Why does the load stall between storage and the dock?
Because the route is broken in the middle.
Storage is fast and shipping is fast, but in between someone moves the load by hand, and that is where time is lost. Conveyors close that gap.
What it is
They are the paths along which the load moves by itself: rollers, chains or belts. In practice it is a network of straight sections, curves and tables that change direction, lifts that change level and stations where someone works the load.
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It moves pallets or cases, and can sort each item to its destination.
In practice
A storage system without transport is an island: it stores well, but the load still comes in and goes out by hand. Conveyors link the warehouse with work stations, docks and production, and that is why they set the pace of the whole system.
What is an internal materials handling system?
The families, sorted by what they do
It helps to look at them by function rather than by model. There are the ones that move pallets: heavy duty roller conveyors and chain conveyors, which take the pallet by its runners and carry it from the receiving bay to the storage system.
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There are the ones that move cartons and totes: light roller conveyors, belts and modular belts, working at operator height in the picking areas. There are the ones that change level: vertical lifts and lowerators, which raise the load to a mezzanine or drop it to the dock without anybody lifting it. There are the ones that change direction: transfer tables, curves and turntables, which make the load turn without leaving the line. There are the ones that sort: sorters, which read the label on each package and push it towards the destination it belongs to. And there are the ones that build the outgoing pallet: palletisers. Almost no project uses a single family on its own.
Why this is the most underestimated part
In project conversations, transport tends to come up last, as if it were plumbing. It is the other way round: it sets the pace of the whole.
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A very fast storage system with an undersized conveyor delivers exactly what the conveyor delivers, and not one package more. The slowest point on the line sets the step for everything else, so there is little value in accelerating the part that was already quick. And the stretch covered by hand today has a price: a warehouse operator costs the company USD 965 per month and USD 11,580 per year, social charges included, which amount to 34.6% of labour cost (collective agreement 40/89, logistics branch, June 2026; IARAF, February 2026). That is why transport is dimensioned together with storage and with the same arithmetic, on the measured activity peak and not on the monthly average.
What to define before quoting a run
Three definitions organise the project, and none of them belongs to the supplier: they are yours. The first is the route: where the load comes from, where it passes, where a person touches it and where it ends.
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Drawing it on the warehouse layout with real distances changes the budget more than any choice of model. The second is the accumulation points: where the load can wait without holding up what comes behind. A line with nowhere to accumulate passes every delay upstream, and a two-minute stop at despatch ends up stopping the output of the storage system. The third is what happens if a run stops: whether there is a bypass, whether the load can be taken off to one side, whether the operation can continue by hand meanwhile. That third question separates a line that recovers from one that shuts the whole warehouse down.
A conveyor is civil works, not furniture
It is worth being clear before signing: a conveyor is fixed infrastructure. It is anchored to the floor or hung from the structure, it is fed with power and it occupies a route that is then no longer available for forklifts; that surface has a price, because premium industrial rent in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA) averages USD 7.33 per square metre per month (CBRE, Q2 2026).
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Moving it later is not shifting a piece of furniture: it is civil works, with downtime and with cost. That is why it is drawn on the final layout rather than the current one, and why the correct order starts with the process. The floor has to be verified too, because the supports concentrate load, and so does clear height, because a lift needs room above. Installation lead time for automated systems is 3 to 4 months from the purchase order, and the technical sheet for each run comes with the diagnosis.
Vertical conveying: pallet and case lifts
Vertical conveying covers the stretch a horizontal conveyor cannot: taking the load from one level to another.
A pallet or case lift takes the unit from the ground-floor conveyor, raises it to a mezzanine, an upper floor or the in-feed of an automated system, and hands it to the next conveyor, so nobody climbs stairs with a load or lifts a forklift between levels. Continuous lifts raise one case after another; reciprocating lifts use a platform that goes up and down; lifting tables handle short height changes within a workstation. What is defined first is which unit goes up, how many per hour at peak and where it connects, because the lift is usually the most demanding point of the line.
What determines the design of a conveyor line?
We do not publish model-by-model specification tables: the detailed sheet comes with the assessment, sized against your operation. These are the criteria the choice is made on.
The real load unit
The pallet with the goods on it, overhangs and condition included, or the carton with its weight and its base. The conveyor family follows from that: rollers, chain or belt are chosen by how the load is supported, not by habit.
The activity peak, not the average
The line is dimensioned on the busiest hour of the busiest day. If the sum is done on the monthly average, the system works well nearly always and stalls exactly when it matters most that it should not stall.
The accumulation points
Where the load can wait without holding up what comes behind. It is the definition that changes the real output of the line the most, and the one most often forgotten when asking for a price per linear metre.
What happens if a run stops
Whether there is a bypass, whether the load can leave the line, and whether the operation continues by hand meanwhile. A run with no alternative turns a small fault into a warehouse stopped for hours.
How stable the layout is
Transport is fixed infrastructure. If the route is going to change in the next few years, it is better to solve it with mobile equipment and keep the conveyor for the runs you already know will not move.
When is a conveyor not worth it?
Short distances do not pay: if a person covers the stretch with a pallet jack in less time, the line adds cost without adding speed.
Nor with low volume, because a fixed line pays when load flows all day. And if the layout is going to change, define it first: a conveyor is anchored, and moving it means works.
Frequently asked questions
Can't find your question?Write to us and we reply within one business day.
Tell us about your case01Can I automate one stretch and leave the rest by hand?
Yes, and often that is the sensible move. It pays to start with the stretch where the load stalls or where people walk the most, measure it, and only then extend the line. A phased project also spreads the investment and lets you learn from the real operation before committing the entire route.
02What speed and what capacity does a line have?
It depends on the load unit, the route, the number of stations and the accumulation points, so we do not publish general figures: out of context they lead to buying badly. The calculation is done during the survey on your measured peak, and the technical sheet for each run is delivered with the diagnosis.
03Can the same line carry both pallets and cartons?
Not on the same line, because they are supported differently and call for different equipment. The usual arrangement is one pallet circuit and one carton circuit, joined by stations where the load is built or broken down. Those stations are the point to dimension carefully, because work tends to pile up there.
04What happens if the power fails or a package jams?
The line stops and restarts in sections, and the damage depends on the design: whether there is accumulation before the critical point and whether an alternative exists for taking the load out. That is defined in the detailed design together with the restart protocol, not once the problem has already happened.
Other systems
Before quoting metres of conveyor,let us draw the route
The survey establishes the route, the load unit, the activity peak and the accumulation points. With that we tell you which runs justify fixed transport and which are better left by hand.