Conveying and material handling

A laminate with no frame is an awkward object: large, flat, and either heavy or fragile depending on the glass build. If operators have to lift it between stations, the line's real through-put is set by the lifting, not by the machines, and the injury risk grows with the tonnage.

Getting transfer heights right — so material moves from station to station at working height — is one of the cheapest and most under-rated improvements in a dismantling line. It costs almost nothing at design stage and is expensive to change once the machines are fixed to the floor.

• Infeed and staging. How modules reach the first station, and where damaged feedstock is segregated before it gets there.
• Inter-station transfer. Conveying that moves a frameless laminate between stations at a consistent working height.
• Elevation and discharge. Where material has to change level, and how that is done without dropping or damaging it.
• Output bays and containers. Placement of aluminium, copper-bearing, glass and residual containers so they can be changed without stopping the line.
• Access and guarding. Walkways, maintenance access, e-stops and guarding consistent with your site's safety requirements.
• Fines management. Collection points where material settles, with access for cleaning.

Transfer layout and building layout are the same decision made twice. If the output containers have to sit on the far side of the hall from the machine that fills them, someone will be moving bins all day. If the infeed is at the opposite end from where modules are delivered, the same thing happens with forklifts.

This is why we ask for the hall dimensions and the material entry point at the start of a line enquiry. It is not paperwork — it changes the arrangement we propose, and it is much easier to answer before the drawings exist than after.