Edible Oil Workshop to Warehouse Case

An edible oil manufacturer wanted to smoothly convey finished edible oil from the production workshop to the warehouse storage area without completely rebuilding the existing passages and storage layout, so it chose about 60 meters of movable rubber-coated powered roller conveyor supplied by Naili Conveyor. Through multi-section modular combinations of 3 m per section, it covered the full distance while also allowing flexible movement and turning according to warehouse layout changes.

1. Project Background: The "Last 60 Meters" from Workshop to Warehouse

The finished edible oil produced by this company needs to be transported from the filling/packaging station, through a turn in the passage, to the designated storage area of the finished-goods warehouse.

Originally, this transfer relied mainly on manual trolley pushing or hand pallet trucks, which created several problems:

• The distance is long and the back-and-forth trips are frequent, causing significant physical strain on employees;
• The passage has turns, so carts can easily scrape against the goods and affect packaging integrity;
• Warehouse storage locations are often adjusted, and every time the stacking position changes, manual routes have to be replanned;
• They wanted to install a fixed belt conveyor, but were worried that future changes in storage locations would make the equipment difficult to adjust and result in high secondary retrofit costs.

The company wanted to find a conveyor solution that could keep transporting continuously, reduce manual pushing effort, and move along with the storage locations.

II. Solution: 3 m per section Rubber-Covered Powered Roller Conveyor

Naili Unloading Artifact (Guangdong) Industrial Co., Ltd. (Naili Unloading Artifact (Guangdong) Industrial Co., Ltd.) selected multiple 3 m rubber-covered Powered Roller Conveyor sections based on the on-site route and future planning, combining them into a conveyor line of about 60 m in total length, with guard rails installed along the entire line.

1. Modular 3 m sections for flexible layouts up to 60 m

The entire conveyor line is assembled from multiple 3 m-long powered roller sections, and each section comes with a frame, so it can be moved and fine-tuned independently:

• According to the on-site aisles and columns, the multiple roller sections are arranged into zigzag, L-shaped, or multi-turn routes;
• When the internal storage area of the warehouse needs to be adjusted, the conveyor sections only need to be pushed manually and repositioned; no complex modifications to the floor or frames are required;
• If lengthening or shortening is needed later, only some of the roller sections need to be added or removed, keeping the scope of change manageable.

In areas between the workshop and the warehouse where the line needs to turn through aisles, the roller conveyor is laid out along the aisle, and smooth transitions are achieved at corners through combinations of multiple short turning sections.

With this modular and movable approach, the company not only ensured continuous conveying of finished edible oil products, but also retained flexibility for future warehouse layout adjustments.

2. Rubber-covered rollers plus guard rails, better suited for conveying finished edible oil products

Considering that finished edible oil products are mostly boxed or barrel-packed with relatively smooth bottoms, this project selected powered rollers with a rubber-covered layer:

• The rubber-covered surface increases friction with the bottom of the goods, reducing slipping during startup, stopping, or on slight inclines;
• For heavier edible oil packages, the rubber-covered rollers are more stable during conveying, helping keep the packaging appearance intact.

Side guard rails were installed along the entire line to prevent goods from shifting or falling during turns or improper local operation, improving safety and controllability during conveying.

To learn more about the configuration of the Naili rubber-covered Powered Roller Conveyor series, please refer to:

III. Flexibility advantages compared with fixed belt conveyors

Many manufacturers, when planning conveying from the workshop to the warehouse, hesitate between a fixed belt conveyor and a modular roller conveyor. In this case, the customer valued later adjustability more, and ultimately chose a rubber-covered powered roller line, mainly for the following reasons:

1. The line can follow changes in storage locations
   Once a fixed belt conveyor is installed, the line is basically locked in place. If the outlet or aisle needs to be changed later due to process or warehousing strategy adjustments, it is very difficult to relocate it at low cost.
   The roller conveyor line in this project can be pushed directly and reassembled by on-site staff while stopped; moving the warehouse area from Zone A to Zone B is simply a matter of rewiring and reconnecting.

2. Easier to turn and route around obstacles
   There are often columns, doorways, or other equipment between the workshop and the warehouse. Being made up of multiple sections, the roller conveyor can route around these points with short sections or angled connections, allowing the conveyor line to follow the actual path of the aisle.
   For scenarios with aisles that are narrow and spaces that are irregular, you can refer to Naili Conveyor's case study: Application analysis of Multi-Wedge Belt Powered Roller Conveyor in narrow spaces.

3. Maintenance and partial retrofits are more controllable
   If a certain section of the conveyor line needs maintenance or adjustment, only the corresponding roller section needs to be disassembled and handled; the other sections can continue to be used as normal, without causing long downtime for the entire system.

IV. Actual results: reducing manual pushing burden while still keeping human involvement

After this 60 m rubber-covered roller conveyor line was put into use, the company retained the necessary level of manual involvement, while significantly reducing each employee's physical exertion:

• At the production end, employees are mainly responsible for placing finished edible oil products on the roller line as full pallets or full boxes, without the need for long-distance pushing;
• At the warehouse end, employees receive the goods at the end of the conveyor line and then work with forklifts or stackers to complete shelving;
• On-site operators are still responsible for monitoring conveying status and handling abnormal transfers or temporary storage needs, and the overall workflow has shifted from heavy manual labor and long-distance cart pushing to nearby loading and unloading.

While keeping operations controllable and allowing intervention at any time, handling efficiency has improved, employee labor intensity has decreased, and the aisles have become cleaner and more orderly.

V. Suitable scenarios and selection tips for similar projects

This type of "3m/section, movable rubber-covered Powered Roller Conveyor" solution is suitable for projects with the following characteristics:

• Finished goods conveying for food, grain and oil, beverages, and other products that require a high level of packaging integrity and cleanliness;
• A long distance between the workshop and the warehouse, with a desire to rely less on manual pushing over long distances;
• Turns, pillars, or door openings in the passageway, requiring the conveyor line to route flexibly;
• Warehouse locations and rack layouts may be adjusted in the future, and the conveyor solution is expected to have a certain degree of reconfigurability.

When planning similar projects, the site usually needs to confirm the following key points:

• The size and weight range of the goods, to help select the roller diameter, pitch, and other parameters appropriately;
• On-site passage width, height restrictions, and turning radius, to determine the length of the roller sections and the layout method;
• Floor load-bearing capacity, flatness, and power distribution points, to ensure convenient conveyor movement and power supply;
• The docking method with forklifts, stackers, or other conveying equipment, to avoid creating new "breakpoint handling.".

If you later want seamless integration from the warehouse to truck loading and unloading, you can add equipment such as an incline conveyor on this basis to form a complete "workshop—warehouse—truck" link. You may refer to Naili Conveyor's 6.8m truck Multi-Wedge Belt Roller + medium incline conveyor loading and unloading case for further expansion and design based on the actual vehicle type and loading/unloading mode.

Through this edible oil workshop-to-warehouse conveying project, the customer achieved a "flexible connection" between production and warehousing without large-scale factory renovation, reserving room for future capacity growth and warehouse layout adjustments, while also providing a replicable approach for companies in similar operating conditions.