Roller Conveyors; Benefits and Uses in Business
You have seen them in the airport as they bring up your baggage, or in the movies as they move food and beverages from one production process to another. Roller Conveyors have been around for over 100 years thanks to Henry Ford’s T Model production line, and they are here to stay.
According to PR Newswire, the demand for conveyor belts is set to rise to $5 billion by 2025. The food and beverage industry will experience the fastest growth because of the demand for packaged foods.
So, what exactly is a roller conveyor?
A roller conveyor system is a line of long connecting trays laid with horizontal tubes/rollers that rotate and move items placed on them. The trays are open-ended, so you can fit them together to create the length you want or curve them to negotiate corners and go on an incline. Conveyor rollers can be pushed manually or by gravity, but they can also be powered by electricity.
Uses of a Conveyor roller
The best thing about conveyor rollers is that you can customize and alter them to fit the application. And in that breath, here are a few common uses of conveyor belts.
- Manufacturing process
When conveyor rollers were invented within Henry Ford’s production line, the purpose was to make the vehicles’ production process easier and faster. They used the belt to move car parts from one assembly process to another. Over the years, conveyor rollers have become invaluable in manufacturing plants ranging from electrical goods to food production. - Baggage handling
If you have been to the airport, you have seen how conveyors move baggage from the security section to the pickup point. They are also used in distribution points and parcel delivery companies to move parcels from one department to another. This makes the process faster than if humans were to carry the packages from point A to point B. - Transport heavy goods
Where companies have to transport heavy goods such as coal, cement, or steel, they use roller conveyors because they can withstand the weight without being damaged. Conveyors also come in handy if the goods are chemically corrosive or have sharp edges that would make it dangerous for humans to carry them.
Benefits of Roller Conveyors
• Efficiency. Roller conveyors make moving goods and packages a lot faster, which increases efficiency, increase output, and saves time.
• Smaller workforce. When you have a conveyor belt to carry everything from one place to another, you don’t need a large workforce. The roller also saves the men you have from manually carrying heavy packages and hurting their backs.
• Improved hygiene. When used in food and beverage production, the roller conveyor reduces the human touch; hence the production and packaging are done more hygienically.
• Vertical transportation. As if making transportation of items on the same floor wasn’t good enough, you can customize a conveyor roller to move parcels on two different floors. Parcel companies even use the conveyor to load boxes on the truck.
As you can see, the uses of a roller conveyor vary depending on what the client wants. We have only touched the basics, so there is a world of new uses and benefits you can explore.
