Gravity conveying system with additional innovations and features

Ferag AG of Switzerland has further upgraded the Skyfall system introduced last year and has added new and innovative features. Foremost among these is the SkySorter, which is making its world debut in Stuttgart. This upgrade not only allows goods to be conveyed in the smallest of spaces, but also enables selective accumulation, singling and reallocation. At the same time, the company has increased the maximum weight for the transported goods to 30 kilograms. Such installations have been designed for warehousing and distribution logistics systems, as well as industrial applications.

With the SkySorter, developed specifically for e-commerce, mail-order-trade and contract-logistics customers, the overhead gravity conveying system from the Zurcher Oberland in Switzerland offers additional options when carrying out tasks such as accumulation, order-picking and sorting. For the utilization of Skyfall technology in goods distribution centres and packaging stations, the increased capacity of 30 kilograms for the conveyed items is an added plus. Thanks to its overhead design and exceptional modularity, the innovative Swiss system can be integrated into virtually any environment – even into existing logistics facilities where space is restricted. The Skyfall system also comes with one crucial advantage: there is always sufficient, unencumbered floor space for workstations and traffic areas.

By the way: Ferag chose the term “Skyfall” for a good reason. Any similarity with the James Bond thriller of the same name, where the hero plummets into the void from the roof of a fast-moving train only to appear again as if nothing had happened, is rather coincidental. But the new overhead conveyor system from the Swiss company does offer all kinds of action. The individual carriers have no problem in achieving average speeds of a metre a second, for example. Naturally, the associated dynamics that allow Skyfall technology to transport up to 23,000 parts or products an hour from one production step to the next are extremely energy efficient. Because the technology developed by Ferag makes intelligent use of gravity, and moves in free fall sections with no drive power input whatsoever.

For products that are transported over longer distances with no gradient, the Swiss engineers have employed the newly developed circulation conveyor. Tight curves and targeted docking and undocking of the carriers via inlet and outlet switches keep distances as short as possible. And with only one drive per 80-metre conveyor section, here, too, energy consumption is extremely low. In spite of the high performance of the installation, the operating and maintenance costs of this highly efficient conveying system stay within very reasonable limits.

In addition to warehousing and distribution logistics, Ferag envisages the use of the Skyfall technology in diverse industrial applications. The range extends from simple material flow between two points through linking and decoupling production and assembly steps to integrated processes such as weighing, quality control, labelling and packaging. One of Skyfall’s greatest strengths lies in buffering and intermediate storage. Whether it’s food packets, cans, cartridges, bottles, flacons, items of clothing, or objects that can be placed in pouches, the transported product or workpiece is of secondary importance. That’s because the shuttle adaptors can be individually configured and modified for each particular application.