#DiscoverTheDifference: How High-Performance Processes Can Be Connected Flexibly Without Conveyor Systems - Part 1
High-throughput production lines require precise timing, reliable handovers, and stable processes. For this reason, conveyor systems are still considered the default solution in many facilities. When speed, precision, and continuous operation are required, belts, chains, and rail-based systems are often viewed as the only viable option.
But this assumption no longer reflects today's requirements. Modern transport automation must do far more than simply move containers from A to B. It must preserve layout flexibility, connect machines intelligently, simplify maintenance activities, and still keep pace with highly synchronized production environments.
Marcel Meckes, Managing Director of Carrybots – developing mobile robotics solutions for efficient and adaptable material flows.The Misconception
“High-throughput production lines must be connected by conveyor systems.”
This assumption appears reasonable because conveyor technology has long been the standard answer to high cycle rates. It is robust, predictable, and highly capable. However, it is also inherently rigid.
Once installed, conveyor systems define the layout, consume valuable floor space, restrict access to equipment, and make future modifications expensive and time-consuming.
As a result, mobile robots have often been perceived as a flexible but less capable alternative—too slow, insufficiently precise, or not reliable enough for highly synchronized manufacturing environments. For many decision-makers, this created a seemingly unavoidable trade-off: either high performance with fixed conveyor infrastructure or greater flexibility with compromises in throughput and availability.
The Reality
Production environments are evolving faster than traditional conveyor systems can adapt.
Product variants change, maintenance requirements shift, production lines are reconfigured, and packaging concepts are continuously optimized. Every one of these changes directly impacts material flow.
When machine connections are permanently hard-wired through infrastructure, every adjustment becomes an intervention in the facility layout. What began as a transport solution can quickly turn into a limitation.
Material flow routes become obstacles, machine accessibility decreases, and minor disruptions can escalate into larger production losses.
This is where the hidden costs of rigid automation emerge—not only in the initial investment, but also in the lack of agility when operational requirements change.
The Difference
The system was specifically developed to link synchronized machines without constraining production through fixed conveyor infrastructure.
HERBIE vehicles achieve system availability of more than 99.6% and position themselves with an accuracy of ±3 millimeters in less than one second. At the same time, investment costs start at €10,000 per vehicle, making mobile transport automation both technically powerful and economically scalable.
A practical example can be found at Tetley/Tata in the United Kingdom. There, 77 HERBIE vehicles operate across eight material flow loops, transporting 912 tea carriers per minute. The fleet covers approximately 750 kilometers per day, performing a task that would traditionally require high-speed conveyor technology.
#DiscoverTheDifference
If you would like to assess whether your material flow processes could also benefit from a more flexible connection concept with HERBIE, talk to Carrybots about your specific application.
“High-throughput production does not necessarily require rigid conveyor systems. What matters is that mobile solutions deliver the same level of process reliability while providing the freedom to rethink production layouts.”
By Marcel Meckes, Managing Director at Carrybots
