Abstract:
A collating path for flat goods with: a conveying apparatus, which has, in its longitudinal direction, a plurality of collecting areas, arranged one behind the other, into which the goods are collected and are transported at a conveying speed in a conveying direction; at least one exchangeable feeder station or a plurality of exchangeable feeder stations that keep goods in stock and are arranged along the conveying apparatus in such a way that the goods stocked in the feeder stations can be deposited in the collecting areas; and a control device, which is coupled to the conveying apparatus and the feeder stations so as to control the deposition of the goods from the feeder station into the collecting areas. In order to more flexibly design such a collating path, guaranteeing a compact structure, and to make as simple as possible an equipping of the collating path with feeders and as simple as possible an exchange of feeders, provision is made so that the exchangeable feeder station can be inserted at arbitrary work positions into the collating path and the control device is set up to receive information from which the control device determines the absolute release position of the feeder station or each feeder station along the conveying apparatus at which the individual feeder station releases the goods stocked in it onto the conveying apparatus.