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It’s a funny thing about space: no matter how much of it we have, we always seem to want or need more. Ask anyone’s who’s moved out of an apartment into a house, thinking that they’ll never again be short of space, only to find they’re soon in the same desperate search for space as before.

For a manufacturing or assembly plant, the lack of space can be costly – but so can having too much space. Without enough space to keep an inventory of raw materials, run your processes and store finished product, lost productivity and other inefficiencies could cost you more than you’ll ever know.

But if you expand too soon, the added cost, without the business to support it, could be equally as crippling for your business.

The Answer: Use the Space You Have More Efficiently

You most likely have more space in your facility than you think. While we measure and compare warehouse and factory sizes floor space square footage, you actually have that space many times over. Overhead space is probably the most underutilized in any facility – from your garage at home to the largest automotive assembly plant in the world.

How Overhead Conveyors Provide More Space

From product assembly to packaging, conveyor systems can streamline many of the processes you use. But overhead conveyors have the potential to reduce the space you need to perform the process.

Here are just a few ways that an overhead conveyor could reduce the floor space you use so that you have the extra space you need without actually adding any more square footage:

1. Ceiling Mounted

If your current conveyor system is mounted on the floor, it uses up too much space. Overhead conveyors do not necessarily need to use any floor space.

2. Taking Processes and Tasks Off the Floor

Let’s look at just one process that could happen overhead instead taking up floor space. If you have any painting or powder coating processes, many of the steps, including drying and/or curing, could happen overhead on a conveyor.

3. Built to Fit Your Space and Configuration

Adding any new piece of machinery or hardware carries with it the potential to displace your existing hardware and create space inefficiencies. But an overhead conveyor can be made to fit your current floor layout and space restrictions, including going up and around posts and equipment in relatively small increments.

Even when we don’t think we’re in a space crunch, sometimes we don’t consider what we could do with extra space because we don’t think we’ll ever have any. An overhead conveyor can change all that.