With increased focus on cost, quality and output good machine performance is critical for today’s manufacturers. This is why smart and engineered conveying technology is so important in achieving optimal production performance.
Thankfully, Australian food & beverage producers have easy access to industry leading innovative conveyor and palletising solutions locally.
FlexLink, a global conveyor technology company pioneered modular conveyors in the 80’s allowing manufacturers to create flexible production lines completely customised for their production needs. FlexLink products are the global benchmark for their innovative design permitting low risk engineering and flexible line configurations. Today the company – part of the Coesia S.p.A. group – operates in 60 countries offering world class conveyor systems, palletisers, elevating solutions and end-of-line robotic palletisers.
40 years of global innovation
The first conveyor product introduced to the market in 1980 was the XL range. It was designed for light goods such as bearings and packaged food. This was soon followed by the launch of the XS range to handle small goods, the XM range to handle medium-sized goods such as plastic bottles and jars and the XH range for heavy goods.
Motivated by the success of the conveyor systems, FlexLink continued with further customer-centric research and development, leading to the introduction of the first pallet system and wedge solutions which were breakthrough innovations at that time. The strong growth continued throughout the 1990s as FlexLink invested in the XK heavy-duty platform dedicated to the automotive market.
Following growth in aluminium conveyors throughout the early 2000s, product innovation focused on modular stainless steel conveyors and industry-focused solutions, such as Dynamic Flow Concept, which creates optimal line balancing and therefore increased production output.
Renewed interest in aluminium beam conveyors saw the launch of the X85 and X65 platforms. In 2010 FlexLink also introduced the FlexLink Design Tool, allowing customers to design their own line and simulate production flow.
In 2012 the company developed its first collaborative robot palletiser RC10 in close collaboration with a leading global consumer goods company. A few years later, a flexible industrial palletiser RI20 was launched, allowing the company to complete the offer for the end-of-line process. In 2020, the expansion of the stainless steel conveyor range continued with the introduction of the X70X, a 70 mm system suitable for handling smaller, more sensitive products such as dairy products.
Over the years, continuous improvements have been made in operator and product safety, most recently with the introduction of new generation of plain chains.
Local access
In Australia, FlexLink products are exclusively available through FlexCAM, a full service conveyor specialist with over 20 years of local industry experience in the dairy, bakery, food and beverage, personal and home care, paper and pharmaceutical sectors.
FlexCAM combines industry leading technology with local engineering know-how to deliver highly efficient conveyor systems to meet operation specific requirements that offer low total cost of ownership.
The company offers complete system design, assembly and installation services, supplies spare parts, provides system engineering, solution development and engineering tools to help local manufacturers develop their own design.