How PT Distributors Can Deliver a More Complete Conveyor Solution
When an end user calls for a replacement conveyor chain or belt, the immediate need may seem straightforward: identify the right part, quote it, and get the equipment running again.
But the chain or belt may only be part of the opportunity. The wear strips, chain guides, belt guides, sprockets, rollers, bearings, and other components surrounding that chain or belt are also subject to wear. When those parts are overlooked, an end user may replace one component without addressing other conditions affecting conveyor performance.
For power transmission distributors, that creates an opportunity to provide more value to the customer and potentially turn a single-component order into a more complete conveyor solution.
Look Beyond the Chain or Belt
A replacement chain or belt order is a natural time to ask a few more questions.
What is the chain riding on? What is guiding the belt? Are the wear strips worn? How do the sprockets look? Are rollers, pulleys, bearings, or guides contributing to the problem?
The goal isn't to make a simple order unnecessarily complicated. It is to make sure the customer is addressing the application rather than replacing one worn component while leaving another problem behind. When an end user is replacing a belt or chain, it may be the right time to address wear strips and related conveyor components.
For the distributor, the conversation can expand from “What chain do you need?” to “What else in the conveyor should we look at while you're doing the repair?”
Components PT Distributors Should Be Looking For
Power transmission distributors already work around motion, wear, friction, and mechanical components. Plastic conveyor components are a natural extension of many of those applications.
Slideways supplies standard and custom components including:
- Wear strips
- Roller chain guides
- Belt guides
- Guide rails
- SlideTrax curves and straights
- Plastic sprockets
- Chain tensioners
- Pulleys
- Return and custom rollers
- Bearings and bushings
The Slideways product range also includes conveyor components, extruded profiles, rail covers, mounted chain guides, roll-end bearings, and specialty components for applications such as wastewater treatment.
That means a distributor does not have to stop when the customer's problem extends beyond the traditional power transmission component.
The Opportunity Gets Bigger When the Part Isn't Standard
The easiest applications may involve a standard guide, wear strip, or sprocket. But PT distributors are also likely to encounter applications where the customer can't simply order a replacement from a catalog.
Maybe the conveyor is older. Maybe the OEM component is no longer readily available. Maybe someone modified the equipment years ago. Maybe the customer only has a worn part and no current drawing. Or the replacement is standard in concept but requires an unusual profile, dimension, or material. Those are exactly the situations where having a plastic precision-part manufacturer becomes valuable.
Slideways specializes in custom plastic parts for conveyor and power transmission applications. Parts can be produced from customer specifications and drawings or reverse-engineered from a sample. Machining capabilities include CNC routing, profiling, CNC turning, and vertical machining for conveyor and power transmission parts ranging from sprockets and SlideTrax to chain guides, belt guides, bearings, pulleys, rollers, and complex packaging-machine components.
For distributors, that means the answer to a customer's unusual request doesn't have to be, “We don't carry that.” It can be, “Send us the part or drawing and we'll see what we can do.”
Don't Just Replace the Part, Look at the Application
Custom manufacturing is only part of the equation. Material selection can make an equally important difference.
Slideways works with a range of engineering plastics designed for different operating conditions. Depending on the application, the component may need to address:
- Wear and abrasion
- Friction
- Corrosion
- Moisture
- Chemicals
- Temperature
- Noise
- Food-contact requirements
- Static or contamination concerns
Materials such as UHMW provide properties including low friction, chemical and corrosion resistance, self-lubrication, noise reduction, and no moisture absorption. Slideways also offers specialized UHMW formulations and other engineering plastics for applications requiring different performance characteristics.
So when a worn component is being replaced, the conversation does not necessarily have to be about reproducing exactly what was there before. The better question may be: Is there a material or design that is better suited to the application?
These Opportunities Exist Across the End-User Market
Power transmission distributors serve customers in a wide range of industries, and many of those facilities operate conveyor and processing equipment every day.
Slideways supplies wear and power transmission components for industries including agriculture, bakeries, beverage operations, bottling and canning plants, food processing and packaging, pharmaceutical packaging, package handling and distribution centers, conveyor systems, and other industrial applications.
The components vary by application. A food or beverage plant may need wear strips, and corner tracks. A package-handling operation may need chute liners and chain guides. Conveyor applications may involve belt guides and guide rails. The common denominator is that these parts are often close to the products PT distributors already sell.
Slideways Helps Fill the Application Gap
A distributor does not need to become an expert in plastic machining or material selection to pursue these opportunities. Slideways can serve as the manufacturing and application resource behind the distributor.
That includes producing standard and custom plastic parts, helping evaluate materials, working from drawings and specifications, reverse engineering samples, and manufacturing short- and medium-run parts without the tooling requirements associated with some other manufacturing methods.
Responsiveness is another important part of that relationship. Under Slideways' 2D/2W service commitment, quotes are provided in 1–2 days, usually the same day for standard items, and machined parts ship within 2–3 weeks, with stock items available faster. If that timing cannot be met, Slideways communicates the reason and provides revised timing.
That gives the PT distributor a resource to call when an end user's requirement moves beyond the products sitting on the shelf.
5 Questions to Ask on Your Next Chain or Belt Order
The next time an end user calls about a conveyor chain or belt, consider asking:
- Are the wear strips or guides worn too?
- Are you seeing unusual friction, noise, or wear elsewhere on the conveyor?
- Do any sprockets, pulleys, rollers, bearings, or tensioners need attention too?
- Is there an obsolete or difficult-to-source component holding up the repair?
- Do you have a drawing or sample if a replacement needs to be custom-made?
Those few questions can help uncover a larger application and give the customer a more complete solution.
Help Your Customer Solve More of the Conveyor Problem
A chain or belt order does not have to end with the chain or belt. By looking at the wear, guide, support, and power transmission components around it, PT distributors can help customers address more of the conveyor system at the same time.
That can mean greater value for the customer, a stronger relationship for the distributor, and fewer opportunities lost simply because the required component falls outside a traditional product line.
Do you know someone with a worn, obsolete, or hard-to-source conveyor part? Send Slideways the drawing, sample, or application details. We'll help identify the right standard or custom plastic solution.
Get a Free Quote: https://www.slideways.com/pages/request-quote