The automotive industry is one of the worlds major forces in economic terms, will over 60 million cars and trucks produced every year, with an employment rate of around 12 million people. The industry first started in Germany and France, some 100 years ago, followed soon after by the United States of America, and the United Kingdom.
The automotive industry is a huge user of the slat conveyors, a conveyor that woks in horizontal conditions, usually at low speeds to move items that are not typical shapes and usually cannot be moved on rollers or belts, perfect for irregular shapes like vehicle parts, ensuring a smooth production flow.
The industry will use slat conveyors in various production areas, including body construction (grinding), final assembly, finish and filling, leak testing as well as preservation. They may use different slat conveyors for different areas of production. Here, we demonstrate some examples of popular standard, heavy-duty and apron conveyors.
What is a slat conveyor
In a nutshell, a slat conveyor is a technology that uses a chain driven loop, made up of slats, instead of belts, used to move products from one work station to another. The slat conveyor provides a flat, rigid surface. The slats are generally manufactured out of metal (or engineering plastics), which makes them ideal for high weight, high temperature or hazardous work places. The biggest advantage of a slat conveyor is that they can be manufactured to bespoke applications to suit any industry and components.
Standard Slat Conveyors
Standard slat conveyors range in size and rating, and because of their smaller profile, they can run at faster speeds and are the most energy efficient of the slat conveyors. They can come with side frames, that are adjustable and removeable, so creates ease of loading and unloading, but there to stop objects falling in movement.
These are usually used to transport small and medium sized objects and are faultless for allowing worker interaction with smaller products that are being assembled.
Heavy Duty Salt Conveyors
While commonly more expensive to purchase and power than its standard partner, they offer low maintenance and are very reliable. Perfect for the automotive industry as they provide the ability to move heavy, irregular objects and materials simply and are robust enough to labor under stress and can carry heavy weights in excess of many thousands of pounds. As the name implies, they are generally weighty and mostly fixed in position within the workspace, and generally work at lower speeds that the standard slat conveyor.
Apron Conveyors
These are specialist equipment, that execute interlinked slats with raised rims to create a closed travelling trench, so that both solids and aggregates (or semi-liquids) can be transported. Especially useful in tunnel construction, chemical or recycling trades.
Here at Asmech, we work with automotive and a wide range of sectors to supply high quality manufacturing of slat conveyors, available in Straight Running, Side Flexing & Side Gripping (plus others for specialist applications) with high efficiency options also available, with a vast experience in the design, manufacture and installation of slat conveyors and as such can offer everything from a one off conveyor to a complete turn-key conveying solution.
Visit our slat conveyor page to read more, https://www.asmechsystems.co.uk/products/conveyors/slat-conveyor or contact us to discuss your requirements, whether they be standard conveyors or something more bespoke, we can help you make your production, safer, quicker and more reliable.
