Know These Food Machine Production Line Considerations

Adding an automated food machine production line or production line to your production process may seem like a great way to move your production to the next level but there are a number of factors for you to consider. (At this point it is always a good idea to have a chat with the experts and Advance offer a free consultation service so get in touch).

Initial cost. An automated assembly line can be a big investment, particularly for companies looking to make their steps into automation. Obviously the cost and ROI need to be carefully considered with any capital investment. By chatting to a manufacturer of conveyors and assembly lines you will be able to look at options, for example is there an option to start small and expand on the system as the business grows?

Available space. A lot of assembly lines run in a straight line so you are going to want to look at what space you have available. Factors that you need to consider when looking at space are the size of your product, the number of operations the product needs to go through and whether you need access to or around the system for maintenance, forklifts etc.

Return system. With a lot of assembly systems and automated production lines the product itself travels down the assembly sitting on a pallet, jig or tote. Once completed the finished product is removed from the line but what happens to the empty pallets? You could simply remove them and take them back to the start manually but that adds an element of manual labour back in to your process. A popular way of returning pallets is to either transfer them onto a return line running parallel to the assembly line or return them underneath via lifts at either end.

How automated do you want to be? With higher levels of automation come higher initial financial outlays however, depending on a number of factors, the pay back period could be much better. Assembly lines can just be a way of adding some conveyor systems to your process to make manufacturing your product quicker and more efficient, whilst at the same time making it more ergonomically comfortable for your employees. They can also be a way, through the addition of automation and robotics to reduce your labour overheads and automate the manufacture of your product.

Is it designed for you? When buying a common item like a pallet truck for example it is usually safe to go for an "off the shelf" product, as long as it will fit your pallets and has the lift capacity you are fine. Buying an assembly line that has not been designed to suit your product, your factory layout, your manufacture process and your end goals however is a recipe for disaster.