Conveying, Feeding & Handling

Devices that accumulate and offload containers and packages on a single, often horizontal level, such as a bi-directional accumulation table for aluminum cans.

Also known as turntable accumulators, these buffering machines store containers or packages on a flat rotating disk, for example, filled pharmaceutical vials.

Buffering system that accumulates and conveys containers or packages by elevating them in a spiral or helical formation above the line, as an example, buffering containers on high-volume bottle filling line.

A buffering system that aligns horizontal rows of containers or packages through indexing and then elevates the indexed rows in a vertical fashion as a stack, often used for high-volume lines.

Air conveyors refer to flat top conveyor systems that uses compressed air to move packages or materials, similar to air hockey tables.

Also known as bucket elevators and grain legs, these conveyors lift products vertically and separate them into troughs before discharging the product.

Parts, accessories and tools related to any type of conveyor such as plastic, metal or rubber belting, rollers, pins, hoods, take-ups, nosers and gears specific to conveyors.

Conveyors that use a fin divider (also called flights or scrapers) that separate and hold product during conveyance, often at steep vertical angles.

Adjustable or fixed guide rail systems and related components are used to protect, guide, and control containers to avoid jams, product spillage, bottle shingling and other problems during conveyance.

Infeed and discharge conveyors move containers and packages into or out of a packaging machine. Often specific timing or back-pressure considerations apply to these conveyors.

Systems that use magnets embedded beneath a belt to retain ferrous pieces during conveyance.

Modular conveyors, also known as modular belt conveyors, consist of attachable modules, often of plastic, that can be quickly linked together via joint rods and pins for quick reconfiguration on a conveying line as needed.

Vacuum conveyors pull a vacuum through the conveyor belt to hold down packages or materials to the conveyor belt.

Lineshaft or roller conveyors feature cylindrical rollers that move primary cartons or secondary packaging such as cases, through a production line.

Specialty conveyors often used in processing applications that feature a rotating helical screw blade to move bulk materials or products along a defined path within a casing or trough.

Any flat conveyor system in a variety of formats and sizes that runs products horizontally, usually on a belt or belted system.

Conveying systems that use vibration to move light parts, pieces and powders horizontally through a production line.

Packaging systems that sort, organize and insert packages or containers, usually associated with a filling operation.

Any machinery that applies a type of hanger to assist consumers in carrying a package, such as machines that attach a carry case plastic hanger for a two-gallon multipack of joined water jugs. Also, machines that apply hanger or display tab systems onto a package for retail display.

Machines that take containers and sometimes products and correctly orient or organize them prior to packaging, such as unscrambling and orienting empty plastic bottles into a single-file, mouth-up position before filling.

Automated systems that use robots that pick objects or products as part of a product or package handling operation.

Placement or inserter machines and friction feeders that deposit items, such as product literature or desiccant sacks, into a package.

Systems for inserting protective packaging such as paper cushioning, rolls of corrugated wrap, or cellulose wadding into a package such as a shipping case.

A feeding system usually for small or lightweight products such as screws that gently shakes and rotates materials or products inside a bowl to move them onto a narrow track to be counted and fed into a package, single-file.

Also known as decasers, this machinery is specifically dedicated to automatically unloading containers such as glass or plastic bottles from a reshipping case so that they are single file and upright for a later process.

Machines that unhinge and separate a stack of containers, such as tray, clamshell and blister denesters, before placing them onto a conveyor, one by one, for a separate operation such as filling.

Devices integrated with conveyors to remove, divert and stage for collection packages or containers considered rejects, such as unlabeled or otherwise defective items, or to otherwise separate products from a packaging line, such as in quality checks.

Dumpers, tilts and other bulk unloaders used to discharge the contents of a material handling operation into another.

Product and package handling equipment that raises or lowers containers or product from one elevation to another before feeding them into the next operation, such as elevators used for palletizing and depalletizing bottles.

Also known as lane combiners and laners, these systems that sort, separate, merge or relocate outfed packages or containers, such as finished cases, often integrated into conveying operations.

Machinery that prepares, folds and attaches specialty leaflets or expanded content labels, often for pharmaceutical, law care products and chemical bottling operations.

Systems that use air or vacuum pressure to move and control empty containers that are suspended by their necks toward the neck of the container or bottle.

Any equipment or packages or containers associated with the molded plastic or food grade stainless steel components that hold containers such as bottles, cans, and tube during conveyance through a line, including puckers, depuckers and the pucks themselves.

Machines that collect and stack products such as flat products and place them onto a pallet.

Screws that help regulate the infeed of packages so they align with a later process, such as timing the infeed of a package into a packaging machine.

Any machinery associated with moving trays or crates, such as tray stackers.