Moving Floor Conveyor System

Case Study

Joloda Moving Floor

With automatic loading now the preferred method for truck loading, reducing loading/unloading times to a matter of minutes, the Joloda Moving Floor is the ideal solution as it can handle any type of load. The Joloda Moving Floor System (MFS) is a highly efficient flexible slat conveyor for trailer to dock load and unload. With its high speed, high weight short shuffle operations, it has the capabilities to load a trailer in less than one minute!
This low profile, lightweight slat conveyor uses a 3 phase or 24v electric motor gearbox or hydraulic if in trailers with drives controlled by an inverter to give matched conveyor speeds for speeds up to 30 metres per minute and at 30 tonne loads. Stand alone truck systems dock and trailer turnkey solutions.

The system is designed for all configurations of pallets, drums, kegs, slipsheet products, automotive racks, paper reels and loose packages.

Introduced in 1980 and being used with more and more companies choosing the system for their loading application. It is now used by companies such as Allied Distillers, Frito Lay,
General Motors, Toyota and Express Newspapers, key features of the Joloda Moving Floor include:

• Just-in-time automated deliveries
• Ease of operation – only one person and a fork lift needed
• Dual power supply
• Loads and unloads at speeds of up to 30 metres per minute
• Payloads of up to 30 tonnes
• Minimal product damage
• A fail safe manual back-up system
• Since its introduction in the 1980’s, the moving floor system has now become the preferred method of loading for the automotive, paper and whiskey industries.

Allied distillers who are one of the largest spirits company in the world, use it to transport their ‘precious’ whiskey between maturation sites. The system is designed to automatically load and unload 96 barrels of whisky, weighing approximately 23 tons, in one shot at the drain and fill site in Dumbarton. Scotland. The system can also be supplied hydraulically to overcome the problem of some remote sites in Scotland not having a 440v power supply.

The system is mounted directly onto the trailer decking, with stability given through fixing plates bolted to the trailer sub-frame. The MFS is fitted with full-length plastic guide rails on both sides to provide load location and restraint from excessive sideways movement. A moving front headboard and rear shoring poles provide an adjustable load area plus the additional restraint required during transit.

Two lanes of Joloda tracking are installed within the MFS to act as a manual unloading system as emergency back-up should the need arise. Being positioned below the operating level of the MFS, the tracking-spaced across the width and down the full length of the MFS will not affect the powered operation in any way.

The loaded pallets can be stacked 2 high. Ten stacks may be loaded individually onto the MFS to give a total load of 28,000 kgs. The system is loaded by means of a fork truck and each pallet load is indexed automatically one pallet length by utilising sensors which are located with the inside of the trailer.

The moving floors then unloads by fork truck at the delivery sites by indexing double stacked pallets forwards and backwards with a 10 second time delay controlled by infrared beams and sensors.

Ian Jamieson of the Scottish Whiskey Association and Fleet Engineering Director of McPhersons, says “The Joloda moving floor system fitted to some of our dedicated trailer fleet for use in many customers premises has now been proved as the way forward in the fast loading palletised product business.
With the help of Joloda we now have a loading system and process that is the most sophisticated in the spirits industry. The attributes of this trailer is obviously reduced down time, intrinsically safe electrics and the overall quality of the materials used in the build process. In terms of support, Joloda have the mechanism in place to ensure fast moving parts are dispatched quickly with the minimum of fuss”.