System Upgrade Leads to Higher Reliability

Conveyors, computers, and Columbia palletizers combine to improve shipment reliability at International Paper distribution center.

Reliability is a critical factor at International Paper's beverage packaging operation in Turlock, California. Every day, the facility must accurately ship thousands of cartons to customers across the western states as well as to overseas destinations. These cartons contain the packaging products used for milk, juices, and other liquid necessities of daily life.

Downtime can be disastrous to an operation like this. Multiple order changeovers need to be made almost literally on the fly. When a carton run is completed for one customer, another order is immediately introduced into the system.

The process of getting the right carton to the right palletizer for shipment preparation has to be fast, accurate, and efficient. But, with the old materials handling system in place prior to November 1998, that was not always the case. One of the palletizers, an old-style gantry type, had trouble keeping pace with order demand. The existing merge line sometimes experienced back-up problems. And there were multiple "jam" points that required stopping the line, manually correcting the problem, and then ramping up again.

"We were just not achieving the kinds of reliability levels needed to meet our shipping goals," sums up Ron Young, maintenance team leader at the 150,000 square-foot facility.

The solution was to modernize and upgrade the entire order-flow process. Working closely with systems integrator and Hytrol distributor FloStor Engineering of Hayward, CA, International Paper created a highly dependable order-flow process that incorporates advanced computer controls, dependable conveyor units, and automatic palletizers. FloStor provided a turnkey service-integrating the computer software, hardware, electrical, palletizers, and conveyors.

Streamlined Product Flow

Product now moves through the Turlock facility smoothly and efficiently. The order-flow process starts in the carton sealing department, located in a walled-off area adjacent to the distribution center. Here the cartons are sealed and imprinted with a four-digit bar code that identifies the destination palletizer.

Seven sealer lines lead from this area to the distribution center. A roller belt incline conveyor moves the cartons up to a horizontal belt conveyor, which then inducts them into a recirculating sortation conveyor in the D.C. The recirculation loop is required to separate orders during changeovers. With the new computer controls and conveyor system, these changeovers now happen quickly with no interruption to product flows.

Seamlessly integrated into the sortation loop are several different conveyor types-roller bed, powered belt curve, and live roller. The live roller segment that leads to the power pivot diverters (PPDs) has the EZ Logic feature. This unique capability from Hytrol automatically senses product presence and effectively controls the accumulation and release of product from zone to zone.

Directed by the computer controls, the PPDs feed the four lanes leading to the palletizers and the one lane reserved for "no reads," hand stacking of pallets, and other special operations.

When the pallets are built, the palletizer releases them to an automated transfer cart station. The transfer cart then moves them onto a chain-driven roller (Hytrol's CRR model). This heavy-duty chain-driven conveyor brings the pallet to a stretch wrap machine. A bypass switch at the infeed of the stretch wrapper allows operators to stop the pallet and install corner parts (when required), label the loads and perform QC functions, and so on. The chain conveyor then moves the pallet onto a gravity conveyor where they await transport by forklift to the shipping area.

Reliability and More

Management at Turlock reports that the new system has lived up to expectations. "With our order changeovers happening so fast," says Maintenance Team Leader Young, "we needed a system that would give us a consistently high level of shipment accuracy. We now have that. Customer complaints about mis-shipments have dropped dramatically since the system was installed."

But the benefits have not stopped there. Less conveyor downtime has resulted in less carton sealer downtime, which has lowered the cost per carton shipped. Also, there's less maintenance required on the new conveyor and palletizer equipment-another contributing factor to lower operating costs.

In short, the new system at International Paper's Turlock operation is not only reliable, but also cost-efficient.

International Paper's Distribution Center at the Turlock plant

An incline conveyor takes the cartons from the sealer area to a horizontal belt conveyor and into the distribution center. The cartons move onto a sortation conveyor, which also serves as a recirculation loop during order changeovers. Powered pivot diverters send the cartons either to one of the four palletizer lanes or to the lane reserved for manual pallet stacking. The palletizers release completed orders to a transfer cart station, which then moves them onto a chain-driven roller. After shrink wrapping, pallets are moved onto gravity conveyors where they await pickup by forklift truck and transport to the shipping area.
  

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