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June 16, 2008
By: CartPro
Category: Future Trends, Material Handling, Products, Safety and Ergonomics, Warehousing, logistics
There’s a growing trend, particularly in manufacturing, warehousing and logistics environments to go forklift-free (see our June 11 & 13 posts). An increasing number of businesses are choosing to replace forklift trucks with safer, ergonomic material handling products that are cheaper to own and operate. As we noted, going forklift-free can result in considerable savings in production and maintenance costs while significantly decreasing worker accidents and injuries and their associated medical, insurance, workman’s compensation and lost man-hour expenses. DJ Products can help your business transition to a safer forklift-free work environment.
At DJ Products we manufacture a full line of electric cart pullers and motorized cart pushers and tugs. Our products are ergonomically designed to eliminate the pain and strain of manually pushing and pulling heavy carts and wheeled equipment. Smaller and more maneuverable than traditional equipment like forklift trucks, walkies and riding tugs, you’ll also find our products to be less costly to purchase and maintain. Implementing forklift-free solutions with DJ Products equipment offers multiple benefits, including:
- Decreased operating costs, particularly equipment purchase and maintenance costs,
- Decreased floor space needed to maneuver equipment,
- Decreased worker injuries and attendant medical, insurance, workman’s compensation and lost man-hour costs,
- Decreased liability,
- Increased plant safety,
- Increased worker morale, and
- Increased efficiency and productivity.
DJ Products can help you plan your transition to a forklift-free environment. We specialize in solving ergonomic material handling applications with battery-powered, walk-behind tug and tugger solutions. Many of our motorized cart products can be custom configured for adaptation to almost every heavy cart pushing or pulling application. Click here to request a free brochure or video about DJ Products’ ergonomic solutions. We also offer a free demo trial program so you can try out a CartCaddy cart pusher at your facility before purchase. Our expert Sales Engineers can discuss the details of your particular application and suggest ergonomic products that will provide the appropriate solution. Click here to contact a DJ Products Sales Engineer and begin your transition to a safe, cost effective, forklift-free work environment today.
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June 13, 2008
By: CartPro
Category: Future Trends, Material Handling, Productivity Tips, Safety and Ergonomics, Warehousing, logistics
Forklift trucks are expensive to maintain and are a significant source of worker injuries and even deaths each year. The high cost of using forklifts in manufacturing, warehousing and logistics environments is pushing an increasing number of businesses to go forklift-free (see our June 11 post). Going forklift-free can reduce inventory and equipment needs, improve material flow and customer response, increase cycle efficiency and overall productivity, and decrease operating costs. At the same time a forklift-free work environment significantly improves plant safety; decreases liability concerns; and markedly decreases worker injuries and associated medical, insurance, disability and lost man-hour costs.
Implementing a forklift-free program can be challenging and will require a coordinated effort by top-level management, all affected departments, and suppliers, say John Neuman and Larry Tyler in American Machinist. They emphasize that success will require the ability to maintain “a big picture overview of the project as well as an understanding of how each department and suppliers, both internal and external, will be impacted.”
A successful transition to a forklift-free environment begins with a clarification of plan targets and goals and the identification of waste, ergonomic and safety threats. Neuman and Tyler suggest beginning by asking how operations and your supply chain will be impacted by a forklift-free system. Typical project leaders include manufacturing and industrial engineers and material logistics personnel. Input should be gathered from safety teams, production managers, line operators, tug drivers, market supply teams, your purchasing department and suppliers. Good communication, efficient information coordination, and clear assignment of responsibilities are important to success at this stage of the project, warn Neuman and Tyler.
Performing a trial run that physically traces each step of operation from the supplier to the receiving dock through assembly and back to the shipping dock allows the implementation team to uncover any potential problems before initiation. Role playing allows each individual who will participate in the new process to experience and try out the actual movements they will need to undertake in a forklift-free production. The suggestions gained from a physical dry run can provide valuable insight into operational, personnel and supplier issues that must be addressed before full implementation of a forklift-free system.
Obviously, implementing a forklift-free environment in an existing plant presents a significantly greater challenge than in a new or remodeled facility where changes can be incorporated in the planning phase. Neuman and Tyler warn that “existing plant constraints may make the best forklift-free strategy less than optimal.” Aisle widths, conveyor heights, set backs, line space, ceiling height and floor quality are among the challenges that may need to be overcome. Incremental conversion beginning with one or two work cells or a common assembly area may allow for greater success in brownfield operations. Despite the added challenges, positive results can be achieved in brownfield operations though initial cost and implementation time may be somewhat greater.
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June 11, 2008
By: CartPro
Category: Future Trends, Material Handling, Safety and Ergonomics, Warehousing, logistics
An increasing number of companies, particularly in the manufacturing, warehousing and logistics industries, are moving toward a forklift-free environment. Safety concerns and maintenance costs are the primary factors driving this major change in material handling application.
According to a recent study by the Hyster Company, a major manufacturer of forklift trucks, only 6% of end-users know their real forklift maintenance costs and few have implemented programs to reduce those costs. Over the 20-year life of a forklift, 80% of the total costs are operating expenses. Ownership accounts for only 20% of a forklift’s total cost. The Hyster study estimates that American businesses waste more than $1 billion per year in unnecessary material handling operating costs.
Far more expensive are the human loss and liability costs directly tied to forklift injuries each year. Each year, nearly 100 U.S. workers are killed in forklift accidents and another 20,000 seriously injured. Forklift overturns cause 25% of forklift-related deaths. Medical expenses, insurance costs, workmen’s compensation and lost man-hours associated with forklift accidents cost American businesses millions of dollars each year.
According to John Neuman and Larry Tyler, writing in American Machinist, a forklift-free program can have multiple benefits, including:
- reduced inventory,
- improved material flow,
- reduced line-side handling equipment,
- reduced floor space,
- increased cycle efficiency,
- increased floor coordination,
- increased stocking efficiency, and
- decreased operating costs.
On the human side, a forklift-free environment improves investor, worker and public perception of a company’s attention to safety. It improves worker ergonomics, efficiency and production and decreases expensive lost man-hours, medical, insurance and liability costs.
Next time: Implementing a forklift-free program.
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