It would be nice if there was a checkbox option on conveyor to make it non-motorized as opposed to the default current motorized. In these situations, the items advance only when there is another one pushing behind. If there is only 1 item, it stays at the beginning of the conveyor.
There are a lot of non-motorized conveyors in factories (at least the ones that I model). Currently I add a motor, a photoeye and a little logic to make it work but it could be incorporated into the object.