Conveying Totes

Guidelines for moving totes & containers on your conveyor

tote conveyor

The perfect conveyor container?

Many professionals believe totes are the "perfect" container for conveying products. That's becauise there are many benefits when conveying totes. They are consistent dimensions and weight, meaning the conveyor is easier to correctly specify. They're ergonomic, clean, and reduce the maintenance issues associated with corrugated dust. Many totes have the ability to configure for RFID as well as areas for bar code labels and security ties for safe shipping.

conveying totesEven with all these benefits, there are a number of factors to consider when designing a conveyor system that will be moving totes, especially if they will be moving on an incline.

One important feature when selecting totes is the design of the totes themselves.

Make sure they have a continuous edge or "bumper" around the top. The larger the bumper, the less likely they are to "shingle" when accumulating.

The main component for success on conveyor is flatness of the bottom. Some of the molding processes and cheaper totes do not have flat bottoms. It’s obvious that the more surface area to come in contact with the conveyor, the more conveyable the tote. The flatness tolerance should always be considered when specifying a system that will, be moving totes.

Another way to improve conveying totes on inclines is to use totes with a textured bottom. This is molded in and creates a rough surface that the belt can "grip." In any case, if there are questions concerning the conveyability of the tote, remember that we offer live testing of end user products, including totes.