Modular Conveyor System

The latest conveyor system technology from Schüco Design Industrial Automation is helping leading German biscuit manufacturer, Conrad Schulte & Co, to make considerable improvements to the productivity of its factory processes. The modular CS SL (Stretch Line) conveyor system, available in the UK through Schüco's exclusive partner, Autarky Automation, can be installed quickly and simply for safe and efficient bespoke production lines.

Conrad Schulte, based in Rietberg, was founded in 1884 and is today among the leading pastry suppliers in Germany. With around 250 employees producing food products for customers around the world, efficient internal systems that maximise productivity and allow downtime to be kept to a minimum are essential to the company's success.

For this reason, Conrad Schulte chose to install Schüco's CS 090 SL conveyor system throughout its plant. As soon as the cakes and pastries are baked, they need to be cooled down to room temperature in the cooling tunnel. They are then transported by the CS 090 SL conveyor line to the packaging area, where production assistants put the baked pastries manually into the respective packages. The conveyor ends with the single blister packages being hermetically sealed, ready for dispatch.

The 90mm wide conveyor line used at Schulte's is designed for optimum line management, able to accommodate product widths of 20-200mm. All components used in the installation belong to Schüco Design's CS SL system. The innovative design of the Stretch Line system compensates for the stretch in the chain caused during operation; as a result, the chain does not have to be shortened and machine downtime can be minimised.

This stretch effect also leads to reduced friction and excellent gliding features, providing extremely quiet operation and speeds of up to 80 metres per minute. A minimal curve radius allows narrow curves with only small gaps to be achieved, improving operator safety and minimising the risk of line downtime.

With both horizontal and vertical line sections, almost any point in a three-dimensional room can be reached by the chain conveyor system. The wide range of standardised components and aluminium system modules enables bespoke installations to be created extremely quickly and easily, helping companies like Conrad Schulte to make significant improvements to productivity with minimum disruption and cost.