Spring has sprung. Are your operations in full bloom? Now is the time to make sure your material handling equipment is up-to-date and ready for those long summer months ahead. Fine tune your conveyor to improve end of the line operations. Consider any maintenance programs or system repairs on existing equipment. Revisit any upgrades to keep you running smoothly well into those hot summer months. 

Your daily operations should run like a well-oiled machine—a seamless process over your material handling equipment with very few issues, and minimal, if any, downtime. To minimize any downtime and maximize the productivity, your facilities and warehouses must always be operating at maximum efficiency and accuracy. To do so, these tips and suggestions below may help to guide you.

Devote the time daily, weekly and when necessary to fine tune your conveyor. Conveyors are the backbone to your every day operations and order fulfillment. They require a routine cleaning of belts and those surrounding parts to best maintain the life of the conveyor. Consistently observing and listening to your conveyor equipment will help to detect wear and tear and reduce downtime. If you don’t already have a stash of spare parts, consider stocking up. Keeping critical spares will minimize the downtime when system components begin to fail.

Take an overall inventory of your equipment and review—are there any items, conveyor or otherwise, that would benefit from any routine maintenance programs or that require any routine system updates? Routine maintenance programs contribute to the life of your equipment, so it’s imperative that wherever possible, those programs be implemented. Additionally, as with any material handling systems or management software, updates are essential to the flow of processes. The more current the update, the more likely your material handling equipment won’t skip a beat. Investing in your equipment is vital to its longevity. 

Revisit your material handling wish list. Those old, existing conveyors, systems, mezzanines, or racking and shelving that you’ve been meaning to upgrade or update—go ahead. Take a closer look at your current material handling needs. Where do you want to be in terms of distribution and fulfillment? Discuss your options with a Systems Integrator to learn if the benefits of replacing existing equipment outweighs the benefits of implementing the latest upgrades to your existing system.  It’s time to put your facility front and center and make necessary improvements so that your operations are optimized and in line with your business growth plans.

Author: Heather Connors, Director of Marketing, Conveyor Handling Company