If you’re starting a food packaging business, it’s important to get the best equipment to ensure that your products are handled with care. You need packaging materials that can keep your food products fresh throughout their delivery. You also need a conveyor belt to ensure that they are carefully inspected and transported to your delivery trucks on time.
When it comes to figuring out what conveyor belt to use, there are two most common types that factories often use for food packaging businesses: the mat top and table top chain conveyors. If you want to know which one would best suit your needs, read on.
Mat Top Conveyor
This is a chain-type conveyor belt that’s generally made of plastic. It’s often designed to transport items through a straight path although the conveyor belt is adjustable to go around corners, too. It’s mostly used in factories that are involved in washing down food items.
For example, if your business is in packaging fresh fruits or vegetables and you need to wash them down before sealing them in, the mat top conveyor belt is a good choice.
Table Top Conveyor
This conveyor belt, on the other hand, is made up of modules that you can detach and replace with different shapes of other modules. This makes it easier to adjust table top conveyors to fit the layout of a factory. Also, the replaceable modules make them easier to adjust to tight spaces.
So, Which Should You Choose?
Both conveyor belts have their own pros and cons. The mat top is faster than a table top, but the former doesn’t do well when running around corners as compared to the latter. The mat top is a lot quieter, but a table top takes up lesser space.
So, if you want to choose between the two, you should first figure out the layout of your factory and what your concerns are with regard to transporting your food products throughout your facility. If the number of items you’re going to transfer from point A of your facility to point B is minimal, then it would be better if you choose the table top conveyor.
The table top is good for transferring small amounts of items and also for going through a filling process. For example, if your business needs a conveyor belt that can transfer food containers from point A to point B while another machine is filling up those containers with edible items, then the table top is your best bet. You can adjust the modules of a table top to corral the packages into a single file, making it easier for your filling machine to insert the edible items into the containers.
Although the mat top is an effective conveyor belt, keep in mind that the table top is more preferable if your factory doesn’t have that much space. If you’re just starting your food packaging business, chances are you’re still working with a small factory. If this is the case, go with the table top because it’s easier to fit this equipment in tight spaces without compromising its performance.
So, if you’re looking for a conveyor belt to help in your business, try the table top first. It works as well as the mat top with an added advantage that it can be used in tight spaces.
