The panels to be cut are fed to a pre-stacking table one at a time or out of a panel storage system to the beamsaw by use of a vacuum transport system.

Advantages are:

• very thin panels that can not be lifted or pushed off the stack without using a special technique, CNC micro-infeed, STLD aggregate for thin panels
• Panels with a sensitive surface (that could be damaged in the process of offpushing)
• Unloading of small amounts of panels from various stacks (dynamic storage and retrieval system)
• Collocation of several different panels to a panel package
• Possibility of turning the workpiece for example for head cuts

A simple, technical way of handling panels, without the integration of a vacuum transport system in the machine control is feeding/unloading by use of a vacuum column swiveling crane.

Alternative terms:

• Vacuum conveyor (Mayer)
• Loading system with vacuum suction cups (Gabbiani Macchine)