Conveyors have become an integral part of modern industry. These material handling systems attend to a whole spectrum of activity, which otherwise would have to be done by human labor or beasts of burden. An overview of a synchronized factory-wide Industrial Conveyor system shows raw materials being unloaded and delivered to the stores, and from there, to the start of the manufacturing operations and then through the different stages of production to inspection, packing and dispatching. Some Industrial Conveyors could be only a few feet long. Others could stretch out for miles.

Except for the common material handling chores, each industry may require conveyors specifically designed for its operating procedure. In the same industry, individual factories could have different systems. Take an example from automobile tire production lines. One plant may have floor-level arrangement for moving green carcasses from the tire building machines to the vulcanizing presses. Another might opt for an overhead system.

There are several types of conveyors. These include mechanical, belt, chain, screw, bucket, and pneumatic. The base equipment and its parts can be manufactured from steel, stainless steel, brass, aluminum, plastic or rubber. The selection of the raw material would depend on various factors like the type, size and weight of the material to be handled, the speed at which the system is to run, and the operating conditions.

Choosing a complex Industrial Conveyor system is often a job meant for experts. They study all aspects of the industrial unit concerned, including expansion potential, weigh the pros and cons of different systems, and give due consideration to the raw material options, comparative costs, and numerous other details before designing an integrated system. Many conveyor manufacturers take on turnkey jobs, which mean engineering, production and installation of the system.

Stringent specifications are in force for Industrial Conveyors and their parts. Often more than one set of the standard applies. Take the case of food processing industry for example. Apart from material and manufacturing specifications for the conveyor, safety regulations and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules also would be applicable.