Absorbing micro stops

Many processing machines suffer from micro stops. These can be anything from jams to planned short stops like a change of packing materials. Machines with regular micro stops decrease the line capacity considerably.

Preventing the effects of these stops to reach the next machine, also ensures you avoid all of the other related issues that come with stops and restarts. The inter-dependencies that machines have that result in complex situations with starting and stopping are negated.

Depending on the types of micro-stops, product type, and line speed (among other things), the kind of accumulation you need can vary greatly. The accumulator itself needs to be placed in front of the machine that suffers from the stop, so that the upstream process can continue to flow. When the reason for the stop is fixed, the accumulator needs to release the product again into the downstream machine.

Important to note is that the downstream machines need to be able to run (at least temporarily) faster than the regular upstream process in order to release the accumulated products gradually.