Accumulation conveyors can be critical equipment in a material handling system, providing buffer zones to hold product until downstream operations have available capacity. These advanced solutions must avoid product damage while handling a variety of product sizes, shapes and weights. Operating without an accumulation conveyor is like driving a car in traffic without breaks: eventually it will slow down — but at the expense of another car’s bumper.  

Medium-pressure, zero-pressure and zero-contact are three types of accumulation conveyors that regulate product flow through automated systems, allowing operations to run more smoothly and accommodate fluctuations in product movement. Each type differs in the amount of product variability it can handle, the risk of product damage, the amount of back pressure allowed, throughput rate and system simplicity. 

Selecting the right conveyor technologies for your specific fulfillment operation requires careful consideration of key trade-offs. Download our white paper to understand the choices in accumulation technology so you can ultimately select the best solution for your operational goals.