DEVELOPMENT OF A SIMULATION MODEL FOR CONTROLLED SPACING INDUCTION FROM MULTIPLE CONVEYOR LINES

摘要

This paper deals with multiple lanes of conveyors feeding into one merge conveyor. The purpose of the merge conveyor is to control the spacing of a single line of items emerging from the merge section. Then, the items output from this section are inducted into a sortation system. Such an induction system from multiple lanes into one is widely used by manufacturing, warehouse and distribution, and service facilities that deal predominately with the handling of discrete loads, e.g., dedicated totes, cartons, containers, etc. Conveyor manufacturers, system integrators, and conveyor designers may benefit from the use of an analytical tool for evaluating system performance or for identifying important design parameters before such systems are constructed. This exercise is of great importance and may impact crucial design, specification, purchase decisions, or conveyor system operation after implementation. The objective of this paper is to identify the important design parameters for merge conveyor systems and to study their impact on throughput Another objective of this study is to document the development of a simulation module for modeling a merge conveyor for use as a tool in designing and analyzing material handling systems.