Product range
- Product description and all formats
- Length, width, height and weight range
- Orientation, centre of gravity and stability
- Rigid, flexible, open, fragile or liquid-filled features
- Representative samples available for trials
Project planning checklist
Automatic reject system specification checklist.
Collect the product, throughput, inspection, risk, space and acceptance details that turn a broad requirement into a useful engineering quotation.
Product • Process • Risk • AcceptanceWhat information is needed to specify a reject system?
Direct answer
Define the complete product range, minimum and maximum speed, product pitch, inspection signal, conveyor layout, usable reject length, destination, required fault response, utilities, guarding and acceptance tests. Add a line video, layout drawing and representative product samples where available.
The strongest specification describes the result the production and quality teams need, not only a preferred cylinder or air jet. It leaves room to select the right mechanism while fixing the important boundaries: what must be rejected, where it must go, how success is proved and what happens after a fault.
Eight-part checklist
Build a quote around evidence from the line.
Use these headings in an enquiry, URS or internal project brief. Unknown answers can be identified for survey rather than guessed.
Production rate
- Minimum, normal and maximum conveyor speed
- Products per minute and minimum product gap
- Speed variation, encoder availability and accumulation
- Expected rejects, consecutive rejects and changeovers
Inspection trigger
- Vision, checkweigher, metal detector, X-ray or process signal
- Equipment make, model and available outputs
- Signal duration and physical inspection position
- Pass/fail logic, communications and interface responsibility
Conveyor and space
- Conveyor width, height, belt type and construction
- Usable straight length between inspection and downstream equipment
- Transfers, guide rails, curves and access routes
- Dimensioned layout, photographs and production video
Reject destination
- Locked bin, chute, side lane, rework conveyor or sample point
- Required capacity and normal emptying process
- Authorised access and containment expectations
- Handling of good product during a reject event
Fault response
- Reject confirmation requirement
- Low-air, bin-full, access and bin-present monitoring
- Alarm, line-stop, hold and reset philosophy
- Product clearance after reject-not-confirmed
Environment and safety
- Cleaning method, chemicals and hygiene zoning
- Materials, ingress protection and temperature
- Guarding, access, safety circuits and stopping interfaces
- Electrical and pneumatic services available
Acceptance and support
- FAT, SAT and challenge-test expectations
- Documentation, training and spare parts
- Event outputs, production data and user access levels
- Installation window and ongoing service requirements
What evidence is most useful?
A short production video
Record the line at normal speed from the inspection point through the proposed reject area. Include close-ups of product spacing, guide rails and transfers, then a wider view showing access and adjacent equipment. Avoid showing confidential information that is not needed for the review.
A dimensioned layout
Mark conveyor width and height, belt direction, inspection position, available straight length, neighbouring equipment and the preferred side or area for containment. If dimensions are approximate, label them as such so a survey can confirm them.
Representative products
Provide the formats most likely to control the design: the heaviest, lightest, longest, shortest, least stable or most fragile product. Empty packs may behave differently from filled production items, so identify how samples differ.
The quality response
Describe the consequence of a missed reject and who owns the recovery procedure. This determines whether the design needs independent reject confirmation and fail-safe monitoring, and which fault states should stop the line.
Avoid ambiguous requirements
Replace assumptions with measurable acceptance criteria.
“Suitable for high speed”
State the minimum and maximum belt speed, products per minute, minimum gap, reject rate and whether speed changes during production.
“Fail-safe reject”
List the monitored conditions, required alarm or stop response, reset permissions and product-clearance procedure.
“Works with all products”
Define the exact product envelope and acceptance test across the formats that control the mechanical and timing design.
Specification questions
Prepare a more accurate enquiry.
Missing details can be confirmed by survey, but identifying them early reduces design risk.
What information is needed for a reject-system quotation?+
Provide the complete product range, dimensions and weight; throughput and pitch; inspection trigger; conveyor layout; usable reject length; destination; required fault response; utilities; guarding; testing and documentation expectations.
Is a production video useful?+
Yes. It can show real product spacing, vibration, guide-rail contact, accumulation, transfers and access constraints that a layout drawing may not reveal.
Do you need product samples?+
Representative samples are valuable when stability, friction, fragility, liquid movement or pack variation could influence the reject method.
Can you survey an existing conveyor?+
Yes. A survey can confirm dimensions, construction, controls, safety interfaces and access before a retrofit design is finalised.