This case uses Medium Hydraulic Conveyor combined with Multi-Wedge Belt Powered Roller Conveyor to continuously convey boxed goods from inside the truck to ground-level pallets. One person is responsible for pushing the goods inside the truck, and two people handle stacking on the ground, achieving an unloading mode where "people only push and place, without repeatedly carrying boxes on and off the truck.".
Project background and unloading challenges
Typical operating conditions
- Cargo type: boxed goods such as standard cartons and plastic crates.
- Loading method: loosely placed throughout the vehicle, with manual handling to the rear inside the truck.
- Unloading location: the ground pallet or the buffer area in front of the rack.
- Personnel arrangement: the original plan usually required 3–4 people to shuttle frequently between the truck opening and the ground pallets, resulting in high labor intensity.
The main difficulties are concentrated in:
- The height difference between the truck floor and the ground requires frequent up-and-down handling of boxes;
- Workers need to repeatedly bend, turn, and carry boxes off the truck, which easily causes fatigue over time;
- The cargo flow is not smooth, sometimes piling up at the truck opening and sometimes on the ground, making the site look messy.
Solution: Medium Hydraulic Conveyor + Powered Roller Conveyor
On site, one Medium Hydraulic Conveyor is used to bridge the truck height, followed by a section of ground-level Multi-Wedge Belt Powered Roller Conveyor, extending the entire line from inside the truck all the way to the ground pallet to combine height-difference transition and horizontal conveying.
Layout method
- Medium Hydraulic Conveyor: one end extends into the truck, and the other end lands at the feed end of the ground roller line, mainly solving the height difference between the truck and the ground.
- Multi-Wedge Belt Powered Roller Conveyor: extends along the ground to the pallet area, conveying boxed goods to the side of the stacking station.
- Together, they form a continuous conveying channel from deep inside the truck to the front of the ground pallet.
The key equipment used in this solution is the Medium Hydraulic Conveyor:
Medium Hydraulic Conveyor
Medium Hydraulic Conveyor is specially designed for sites without loading and unloading platforms and is suitable for trucks under 40 ft. The hydrauli...
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The ground section uses a Multi-Wedge Belt Powered Roller Conveyor line for continuous conveying of boxed goods:
Multi-Wedge Belt Powered Roller Conveyor
The multi-wedge belt Powered Roller Conveyor uses a multi-wedge belt drive design to achieve smooth and efficient cargo conveying. Motor spacing range...
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For more configuration ideas for large-angle loading and unloading with Multi-Wedge Belt rollers and Medium Hydraulic Conveyor, please refer to "Analysis of Large-Incline Loading and Unloading Applications for Multi-Wedge Belt Powered Roller Conveyor and Medium Hydraulic Conveyor".
Personnel division
- Inside the truck: 1 person is responsible for pushing the boxed goods from deep inside the truck to the entrance of the Incline Conveyor, allowing the goods to enter the conveyor line naturally without carrying boxes off the truck.
- Ground side: 2 people stand on both sides of the pallets, pick boxes from the end of the roller line, and complete stacking or transfer to the next station.
The whole system still requires manual participation, but the carrying distance is significantly shortened, with more of the work being "pick up the box within reach and place it on site" rather than carrying boxes over long distances.
Illustration of the actual unloading process
Truck-side operation
- Extend one end of the Medium Hydraulic Conveyor into the truck and make a smooth transition with the truck floor.
- The operator inside the truck slides or moves the boxed goods a short distance onto the belt above the Incline Conveyor in accordance with the layout sequence.
- After starting the Incline Conveyor and the roller conveyor, the boxes are automatically conveyed toward the rear of the truck along the belt, without the need to carry them by hand to the truck door.
Ground-side operation and stacking
- The boxes pass through the Incline Conveyor and drop onto the ground-level Multi-Wedge Belt Powered Roller Conveyor, continuing to move forward.
- Two ground operators stand on both sides of the conveyor line, and according to pallet layout, product category, or batch requirements, they conveniently pick boxes from the end of the roller line and stack them.
- After palletizing is complete, a forklift or pallet truck can be used to move the full pallet to the warehouse location, achieving a smooth transition from box handling to pallet handling.
In this workflow:
- There is no longer a large buildup of cartons waiting to be unloaded inside the truck compartment, and the flow of goods is steadily pulled from deep inside the compartment to the ground;
- The work area for ground personnel is fixed, and the actions are mainly "pick" and "place, " making the pace easy to control;
- The unloading process is closer to continuous conveying, reducing intermediate pauses and waiting time.
Application results: changes in efficiency and labor intensity
Improved efficiency
With the same three-person setup, unloading efficiency is improved mainly in the following ways:
- Each carton is manually "picked up" only once, and the rest of the journey is handled by the conveyor;
- Personnel inside the truck compartment no longer need to get on and off frequently, saving time spent getting in and out and traveling back and forth;
- The two workers on the ground focus on palletizing, reducing waiting and unnecessary walking.
Combined with other on-site practical experience, the efficiency of Medium Hydraulic Conveyor in express delivery, e-commerce warehousing, and similar scenarios can be referenced in "Medium Hydraulic Conveyor Helps Improve Loading and Unloading Efficiency in Express Warehousing".
Reduced labor intensity
- Getting on and off vehicles is greatly reduced, lowering pressure on the knees and ankles;
- Carrying cartons off the vehicle and long-distance handling are replaced by the conveyor line, so the main labor becomes short-distance picking and placement;
- The operating height is closer to the human comfort range, and the conveyor line elevation can be fine-tuned according to pallet height to reduce bending frequency.
Overall, three people can complete unloading tasks that originally required more people, while the work rhythm is more stable, fatigue is reduced, and the setup is better suited to long hours of continuous operation.
Applicable industries and scalable configurations
Applicable scenarios
The "Medium Hydraulic Conveyor + ground-powered roller line + palletizing" combination in this case is well suited for:
- Unloading boxed goods from express delivery, e-commerce transit warehouses, and community distribution warehouses;
- Unloading standard boxed products such as food, beverages, and daily chemicals at receiving docks;
- Receiving stations for regular boxed items in finished-goods warehouses and raw-material warehouses of manufacturing companies.
When loading and unloading space is limited, the Multi-Wedge Belt Powered Roller Conveyor can also be flexibly arranged according to on-site turning and diversion needs. Related practices can be referenced in "Application Analysis of Multi-Wedge Belt Powered Roller Conveyor in Narrow Spaces".
If you want a systematic understanding of how the Hydraulic Incline Conveyor series adapts to different vehicle models, you can view:
Incline Conveyor Series
The hydraulic lifting conveyor is designed specifically for warehouses, factories, and logistics sites without loading docks. It enables smooth and sa...
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If you later want to add photoelectric sensors to the roller line to control carton spacing or link it with the warehouse system, you can also refer to "Application Scenarios and Advantages of Adding Photoelectric Sensors to a Powered Roller Conveyor for Spaced Cargo Conveying".
Ideas for combining with other conveying equipment
Based on this case, you can also later:
- Extend the ground roller line to connect with the warehouse internal conveying system, achieving an integrated "truck compartment – pallet – inbound line" process;
- Depending on floor requirements, pair it with a vertical Elevator to send pallets or cartons to upper storage areas, forming a three-dimensional logistics route.
If you need to plan a complete loading, unloading, and inbound conveying system on a larger scale, you can combine product series such as powered rollers and Hydraulic Incline Conveyor for overall selection:
Powered Roller Conveyor Series
The powered roller conveyor is designed specifically to meet conveying needs for the final stretch of loading and unloading, enabling continuous and s...
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