Friction Drive Systems (FDS)
Friction-wheel skid conveyors for trim, chassis, and final assembly — quiet, re-paceable, and manual-intervention tolerant.
Request a QuoteWhat is a Friction Drive System?
A Friction Drive System (FDS) is a skid conveyor that moves a vehicle skid through assembly using a friction wheel pressed against the skid’s running surface. Unlike a chain or roller conveyor, FDS has no hard mechanical link between the drive and the skid — the wheel rotates and the skid is moved by friction. That gives FDS three properties that matter on an automotive assembly line: it’s quiet, it can be paced and re-paced quickly, and it tolerates manual intervention without stopping the whole line.
Where FDS fits
FDS shines in Trim, Chassis, Final assembly, Engine, and Body shop — anywhere a skid-based conveyor needs pacing flexibility or has to tolerate manual intervention without stopping the whole line. MIC installs FDS as part of the broader skid-handling family alongside Powered Roller Bed (PRB), Electrified Monorail Systems (EMS), and overhead Power & Free, depending on what the body, paint, and assembly cells call for.
What MIC’s FDS install scope includes
MIC’s scope is the mechanical install: structural steel for the skid track, friction-drive units (mounting and mechanical alignment), guard rails and safety guarding, accumulation buffers and switches, and mechanical integration with the upstream and downstream conveyor systems. We coordinate with the customer’s electrical contractor for motor wiring and controls, and we hand off to the commissioning team for line start-up and tuning. Where the line is running, we work plant-running — installing in shutdown windows, off-shift, or in cell-by-cell handoffs negotiated with the OEM’s manufacturing engineering team.
MIC’s FDS experience
MIC’s crews have installed FDS at Toyota, Honda, Stellantis, and Nissan assembly plants. We are a regular call-out for material handling integrators including Daifuku for FDS scopes inside active OEM facilities. Talk to us when your project is at the spec stage — early input keeps the structural steel, the drive layout, and the controls cabling from fighting each other in the field.
Available as turnkey
If you’d rather not coordinate three contractors, MIC delivers FDS as a turnkey project — we prime the install and manage the electrical and piping subcontractors on your behalf, with a clean handoff to the integrator’s or OEM’s commissioning team. You get a single point of contact from contract through commissioning handoff.