PepsiCo partnered with Intralox to find a conveyance solution that would increase throughput capacity and reduce product jams. First, Intralox helped redesign the packing hall of the plant. Second, using modular plastic belting and its patented Activated Roller Belt™ technology for merging, switching, and sorting applications, Intralox comprehensively upgraded the plant’s packing operations. This upgrade will help the plant meet packing capacity needs for the next five years.
Since the upgrade, the facility has comfortably achieved the goal of increasing case capacity from an average of 52 to 65 cases/min, with a peak throughput rate of 82 cases/min. This has provided a substantial 20% buffer to accommodate line recovery due to stoppages. The plant now benefits from fewer jammed cases per shift and has experienced an 18% improvement in packing efficiency. As a result, labor costs have been significantly reduced. Finally, the upgrade has provided increased worker safety and reduced Occupational Health and Safety Costs.
David Randell, PepsiCo’s Technical Manager, says: “We installed Intralox belting as part of a complete rethink of our packing hall conveying operations. Not only has our conveyor handling capacity increased, but it is now more flexible. Unique and simple solutions such as the Perpetual Merge allowed us to create a continuously flowing system with few stops and starts, achieving high throughput with fewer jams and no bottlenecks. Belts are easy to keep clean and the issue of tape wrapping around rollers has been eliminated. While it is still in the early stages, it is proving to be a reliable system and is likely to become the benchmark for future PepsiCo case conveying installations.”
