There’s nothing more important to running an efficient production line than having low downtime. When employees need to stop the line to manually fix a problem, such as a down bottle, this can often put you behind the schedule and inhibit needed production output.
A common cause of systems having to be stopped is jams caused by a bottle that has fallen over: down bottles. You want to remove those bottles from your conveyor line before they can cause a jam and fix the problem before it gets worse. That’s where down bottle reject systems are useful.
But what is a down bottle reject system and why did Morrison decide to engineer them? We asked one of our container handling experts, Morrison engineer Mike Narcisi, to talk us through some of the frequently asked questions about our Morrison down bottle reject systems.
What is a down bottle reject system and how does it work?
Mike: A down bottle reject system is a set of plastic UHMW rails that are designed to remove a tipped over or downed container off of a running conveyer. This system takes advantage of the geometry of the bottle to either reject or pass containers through it depending on if they are down or not.
Why would someone want or need to install a down bottle reject system?
Mike: Typically, customers want to avoid having downed bottles go into their systems because it can cause “crashes,” AKA machine failures. This then requires an operator to stop the line, remove the crashed bottle, and restart the machine. Even more troublesome, it can also damage components in the machine when this happens. Installing down bottle reject systems can prevent these problems.
What types of industries do you think could benefit from using down bottle reject systems?
Mike: I would say just about all industries could benefit from these systems. Customers' line efficiencies can increase from utilizing the consistency of bottles coming into machines with these reject systems.
What types of containers do these systems work for?
Mike: Any container that has to stand on its own and is capable of tipping over would be ideal for a down bottle reject. Typically, people come to us with problematic or top heavy containers that are perfect for this application.
How many lanes of containers or bottles can you run on one system?
Mike: As many as the customer would like. I have seen and installed double lane reject systems personally, and they work great. We can customize to whatever our client desires and needs to optimize their production.
Are you able to retrofit bottle reject systems onto existing lines?
Mike: Yes, some basic info about the line would be required from the customer or possibly measurement would be necessary, but we can mount to existing setups.
