If you have an accumulation table on your shopping list, you need an accumulation solution to meet your production goals, fit your line design, and support your safety requirements.
This may require extra consideration, but the result is worth it.
The right accumulation tables can provide buffers to your line where needed, improve product flow, and reduce breakages and other inefficiencies.
As a special gift to our customers, we prepared a short guide to help you determine the best accumulation system for your needs.
When Should You Add Accumulation to Your Line?
In our experience, accumulation can be an incredibly effective way to minimize downtime when disruptions occur. If a machine frequently goes down or requires extensive maintenance, you can ensure other parts of the line stay running, especially the constraint.
Eliminating downtime through accumulation can help you increase throughput by up to 30%!
But we urge you to have your entire line assessed before you purchase an accumulation table. There could always be other issues that may require immediate attention before you add accumulation. For example, if your labeler or case packer constantly breaks down, you may need to replace that first.
Our initial line analysis will identify if your line would benefit from accumulation and whether that should be your priority to increase throughput.
Common objectives that support adding accumulation to your line
- You need buffers to store products while upstream or downstream equipment catches up
- You need to increase your line speed to meet customer demand and increase revenue
- You need to reduce waste and prevent costly breakages and spills
What Criteria Will Determine Which Accumulation Table Is Right for You?
If you’re considering high-speed automation to serve your production goals, we will want to learn more about the technical requirements for your line and the products being handled. We will also want to inquire about your goals and budget. This will help our Sales Engineers identify the correct accumulation system to meet your needs.
Production Requirements: To get started, you must provide details about how fast your existing equipment processes products, how much volume, the estimated downtime for each machine, what kind of products your line typically handles, and their dimensions. We usually get this information during our line analysis, but your team can also provide these technical production requirements in advance to help us assess your current and future needs.
Equipment Footprint and Layout: How much space you have available and your line’s layout will help us determine the appropriate size of the accumulation table and its configuration. For example, if you have limited space, you may need a spiral accumulation table that conveys vertically to achieve functionality with a much smaller footprint. We aim to integrate your accumulation system into your existing space without creating safety issues or affecting performance. To accomplish this, we will seek equipment specs and other technical details to learn as much as possible about your line.
Materials and Safety: As we learn more about your current and future production requirements, we will also ask questions about the packaging materials used (glass, aluminum, plastic, etc.) to prevent breakages and product contamination. Our standard Infinity™ accumulation tables feature patented pressureless technology to handle products with no backpressure and can accumulate and single file even the most unstable products. But if we need to add or modify components to adjust your system to match your material requirements, we can handle it as we learn about them.
Maintenance and Hygiene: Depending on your products and personnel, you may require a system with more or less maintenance and cleaning options. Our standard accumulation systems are designed to prevent foreign materials from collecting into the system and provide easy access to all internal and external surfaces for cleaning. We also offer routine maintenance through our GAMA program to ensure your Garvey equipment always runs at peak performance.
Budget and Scope: By giving us insight into your budget and production goals, we can recommend an accumulation system that directly addresses your needs. One of our design goals was to add modularity to our products whenever possible to increase flexibility and affordability. We may even be able to add functionality to a used or existing accumulation system. Whatever your budget or requirements, we can work with you to find the right strategy to meet your needs.
How to Get Started Buying the Right Accumulation Table for Your Facility
Many variables and requirements may impact which accumulation system is right for you. Of course, our Sales Engineers can help you make the right decision by assessing your needs and identifying solutions that address your challenges and support your objectives.
You can schedule a line analysis where we will visit your facility free of charge, calculate your total line efficiency, and discuss your goals and challenges. From there, we will identify and recommend accumulation systems that will help you increase your throughput and achieve your goals.
We can also test your products on our equipment in our state-of-the-art testing facility and offer recommendations through provided imagery of your line and equipment and their specs. Contact us today if you want to add accumulation to your line to optimize line flow and increase throughput.