Figures are sourced and dated. Check them before relying on them in client work.
Conveyor and Sortation Sizing Calculator
Size sortation to peak-hour demand, required sorter rate, sort lanes, induction stations, and either conveyor belt speed (fixed) or sort-robot count (robotic / AMR), and check a proposed sorter's headroom. Calculations run server-side.
Peak hour ÷ average hour
0 = skip sufficiency check
Enter peak demand and sorter parameters, required rate, sort lanes, and a proposed sorter's headroom appear here.
What this calculator does
This calculator sizes a sortation system to peak-hour demand. It returns the required sorter rate, the number of sort lanes, the number of induction stations, and either the conveyor belt speed (fixed sortation) or the number of sort robots (robotic or AMR sortation). If you enter the rated throughput of a proposed sorter, it also checks the headroom.
Inputs that matter
- Demand: daily units, operating hours per day and a peak-hour factor, which is the peak hour divided by the average hour.
- Sortation: the number of destinations, the per-lane divert rate (units per hour a chute can divert) and, optionally, the rated sorter throughput in units per hour.
- Induction: the rate one induction station can feed, in units per hour.
- Fixed mode: unit length and the gap between units, in feet. Robotic mode: sorts per robot per hour.
How it works
Average units per hour is daily units divided by operating hours. Peak units per hour is that average times the peak-hour factor, and this peak figure is the required sorter rate. Sizing to the average would understate it.
Sort lanes are the larger of the destination count and the rate-driven count, which is peak units per hour divided by the per-lane divert rate, rounded up. The result states whether destinations or divert rate is the binding constraint and shows the load per lane. Induction stations are peak units per hour divided by the station rate, rounded up.
In fixed mode, required belt speed in feet per minute is peak units per minute times the unit length plus the gap. In robotic mode, required robots are peak units per hour divided by sorts per robot per hour, rounded up.
For the headroom check, utilization is peak units per hour divided by the rated sorter rate. Above 100 percent is over capacity, above 85 percent is tight and anything lower is ok. Headroom is the rated rate minus the peak.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the required sorter rate?
- It is the peak-hour volume: daily units divided by operating hours, times the peak-hour factor. A sorter has to handle the peak hour, not the average hour, so this is the number to compare with a vendor's rated throughput.
- What decides the number of sort lanes?
- The larger of two numbers: how many destinations you need to sort to, and how many lanes the peak rate requires given what one chute can divert per hour. The tool tells you which of the two is binding.
- When is a sorter flagged as too tight?
- When peak demand exceeds 85 percent of the rated rate the verdict is tight, and above 100 percent it is over capacity. Below 85 percent it is ok, and the tool shows the headroom in units per hour.