Seneca Niagara Casino & Resort is a large full-amenity resort located in Niagara Falls, New York. The property features 604 rooms and suites with ten restaurants, seven shops, more than 2,500 slots, and over 80 table games. 

Seneca Casinos contacted Pacline for a new Automated Uniform Distribution System (AUDS) to handle their staffs’ uniform storage and retrieval. Seneca already had a uniform conveyor system in place, but it was old, breaking down, and the operating system was out-of-date. Therefore, a complete replacement was the best solution. 

The Challenge

The old uniform system was failing, and the operating software was running on Windows 95. Whenever staff wanted to take out their uniforms, a locking mechanism would often fail and would have to be manually repaired. 

Seneca needed to update the computer’s operating software, but the original system’s manufacturer would not replace just the computer system or update the software. Seneca was told they had to replace the entire conveyor system. At that point, they started to research alternate equipment and contacted Pacline for a solution. 

There is a kiosk with access door at the front of each room for each conveyor that allows the employees retrieve their own locker bag. The system operates on a barcode scanning system. The employee scans their ID card at the kiosk and the Pacline control system moves the employee’s locker back to the access door.  When the locker bag is in position, the access door unlocks and allows the employee to open to add or remove contents from their locker bag. The Pacline control system has a manual method for retrieval if the employee ID does not read properly.  

The PAC-LINE™ overhead conveyor is an enclosed track that increases the conveyor’s cleanliness and safety, one of Seneca’s leading causes of concern. The Pacline conveyor chain and other moving parts are enclosed or otherwise protected from accidental contact by employees. The new control system operates using a Microsoft SQL database and Windows 10 operating software.

32 Degrees is an activewear clothing company that focuses on providing functionality and style for the everyday wardrobe. 32 Degrees’ goal is to revolutionize the everyday basics by utilizing the latest warming and cooling technologies to deliver all day comfort throughout all seasons at a valued price.

PACLINE Overhead Conveyors was contacted by 32 Degrees to help with a creative storefront marketing display in Manhattan, New York in the Macy’s department store near Times Square. The customer saw our Garment Handling Systems used in retail displays and realized that we could offer the exact solution they had envisioned. The month-long window display would feature their 32 Degrees “Heat” jacket that is pack-able into a small, convenient bag. Utilizing the PAC-LINE™ Overhead Conveyor allowed 32 Degrees to demonstrate the pack-able capability of their jacket with an interesting and eye-catching effect.

32 Degrees’ envisioned marketing display

The Challenges

PACLINE was faced with some very unique challenges when engineering and installing this conveyor:

• Storefront room dimensions were only 3’ x 18’
• Storefront display conveyor could not be bolted to ground or be hung from ceiling
• The VFD control system could not be displayed and could not take up a lot of room
• Installation had to be completed overnight and no parking was available for truck delivery

The Solution

The limited storefront space was PACLINE’s greatest obstacle throughout the design and install process. In order to fit the conveyor loop into the 3’ wide room, 9” radius curves had to be used, making the total storefront display conveyor only 18” wide! Our installers Mike and Spencer had to work overnight to install all equipment. They had to work and maneuver inside the tight window space along with all of their tooling and equipment making this the most congested job-site ever!

The blueprints of the storefront area display the limited room size and narrow width of conveyor.

The PAC-LINE™ Monorail Enclosed Track Conveyor is often secured using a connection to the ceiling structure, or bolted to the floor using floor stands with baseplates. Unfortunately, the storefront room at Macy’s made these options unavailable, so project engineer, Yuvraj, was forced with the task of creating a different method of stabilizing the storefront display conveyor within a 3-week timeline. Yuvraj designed floor stands that were secured to one another, each with wide “X” style base plates in order to ensure stability and support. This resulted in a conveyor system that was not secured to any exterior supports, but was able to stand stable and still withstand any vibrations of the running conveyor.

The unique floor stands enabled the storefront display conveyor to be stable and supported without bolted connection.

Due to the overnight installation time limitation, the VFD could not be set up and wired during this process. This forced PACLINE to pre-wire and configure the VFD prior to shipping in order to reduce installation time and prevent potential installation issues from occurring.  The pre-wired VFD was given a simple plug-in power unit so that the system could be easily managed and installed on-site. This made the installation very efficient, while keeping the VFD compact and hidden from outside viewers. The overnight installation was accomplished thanks to PACLINE’s experienced installers, who were able to install the system and deliver the requirements in a short time span in busy Manhattan, New York.

To achieve the desired effect in the display, the PAC-LINE™ overhead conveyor was set up as a two-tiered system with loose jackets on the bottom hanger and packed jackets on the top. Portions of the top and bottom were strategically blocked from view with window graphics so that the hanging jackets appeared to be transforming before your eyes into packed jackets. The loose jackets were set up to turn 45 degrees in order to display the full jacket to the viewer and to ensure the jackets were conveyed smoothly without rubbing or becoming caught on any outer obstacles in the small storefront.

The project engineer was able to create a hanger solution in order to achieve 32 Degree’s needs.

The Result

The final project displayed a moving storyline of jackets that appeared to become “packed” jackets as they were conveyed through a “machine” in the center of the window. This creative window display was highly effective in catching the attention of passers-by on a busy Manhattan street AND demonstrating the unique features of the packable 32 Degrees “Heat” Jacket.

For more information about our systems contact a PACLINE engineer at 1-800-955-8860.

Pacline Conveyors Inc., was recently awarded the contract to build and install the inmate property storage system for the new Harris County Joint Processing Center in Houston, Texas. The $100 million dollar, 250,000 square-foot facility will serve the third largest county jail system in the United States and is expected to be completed by the end of 2017.

The new Joint Processing Center has been designed to improve efficiency in the correctional system by consolidating and streamlining all inmate bookings and releases for the city of Houston and the county. The Harris County Center will have the capacity to hold up to 1,500 inmates at various stages of processing.

Managing the inmate property for a facility of this size is a challenge and an important reason why the builder, Clark Construction, chose PACLINE’s automated garment storage and retrieval system for the Harris County Joint Processing Center.

The PACLINE system will include 12 industrial-strength PAC-LINE™ signature enclosed track conveyor loops with the capacity to carry a total of 12,000 hanging garment bags with inmate personal property.

PACLINE’s RETRIEVER™  control system will allow operators the efficiency of retrieving multiple indexed bags. This is an important feature of the system as it is estimated that the Harris County Center will be processing up to 900 inmates per day.

The enclosed-track design of PACLINE’s conveyor system eliminates dangerous pinch points common in other conveyor systems. This is an extremely important consideration for inmate property systems where hands and fingers of the operators can come in contact with the track and moving chain.

Karl Scholz, President of Pacline Overhead Conveyors says, “We appreciate this opportunity and the confidence expressed by the Clark/Harris County team. We look forward to delivering a high quality system later this year.”

Key features of the PACLINE Inmate Property Handling System:

• The PAC-LINE™ conveyor track is modular in design which means that installations and modifications are quick and easy – no welding required.
• System can be designed to accommodate all types of garment bags.
• Safe for operators as the enclosed track prevents hand and fingers from contacting the moving chain.
• Track and components are designed for industrial use – proven to deliver long-term, trouble-free performance.

For further information about PACLINE Inmate Property Storage Systems visit: https://www.pacline.com/solutions/inmate-property-storage-systems/

ABOUT PACLINE

Since 1979, PACLINE Conveyors Inc. has been designing, manufacturing, installing and servicing high quality overhead conveyor systems. PACLINE has installed thousands of systems with over 3 million feet of conveyors in countries around the world. The company provides material handling solutions to a wide range of industries from manufacturing and warehousing operations to garment handling and entertainment applications. PACLINE has headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario (CANADA) and an engineering office and warehouse in Buffalo, New York (USA).

Background:

The Toronto South Detention Centre opened in 2014. This maximum-medium security correctional facility was built to replace three local jails in the Toronto: the Toronto Jail (Known as the Don Jail), the Toronto West Detention Centre and the Mimico Correctional Centre. The Mimico Centre, parts of which dated back to 1887, was finally demolished in 2011 to make room for the new state-of-the-art Toronto South Detention Centre.

Challenge:

As the second largest jail in Canada, the Toronto South Detention Centre has a capacity for over 2000 inmates. By law, all inmate property must be stored safely while individuals are incarcerated. At this centre, anywhere from 200-400 inmates may be entering or leaving the facility on a daily basis requiring either storage or access to their individual personal property.

Efficient and secure management (storage and retrieval) of this large amount of property was a key requirement for the new inmate property storage system at the Toronto South Detention Centre.

Solution:

For more than 60 years, the Kleinfeld Bridal Boutique has been making dreams come true for brides to be. Brides have learned that the magic of Kleinfeld lies not just in magnificent stores, not just in offering the largest and finest selection of designer wedding gowns in the world, but in the hearts of the most professional staff anywhere…a staff dedicated to delivering their every wish.

In 2014, Hudson’s Bay opened a Kleinfeld salon on the 7th floor of its flagship store on Queen Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With 20,000 square feet of white-washed floors and vaulted ceilings, this one-stop-shop for brides has over 700 bridal gowns, as well as bridesmaids’ and flower girl dresses, shoes, jewelry, lingerie and headpieces.

The Garment Conveyor Challenge:

During the renovation and re-construction of the space that would become Kleinfeld Hudson’s Bay, Pacline Overhead Conveyors was contacted to provide a garment handling solution for storing and handling the large inventory of wedding gowns and other bridal apparel.

The goal for Kleinfeld was to have an automated storage and retrieval system that would maximize the space utilization of the back storage room area of the Bridal Salon. By far the bulk of the 20,000 square foot space was dedicated to the customer area with its spectacular showroom and displays and the numerous oversized fitting rooms. There were only three stock rooms, with a handling area totalling roughly 2,800 square feet.

Kleinfeld set out several key objectives for their garment storage and retrieval conveyor which were to:

• Receive new stock including the constant rotation of Trunk Show gowns
• Provide storage and access to inventory not accommodated in the showroom display area
• Manage the continuous flow of customer purchased gowns throughout the alteration and collection process

The new garment handling system also needed to have an initial capacity of 600 dresses with the capability of increasing capacity by approximately 35% in the future.

Some unique conveyor installation challenges

Unlike traditional installation jobs in commercial or industrial settings, this installation was on the 7th floor and in a retail space. All freight had to be transported by elevator from the loading dock to the 7th floor.

The space for maneuvering the floor stands and crates containing an assortment of conveyor components and hardware, was extremely restricted to say the least!

The second unique situation was the flooring in the area where the conveyor was to be installed. In this old building the floor was a combination of wood and concrete. This required some special considerations in order to properly secure the vertical floor stands.

The PACLINE Solution:

The PAC-LINE™ enclosed track overhead conveyor has proven to be the ideal solution for the garment handling system at Kleinfeld.

The final design included two independent conveyor loops each with their own RETRIEVER™ control system.

All components of the PAC-LINE™ are modular and easily bolted together. This means that minimal welding is required. This feature facilitated a very quick installation. In addition, as modifications or expansions are required in the future these too would be quicker and simpler to implement than most alternative conveyors.

The PAC-LINE™ monorail conveyor offered several other advantages which were particularly important in this non-industrial type application:

• Safety – All moving parts are enclosed in the track to protect operators from possible pinch points
• Dust shields – These were added to protect the delicate and expensive garments from any 
possible contaminants.
• Quiet operation – the enclosed track operates with minimal noise while the conveyor is running.

The Pacline RETRIEVER™ control system was an important part of this garment system. This simple and inexpensive control station arrangement allows the operator to locate ANY item on the conveyor and retrieve it quickly and efficiently on demand.

The operator simply enters the location number of the dress, and the conveyor takes the shortest route to deliver it to the operator. The RETRIEVER™ also allows the conveyor to stop and wait for the removal of the dress before proceeding to the next ‘pick’.

The Results:

The PAC-LINE™ conveyor with Retriever™ controls provided a Garment Storage and Retrieval solution that allowed the customer to conserve valuable space in their facility, while providing the capacity for additional growth.

Since all PACLINE parts and components were stocked, delivery was quick. PACLINE’s professional installers ensured that the entire system was up and running well within the expected deadlines.

PACLINE continued to add value by training boutique staff on how to use the conveyor and Retriever™ and by reviewing standard operating procedures and basic conveyor maintenance with the maintenance staff.

For more information about PACLINE garment handling systems visit our website or contact a PACLINE engineer at 1-800-955-8860.

PACLINE is well known in the indus­trial world for its high qual­ity con­veyor prod­ucts and exper­tise in cus­tom designed sys­tems for a wide range of man­u­fac­tur­ing and ware­hous­ing operations.

Now PACLINE has devel­oped its com­plete Gar­ment Han­dling con­veyor sys­tem. This stor­age and retrieval sys­tem uti­lizes their highly ver­sa­tile enclosed tube track con­veyor along with The RETRIEVER™ con­trol system.

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