"Our new single-line guide has been in use since May 2018 and has since proven its worth - the required throughput rate was easily achieved with the design," reports Olaf Holzapfel, Managing Director of Blume-Rollen. To enable parallel and simple assembly during operation, Blume-Rollen used its BLUlight conveyor belt system for unit loads weighing up to 31.5 kilograms.

3,000 parcels per hour
The new conveyor system is a combination of several packaging lines that run in parallel and are merged onto a single sorting line. The throughput capacity of one conveyor line is designed for 3,000 parcels per hour with maximum parcel dimensions of 800 x 600 x 600 millimetres. "To prevent complete system downtime due to backlogs, each conveyor element has the dimensions of the largest possible shipping parcel," explains Holzapfel. "This means that all parcels can be lined up one behind the other if bottlenecks occur. As soon as a parcel has been processed, a message is sent to the conveyor system via light barriers and the next parcel is fed in. In this way, the shipping goods are processed piece by piece and a complete standstill is avoided."

Up to 50,000 parcels per day are often transported, sorted and dispatched via conveyor belts in logistics - a backlog is not uncommon. © falco / Pixabay.com,

As a result of this congestion avoidance, only two employees are now required for manual sorting - previously there were twenty. The freed-up manpower is now used in the enlarged packaging area.

As soon as the shipment has arrived on the common sorting line, it is transported through a scanner portal. From this point, the intelligent BLUintellSort sorting and distribution system distributes the parcels to the respective destinations. With the help of omnidirectional laser scanning of the barcodes, a transport speed of up to one meter per second is achieved. "We use our Logiservice software, which is installed directly on a PC or server, to control the system," explains Holzapfel. "The program is equipped with a series of plug-ins that can be connected to the various components of the system. In this way, it acts as a translator and mediates between the different elements of the system."

For example, the information is recorded by the barcode reader during scanning and compared with the ERP system. This provides the system with information about the arrival location, whereupon the PLC is activated and the parcel is ejected accordingly. In this way, Logiservice monitors the shipping status of the parcel until it has reached its destination.

The new conveyor system is a combination of several packaging lines, which are positioned next to each other and merged into a single sorting line. © Flower rolls

Low noise level
Usually, loud gear motors are used in conveyor systems to set the cumbersome rollers in motion. "This is a problem for employees' health, as the constant noise pollution also increases stress levels," adds Holzapfel. "According to accident prevention regulations and the employers' liability insurance association, there is a standard that the noise of a system should not exceed 78 decibels - in the work area, this is even lower at less than 70 decibels. That's why we use 24-volt drive technology with a noise level of less than 65 decibels." The electrically powered motorized rollers are particularly quiet. The 24-volt drive technology also supports energy-efficient conveyor operation. "In order to ensure sustainability and avoid releasing unnecessarily expensive compressed air into the environment, we have completely dispensed with pneumatics in this system," explains Holzapfel. "In addition, only the motors that are actually transporting shipping goods are switched on." As soon as no more parcels need to be transported at one point, this element is switched off. Thanks to a light barrier, the required conveyor element of the sorting line is only reactivated when further shipping goods want to leave the packaging line.

Blume-Rollen continues to support the service provider even after the conveyor system has been assembled and installed. "Round-the-clock system availability is important in the mail order business," says Holzapfel. "To guarantee this, we have set up a hotline for our users - 24 hours a day, six days a week." For remote maintenance, Blume-Rollen can access the control system on site via a modem. as