25/1 - Striking oil in optimizing line efficiency

A world leading integrated oil and gas company had issues with one of their motor-oil lines near Milano. The filled plastic containers, going from the labeler to the packaging machine, needed to be buffered as the packer suffered from the occasional micro stop, resulting in an overflow of products at the infeed.

As is usually the case when adding a buffering functionality to an existing line there was only a limited amount of space; essentially this meant that the solution had to go up vertically to get the needed accumulation capacity.

To solve this AmbaFlex created a unique solution by combining an AccuVeyor® AVs with a specially designed belt for pressure-type accumulation, essentially turning into an AccuVeyor® AVp from our CDS (Clever Designed Solutions) programme. The plastic containers run from the labeler into the accumulator’s outer track, run upwards and spiral back down on the inner track before continuing to the packer.

To regulate the infeed of the packer the belt of the AVs is fitted with a mix of high and low friction slats, giving the belt enough friction to move the products smoothly and enough slip to accumulate without damaging them.

The broad scope of AmbaFlex solutions means they have an answer for every obstacle. In this particular case, a space-efficient accumulator combined with a smart pressure type belt resolved all the problems coming from the micro-stops, decreasing downtime and maximizing the overall output.

One more proof of AmbaFlex’s leading position in Spiral Conveyor Solutions!