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Solutions · Automation · Material handling

Conveyor and material handling systems, controls first.


We deliver conveyor systems turnkey as part of a controls solution, and we are the controls partner behind material handling companies who bring the mechanical. Panels, drives, PLC and HMI code, safety and commissioning from the same team that can also cut, form and weld the conveyor itself.

Turnkey conveyor systems
Controls partner to material handling OEMs
Belt · roller · MDR · accumulation · sortation
Robotic palletizing cells
AS/RS · VLM · AMR / AGV
Automation at Think-PLC

Where most automation projects start, and the rest.

Robotics, material handling, retrofits and brewhouse controls are the doors people usually come in through. Custom machines, packaging lines, process skids and CNC are the rest, and they all come out of the same engineering office, UL 508A panel shop and fabrication floor in Winston-Salem.

Systems we deliver

From a single transfer to a full line.

Most conveyor projects come to us as part of a bigger controls job: a new packaging line, a robot palletizer that needs infeed and outfeed, a plant that wants one PLC and one HMI over everything. We design the flow, select or fabricate the conveyor, build the panels and program the system so it runs as one.

  • Turnkey for end users. Layout, conveyor, controls, installation and start-up under one purchase order, with one team responsible for the result.
  • Controls-first design. Zones, sensors, drives and safety are laid out with the PLC program in mind, so accumulation, merges and sortation behave the way the drawings say.
  • Fabricated next door. Supports, guards, transfers and custom sections are laser-cut, formed and welded in our own shop when the catalogue does not fit.
Custom conveyor section built in the Think-PLC shop
Conveyor systems

Flat-belt, modular plastic belt, MDR (motor-driven roller), accumulation, sortation, ARB, spiral, chain and stainless-steel belt conveyors, plus case, product, pallet and part handling systems, designed, fabricated and installed to your facility.

Robotic palletizing and depalletizing

Robot cells on the arm that fits, with infeed and outfeed conveyance, pallet dispensers and stretch-wrap hand-off, proven in simulation against your rate before anything is built.

Robotics →
AS/RS and sortation controls

Control upgrades and new controls for automated storage and retrieval systems, sorters and merges, engineered from the whole system rather than one crane at a time.

Vertical lift and linear motion

Vertical lift modules and extruded-aluminum linear motion frameworks from Qimarox and mk North America, for space-efficient material flow and machine access.

AMR and AGV integration

Autonomous and guided vehicles tied into your conveyors, doors and WMS or PLC handshakes for safe, scalable transport between cells.

Conveyor and sorter retrofits

New PLCs, drives, photo-eyes and safety on conveyance you already own, cut over around your production schedule.

Upgrades & retrofits →
Flat beltModular plastic beltMDRAccumulationSortation ARBSpiralChainStainless beltPallet handlingCase & product
For material handling companies

You bring the mechanical. We bring the controls.

Conveyor manufacturers, systems integrators and material handling OEMs use us as the controls arm of their projects: a UL 508A panel shop that builds to their standard, engineers who program to their code base, and a field team that commissions on their schedule. You keep the customer; we make the system run.

  • Panels to your standard. Main control panels, motor control and remote I/O panels built to your drawings or ours, UL 508A listed, with enclosed VFD packages from stock.
  • Programs to your library. Siemens TIA Portal, Rockwell Studio 5000 and Ignition, written in your structure, simulated before start-up and documented for your service team.
  • Field support. Installation supervision, I/O checkout, drive commissioning, start-up and operator training on the customer site.
  • Fabrication when you need it. Supports, guards, transfers and custom sections from our laser, press brake and weld shop for the parts your catalogue does not cover.
Automated storage and retrieval system aisle
UL 508Alisted panel shop sized for OEM volume
Siemens & RockwellSolution Partner and Integrator on both platforms
In stockenclosed VFDs and packaged controllers for conveyor drives
Fab shopnext door for supports, guards and custom sections
How a project runs

From flow diagram to first case across the line.

1 · Flow and layout

Rates, product sizes, zones and hand-offs on a layout you can walk. Robot cells are checked in simulation at this stage.

2 · Design

Mechanical drawings for fabricated sections, EPLAN or AutoCAD Electrical schematics, panel layouts, drive sizing and a functional description your team can review.

3 · Build and test

Panels built and factory-tested in our UL 508A shop, conveyor sections fabricated next door, program simulated before it leaves.

4 · Install and support

Installation, I/O checkout, start-up and training, then service and spares from the team that built it.

Support →
Overhead conveyor lines in a food plant
Multi-level conveyance in a washdown plant
Robotic palletizing cell with conveyor infeed
Robotic palletizing with roller conveyor infeed
Custom conveyor built in the Think-PLC shop
Custom transfer section built in our shop
Standards & certifications

Built to the standard, partnered with the vendors.

UL 508A panel shopNFPA 79Siemens Solution Partner: Factory Automation Siemens Solution Partner: Drives & MotionRockwell IntegratorFANUC Robot Integrator Ignition Certified
Have a layout or a rate in mind? Send a sketch of the space, the product and the throughput you need. We will come back with a flow diagram, a conveyor and controls concept and a budget, normally within a week.
Start a conveyor study
Design. Build. Install. Service.

Talk to our team about moving your product.

Conveyors, palletizing, storage and the controls that run them, from one team in Winston-Salem, NC.

Contact us Robotics