When selecting a linear guide, your criteria should include more than just the hardware. The company behind the component also goes a long way toward your ultimate satisfaction. For example, COVID-19, market dynamics or a customer’s special requirements can impact the supply chain, so it’s important to work with a manufacturer that is as up to the task of ensuring product availability as it is able to solve engineering challenges.
Here’s how Rollon is helping one customer maintain a steady inventory of linear guides and telescoping slides to keep production on schedule.
A manufacturer of beverage packaging systems uses a Rollon Telescopic slide and Compact Rail linear guide in a machine that creates multipacks of canned soft drinks. The machine folds, wraps and glues cardboard trays around the cans. Because different size trays hold different quantities of cans, the Compact Rail and Telescopic Rail are used to adjust the main conveyor in the cell to align the cans, the cardboard and the gluing mechanism.
The manufacturer explicitly needed the components coated with a special thin dense chrome (TDC) surface treatment. TDC resists corrosion and wear and does not flake or peel. This non-toxic, FDA-approved heavy-duty coating provides a long operating life and is well-suited for food and beverage manufacturing environments. The customer has stated that the quality of the Rollon products is great while reporting no problems with their performance.
While the Rollon components provided the best form, fit and function for the packaging machine, some logistic challenges arose. The manufacturer typically ordered the linear guide and telescopic rails separately via a distributor that also sells the company other products. This arrangement, along with the TDC coating requirement and supply chain issues, made the parts difficult to stock in time to satisfy the packaging machine’s tight production window.
This is when it pays to partner with a motion component supplier that collaborates with customers to circumvent logistical problems. We worked with the manufacturer and its distributor to create a special kit with the sliders — already preloaded — inside the Compact Rail guide. We also attached the SKU to the kit and corresponding drawing to simplify the ordering, installation and receiving processes.
A new blanket order calls for the kit with two separate coatings — including a TDC product and an FDA-approved nickel product — while also matching the order projections for the machine, ensuring greater control of product availability.
Rollon's Can-Do Customer Service
This successful application is another example of how we back up our high-quality linear motion products by going the extra mile to align product inventory to your production needs — even during this challenging supply chain business climate. By establishing a collaborative relationship with our customer, we developed a creative purchasing solution to ensure that the soda can packaging machines are always ready to ship.
For more information about our Compact Rail and Telescopic Rail products, visit our website.
