mfl: What technical trends are emerging? Is the topic of predictive maintenance already "yesterday's news" or just on the rise?
Heinen: User demands for maximum availability and maximum efficiency are key drivers of technical development. This is why the trend towards 48-volt technology and complete data transparency of conveyor systems are playing an increasingly important role. More and more users are attaching importance to being able to obtain and evaluate comprehensive operating data on the drives used via modern bus interfaces - so that they no longer have to poke around in the fog when it comes to the respective maintenance status of this extremely important infrastructure. For this reason, predictive maintenance is an important topic for conveyor systems today and in the future. The market has long recognized the importance of this topic - also against the backdrop of the opportunities offered by Industry 4.0 - and attaches great importance to the topic of digitalization and its benefits.

mfl: Which products does your company want to score points on the market this year and what makes them stand out?
Martin Regnet: We are very confident about the success of our newly launched DC Platform and are seeing a high level of interest in the market for this innovative solution. We have also had a good start with our new modular conveyor platform for pallets - MPP.
has also had a good start. We have further optimized some solutions that we have already been offering for some time, such as our belt curve, which impresses with its low maintenance requirements and further reduced noise emissions. As a neutral supplier in the market, we see promising potential here.

Two questions for Thomas Beinert, Key Account Manager, Rollex Förderelemente

Thomas Beinert © rollex-group

material flow: Is enough attention paid to the roles in the complex interaction of a conveyor system? If not, why is that?
Thomas Beinert: The roller is the item that comes into contact with the end customer's goods in the system. During its service life, it has to withstand extreme conditions such as high speeds, heavy loads and often very changing environmental influences. Despite the high demands, it is important not to lose sight of economic efficiency. This is why the advice given by the roller supplier and the information provided by the system manufacturer have a decisive influence on the longevity and quality of a system and therefore on trouble-free operation. For this reason, we at Rollex Förderelemente GmbH & Co KG focus entirely on the topic of rollers and attach great importance to advising, developing and implementing customer requirements. "If the roller doesn't turn, the goods don't turn".

mfl: What products does your company want to score points on the market with this year and what makes them stand out?
Beinert: Our main focus is on expanding our production capacities. The aim is to do even more justice to the value proposition of our customers. The major investment in a new production hall underlines this. In addition, the further development and expansion of motorized rollers at Rollex Förderelemente is the focus for 2019. Everyone is talking about sustainability and energy conservation. This makes the synchronous motor, for example, the first choice. Thanks to its high torque, compact dimensions and very low heat build-up, this motor can be used wherever space is limited and temperature plays a major role. Areas of application: Cold stores, food industry, animal feed industry.

Two questions for Andreas Flies, Sales Manager Germany, Austria and Switzerland for unit load conveyor technology, Rulmeca

Andreas Flies © Rumelca

material flow: Is enough attention paid to the roles in the complex interaction of a warehouse? If not, why is that?
Andreas Flies: Idlers for unit loads are generally bread and butter business in warehousing and shipping. Price is what counts here. Rulmeca manufactures in Italy with corresponding price advantages. But we also attract attention: for example, for our 117 series of idlers with spring-loaded conical hexagonal axle journals. It combines the advantages of spring axles with bolted axles. Both axle ends can be lowered into the roller independently of each other against a spring force.

mfl: What products does your company want to score points on the market with this year and what makes them stand out?
Flies: With the 24VDC BL3 Drive Roller for the unit load sector, we have had the third generation of drive rollers on the market since 2018, which impresses with its patented gear system, twice the speed range and up to 40 % more torque. We now offer these drive rollers for zero pressure accumulation unit load conveyors as kits with rollers and belts as well as the ZPA (Zero Pressure Accumulation) controller modules from Pepperl+Fuchs, providing customers with the most powerful overall package on the market. The ZPA controller modules, in combination with zone sensors, enable the simple and fast construction of roller conveyors with pressureless accumulation logic, which benefits both mechanical engineering OEMs and conveyor system manufacturers and end users. Simpler solutions can also be implemented with our in-house motion controller RMC-BL3. Basic functions include dip switches for setting the speed and direction of rotation. However, the controller can also process I/O signals from external controllers.