L.A.C. Increase Carriers Efficiency with Mobile Line Shaft Conveyor

Multiple parcel carriers use mobile line shaft conveyors within the depot network including DPD, Hermes, Yodel, Parcelforce, and DHL. Therefore, it was no surprise that the client needed one to handle the increased number of parcels coming through their depot.

When L.A.C. Conveyors & Automation first spoke with the client, they made it clear they needed a conveyor solution to aid in handling the number of parcels coming through their warehouses.

Having successfully designed, built, and installed several conveyors for several renowned international delivery service, the client could be rest-assured they were in capable hands.

Due to the flexibility of a mobile conveyor system, the roller conveyor systems can be used in various layouts to match the needs of the volume of parcels coming through the client’s site.

The build and set up a time for a mobile line shaft conveyor is quick and can be ready to operate within several hours. They can be integrated within existing systems and equipment such as x-ray scanners, barcode readers, data capture cameras, and box strapping machines just to name a few.

Due to the short setup times, it’s no surprise that multiple carriers have been using mobile line shaft conveyors within the depot network.

A mobile line shaft comes at a standard size of 912mm wide and 850mm height; however, other conveyor widths can be designed to match what the mobile line shaft system will be used for.

The package sizes for a mobile line shaft conveyor system can be any length on a straight, on a curve the max size is 1200w x 800h with a minimum parcel size of 150w x 150h with a suggested maximum parcel weight of 50kg/m, however, this can always be adjusted for bespoke projects to ensure the conveyor system meets the customer requirements.

The mobile conveyor systems consist of short (up to six metres) sections, or modules, which fasten together to form a complete material handling system.

Whilst each module has its own drive unit, the power and emergency circuits are fully linked, offering the benefits of a fixed conveyor system with the added advantages of being a mobile conveyor system.

One control panel can drive up to 10 motors so the conveyor system could go up 60m long through a combination of straights, curves, and mergers of one control panel.

This mobile conveyor solution offers the availability to add or remove modules as required and can match the change required in their depot centres.

Mobile line shaft conveyor systems can be modularised as workstations and this makes it a great fit for a depot and parcel delivery service provider. As depending on what the required need is or what department it would be working in it can be moved to match the layout required.

For example, if required within an e-commerce business, or delivery hub, the conveyor system could be used as part of an infeed system in the morning to bring the product into the building and then reconfigured later in the day for the packaging and the sending out process.

Due to the client needing a bespoke mobile line shaft conveyor solution, L.A.C. drew up a new design of the mobile line shaft conveyors that needed to be implemented and used by the client.

All the mobile conveyor units needed to be fully reversible, usable for heavy-duty items, available in different colours to match with the colour sectioning of the warehouse, and modular so they could be switched in and out of the conveyor system quickly.

The client needed a mobile roller conveyor solution due to the different floor plans the parcel delivery warehouse had to workaround.

Therefore, the roller conveyors needed to be fully mobile and reconfigurable, individually driven for each section, have a control station to ensure full control over the system and each section, and toggle clamps to connect the different modular units to various parts of the system.

By providing the mobile roller conveyors the client was able to process up to 3,000 items per hour which helped reduce time and cost and ultimately resulting in an efficient system. Due to be the plug and play technology offered with the mobile conveyor systems, there were minimal installation costs for the client, and they could be installed in a time-effective manner.

A benefit of a mobile line shaft conveyor system is the fact it requires little technological know-how, therefore easy to maintain, set up, and maintenance engineers to do any required work on one.

This mobile line shift conveyor system allowed the mail delivery client to unload, sort, and load a wide variety of loose mail in a more efficient and cost-effective manner, helping our client meet their customer’s service level agreements and keeping their relationships healthy by not missing their lead times.

About L.A.C. Conveyors & Automation

Who we are: Founded in 1992, L.A.C. Conveyors & Automation are a leading UK supplier who’ve been successfully supplying conveyor systems, belt conveyors, roller conveyors, automation, and robotic solutions to the UK’s blue-chip industry. Located in Bulwell, Nottingham, L.A.C. are known for their outstanding customer service, continual support, flexibility, and bespoke service. With a full in-house service team, and an engineering team who’ve worked together over 20 years, L.A.C. covers all aspects of control system design, build and associated software, and ongoing support.

What we do: L.A.C. has a wealth of experience supplying conveyor systems and robotic solutions to a range of industries including automotive, aerospace, food and beverage, heavy engineering, and logistics. L.A.C. design, assemble, incorporate testing, and deliver with training and after-sales support for a smooth handover. With an in-house mechanical design team, project managers, and engineers, all the builds are undertaken on the five-unit 60,000 sq. ft premises.