Selecting the Right Accumulation Conveyor

Accumulation conveyors can be critical equipment in a material handling system, providing buffer zones to hold product until downstream operations have available capacity.

Advanced solutions yield high-throughput, high-density accumulation of the most challenging mix of product sizes, shapes, and weights while preserving product integrity.

Similar to cars slowing down for traffic lights, accumulation conveyors allow items to queue before moving forward.

Operating a material handling system without any accumulation functionality, such as belt conveyors running at a constant speed, is analogous to driving a car in traffic without any brakes.

It eventually slows down, but at the expense of another car’s bumper.

Medium-pressure, zero-pressure and zero contact are three types of accumulation conveyor that regulate product flow through automated systems, allowing operations to run more smoothly and accommodate fluctuations in product movement.

With several conveyor technologies capable of accumulating product in material handling systems, selecting the right approach requires careful consideration of key tradeoffs.

Understanding the product mix and throughput rate requirements helps select the technology best suited to meet operational goals.