DJ Products, Inc.

The Dow is plunging, financial institutions are failing, credit is drying up and long-time Wall Street icons are plummeting into bankruptcy. The U.S. economy seems to be falling like a poorly stacked house of cards. The news is full of doom and gloom and more gloom. Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

In a word, yes. But it may be a long tunnel, say manufacturing experts. There are things you can do to calm worried employees and weather the storm, says Joe Cogliano in Manufacturing & Technology eJournal.

• Keep your staff in the communications loop, says Jay Kuhn, president of Definity Partners, a business improvement company. When the economy tightens up, employees worry about job security, providing for their family, even putting gas in their car to get to work. All that worrying takes a toll on worker productivity. Being honest about what’s happening in your company will bolster employee morale. “Workers are going home and they are hearing bad news everyday,” says Kuhn. “It’s important they know what’s going on because everything the company does is really going to be taken as a negative sign, whether it’s meant to be taken that way or not.” Employers should be prepared to answer questions and explain even minor changes like switching an insurance carrier to reign in employee nervousness. Keeping employees in the loop can alleviate their fears and keep office gossip in hand.
• Keep things positive. Worry and stress take a physical toll on workers which can result in increased absence rates. Keeping things positive helps make workers want to come to work.
• Embrace patriotism. Historically, Americans respond positively to hardship and sacrifice when they know they are helping their country. “Small and medium-sized businesses need to realize they’re the backbone of our economic growth and job creation,” says David Velie, managing partner of Amend Consulting/Techsolve, a manufacturing improvement consulting firm. “Remind teams that they’re the strength of the economy, not the Fortune 500s and the housing sector.”
• Maintain your cash flow. Take a close look at factors that affect your cash flow. You may need to reign in credit terms and be more aggressive about collections to improve your cash flow. Watch for potential cash-draining trouble spots. Kuhn says business owners should base every decision on a “cash is king” model.

Things may be rough for all of us for a year or two, but as Kuhn points out, “The economy does come back; it always comes back.”

Respect for both its medical personnel and bottom line led a large California hospital to partner with DJ Products. Looking for ways to eliminate potential injuries caused by moving heavy hospital beds, food and linen carts, gurneys and wheeled equipment, this hospital turned to DJ Products for ergonomic solutions that would protect the health and safety of its staff. By implementing an ergonomic program to decrease injuries, the hospital also lowered medical, insurance and workers’ compensation costs. Absenteeism from worker injury and resultant added payroll and overtime expenses necessary to cover those absences also decreased.

Like most medical facilities, this hospital relies not only on paid staff, but also on what is fondly termed the “gray brigade” to function. An army of seniors provides a host of volunteer services to assist the perennially harried staff and enrich the lives of patients. Concern about possible injuries among its aging volunteer force and heavily female medical staff led this hospital to review tasks and procedures and update its equipment with ergonomic cart pullers from DJ Products.

DJ Products is a leader in the manufacture of ergonomic material handling products for the hospital, retail, hospitality, automotive and manufacturing markets. Our CartCaddyLite Cart Puller eliminates the pains and strains that can occur when manually pushing hospital beds, medical equipment and heavy food and linen carts. The battery-powered CartCaddyLite easily maneuvers beds, equipment and carts weighing up to 1500 pounds. Variable speed twist grips allow the operator to travel at speeds of 0 to 3 mph and maneuver forward and backwards in tight hospital rooms and congested corridors. Its compact, batter-operated, 24-volt motor can perform without recharging for an entire shift.

For detailed specifications and to watch a video of the versatile CartCaddyLite Cart Puller in action, visit the DJ Products website. We also make an electric cart pusher for maneuvering heavier carts and equipment up to 20,000 pounds and a versatile powered platform cart for moving heavy boxes and supplies.

Companies that value and respect their workers are proactive about ergonomics, said Peter Budnick, PH.D., founder, president and CEO of Core 3, Ergoweb and Ergobuyer, at a recent material handling conference. “A well formulated ergonomics strategy supports and accelerates continuous improvement in any organization, facility or supply chain.”

Integration of ergonomic practices and equipment into manufacturing and business operations improves productivity, waste reduction, quality control and safety. Ergonomics can operationalize a company’s respect for people, said Budnick, who added that many companies misunderstand ergonomics and therefore don’t recognize its value. He considers ergonomics “essential in an effective continuous improvement system” in any business or industry. 

Ergonomics takes a human-centered approach to task and tool design. It recognizes differences in the individual characteristics and capabilities of workers and strives to accommodate those variables in the design of equipment and structuring of tasks. The goal of ergonomics is to prevent soft tissue, repetitive motion, repetitive stress and musculoskeletal injuries. Nearly half of all lost work days can be attributed to musculoskeletal injuries. These injuries cost U.S. industry more than $61 billion per year in lost productivity and an additional $20 billion in annual medical and workers compensation benefits.

The value of respecting workers has been proven time and again. Toyota has made it a pillar of its business execution plan. When workers are valued, productivity and quality increase while injuries and negativity decrease. Implementation of an ergonomics program is an important way to show workers that you respect them and value their health and safety. In formulating an ergonomics program, evaluate tasks, equipment and work environment for the following factors:

• force applied
• awkward or fatiguing postures
• repetition or frequency
• duration, both of the task and the number of times per day it is performed
• vibration
• contact pressure
• velocity of movement
• environmental factors including lighting, temperature, noise, etc.

The goal of ergonomics is to eliminate the discomfort and stress these factors cause workers. On the DJ Products website, we provide a handy Ergonomic Load Calculator that can assist you in evaluating the force needed to move loads in particular workplace environments. Our experienced staff can assist you in designing ergonomic solutions to that will benefit your workers and increase productivity.