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Salvation Army Coat Drive by System in Motion Employees  Our Culture Committee asked the local Salvation Army what they needed the most this year.  The answer was children\’s winter coats.  An email was sent to all employees with the request for New Children\’s Winter Coats.  Three boxes were set out by the front entrance to collect the coats as they came in.  Thank you to all the employees who donated coats this year.  For more information on how you can help the Salvation Army, go to https://satruck.org/ to learn more.Again, Thank You to everyone who helped with the coat drive this year!!

Holiday Traffic have you feeling Aggressive? Link to Driving Safety Course With the Thanksgiving Holiday comes the Thanksgiving Traffic.  Perhaps some of us (or someone you know) could use this course from MHEDA?  More likely the person in the car behind you?  Thanks to MHEDA (Material Handling Equipment Distributor Association) for making this available.

With the busy season fore E-Commerce and Store Replenishment upon us, CSI-Aftermarket Service Team thought a few reminders for maintaining the equipment in our facility would be a good idea. Reducing Equipment Downtime Many teams within a facility have a positive impact on keeping the equipment operation as intended.  This is not just the maintenance crew making repairs fast.  Typically, the equipment will tell you there is a problem way before it fails.  (Like a toddler dancing just before they go to the bathroom, if you catch it, you don’t have to change their clothes…) The CSI Aftermarket Service Team put these together as a good baseline to start with. Don’t hammer in a screw.  Use the equipment as intended.  Double stacking product on a conveyor is a very typical situation we see in the busy season.  This may overload many parts of the drive train and cause early failure rates. Train for Success.  Procedures for human interaction with the equipment need to be recorded and operators trained on.  Stopping the conveyor by using the ESTOP is not the best practice.  Controls are designed to stop the sequence of operation in a safe manner for operators and equipment.  The ESTOP may lock down certain aspects which will cause wear that is not needed. Look, Listen, Feel.  The production team relies on the equipment to make their job easier.  Watching the equipment to see if something just doesn’t look right, listen for abnormal noises, feel for vibrations or excessive heat…  All these steps will help the maintenance staff determine if the equipment needs some attention.  A great practice we see in many facilities is a white board or clipboard that operators on all shifts can make notes on.  If an incident occurred, make notes, explain anything of abnormal operations.  The case that came down the line in the wrong direction caused a jam in the sortation area.  No apparent damage to the machine.  Still something that can be noted, and solutions found for these situations. Make time for Scheduled Maintenance.  Whatever you call it, Planned Maintenance, Scheduled Maintenance, Strategic Care, Predictive Maintenance, Preventative Maintenance, etc. these plans are designed to maintain and replace components before a failure.  MTBF- Mean Time Between Failure, is a common theme in maintenance departments for any type of equipment.  From a motor to a VPN router, equipment has a given life span.  Replacing it before it fails is key.  Like replacing the ink cartridge in your printer when low vs. after your half-printed document comes out and you have to scramble to find the cartridge, figure out how to open the machine, replace the cartridge, reprint the document and get to the meeting on time. Keep Paper in Stock.  Similar to the above paragraph, what would happen if the printer ran out of paper and there was no more paper on hand?  You could not print the information until more paper was delivered.  If a bearing fails and the machine is down, you turn a 20-minute repair into a 3-4 hour downtime.  Identify all critical spare parts.  This is based on several factors, including how long it will take to get a spare part on hand.  If a part takes more than 24 hours and is a critical part to the operation, you should have those on hand.  If a part can be delivered in less than 24 hours, but you need 2 or 3 a week, have 5-6 on hand and reorder when low. Document Maintenance Procedures.  There are many ways this can be done.  From a simple set of notes to fully automated and customized software platform.  Which ever are used, follow them.  Conveyors, Carousels, Sortation equipment, Air Compressors, Lift tables, even simple pack tables, should all have documents to follow for Daily, weekly, monthly, annual maintenance.   The links above will take you to simple best practices for some of your scheduled maintenance.

The type of inspection and maintenance performed on conveyors varies depending on the design of the machine. Performing routine planned maintenance on your equipment will lower the amount of downtime significantly. Best Conveyor Maintenance PracticesHere are our top 7 best practices for maintaining a range of conveyors: Belt Condition –(Belt over roller, belt under roller, orings between rollers) Check for dry rot, damage to belt or lacing, and proper position. – Loose belts can slip when heavier product is flowing through. This can cause changes to timing and spacing.   *Tip from our Service Manager: Loosen the belt enough to be able to fold it over with your hands to get a better view of possible dry rot, damaged areas, etc.  Some wear is hidden on the underside of a belt. Chains – Lubricate chains, check tension, and check for excessive wear or rust. Sprockets – Check set screws and excessive wear on teeth or rust. Bearings – Check for excessive wear, or loose conditions.  Non-Sealed bearings need to stay properly greased. Pulleys – Check for proper alignment, excessive wear of shafts and integrity of lagging. Excessive wear of lagging can cause a belt to travel to one side and become damaged.  *Tip from our Service Manager: With the conveyor locked out – run your hand across the belt where the lagged pulley is and check for lumps, bumps or divots. Photo eyes – Clean photo eyes, properly align and check condition.  A misaligned photo eye will create a dead spot and stop the flow of cartons in this area.  A damaged or missing reflector will cause a photo eye to malfunction. Reducers – Unsealed reducers need their oil changed yearly, and the oil level checked regularly. The correct amount of clean oil will prevent the reducer from overheating and failing.  Examine seals for dirt or oil marks, this may be caused by situational overheating and should be noted for future replacement. System in Motion offers maintenance packages include our 20-point planned maintenance plan. (Click here for more information)  (Contact us today)

Carousels come in a variety of different models and sizes. To maximize efficiency for any carousel, proper and routine maintenance is key.   Best Carousel Maintenance PracticesHere are our top 9 best practices for maintaining a carousel: Proper Track Sizing – The length of the track needs to match the length of the chain of bins, or you may be at risk for a derailment.  *Tip from our Service Manager – To verify track sizing, run the carousel manually so that one castor is dead center of the nose end. Lock out the carouseland lay on the floor shining a bright light towards the leading side of the castor to verify the center of the castor is properly aligned with the center of the track. Chains – Lubricate chains check tension, and check for excessive wear or rust RPM readings – Ensure that RPM’s for motors match – Different RPM rating will create a push pull effect causing a mechanical failure. DC Motor Brushes– Severely worn brushes won’t make proper contact with the motor, causing the motor to operate erratically causing mechanical failure. Carousel Tracks – Grease carousel tracks.  An unlubricated track can cause damage to the motor and wear out tracks. Tracks need to stay properly greased. V-Belt Integrity – V-belts should run smoothly with proper tension and no cracks or dry rot. Loose belts can cause inconsistent RPM readings. Reducers – Unsealed reducers need their oil changed yearly, and the oil level checked regularly. The correct amount of clean oil will prevent the reducer from overheating and failing. Setscrews – Check for loose setscrews on bearings and sprockets to prevent these items from moving out of place. Link Assemblies – Check for bent or damaged links. Damaged or broken links creates the risk of a carousel derailing.  Tip from our Service Manager: Using a very bright light check where the links attach to verify that they are in good working order. System in Motion offers maintenance packages include our 20-point planned maintenance plan. (Click here for more information)  (Contact us today)

An In-Depth look at our Ergonomic Pack/QC/ShipStation for Outbound Logistics “The Gravity Skatewheel, Electric Pop Up Transfer”   This article is specifically focusing on the ergonomic operations of this “Pack/ Shipstation” location.  There will be three focused areas to review: Process Efficiencies, Ergonomic Impacts and Financial Impacts.  Click here for a downloadable copy of this report with detail drawings and photos. Pack /Shipstations:  When shipping product, many companies need to have a final process step to get the product out the door.  This step can include Quality control functions, Re-packing, void fill, packing slip / literature insertion, sealing the box, applying one or more outbound logistics labels, closing out that order (job ticket) in the system to name a few.  Process Review:  In many of the applications, product is brought from the warehouse to a central area.  Pack Shipstation, Ship Manifest, Order Closeout are all typical names for this area.  A very basic process for this could be the same operator who picks the product to the order could complete the entire process resulting in a shippable package.  More complex processes separate the processes into specialized operations.  This can be done with the same operators via accumulation (stacking the orders, dropping off a cart, etc.), then flexing the staff to process all the accumulated orders in a type of slug mode. Even more complex operations use automated systems for the completely picked order to be brought to the packing/QC/Manifest areas.  With these individual stations can be identified by work to be performed.  For example, workstation operations could be sorted by QC requirements, outbound shipping destination, size, weight, customer, etc. Based on the customer’s throughput needs and specialized outbound logistics requirements, a Semi-Automated process was selected.  With the use of automation, a high-level view would require the automated system to bring product into a pack station and then move the completed shipping cartons back out of the pack area. There are three common ways of doing this.  Although there are multiple variations to these processes.  These are typical for local pack station / automated system interaction. Multiple elevations: This option would have a two-tier accumulation system that brings inbound product from the picking area in on one level, the outbound logistics to the shipping/pallet build/direct to container area on the other level. One issue with this concept is that it is not ergonomically friendly as product must be lifted or lowered to a second level tier.  A solution would be 90-degree transfers to decline accumulation with discharge on the back side of a pack station.  Although this reduces the ergonomic impact, the costs are significantly higher. Pros: Egress and ADA compliance easily satisfied. Smaller footprint required in the customer’s location Depending on application can be cost competitive. Cons: In some applications product coming into ship area is above operator’s view. Weight of product can be an issue Reach/extend requirements may limit which operators can work these positions Not easily ADA compliant due to reach/extend. Depending on the application can be cost restrictive. Pass across the pack station: Another way to do this is a with inbound accumulation (typically powered conveyor) on side of the operator, outbound transportation (powered conveyor) on one side of the operator and a pack station between. The issue with this layout is that you have the operator “land locked” in the middle and need a gap to allow access.  Egress is required for operator safety.  No one wants operators climbing over or under conveyor.  Some locations require ADA access to all work locations.  The egress can be handled in a few different ways.  1. The operators can carry product over the gap or across a gate.  (typically, not powered) 2. A gate can be placed in the takeaway section. (Typically powered) 3. Ladder style crossovers can be utilized. (Does not comply with ADA access) One other significant issue with this application is the restocking of materials to the pack stations.  Boxes, tape, dunnage will need to be physically manipulated to restock the pack stations.  Due to the land locked nature of the layout, it may not be as convenient to maintain the cleanliness of the area. Pros: Weight of product may not be an issue. Damage to product is minimized. Depending on application can be cost competitive. Cons: Egress and ADA compliance cannot be easily satisfied. Larger footprint required in the customer’s location. Weight of product can be an issue if operators are to carry product across gap. Issues with Egress remain. Restocking the pack stations can be cumbersome. In-Line Pack Stations: Another way to do this is a with inbound accumulation (typically carts, gravity, or powered conveyor) directly into the end of the pack station.  The operators will manipulate the product onto the workstation, perform all the functions, then pass onto a downstream outbound destination.  This can be direct to the pallet, onto another conveyor for sortation or to a conveyor system for downstream pallet build. This application can be very effective in smaller volume applications or applications with almost no variation in outbound shipping method.   If the goal of the project is to reduce walk space and reduce operator dwell time, this may become a rather expensive option due to sortation requirements, routing to specific workstations, etc. If the operation is a very high volume with multiple outbound destinations this may be the best alternative.  This also comes with a significant price tag but can be cost effective. Pros: Weight of product is not an issue. Damage to product is minimized unless using a Cart/pallet to stage product for ship processing. Depending on application can be cost competitive. ADA and Egress are typically not an issue. Cons: Larger footprint required in the customer’s location if more than 2 pack stations are required. Sortation and accumulation equipment and controls can significantly impact the cost effectiveness. Throughput restrictions, accumulation required, takt time of shipstation process all need to be reviewed to determine if this is a viable option. For a recent project System in Motion came

System in Motion has moved into the new Technology Center / Headquarters building today! Today is Moving Day at CSI! – October 18, 2019 System in Motion Inc has officially moved into its new headquarters located at 1450 N. McLean Blvd in Elgin, Illinois. Our new facility has 35,000 square feet of office and warehouse space. This location offers a wide range of opportunities to better serve our employees, customers and vendors. New areas will include a Dedicated Training Center, Dedicated Customer Area, New Technology Showcase, In-Stock conveyor and spare parts, additional offices and work space for Accounting, Engineering, Project Management, Service and Maintenance to name a few. We appreciate your understanding while we reconfigure our phone lines, set up the network, regain email access, and try to figure out where the bathrooms are. If you are having trouble reaching us today, please be patient as we get used to our new home.

Hytrol has discontinued the supply of Generation 2 Controllers for the EZ Logic System. System in Motion has a program to upgrade to the newer Generation 3, Zero Pressure Controller System Hytrol has discontinued the manufacturing of Gen2 – EZLogic Photo eye modules. Any replacement units you have in your inventory are the last of the new units available. If your system is down or individual zones are not working, your options are limited. System in Motion can help! We have an upgrade program designed to systematically upgrade parts of your system while restocking your inventory of available parts. As we upgrade the zones, we will test and verify the older Gen2 units. Provided these units are functional, you can place the controllers back into your parts inventory. As you get low on the Gen2 controllers, we can upgrade other sections of your facility.Approximate Costs*: 50\’ section with 24\” Zones? – $8,825 (includes Material and Labor) *-Based on a basic stand alone system with easy access  to system.  Most applications will need to be reviewed for elevations, external control applications, special conveyor configurations, etc.Contact us today for more information! Download the Project Overview Here

KVK staff delivers school supplies to a local Elementary School Way too often teachers and school administration staff end up purchasing school supplies needed for their classrooms.  To offset these costs, System in Motion and KVK organized drives asking our employees to donate school supplies.Last week the Staff at KVK (a Systems in Motion – Controls and Automation division) delivered a large collection of School Supplies to a local Elementary School.  In addition, the CSI Culture Committee delivered additional supplies to the Schaumburg School Commissioner.  Congratulations to all the employees at KVK for having a 100% employee engagement in the event.Scott Lee, President Systems in Motion, said in a message to the entire company “making a difference in a child’s life can change the world.  Thanks to everyone who volunteered and contributed.”

System in Motion is now a Stocking distributor Extendable Power and Gravity Conveyor IN STOCK and ready to deliverFMH Conveyor company has selected System in Motion  as a Phoenix Program Partner. In addition to this, System in Motion will be stocking a wide range of gravity and powered conveyor in our Chicago Area Warehouse.  FMH has developed a list of items they will stock in a Quick Ship Program.  System in Motion has partnered with them to stock in our Chicago Warehouse additional models not currently available from the FMH facility in Jonesboro, Arkansas.    Click here for more