Conveyor for Automotive? Think LEWCO!
Did you know LEWCO originally began designing conveyors for the automotive industry in the early 1980’s? Fast forward to today, the engineers at LEWCO are still creating innovative, robust, and cost-conscious solutions for automotive customers.
Earlier this year, LEWCO engineered and manufactured a tire and wheel storage and delivery conveyor system for an automotive assembly plant. This system was needed to prevent down time and provide a buffer due to fluctuations of the availability of tire and wheel assemblies. LEWCO Engineering provided a full system layout which reconfigured the existing tire and wheel delivery system to accommodate the new tire silo for added storage. According to the customer, it’s the largest tire silo in the world.
This system allows tires to be accumulated in a 5-level tire silo and released on a first in – first out basis. LEWCO used a combination of Chain Roller Conveyor, Pop Up Chain Transfer, Gravity Roller Conveyor, Belt Conveyor, and a Modular Plastic Belt Conveyor for this project.
The silo is a combination of powered roller curves, non-powered gravity conveyor, wheel guide rails, and tire escapement devices to control line pressure.
Tire and wheel assemblies are delivered from the customer’s existing tire mounting machine to a LEWCO Pop-Up Chain Transfer feeding an incline belt, then feeding into the silo. The system can also send tire assemblies directly to the assembly line, if necessary.
As final assembly was finishing up at LEWCO, the customer came in for a factory acceptance test. Using customer supplied tire and wheels, LEWCO set-up and ran off a portion of the silo, as well as other parts of the conveyor. Tests proved very beneficial and successful. The customer commented multiple times how happy they were with the little details LEWCO engineers thought of to make maintenance easier.
If you have a need for automotive conveyor, the team of experts at LEWCO would love to help! Shoot us an email or give us a call anytime. We look forward to helping you!
