Transport network
The Transport network consists of
- Belt transport system, which are
- Inserters and
- Chests
It includes also the concept Storage, which is used for example in Railway network/Train station and there is a high relation to the Logistic network.
The Belt transport system is used to direct and control the flow of items around your factory. They are one of the core elements in Factorio! Inserters place or remove items from belts, chests and production facilities. Chests can be used to store completed items or as a buffer in your production line.
In most of the cases inserters must be used to place or remove things from the transport belts. However Mining drills place items they produce directly on to the transport belt - as you can see in the example on the right.
Belt transport system
The Belt transport system contain three different types, namely
which differs only in their speeds:
Learn more about the simulated physics of the belts, or how to optimize the flow of items.
Inserters
Inserters will always place items on the far side of a belt, and will prefer to take items from the closest side.
| Item | Max power | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
180 W (burner) | Most basic inserter, needs burning fuel. |
 |
13 W | Basic electric inserter. |
| |
18 W | Basic inserter able to grab Items from 2 tiles distance. |
| |
30 W | Working at double speed. |
 |
40 W | Able to connect to Circuit network and Logistic Network, to specify working conditions. Can grab also specified item-types only. |
Chests
Chests are used to store items. Chests contain stacks, which compress the inserted items (in computer memory and so also in the game):
| Item | Max stacks | Description |
|---|---|---|
| |
16 | Basic storage chest. |
| |
32 | Larger basic chest. |
| |
48 | Basic chest with maximum capacity of 48 stacks. |
 |
48 | Connectable to Circuit network. |
| |
48 | Used for Logistic network, Circuit network. |
| |
48 | Used for Logistic network, Circuit network. |
| |
48 | Used for Logistic network, Circuit network. |
Other entities with stacks
As said, stacks are needed to store items. Entities with stacks are
- Burner inserter, Burner mining drill,
- Furnaces,
- Assemblies or even the
- Vehicle/Car or Vehicle/Train but also
- Gun turrets
- Robots and Inserters (but only very small)
- your Inventory (plus the quick bar, the weapon bar and what you have in hand).
Storage
Storage is a concept, about storing enormous masses of items. Under normal circumstances, you don't need to store many items. Especially in the beginning game every item counts and that means, you should try to keep the ways short (belts store a serious amount of items) and don't use chests so much. Instead, you should keep the items in flow, pass them as fast as possible/affordable from production step to the next step to create higher leveled items, instead of storing it.
So, when speaking from storages, we mean concepts, which are really needed to keep the production in flow. Some of them work only together with Logistic network. Most used for: