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by James F. Manji, Contributing Editor Posted on Friday, November 03, 2006 3:10:08 PM   | Abstract: | R.A. Jones & Co. Inc. used the modular conveyors of Conveyor Technologies Ltd. because the conveyor-maker offered what it was looking for in terms of construction, functionality, and especially, reliability. |
When R.A. Jones & Co. Inc. (Cincinnati, OH) decided to seek out a conveyor manufacturer to use in its custom packaging systems, it decided on the modular conveyors of Conveyor Technologies Ltd. (Loveland, OH). Jones found that the conveyor-maker offered what it was looking for in terms of construction, functionality, and especially, reliability. Jones is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of packaging machinery to satisfy the needs of producers of high-volume consumable goods. Its packaging machinery satisfies manufacturers' needs for wrapping, cartoning, display and case packing, and palletizing. The conveyors are integrated with its packaging machines. Continuous 24-hour-a-day, 365-days-a-year system reliability is a requirement for these conveyors. "Our packaging machinery goes to all kinds of leading consumer products companies," explains Rob Kalany, engineering manager of product development for Jones. "We make what is called secondary packaging machinery and systems. We build the packaging systems that put the product in the container that the consumer receives the product in." Jones's niche is very high-speed efficient packaging. The kinds of companies that use Jones's packaging systems cannot afford machinery downtime. "You can't turn off the processes upstream of our packaging systems," Kalany continues. "You can't stop a pasteurizer or turn off an oven because the packaging system is down without negatively affecting efficiency. Everything must move smoothly and continuously." As a result, Jones does not use disposable conveyors. According to Kalany, disposables should not be used in the flow of critical continuous processes. While some companies in the industry use conveyors with needle bearings, Jones prefers the kind of sealed and lubricated-for-life, self-aligning bearings that Conveyor installs in its equipment. "These conveyors with higher belt tension and proportionally lower torque requirements expand the capabilities in reversing, accumulating, and incline applications," says Charles Mitchell, president of Conveyor. "They are also modular in terms of the interchangeability of parts in all our models. The elimination of system downtime is considered critical by customers of Conveyor Technologies. To that end, these conveyors (including their drives) are free from the need for relubrication and its associated contamination of belt and product." |