The warehouse currently despatches some 100,000 sets of brake discs and pads to Vauxhall dealers and distributors throughout the UK, and this number is expected to double when dealers on the Continent are also supplied. The work was previously contracted out at a cost of about £250,000 a year.

Rather than continue to use external subcontractors to assemble the brake kits from bulk supplies, particularly with the increased volumes and costs projected, Vauxhall appointed European Conveyor Systems (ECS) to design and install an in-house system. Vauxhall specified a high degree of automation in order to minimise the personnel required and the amount of manual lifting for health and safety reasons.

The completed ECS installation is typically operated by two staff, who now only have to lift empty cartons and individual packs of disc pads. Cartons are erected, labelled and strapped automatically and are carried by the conveyor from start to finish in a horse-shoe-shaped layout that occupies about 150m² inside the warehouse and gives good access for incoming deliveries by fork lift trucks.

The packing process starts with the forming of each carton from flat blanks by an automatic carton erector. Once assembled, the carton drops on to the conveyor below with a photo-cell ensuring this only takes place if the belt is clear. The empty case is carried by the conveyor to the packing position where an operator takes the required quantity and type of disc pads from a bulk consignment in a stillage beside them. The operator then pushes the carton back on to the live conveyor and pulls another empty case into the packing position. The conveyor design allows following cases to accumulate behind the first one without touching.

Each bulk consignment stillage is loaded by fork lift truck on to one of two scissor lifts, mounted either side of the packing station. These are controlled by the packer to bring the stillage to the optimum ergonomic height for unloading. The height can be changed as the parts are unloaded for packing.

Once a brake kit is complete, the carton is delivered by the conveyor to an automatic labelling machine where the appropriate bar-coded label is applied to the side.  From here the carton travels to an automatic strapping machine where two straps are applied. Once strapped, the conveyor delivers the cartons to the despatch point where an operator uses a vacuum lifter to pack one carton at a time into metal stillages for onward transportation.

The ECS conveyor has extruded aluminium side frames and steel supports. An integral rail in the side frame allows photo-electric and other signalling devices to be fitted at any position without drilling, which has provided flexible installation and allows for easy modification in future. Blue infill strips enclose the side profile and keep dirt out, as well as providing a smooth, snag-free surface.

Use of zero-pressure accumulation conveyors powered by motorised rollers has allowed a considerable amount of flexibility in the design of the system, as well as accurate controllability. Speed can be adjusted between 0.1 and 0.5m/sec via an industry-standard programmable control unit.  Low-power, low-noise motors and rollers ensure the system runs energy-efficiently and quietly, with all sound levels being below 70dB(A).

The entire project cost approximately £250,000, which was similar to the annual contract with Vauxhall’s 3PL provider.