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Conveyor Belts
Conveyor belts represent a complimentary logistics-system that doesn't need employees to get items from point A to B. Employees are only required to deliver items to the start of a conveyor belt and to pick up the items at the end of it.
You want to move items across two buildings without an army of logistics workers?
Build a conveyor belt and you may even need less employees than for a standard in-building connection.
Items are only moved into one direction, it gets defined when you place the conveyor belt's segments. Important to note is, that a conveyor belt can end without a rollerband.
There are two segements which you can use to build your automated logistics:
bld_conveyor_tier01.notip and bld_rollerband_tier01.notip
Basic Setup
Setting up a conveyor belt is as simple as setting up a shelf, here are the required steps:
- Create ingoing connection to conveyor belt's start.
- Create outgoing connection from conveyor belt's end.
Tips and Tricks
One conveyor belt for one item
At the moment it's best to use one conveyor belt only for one item since you can't control how many batches of an item will be placed on it. This usually leads to a situation where only one item type is available for pickup and the other item is stuck on the belt. One could build a rebound-loop so the unneeded items get returned to the start of the conveyor belt and then get loaded there again, but this only works partly.
Shorter segments instead of a long one
If there are multiple short segments, employees can still load at the start of the conveyor belt since they are uneffected by jams at the end of it. This reduces also the waiting time for the next batch, since it is closer to the endpoint.
Stacking items
It happens often that there multiple batches at pickup that only consist of one or two items, which leads to an inefficient usage of your employees' time. To prevent this, there is the option to merge the incomplete batches on the belt into one complete batch.
The premises for this is that the item's input is high enough so that they build up stock at the pickup place and the conveyor belt consists of multiple short segments.
Right where the jammed area starts (right before the corner), sits a batch of 12/20 and a batch of 4/20 is incoming. Due to the jam the 12/20 batch doesn't move which creates the opportunity for the 4/20 batch to catch up. When the 4/20 reaches the 12/20 batch they get merged into one batch of 16/20.
Pick-and-Place Machines + conveyor belts
| input & output | stylish setup | compact setup |
|---|---|---|
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| Pick-and-Place Machines have predetermined in- and out-slots. The input always needs to be connected to the front left corner and the output to the front right corner. There is no way to change the item-flow's direction. Connecting input and output intuitively produces the expected result. | The intuitive layout for chaining machines is to place a conveyor belt in between each machine. This works as it should, though it wastes some of that precious space in the building. | The more compact layout is by placing the machines directly next to each other. Connections should be drawn drawn as usual. Using a bit less space is convenient for small buildings. |
Only one item can be supplied by a conveyor belt. Other items need to be supplied traditionally.
Future Additions
Version 0.7.0 and at least one of the releases before that will include some changes and additions to conveyor belts and the logistics itself. Details for these will be added when they are implemented.