Modern warehouses and distribution centers are larger and more complicated spaces than ever before, and today’s customers also have higher standards than they did in the past. Goods of all shapes and sizes need to move quickly and efficiently through these spaces, so that orders can be fulfilled accurately and quickly enough to keep consumers satisfied and operations flowing smoothly.

Fortunately, various advanced tools and technologies are available to assist with this, and the automated conveyor system is the perfect example. A revolutionary piece of automated material handling technology, this system allows goods to be easily transported, sorted, and tracked across vast warehouses and manufacturing facilities, dramatically reducing the burden on the workforce.

As your automation experts, the BoxLogix team will use this guide to demonstrate how automated conveyor systems work, the benefits they bring, some common applications (like e-commerce fulfillment), and the key factors before investing in automated conveyors of your own.

Key Takeaways

• Automated conveyor systems improve material flow by moving, sorting, and tracking goods with less continuous human intervention.
• Conveyors can increase throughput and reduce manual handling while supporting safer, more consistent, and accurate warehouse operations.
• The right conveyor system depends on your operation, including product types, facility layout, throughput needs, existing technology, labor requirements, and expected ROI.

What Is an Automated Conveyor System?

An automated conveyor system is a mechanized piece of warehouse equipment designed to transport products and materials along a fixed path without the need for continuous human intervention and oversight. This separates it from manual material handling, which relies on workers to push, carry, or otherwise move items from one section to the next.

Key components of this type of sortation system include: sensors and controls that help to regulate movement and spacing between goods; drive mechanisms, like a drive motor, to actually provide physical motion; a programmable logic controller (PLC), which monitors sensors and switches and activates or deactivates motors; and software, like a warehouse management system (WMS).

Automated conveyors are found in the majority of modern warehouses and distribution centers, particularly medium- to large-scale facilities. They may be just one piece of a larger warehouse automation system and work together with other advanced technologies to find, move, and store goods, or can operate on their own.

How Do Automated Conveyor Systems Work?

The exact way in which automated conveyor systems work can vary based on the exact type of conveyor being used and how deeply it’s integrated into the broader automated environment. However, most systems follow a familiar multi-step process, which begins from the moment an item is first placed onto the conveyor.

At that exact moment, scanning technologies, such as overhead cameras or barcode scanners, verify the product’s identity or read its unique label. The item then moves along the automated belt, with light-beam sensors tracking as it progresses from point to point, providing real-time data to the wider system about the precise locations of goods at any given moment.

Control systems determine the movement speed, direction, and timing as the product continues its journey, communicating constantly with primary programs, like a WMS or warehouse control system (WCS), which can tell the conveyor where the item needs to go. Once it arrives at its destination, workers can collect it manually, or other automated systems, like robot pickers, can retrieve it instead.

The overarching goal of an automated conveyor system like this is to create a coordinated and reliable flow of materials across the warehouse, with fewer bottlenecks and delays, while also reducing the need for workers to manually push, lift, or carry them between zones. Such systems can play crucial roles in optimizing operations and making sure that orders are processed and shipped out on time.

Key Components of an Automated Conveyor System

An automated conveyor system relies on a combination of mechanical equipment, sensors, controls, and software to keep products moving efficiently. While the exact components vary by system and application, most automated conveyors include several core elements that work together to control movement, track products, and maintain a consistent material flow.

Automated conveyors typically include:

• Belts or rollers: Flat surfaces (belts) or cylindrical rollers that carry items along from one part of the warehouse to another. Belts are usually made of rubber and used for lighter goods, while rollers work best for heavier ones.
• Motors and drive systems: Motors provide the necessary power to generate motion so that conveyor belts/rollers can move. Other parts of the drive system, like gears and chains, connect the motors to the moving parts.
• Sensors and scanners: Automated conveyors often use photoelectric sensors, which rely on light beams to tell when items are passing through an area. They can also use barcode and RFID scanners to identify and track specific items.
• PLCs and control systems: These components run the various logical algorithms and operations needed to keep the overall system moving smoothly and ensure that products are taken to the right places.
• Transfer and sortation equipment: Additional mechanical items, like wheels, mini belts, or pneumatic pushing arms that can divert items onto other belts or change their direction of travel.
• Safety equipment: Examples of safety components can include light curtains that can stop or inhibit equipment when a worker enters a protected area, as well as physical guard rails and emergency stop buttons for workers to push in dangerous situations.
• WMS/WCS integration: Automated conveyors often provide valuable data for WCS or WMS programs, and these pieces of software can also directly instruct the conveyor’s PLC to adjust timing, routing, or speed, as needed.

Common Types of Automated Conveyor Systems

From the classic belt conveyor to the tubular cable conveyor and more niche varieties (like zero-pressure accumulation conveyors), automated conveyor systems come in various forms. Each type is designed for different products, loads, facility layouts, and material handling needs.

Some of the most common types of automated conveyor systems include:

• Belt conveyors
• Roller conveyors
• Pallet conveyors
• Overhead conveyors
• Vertical conveyors

Belt Conveyors

These are made up of flat surfaces (usually rubber or fabric) that are well-suited for transporting small, light, or irregularly shaped items.

Roller Conveyors

A roller conveyor is made up of a series of cylindrical tubes that can be either motorized or powered by gravity to transport heavier items, like totes, pallets, and boxes.

Pallet Conveyors

As the name suggests, these automated conveyors are specifically for the movement of palletized loads. They’re common in manufacturing and distribution facilities.

Overhead Conveyors

An overhead conveyor is positioned in an elevated position, above the warehouse floor, in order to preserve floor space for other uses, like storage.

Vertical Conveyors

These conveyors move goods vertically, between different floors or levels of a facility, and are most common in large-scale warehouses.

What Are the Benefits of Automated Conveyor Systems?

Automated conveyors do much more than simply move goods from point A to B. They can have a tangible positive impact on the efficiency of the entire material handling process.

Some of their many benefits include:

• Increased throughput
• Reduced manual material handling
• Improved safety
• Greater accuracy and product tracking
• More consistent material flow

Increased Throughput

Automated conveyors keep goods moving almost constantly, minimizing needless delays between operational processes. This, in turn, can improve throughput, especially when dealing with higher volumes or periods of peak demand.

Reduced Manual Material Handling

Without automated conveyors, workers would be responsible for carrying, pushing, and moving goods from one point to another. Yet, with them, workers have more freedom to focus their efforts on other, higher-value tasks.

Improved Safety

Since workers don’t have to spend as much time carrying and transporting goods, the presence of automated systems can reduce some manual-handling risks and worker fatigue. They also have helpful safety features of their own to keep accidents to a minimum.

Greater Accuracy and Product Tracking

With their various scanners and sensors, automated conveyors facilitate accurate tracking of products and materials as they travel across the warehouse. This makes it easier to ensure that goods get to the places they need to be and can also reduce the risk of tracking and routing errors.

More Consistent Material Flow

Automated conveyors create predictable movement chains for products throughout their time in the warehouse. From reception through to storage, picking, packing, and shipping, conveyors play their part in each stage of the journey, which also aids with inventory tracking and operational optimization.

Where Are Automated Conveyor Systems Used?

Automated conveyor systems are found in:

• E-commerce and retail: They’re used for transporting packaged goods and parcels across distribution centers to streamline order fulfillment, packing, and shipping.
• Manufacturing: They move important parts and supplies between production and assembly lines.
• Food and drink: Conveyors can transport all kinds of food and drink-related items, from individual ingredients to crates and containers of finished goods.
• Pharmaceutical: Automated conveyors provide safe, controlled, trackable movement of sensitive goods, like medicines.
• Distribution and 3PL: Conveyors are frequently used for receiving, cross-docking, picking, sorting, and outbound shipping processes.

It’s worth noting, however, that even though automated conveyors are found in such diverse fields, they can vary quite widely from one sector to the next, and it’s important for companies to select the right type of conveyor to fit their specific needs.

How Do Automated Conveyors Integrate with Other Warehouse Technology?

Conveyors are often just one piece of larger automated warehouse systems, which can include WMS programs, automated sortation systems, barcode scanners, robotic pickers, and so on. They can interact with these other pieces of warehouse technology in various ways to make the overall operation even more efficient.

Automated conveyors can feed and receive information to and from a WMS, for example. They can deliver goods to automated sorters or robot pickers. They also often work in conjunction with barcode and RFID scanners, which track items as they move along, and pick-and-pack systems, which group goods together in packages, ready for shipping, once they reach the end of their conveyor route.

Often, a WMS or some sort of centralized control or software system is like the brain of the warehouse, while automated conveyors are the muscle; the centralized software dictates movement, speed, and routing, while conveyors do the heavy lifting.

Vision systems can also work in conjunction with conveyors to help workers inspect products, verify labelling, identify errors and defects, or confirm that items are correctly positioned in the process.

Is an Automated Conveyor System Right for Your Operation?

Automated conveyors can be considerably beneficial for modern warehouses and distribution centers, but that doesn’t mean they’re a universal fit for every operation. Facilities should consider a range of factors before investing in these systems, such as:

• The types of products you handle (size, weight, etc.) and whether they’re suitable for conveyors
• The current level of throughput and projected throughput for the coming months
• The current facility layout and amount of available space to install conveyors
• How materials are currently handled and how much manual work and travel is involved
• Labor costs and availability, as conveyors can help to alleviate pressure on the workforce
• How well your facility copes with peak season demands
• What kind of technology you already use and how well it can integrate with conveyors
• How you expect your facility to grow or change in the near future
• The maintenance requirements of conveyors, and whether you’re able to meet them
• The overall ROI you expect to get from an investment in automated conveyor systems

Keep in mind that automation should be brought in to solve problems or address challenges your facility faces. It shouldn’t just be installed because it seems necessary.

Improve Material Flow with the Right Conveyor System and the Right Team

Automated conveyor systems can speed up product movement, improve throughput, enhance safety, and help you get more from the labor force at your disposal. But in order to enjoy those benefits, you need to make sure you choose the right system to match the products, processes, layouts, and needs of your facility.

That’s the challenge. And if you’re not quite sure how to address it, BoxLogix is here to help. We have years of experience in warehouse automation and have helped countless companies choose the right systems and develop strategies that work for them.

Contact our team today and find out how we can help you design an automated conveyor solution that aligns perfectly with your operational goals.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the difference between an automated conveyor and a traditional conveyor?

An automated conveyor uses sensors, controls, software, and other technologies to move and route products with minimal human intervention. Traditional conveyors may still move products mechanically, but typically rely more heavily on workers to control, monitor, sort, or direct the flow of goods.

What products can be transported using an automated conveyor system?

Automated conveyor systems can transport a wide range of products, including boxes, totes, pallets, packaged goods, manufacturing components, and food and beverage products. The types of goods a system can handle depend on factors like their size, weight, shape, and the type of conveyor being used.

How do automated conveyor systems improve warehouse efficiency?

Automated conveyor systems improve warehouse efficiency by keeping products moving consistently between receiving, storage, picking, packing, and shipping areas. This can reduce unnecessary worker travel and manual handling, minimize bottlenecks, and help facilities process higher volumes of goods more efficiently.

Can automated conveyors integrate with a warehouse management system (WMS)?

Yes, automated conveyors can integrate with a warehouse management system (WMS) to help coordinate and track the movement of goods throughout a facility. A WMS can provide information that helps determine where products need to go, while sensors, scanners, and conveyor controls provide data about their location and movement.

How do you choose the right conveyor system for a warehouse?

Choosing the right conveyor system starts with understanding your products, processes, throughput requirements, facility layout, and existing technology. You should also consider factors like available space, labor needs, expected growth, maintenance requirements, and potential ROI to find a system that addresses your operation’s specific challenges.