Transport device, in particular for transporting product carriers in a plant for manufacturing food products, comprising a) at least one chain to which measuring marks are attached, b) an electric drive system for driving the at least one chain, comprising a servo motor and a position sensor, namely an absolute value encoder, c) a plant control unit, d) a measuring sensor for detecting the measuring marks, with a switching frequency greater than 2000/s, characterized in that the plant control unit comprises a first input for receiving measurement data from the measuring sensor and a second input for receiving position data from the position sensor, and is designed to - receiving data from the measuring sensor and from the position sensor, - assigning them to each other in a time-correct manner, - determining lengths between, in particular two consecutive, measuring marks and - generating a signal therefrom which provides information about the quality of the chain, wherein the transport device comprises a processor unit for data preprocessing, which serves as an input card for the plant control unit and has an input for data detected by the measuring sensor and an output for passing the data on to the plant control unit, with an oversampling function for determining a subclock in the event of a signal change at the input, and wherein the plant control unit is designed to assign a servo position actual value, which corresponds to the position of the drive in the event of a signal change, precisely in time, wherein the plant control unit is designed to assign the servo position actual value precisely in time using the following relationship: Px = Pt 2 − Pt 1 * Xpos − 1 / OVS + Pt 1 mm, where Px is the servo position value to be determined, Pt1 is the servo position at time t1 during a bus cycle, Pt2 is the servo position at time t2 during a subsequent bus cycle, Xpos is the sub-clock at which a signal change from 0 to 1 takes place, OVS is the set oversampling factor. a) at least one chain to which measuring marks are attached, b) an electric drive system for driving the at least one chain, comprising a servo motor and a position sensor, namely an absolute value encoder, c) a plant control unit, d) a measuring sensor for detecting the measuring marks, with a switching frequency greater than 2000/s, - receiving data from the measuring sensor and from the position sensor, - assigning them to each other in a time-correct manner, - determining lengths between, in particular two consecutive, measuring marks and - generating a signal therefrom which provides information about the quality of the chain, wherein the transport device comprises a processor unit for data preprocessing, which serves as an input card for the plant control unit and has an input for data detected by the measuring sensor and an output for passing the data on to the plant control unit, with an oversampling function for determining a subclock in the event of a signal change at the input, and wherein the plant control unit is designed to assign a servo position actual value, which corresponds to the position of the drive in the event of a signal change, precisely in time, wherein the plant control unit is designed to assign the servo position actual value precisely in time using the following relationship: Px = Pt 2 − Pt 1 * Xpos − 1 / OVS + Pt 1 mm, where Px is the servo position value to be determined, Pt1 is the servo position at time t1 during a bus cycle, Pt2 is the servo position at time t2 during a subsequent bus cycle, Xpos is the sub-clock at which a signal change from 0 to 1 takes place, OVS is the set oversampling factor.