Duracell USA is a powerhouse in the battery business. All over the US, business is booming. So, in 1996, when their current sorting and shipping capabilities were stretched to the limit, Duracell decided to consolidate all their packaging operations into one facility.

To accomplish this objective, Duracell completed a major expansion to their distribution center in Cleveland TN, including a new building addition and upgrades to the existing building. Production Systems, Inc. (PSI) provided conveyors and sortation equipment to handle product from 16 different packaging lines to accommodate Duracell's total US shipments. Product is manufactured in other locations in several states where it is then brought to Cleveland to be packaged, sorted, palletized, and shipped to all final US destinations.

Cases from sixteen blister pack lines are first moved vertically from floor level to 13'-9" high mezzanine by Portec Spiral Belt Conveyors in order to eliminate interference with forklift or personnel traffic throughout the plant. Cases are then conveyed through a 3:1 merge and on to a Mathews high-speed shoe sorter, which sorts the cases via barcode to any of twelve robotic palletizing lanes. Cases are returned to the floor level by Portec spiral belt conveyors to one of twelve robotic palletizing stations, where six Fanuc robot palletizers handle two lanes each. Pallets are then delivered to one of two fully automatic Lantech stretch wrappers via a PSI-manufactured automatic, two-station transfer car with on-board controls. The transfer car is also responsible for delivering empty pallets to the palletizing stations when a full pallet is picked up. Accumulation and recirculation lines were incorporated into the overhead conveyor system to accommodate overflow in the event of unavoidable downtime situations. PSI sold and integrated the entire system, working with Duracell engineers from the beginning on plant layout and system specification requirements. Their responsibility included conveyors, system controls, electrical field wiring, mechanical installation, and the automatic transfer car with on-board controls. They also scheduled shipments and coordinated the project with Duracell to facilitate installation and start-up.
Duracell is extremely impressed with the entire installation and start-up success. They took possession of the system on Monday, June 16, 1997. At full capacity, the system is capable of handling a throughput of 70 cases per minute, virtually without human interface.

Everything in the process except the palletizing system is supported by mezzanines, with 10-foot clear height off the floor. Portec Spiral Conveyors deliver product in blister packs from the floor up to the two main sortation conveyors. The sorter itself, weighing up to 15,000 pounds and extending 200 feet, is completely supported by the mezzanine, because Duracell didn't want any interference with forklift traffic on the floor. Essentially, Duracell benefited from nearly double use of the floor space.

Initially, Duracell requested that PSI hang the entire mezzanine structure to eliminate all columns; however, because of the limitations of the roof structure and the weight of some of the equipment, the sorter in the new building addition had to be floor-supported. In this case, columns were located on approximately 28-foot centers to avoid any unnecessary interference as well as to allow for forklift travel underneath the mezzanine.

The existing plant's ceiling load was already at capacity, so when Duracell added ten more packaging lines to the existing six, the additional equipment in this part of the plant was handled by floor-supported mezzanines. The columns for these mezzanines were strategically located next to building columns and adjacent to spiral belt conveyors in order to keep a 12-foot wide forklift aisle underneath the mezzanine. In the new building addition, however, the sorter and a 3:1 merge conveyor rested on a floor mezzanine, while the conveyor after the 3:1 merge was supported by hanging mezzanine, or catwalks. The sorter in this area handles 13 lines going to spiral conveyors plus the recirculation line, all supported by catwalks.

As part of their system integration, PSI contracted with W.A. Schmidt, Inc. to provide a total of approximately 17,000 square feet of mezzanine, some floor-supported and some ceiling supported (catwalk). Mezzanines were utilized to support conveyor and sorting equipment for the existing plant as well as the new addition.

Planning and bids for the project started in January 1996, and orders were issued to PSI in September 1996. Deliveries began in early February 1997. PSI identified specific areas for the vendors to deliver their equipment, since installation was to be accomplished in stages according to a very well-defined project schedule.
PSI is a full-line material handling house, representing the best of the available technology in the industry. In addition to all the standard "off-the-shelf" solutions available from many sources around the country, PSI maintains a 45,000 square foot facility in Marietta GA with full design engineering to handle major material handling projects. Their capabilities extend to the design and manufacture of any specialty components required to implement their customers' handling systems as well as systems integration covering all aspects of controls design and in-house services. PSI has installed systems all across the US as well as overseas destinations in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Israel and Europe.