EnKon Belt-Drive Scissor Lifts Eliminate Excessive Maintenance in Food & Beverage Pallet Transfer Application

PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS

• Belt drive scissor lift with custom top plate tooling
• Capacity 3,500 lbs
• 11″ lowered height; 16″ travel
• Food-grade coating
• Application 100k cycles/year; built for 1M cycles/year

CUSTOMER CHALLENGE

A major food & beverage manufacturer needed to raise pallets from one conveyor to transfer to a second line.  Their system relied on four standard scissor-actuated air bag lifts.  The original lifts were causing the following reliability and safety concerns:

• Side thrusts and instability: The lack of a 1:1 lift ratio caused scissor side thrusts, vibration, and load stability concerns at the top of travel.
• Floor damage: Continuous vibration at mounting points led to cracking in the concrete floor.
• Premature wear: Bearing hubs were wearing out quickly, driving frequent maintenance.
• Air bag degradation: Lubricated compressed air wasn’t allowed in a food environment, so the lift’s air bags dried out and required regular replacement.
• Limited alternatives: Hydraulic lifts were ruled out due to the risk of oil contamination.

ENKON SOLUTION

EnKon engineers adapted a proven Vertical Robot motor-driven belt-drive scissor lift design to eliminate these issues, incorporating:

• An aggressive 11″ lowered height with optimized motor placement to fit beneath the existing conveyor line.
• Custom top-plate tooling to stabilize pallets during transfer and integrate seamlessly with conveyor/gantry equipment.
• Food-safe, non-enamel coating to prevent contamination.
• Fully electric power — removing the need for hydraulics or lubricated air.
• Redundant drive belts, each capable of carrying the full 3,500 lb. load.

The customer immediately experienced more machine uptime and higher productivity.  The EnKon lifts’ smooth lifting motion removed vibration, instability, and floor damage.  Shortly after, the customer ordered four additional units for a facility expansion doubling output for this product line.