If you’re running several machines on individual loaders, a central conveying system is probably a familiar idea, even if you haven’t looked into it properly yet. Here’s how one actually works, and where it tends to make the biggest difference.
What a Central Conveying System Actually Does
Instead of each machine having its own loader and its own material source, a central system does it differently. Material moves from one or more bulk storage points, through a shared network of lines, to multiple machines at once.
One vacuum pump, or a small number of them, does the work that would otherwise need a separate loader per machine. A manifold routes material to each drop point, with selection valves sending the right material to the right machine.
The Basic Flow
- Bulk storage. Material sits in silos, bulk bags, or gaylords rather than smaller day-hoppers at each machine.
- Central pump station. One or more vacuum pumps draw material through the line network on demand.
- Manifold and valves. Material is routed to the correct machine or hopper, often switching between multiple material types across the system.
- Drying, where needed. Material can be dried centrally before distribution, or at the point of use, depending on how the system’s designed.
- Delivery to the press. Material arrives at each machine’s hopper, topped up automatically as it’s consumed.
Where It Makes the Biggest Difference
Shops running six or more machines tend to see the clearest return. Fewer individual loaders means less kit to maintain. Bulk buying material also gets much easier once storage isn’t limited to what fits next to each press.
It cuts manual handling too. Bags aren’t cut open and tipped by hand at every machine, which reduces labour and one of the most common sources of contamination on a busy shop floor.
What to Check Before Switching
A central system costs more upfront than a set of individual loaders. It needs proper planning around line runs, how often materials change over, and how many different materials share the same network. Get the design wrong, and you risk the same problems individual loaders have, just on a bigger scale — including blockages, if line runs are too long or badly routed.
Our conveying systems range is designed and specified around your actual shop floor layout, rather than a generic setup.
Get in Touch
If you’re weighing up whether a central system makes sense for your shop, we’re happy to talk through the numbers properly before you commit to anything.
Geiger Handling UK Ltd
Phone: 01782 630555
Email: sales@geigerhandling.co.uk
Web: geigerhandling.co.uk