Hytrol Conveyors has published a free guide to estimating conveyor projects - its innovative “Stockyard Reference Guide.”

The book, which is a short 24-pages, helps you to get ballpark numbers for conveyor projects in a short amount of time. Of course, you can always call us to help you with that kind of thing (and we’ll be more accurate), but this might be faster for you. Not only do you get the cost per foot estimates, there is also some useful information on how to specify, why one conveyor might fit a situation better than others, and more.

The Reference Guide is designed for typical, ball park estimates - enough to help you get started.

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Walk into any order fulfillment operation, and you’re probably going to see gravity flow rack.

The reason is obvious–it’s one of the best ways to pick orders utilizing first-in, first-out principles. It used to be that there was one kind of the stuff, the plastic-wheel tracks, but these days the choices are more diverse than ever. For the most part, these flow rack types act the same; they decline toward the picker and boxes or totes or even larger components flow toward him. They’re restocked from the rear and picked from the front onto a takeaway conveyor line, a cart, workstation, or another step in the process.

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Last year, there was a big splash when Hytrol introduced its E24 powered roller conveyor system - and rightly so, it’s great stuff. (See the link above for video, datasheets, and more).

E24 is a brushless, gearless, low RPM, high torque motor that drives conveyor rollers reliably and efficiently. The external motor provides exceptional flexibility, superb heat dissipation, and a robustness that cannot be achieved with motors embedded in conveyor rollers. But what really makes E24 superior to the conventional motorized roller conveyor? Let’s explore…

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Above: Hytrol’s Bill Hawthorne presents Cisco-Eagle President Steve Strifler
with a plaque honoring our 2007 conveyor sales achievements 

Cisco-Eagle and Hytrol Conveyor Company recently celebrated our partnership at CEI’s Dallas, Texas facility. Hytrol CEO Greg Goodner, Bill Hawthorne, Matt Farris, and Frank Nichols came to Dallas to present a plaque honoring Cisco-Eagle’s placement as one of the company’s top conveyor distribution partners in 2007. Cisco-Eagle typically finishes among Hytrol’s top 3 distributor/integrators, and recently passed $100 million in total purchases from Hytrol.

Since the gathering was a day before Goodner’s birthday, we honored him with a cake and happy birthday serenade.

PHOTOS: Greg Goodner | The Presentation

If you’ve paid attention to the trade magazines, to this website, or to Hytrol recently, you’ve seen cryptic references to something called “E24″. This week, it’s no longer a secret.

I got to see this conveyor up close a couple of months ago when it was in development at the Hytrol Technology Center, and was sworn to secrecy–which is hard when your job is to tell people about things. Hytrol wanted to have it under wraps until this month and to debut it at their distributor convention. We had the privilege of giving PackExpo attendees a sneak peak at the Cisco-Eagle booth this year, and we were doubly excited after seeing how people reacted to Hytrol’s innovation.

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