Happy Holidays: PEER and Package Distribution

Conveyors are modern-day Santa's elves

As the gift-giving season comes upon us, many are participating in the busiest shopping time of the year that begins with the “Black Friday” to “Cyber Monday” weekend of sales.  Technology has made the consumer experience of buying a gift online, or even sending a gift via a freight carrier, a very pain-free one.  What many may not be aware of is the complexity of the package distribution systems that exist, and just what goes into making that 1-click sale happen.  With the shortest period between Thanksgiving and Christmas in a decade, many distributors and logistics companies are gearing up for an intense few weeks of shipping deadlines, and consumers would be wise to plan their package-sending well in advance.

Behind the scenes of any distribution center lays an extremely advanced infrastructure for the sorting, conveyance, and distribution of packages – one particularly huge example comes to mind.  In order to get a package from any one drop-off location and to the doors of the recipients, it may need to be sent through several distribution centers, tracked, and delivered, within a time frame that keeps the customer happy.  This level of sophistication requires many different technologies working in unison, including encoding and tracking software, perhaps even automated sorting technology, and of course continuously moving conveyors, to physically move things along to where they need to be.

Those in the industry call this intelligent sortation – and we’d argue that one of the backbones of this technology is the bearing.  On a scale of this proportion, conveyors are necessary to move parcels over the distances of huge warehouse floors efficiently.  As such, the bearing on these conveyors need to be durable, dependable, and long-lasting.  We’re sure that no one in the warehousing and distribution business wants to deal with a faulty bearing that causes a conveyor to stop working – every second it’s not up and running is another delay; conversely, every working bearing is a delay prevented, and a customer satisfied.

So this year, if you’re lucky enough to receive a special gift in the mail, take a second to appreciate the complexity of the system that makes it possible, and give your delivery guy a smile.