Five questions, spanning the whole part, plus a Riverside review. Work them without your notes. These are judgment questions: there's a right way to think about each one, not a sentence to memorize.
CHECKPOINT
L11-L12 How Conveyors Work / Transportation vs AccumulationA customer runs a shared air compressor that also feeds production, and their maintenance program is entirely reactive, one person fixing things when they break. They need zone accumulation feeding a pack line. Walk the transportation-versus-accumulation call, then the mechanism call. What do you ask about their air, and how does their maintenance reality shape which accumulation mechanism you lean toward?
L13 Accumulation DesignAn accumulation section feeds a sorter induction that needs product presented in controlled bursts, not one carton at a time. The default zone behavior on the conveyor is singulated release. What has to change about how the zones release, and why does the default fail the induction here? Name what you would confirm before commissioning.
L14 Changing Direction and ElevationA layout puts a 12-degree decline coming off a mezzanine. One product in the mix is tall on a narrow base and can carry a load that shifts forward. The static tumble calculation says the angle is fine. Explain why passing the static check is not enough here, which moment on a decline is the dangerous one, and what visual method you would use to check the worst-case load before you commit the angle.
L15-L16 Transfers and Merges / SortationThree lanes of air-based accumulation feed a merge, and the merged single-file stream runs into a sorter. The product mix is mostly cartons but includes a share of bagged apparel. Identify the reliability risk at the merge feed and what design change addresses it, then explain why the bagged apparel still governs part of the sorter decision even though it is a minority of the volume.
L17 The Automation LandscapeA customer asks for a long conveyor-and-sortation system. Their volume is low, their SKUs are dense and slow-moving, and their building is short on floor space but tall. Before you draw a single line of conveyor, what would make you stop and ask whether conveyor is even the right answer, and what categories of alternative would you put on the table?
YOUR RIVERSIDE WORK SO FAR
Deliverable
Quality Criteria
Technology selections with justification
Throw-on lines called as transportation or accumulation, each with a reason
Accumulation mechanism chosen against Michael's air-and-maintenance reality, not on unit price
Mezzanine decline type and angle justified against the Tall Case tumble check
Merge configuration named, with the air-feed risk addressed
Sorter selected through the product handling matrix, then throughput, then footprint and destinations, in that order
Every selection states what was considered and eliminated, and traces to a source lesson
The two failures answered
Failure 1, the pneumatic system that lost air pressure at peak, is answered by the mechanism selection and the air question
Failure 2, where everything stopped when anything downstream slowed, is answered by putting accumulation where the flow says product has to wait
The design is honest about what one maintenance person can actually keep running
You address Michael by name in the reasoning, not just in the equipment