Electronic queueing control for materials handling

Situations often occur in industry where several machines or operatives have a common source of material. If demands for more materials are dealt with in random sequence, or in accordance with a fixed routine, there will be cases where a machine or operator runs right out of material while others get their demands met more quickly than necessary. A solution to this problem is to have an electronic system which acts like a queue and controls the routing of material so that demands are dealt with in the order in which they arise. Several versions of electronic queue are described together with their application in industry. Problems which bear resemblance to queues also arise in connection with conveyors; it is sometimes necessary to identify packages as they are fed to a common conveyor, and then divert them at the appropriate collecting points along the route; sometimes inspection points cannot be located at the same place as the reject diversion mechanism, and a delay varying with conveyor speed must be introduced. It is shown that electronic queueing systems can be used with advantage in these situations also.