Momentary jams can be handled without shutting down conveyors or machine. Sensors detect any significant product accumulation due to more serious jams automatically signalling a conveyor PLC to shut down the next upstream machine or conveyor before the accumulation physically jams those machines. (As a safety measure if a jam is serious enough to shut down a conveyor or machine an operator must physically examine the machine in front of it to make sure any problem is corrected before hitting a restart button.) The flow logic was worked out by plant engineer Mike DiMaggio and Valspar's conveyor supplier Nedco Conveyor Co. (Union NJ). Technophiles will find nothing sexy about Valspar's flow control system--no sleek color monitors displaying a real-time graphical representation of line flow no link to the plant's host computer not even variable speed conveyors. Instead an intelligent arrangement of photoelectric eyes shuttles and can stops all linked to a central PLC controls the conveyor network. It keeps the flow as fluid as possible at speeds ranging from 50 to 90 containers/min--without the need for human intervention. Sensors and the SLC 5/03 PLC controlling the line flow are supplied by Allen-Bradley (Milwaukee WI). Software programming was done by Nedco.