Component transport with system:
How modular workpiece carriers make your production and intralogistics more efficient, safer, and easier to automate
In modern manufacturing facilities, component transport is not just a logistical issue – it is a key factor for cycle time, process reliability, and component quality. Where components are manually reloaded, transported in bulk bins, or passed on in an unorganized manner, losses occur due to damage, confusion, and unnecessary handling costs.
For production and logistics managers, this means:
🔻 Scrap increases,
🔻 Rework accumulates,
🔻 and material flows become opaque.
The solution: Modular part carriers from ZELL – developed for continuous use from goods receipt to dispatch.
❌ The reality without Part carrier systems
- No defined component position – robots & machines require readjustment
- High effort for repacking and singulation
- Defective component securing – Rejects and rework increase
- No continuous traceability in ERP / MES
- Media breaks between storage, processing, cleaning and assembly
Consequence: Scaling efficiency losses per cycle – per shift – per line.
✅ Transport in modular workpiece carriers
- Uniform carrier for the entire process chain – no repacking necessary
- Automatable: Compatible with lines, rotary transfer machines, AGVs, robot cells
- Protection & stability: Clips hold components securely in position and gently
- Stackable & washable – robust for industrial series production
- Traceability via DMC, QR, engraving or RFID per position
- MES-/ERP-ready – each process step can be assigned to a component
Advantages in intralogistics – crucial for logistics managers
A standardized part carrier becomes the logistical bracket of your processes:
🔁 Media-break free
No re-warehousing between storage, processing, washing, assembly – a continuous carrier for all steps.
📦 Storage & Return Transport
Suitable for shelving systems, storage containers and AutoStore® boxes – ideal for integration into existing systems.
🚚 Transport-optimized
Stackable, AGV-compatible, barcodable – ideal for in-house factory transport and external logistics.
🧠 Real time data
RFID and DMC integration for traceable loading units in the MES or ERP system.
⚙️ Automatable
Direct transfer to palletizers, cobots, robots or conveyor belts – less handling, greater process reliability.
Perspective of the production management
For the production manager, the use of modular workpiece carriers brings:
- Less waste due to safe, component-specific handling
- Higher cycle rate, as pick-and-place and feeding processes can work precisely
- Flexibility in changing variants due to exchangeable holders (no new carriers required)
- Predictable Process Chains, as the position, status, and location of each component are clearly defined
Practical example from series production
An automotive supplier uses modular stainless steel carriers from ZELL across five stations:
- Manual loading (isolated positions)
- Feeding via conveyor belt to CNC cell (DMG MORI, Hermle)
- Robot removal for cleaning
- Return via AGV to the test cell
- Direct loading of final packaging (blister packs) from the carrier
Result: less repacking, reduced personnel deployment in transport, almost complete component tracking.
A modular part carrier from ZELL is more than just a means of transport:
It is component protection, an information carrier and an automation module – throughout your entire production.
Fewer handling steps. More transparency. Less waste.
Exactly what a modern production and logistics organization needs.
.png)
