Dual Spiral Accumulation System

Harris was responsible for design and installation of a dual spiral accumulation system. The customer was hand palletizing cases of product creating a space issue and a bottle neck in the packaging area. The customer wanted to automate and minimize the foot print of this process to create valuable space to be used for growth. This customer had worked with Harris previously, purchasing our vertical sanitary conveyors. The customer chose to work with our company again because of our equipment quality and our designers’ responsiveness.

The system consists of two 15-foot tall spirals and 46 feet of accumulation plastic modular belting conveyor that is elevated between the two spirals. The first spiral takes cases that are coming out of the case packer at a rate of 10 cases per minute and elevates them to the flat belt conveyor where they accumulate. The accumulation conveyor transfers the cases to a pacing conveyor that creates consistent spacing between the cases for the palletizer. The pacing conveyor then transfers the cases to the second spiral that lowers the cases to the automated palletizing system.

With this system, the customer was able to reallocate four operators to other duties within the plant and gain 400 square feet of valuable space for other operations within the plant.