BY PETER BRADLEY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
CONVEYORS
materialhandlingupdate
conveyor makers
roll with demand
PHOTO COURTESY OF INTELLIGRATED
Customers today
want equipment
that’s greener,
more versatile, and
more efficient than
the machinery
offered in the past.
Manufacturers have
responded with an
array of new models
and accessories.
THERE’S NOTHING LIKE A DOWNTURN TO ACCELERATE A TREND. FOR
some time now, distribution center operators have been looking to their conveyor
suppliers to help them do things like achieve higher throughput and accuracy, handle a greater variety of packages and other conveyable products, and conserve energy. Those demands have been driven by pressures faced by the DCs themselves to fill
orders faster, ship orders that are complete and error-free (or face chargebacks), and
generate faster turns.
William J. Casey, president of SI Systems, which specializes in piece and case picking automation on the order fulfillment side of its business, says much of what customers are seeking is based on their drive to reduce inventories and accelerate inventory turns. The growth of Internet sales has led to greater demand for automated or
semi-automated piece picking, he adds.
When it comes to trends on the demand side, three in particular stand out, says
Ken Ruehrdanz, market development manager for Dematic. First, he says, companies are looking to modernize and upgrade existing systems. Second, they’re interested in adopting solutions that are more energy efficient. And third, they’re asking
for systems that can convey a wider variety of products, such as very lightweight
goods and polybagged products.
