Conveyor interruptions are often quickly attributed to the belt. But Christian Suarez, division account specialist—fulfillment centers/distribution centers, for Motion Conveyance Solutions, counters that this assumption isn’t always correct. “The belt is just a belt. It performs its intended function.” Many factors come into play when optimizing a conveyance solution. While the belt is often blamed, a conveyance system is much more complex and requires a great deal of time and effort to maintain optimal performance. I spoke with Suarez about the factors to consider when selecting the right belt for a packaging application and the changing needs of these components in 2026. Suarez said every application should start by examining the conveyor characteristics. “It is important that you know your minimum pulley diameters: What kind of belt are you currently running? What are the width and length requirements? What is the maximum elongation we can expect in this spec of belt? How long of a take-up does the system have? You must be cognizant of the number of drives and their location. Not considering these factors can cause premature belt failure and can cost these companies tens of thousands of dollars in unplanned downtime,” Suarez noted. “Additionally, the customer should know the belt speed. They should know if it is on an incline or a flat surface.” The second factor is the size, weight, and shape of the packages on the conveying system. “What is the material of that package? Is it a cardboard box, a paper bag, or a plastic bag? Is this package abrasive, or does it have sharp edges? Does this package have characteristics that could damage the belt? These seem like basic questions, but we see these issues all the time, and you need an action plan before the belt is up and running,” Suarez said. “I was just with a customer with an incline system made up of 30 individual, 15-inch-long conveyors, and they are having issues with packages rolling back. We are attributing this issue to incorrect belt selection. Larger distribution centers do not consider these minute details.” The manufacturing or warehouse environment is also crucial in determining the components needed for the application. Most distribution centers are climate controlled, but the ambient temperature can spike in the summer (not every place is air conditioned) and temperatures can significantly drop in the winter.

Suarez advised to consider humidity, contaminants, and other environmental factors: “Again, things are not always thought about during installation, but say we are moving a package that has an oily substance on it. There is no way around that. We must make sure we specify a belt that will have a positive interaction with those oils and not have premature failure. “By far, the biggest environmental factor is dust. In every location, there will be dust. We might try to spec in a belt that has different properties or compounds on the covers to interact with the dust particles or something that is easily cleanable. Proper belt selection can mitigate the situation,” Suarez said. Another factor is the addition of robots on the production line. If you have packages or belts creating static, this is undesirable. Robots and static are not good together; an antistatic belt should be considered. Belt material selection is equally important. Suarez named additional factors at play. What is on the conveyor? How will the product react to the belt? Do we want the product to slide across the belt, or do we want a belt that grips the product? A PVC belt conveyor, for example, is a material handling system using a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) belt reinforced with fabric (polyester/nylon) for light-to-medium–duty transport. It is known for its durability, chemical resistance, ease of cleaning, and versatility in industries like food processing, logistics and packaging. “This is the bread and butter in the packaging industry,” Suarez noted. “This is one of the most popular belts out there, and it is very inexpensive. Now we are getting away from PVCs, and getting into softer, polyurethane material at a higher price point. In some applications, getting away from the traditional PVCs and investing in the more expensive polyurethane belting can aid in increasing the overall life of the belt on the system, decreasing cost of ownership because the maintenance team is replacing the belt less often, .” As the packaging and material handling sectors evolve, there is more emphasis on longitudinal ribs and rough tops, designed for high grip. “We’re having fewer conversations about flat belts. There’s character in these belts, and each has its own specific purpose. Our customers are asking for less friction, which results in less energy consumption, and a consolidation of belt specs used throughout their facility.” To get the most out of conveyance equipment, Suarez said it is vital to collaborate with operations managers, engineers, and maintenance teams throughout the process. “One example is an operations manager tasked with increasing throughput across the shop floor. Let’s say a system was meant to manage 10,000 packages an hour, but now they have doubled this to 20,000 packages an hour. The maintenance managers call us up because they are having premature failure on the conveyor line, and they immediately blame the belt. “Problem is, the belt is just one part of the recipe, and very rarely do you see a failure that is exclusively because of the conveyor belt itself. Damage to the belt is usually the most visible, and this is why it is often called out first, but this damage is typically a product of everything else around it. We hear the company directive was to double production per hour, but the system was not designed to manage that,” Suarez said. “Now we need to take a deep dive on the power transmission side and see how this impacts the motor gearbox and bearings, for example. This is where those relationships come into play, and we can put our heads together and make the necessary adjustments to get the most out of the system.” For Suarez, the future of belt technology will center on predictive maintenance. This could be an AI vision system or someone tracking sensor data across the conveyor using vibration, heat, and speed analysis. AI reporting will increase in the coming days, months, and years. Maintenance managers will be proactive in their strategies and checking conveyor lines before unplanned failures occur. “This will save companies thousands of dollars and change the way these distribution centers and warehouses are maintained,” Suarez added. “We’re going to see many new advancements around the belt in the coming years. This information will prove the belt is not solely responsible for failures that occur in the system.”