How to Handle and Solve Common Conveyor System Jams and Bottlenecks

Why does the conveyor decide how well the line runs?

The conveyor is the only part of the line that touches every bottle. Guide rail gaps, transfer plate height and accumulation pressure decide whether bottles jam, scuff or fall. Most unexplained short stops on a mature line trace back to a transfer that was set for one bottle format and never re-set.

What breaks at the depalletizer?

Empty bottle layers are light and unstable, so the depalletizer is where a badly stacked pallet becomes a line stop. Layer pickup, sweep speed and the interface with the air conveyor are the three settings to check, and the pallet quality from the bottle supplier matters as much as the machine.

The specification sheet for the Conveying carries the figures quoted here.

What does a palletizer need from the building?

Floor loading for a full pallet stack, clear height for the mast or robot envelope, and a pallet dispenser within reach of the operator. These are building decisions taken before the machine is ordered, and changing them later costs more than the palletizer.

Throughput and change-part lists are on the Depalletizing & Palletizing page rather than in this note.

What causes bottles to fall at transfers?

A guide rail gap set for a different diameter, a transfer plate at the wrong height, or too much back pressure behind the jam. All three are mechanical settings and all three drift when a second format is introduced.

The same question is worked through from another angle in How Palletizers Improve Bottling Line Workflow.

Frequently asked questions