Material Handling & Automation FAQs

Lone Star Automated Systems is a turnkey material handling systems integrator headquartered in Houston, Texas, founded in 1992. We design, supply, install, and support conveyor systems, packaging equipment, and the electrical controls that unite them into one smoothly functioning production or distribution system.

A material handling systems integrator coordinates the conveyors, machinery, controls, and trades on a project so the customer holds one company accountable for a working system — instead of a dozen vendors pointing at each other. As an integrator, we select the right equipment for your application rather than forcing it to fit a single manufacturer's product line.

Turnkey means Lone Star handles the entire project — consultation, design and project management, engineering, equipment supply, integration, installation, commissioning, and field support after startup. You get a single point of accountability from concept to punchlist zero, which minimizes downtime and vendor coordination risk.

We serve food & beverage, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, and warehouse & distribution operations — handling cases, totes, bottles, bags, drums, pallets, and virtually any manufactured or processed goods. See our Industries Served page for details.

Both. We design and equip entirely new production lines, and we retrofit or modify existing lines to increase throughput, speed, or flexibility. We also perform layout and line-balancing studies and modifications that maximize the use of the space and equipment you already own.

Our 15-step process runs from initial listening and data gathering through concept layout, engineering, quotation, equipment procurement, fabrication, installation, controls commissioning, operator training, and final punchlist closeout. You see a clear timeline before steel is ever ordered.

Timelines depend on scope: a single conveyor addition may take weeks, while a full packaging line or distribution system typically runs several months from design through commissioning, driven largely by equipment lead times. After the initial consultation we provide a project schedule covering design, build, delivery, installation, and startup — so you know what to expect before committing.

Cost depends on the equipment mix, throughput rates, footprint, and controls complexity — a gravity conveyor run is a fundamentally different investment than an automated sortation or palletizing system. Because we're brand-agnostic, we engineer to your budget rather than to one manufacturer's catalog. Step one is a no-charge conversation: bring us your product, your rates, and your building, and we'll scope options with real numbers. Request a quote.

Yes. We provide field assistance, operator training, technical support, and system modifications after startup. Because we designed and installed the system, our team supports the conveyors, packaging machinery, and controls as one integrated whole — not as separate vendor silos.

Call 713-532-4444 or reach out through our contact page. Step one of our process is listening — there's no charge to start the conversation, and no obligation to move forward.

We work across 13 conveyor technologies, including gravity, belt, live roller and motorized roller, table top, air, cable, spiral, vertical, extendable, sortation, overhead power & free, pallet handling, and automated guided vehicles (AGVs).

The right conveyor depends on what you're moving (cases, bottles, pallets, drums, bags), your throughput rate, available floor and ceiling space, and environment (washdown, hazardous, ambient). That's the core of our design phase: we analyze your product and rates first, then match the technology — so the application drives the equipment choice, not the other way around. Compare conveyor types.

Yes. We integrate automated guided vehicles into material handling systems where flexible, driverless transport beats fixed conveyor paths — commonly for pallet moves between production, warehousing, and shipping in Texas manufacturing and distribution facilities.

We supply and integrate complete packaging lines: bottle unscramblers, fillers, case erectors, case packers, palletizers, depalletizers, shrink wrappers, and stretch wrappers — from unscrambler to stretch wrapper, connected by conveyor and unified controls.

Yes. We regularly retrofit individual machines — a new case packer, palletizer, or wrapper — into existing lines, handling the conveyor connections, line balancing, and controls integration so the new equipment runs at rate with what's already on your floor, including installations performed during scheduled shutdowns.

Yes. Our controls and integration work covers PLC programming, control panel design and fabrication, and warehouse management (WMS) and transportation management (TMS) software integration — the layer that turns separate machines into one coordinated system.

We're headquartered at 2500 Citywest Blvd., STE 150, Houston, TX 77042. We serve manufacturers, distributors, bottlers, and processors throughout the Houston metro — including Pasadena, Baytown, The Woodlands, Sugar Land, Katy, and Beaumont — plus San Antonio, Austin, Dallas–Fort Worth, Corpus Christi, all of Texas, and national and international projects.

Yes. We plan and execute installations that fit your ongoing operation, including work that must take place during scheduled shutdown or turnaround windows — a common requirement for our food & beverage, petrochemical, and manufacturing customers along the Gulf Coast.