christopher Harper, Author at DJ Products

Ergonomic Carts Can Help Struggling Hospitality Industry

Staycations and a sharp decline in business travel during the recession have pushed the U.S. hospitality industry to the edge. In recession for the past 24 months, overall occupancy rates continue to erode despite a slight seasonal uptick in June. Occupancy rates at U.S. hotels, motels and resorts have been falling even more rapidly than before over the past eight weeks and the immediate future doesn’t look good, according to industry watcher Hotelmarketing.com.

Continued concern about family finances and potential job loss have kept families at home. Group travel is down, and tours are being cancelled for failure to meet minimums. Businesses have cut travel to hold the line on expenses. Convention and trade show attendance is down. Hotels and motels are competing for a narrowing traveler pool that has forced many to cut staff until the economy improves and the hospitality industry rebounds.

Savvy hoteliers are turning to ergonomically-designed hospitality carts that allow a single employee to accomplish a greater workload with less physical effort. Ergonomic design eliminates strains and pains that workers can develop from pushing heavy laundry, cleaning and linen carts at hotels, motels, casinos and resorts. Powered housekeeping carts and clean and dirty linen carts allow a single employee to safely manage heavy loads of linens or cleaning supplies.

Powered platform carts and electric carts allow easy and safe movement of supplies, materials, parts or machinery from one area of a facility to another. Compact design permits operators to easily and safely maneuver carts through heavily traveled hotel corridors and narrow behind-the-scenes hallways. Motorized dump hoppers makes trash removal a breeze.

DJ Products, the national leader in the manufacture of ergonomic motorized carts and tugs, offers a full line of material handling products designed to meet the needs of the hospitality industry. Our motorized cart retro kit can be adapted and installed on any cart to increase safety and productivity. Visit the DJ Products website for more information.

ErgoExpo Promotes Value of Ergonomics to Business

With the 15th Annual National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition opening tomorrow in Las Vegas, this seems like a good time to promote the value of ergonomics to creating safe working conditions, safe work environments and saving businesses a considerable amount of money on their bottom line. ErgoExpo will focus on the role of workplace ergonomics in economic recovery with special educational tracks detailing return on investment, impact on America’s aging workforce, potential to reduce health care costs, and impact on improving workplace safety.

The application of ergonomics to workplace processes and equipment has been proven time and again to increase productivity and profitability while improving health, safety and morale. Implementing an ergonomic plan and utilizing ergonomic equipment in your place of business is a win-win proposition — for business owners and their employees.

Ergonomic procedures eliminate painful movements that can stretch and pull muscles causing injury, particularly with repetition or over time.
Utilizing ergonomically-designed material handling equipment eliminates the strain and risk of injury from transporting and positioning materials or equipment.
Implementing an ergonomic program creates a safer environment in the workplace.
Ergonomic equipment allows workers to stay on the job longer and take fewer and shorter breaks, increasing productivity.
A safer work environment means fewer injuries and fewer lost man-hours, increasing worker productivity.
Fewer injuries decrease direct medical and physical therapy costs as well as the expense of insurance and disability claims, improving your bottom line.
When work is less physically taxing, workers are happier and workplace morale goes up.
When injuries go down and morale goes up, absenteeism goes down and productivity goes up!

To find out more about ergonomically-designed material handling equipment, visit the DJ Products’ website today.

Power Mover Could Take Bite Out of Prepping for Ida

The weather folks are in their glory, on full alert as hurricane Ida churns toward the Gulf Coast. Even up here in the far northern reaches of the Midwest (Little Falls, MN) where even mild fallout from Ida is highly unlikely, local weather broadcasters are dancing on screen in paroxysms of joy as they gasp the latest warning bulletins. It’s likely to be a few weeks before any real snow hits our neck of the woods, so I guess Ida gives the storm chasers something to do; but prevailing winds being what they are, I don’t think we’re in much danger of flooding up here.

All the hoopla in the press did give me a new idea to pass along to our sales team. I saw resort workers struggling to push stacked lounge chairs across pool aprons and into storage areas. You could see them struggling to muscle the heavy stacks of chairs against the wind. It occurred to me how easy the job with be with DJ Products’ versatile WagonCaddy power mover. We’ve already adapted our powered material handling equipment to help local schools maneuver metal bleachers around school gymnasiums and on and off playing fields. This application for the hospitality industry would be a snap!

Ergonomically-designed to take the strain off workers’ backs, DJ Products’ WagonCaddy power mover allows an operator to quickly and easily transport materials — like lounge chairs — parts or machinery without physical exertion. (Click here to see a video of the WagonCaddy in action.) Like all of our ergonomically-designed, powered material handling equipment, this tug is equipped with an instant safety stop to prevent injuries. A variable speed thumb twist allows the operator to smoothly move in forward and reverse up to 3 mph. Compact design allows for maneuvering in narrow corridors and tight spaces and the cart can pivot loads a full 360 degrees. For full details, visit DJ Products website.

A Dumpster Mover Transports Dumpsters with Ease

With a DJ Products dumpster mover, the work of moving a dumpster, a task that once may have required three or four people, can now be done by just one person. And that one person does not have to worry about strain or overexertion. Our WasteCaddy dumpster mover was ergonomically designed to help an employee transfer a dumpster from an underground parking lot to the street, move a dumpster along a street that is level, or move a dumpster on an incline.

You want to be able to move a dumpster with ease and control and a dumpster mover can help make this happen. This was not the case earlier this month when a dumpster was mysteriously moved across a parking lot in Washington state. The Kitsap Sun published a story about how a condominium complex put out a dumpster one morning and residents later learned that it “careened across a parking lot.” No one was hurt, so neither the complex nor are taxpayers need worry about liability. Still, the publication reported “no one knows whether it was stiff wind or vandals.”

While it is not clear just how the dumpster ended up across the parking lot, having a dumpster mover means that it would be at all taxing to move the dumpster back to its original spot. A heavy waste container can often weigh up to 5,000 lbs. and the WasteCaddy has a powerful 36-volt motor can maneuver dumpsters from 500 lbs. up to 10,000 lbs.

If you want to know more about the dumpster mover and would like to discuss our FREE DEMO TRIAL PROGRAM, please contact us at 1-800-686-2651.

Move Waste Out of Sight Safely with a Waste Container Puller

Municipalities across the nation are examining and changing laws with regard to waste containers and recycling. For example, the Daily Iowan recently announced, “the Iowa City City Council will consider an ordinance that would require was containers to be stored out of public view.” We can’t say exactly how that law will affect businesses or apartment buildings if the council does indeed decide to make this a new law but we can imagine that a place that stored waste containers where they can be seen may need to have these containers moved back and forth for collection.

You can get ahead of the curve and anticipate the need to move waste containers more frequently when you get DJ Product’s WasteCaddyLite waste container puller. Even if your area does not require that your move waste containers out of sight, you may want to get a waste container puller because it will lessen that chances that one of your employees will get injured transporting waste from one location to another.

If your employees have been transporting these kinds of containers on their own, you should know that pushing heavy containers greatly increases the risk of employee injury. A DJ Product’s WasteCaddyLite container puller can reduce injuries arising from accidents and from overexertion. It can also make a three or four person job into a one-person job saving labor costs.

And lest you think that getting a WasteCaddyLite means storing something that is as big as an actual waste container, you should know that WasteCaddyLite waste puller has a compact, ergonomic design. Check out this video to see the WasteCaddyLite in action!

Tips for Hiring Extra Summer Warehouse Staff

Businesses with a summer rush should take cues from the established practices of holiday staffing. Start early, be as thorough as you would with full-time hiring, and plan on empowering your temp workers to succeed.

Tips for Seasonal Staffing

Industry mag Multichannel Merchant rounds up some warehouse tips for seasonal hiring that mesh well with long-term HR strategies:

Start the hiring process at least a month before you need summer workers.

Get cozy with your preferred temp agencies. Use them a little bit year-round if possible, to stay top of mind.

Do contact previous seasonal workers. Many prefer contract work and will be available again.

Offer incentives; promise to make some full-time staffing decisions based on productivity, not seniority.

Show applicants the actual job to reduce the risk of hires changing their minds.

Success Tips for Using Summer Staff

Many warehouse tips for better summer staff performance are just common sense: offer a few dollars above minimum wage and commit to quality training. These investments pay off when your temp workers perform like regulars.

Once on board, make sure your seasonal workers have the tools they need to thrive. Automated materials handling equipment helps everybody in the warehouse, especially those who are less accustomed to the physical demands of warehouse work.

Workers using motorized warehouse equipment only need to know what tasks to perform — the battery-powered cart does the heavy lifting, so the workers can stay more focused and energetic over the course of their shifts.

Preparing for summer rush? Visit DJProducts.com for more info about industrial tugs and cart pullers, and browse our blog for more warehouse tips!

Can Hospitals Fill Shifts by Using Incentives?

Nurse assisting an elderly patient in hospital ward — Improving Hospital Staffing

Different people prefer different work schedules to better align their off time with that of family members. Some hospital shifts are always easy to fill. Other shifts always seem to operate short-handed and have a high turnover of people. For the best patient care and to maintain a top level team of nurses and doctors, it is important for hospitals to get creative with their incentive programs for covering the traditionally difficult to fill overnight and weekend shifts. Becker’s Hospital Review emphasizes that increased pay is not enough and can lead to staff simply holding out for higher and higher pay.

Problems with monetary incentives

Many people who appreciate the flexibility of having their days or evenings free when working a night shift will simply hold out for higher pay as the shift operates understaffed. Having the hospital operate at less than optimal becomes a benefit to the staff. The worse conditions are, the higher the pay. The increased pay is quickly absorbed by their family budget and underappreciated. An overworked staff and poorly functioning hospital is highlighted.

Other ways to show appreciation

Doctors and nurses rely on a wide array of healthcare equipment to perform their jobs. The motorized Hospital Cart Puller from DJ Products reduces the fatigue of a long shift and minimizes the risks of workplace strains or injuries. Becker’s Hospital Review suggests a rewards program can build enthusiasm in the workplace and increase retention by making it fun to cover typically understaffed shifts.

For the best available line of healthcare equipment to improve the work, safety and efficiency of your hospital, contact DJ Products today.

New Technologies Shake Up Warehousing But Boost Employment Trends

New technologies are a cornerstone of improving market share and innovation in all aspects of business. As businesses become more effective and creative, one of the least efficient aspects is logistics. In the past, every business that made a product needed a warehouse in which to store it. These warehouses needed to be maintained, stocked and manned. If a business made products, they always had to have space to store them. That was the bottom line.

Outsourcing

Today, if you are a small business with local demand for your product, and you don’t have the storage space, you can outsource a warehouse. If you’re a large business with a world-wide demand for your products, and you want to cut costs, you can outsource a warehouse. This is called third party logistics, or 3PL for short, and it takes away the warehouse management needed from both small and large business owners.

Warehouse Equipment

3PL’s are the new wave in warehouse problem solving. They can provide warehousing, transportation or even raw material provision. The key to this modern type of warehousing is called containerization, where products are stored in like sized containers that can be stacked and transported efficiently. This has opened up an entire new industry, with the needs for new and effective warehouse equipment to support it.

For more information on warehouse equipment for any job, contact DJ Products, makers of trailer movers, dumpster movers and even rail car movers. We have the mobile solution to your warehouse floor management.

Improvements by Railways Drive Increased Use

When people think about railroads, they typically do not think modern and high tech. Perhaps, railroads deserve that perception. As the internet began taking root in many businesses and the lives of most people in the mid-1990s, North American railroads were slow to adopt new ways of doing things.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags for packages, and eventually rail cars, were the extent of advancement for most rail companies. However, as mentioned in Progressive Railroading, increased use of technology for data collection and analysis by railways is improving efficiency and safety for both freight and passenger trains.

Railways should accelerate investment in new technology

Just this past year, the FAA allowed BNSF Railway Company to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to collect video of derailments and for bridge inspections in what would otherwise be unsafe environments. According to Progressive Railroading, major rail lines are investing in remote, real-time monitoring sensors that measure rail-car and locomotive health. This helps predict failures before they occur.

The Rail Cart Caddy from DJ Products is another way rail companies can protect their employees as they efficiently complete necessary work. It uses a 36 volt 3-battery power system, can push or pull up to 200,000 lbs, and is great for use indoors or outside. The Rail Cart Caddy is just one of the many industrial movers available to improve safety and efficiency on surfaces like asphalt, concrete and gravel.

Rails have always been one of the most cost-effective methods to move freight and people. To reduce injuries and improve efficiency, browse the full line of American made movers that are available from DJ Products.

Healthcare Workers Report Feeling Less Valued

It’s no secret that healthcare workers have tougher jobs than many other people. A recent poll sheds light on the difficult situation: healthcare employees are about as happy with their jobs as anyone else, yet feel less valued and struggle with work-life balance.

For healthcare employers, job satisfaction impacts the bottom line most directly in the form of employee retention rates. Those in healthcare fields are 35% more likely to leave their job for a small raise, compared to workers in other industries. Improving morale often costs far less than the churn of training new employees.

The poll, conducted by TINYpulse, found:

Healthcare workers rate how much they feel valued at 10% lower than the general population.

Work-life balance is rated at just 5.87 on a 10-point scale.

Healthcare workers are less likely to say they would be a customer of their employer than workers in other industries.

The data suggests that healthcare workers like their jobs and enjoy helping patients, but are dissatisfied with workplace conditions and employer communications.

Supporting employees with communication and organization-wide tools appears to be the solution for improvement and worker retention.

Suggestions include:

Open communication with employees about job satisfaction

Provide healthcare equipment that makes the job less physically demanding

Address issues related to coworkers and the organization, not just individual performance

Healthcare equipment from DJ Products includes motorized hospital carts for moving linens, janitorial supplies, dialysis machines, and other heavy items that are otherwise pushed or pulled manually.

Ease the burden of healthcare workers who exert physical energy moving healthcare equipment — morale and worker retention may depend on it.