Tag: Material Handling

MHEDA Debuts Material Handling Wiki Web Resource

MHEDA, the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association, has just launched wikiMHEDA, an excellent online resource for those of us who work in material handling, our customers and people who want to learn more about the material handling industry. Think of it as Wikipedia for the material handling industry. Just like the famous online encyclopedia, wikiMHEDA is an interactive Web resource written and edited by its readers, in this case people active in the material handling industry. However, unlike Wikipedia’s broad “every subject under the sun” scope, wikiMHEDA focuses solely on the subject of material handling.

According to website information, MHEDA intends its new wiki site to:

  • serve as an educational resource for and about the industry
  • provide an encyclopedia of material handling industry terms
  • provide a news outlet for industry events, activities and developments
  • be a resource for material handling product specification sheets
  • serve as a library and distribution center for industry white papers
  • provide a video library of material handling equipment and accessories
  • provide a directory of firms that manufacture and distribute material handling equipment and accessories

We found searching for information about the material handling industry and its players easy on the new site, but — and we’re sure this is because it has just launched — information is sketchy in some areas and distributor lists are far less than comprehensive. For example, a search for “ergonomics” brought up an abbreviated definition with a cursory overview of OSHA activity, all generally related to the manufacturing industry. Because it is a wiki site, the new site does allow users to add content, and the process is fairly simple. Creation of an account and website registration are required before editing. 

Material Handing Solutions Make Light Work of Heavy Loads

Investing in material handling solutions is a way to boost morale among current employees and show prospective employees that you are a forward-thinking employer that gives workers what they need to get the job done.

A number of our material handling solutions have been designed so your employees do not injure themselves pushing or pulling loads that seem simple but will really strain them more than they imagine. We also have material handling solutions for loads that are clearly too cumbersome for someone to move using his or her own strength. Although these loads do require mechanical assistance, any old machine will not do. Please call our Sales Engineers at 800-686-2651 for a recommendation on your proper solution.

For example, the CartCaddyHD cart mover chain drive is a heavy-duty battery powered mover designed to push or pull equipment up to 50,000 pounds. It works well on carts with casters or carts on rails that go straight forward or backwards. Also, heavy trailers with lots of tongue weight can easily be lifted and moved with the CartCaddyHD Cart Mover. Check out this video where two people are moving a trailer using two CartCaddyHD Cart Mover chain drives.

We also offer the RiderCaddy battery powered tug so that a worker can push, pull, or maneuver carts and heavy trailers–either sitting or standing to pull the load. Another advantage of the RiderCaddy is that it allows you to consolidate tasks; carts that previously required the effort of more than one person can now be moved using just one person, freeing up the other workers for other tasks.

What to Look for in Ergonomic Design

You can’t squash a square peg into a round hole. In effect, that’s the idea behind ergonomic design. Instead of trying to contort human bodies to work tasks, ergonomic design seeks to fit products, tasks and environments to the people who use them. The result is increased productivity, decreased expense and greater worker safety. Definitely a win-win scenario for business and workers.

Ergonomics factors the human element into work tasks by taking into consideration physical capabilities such as force, posture and repetition. The psychological aspects of a task may also be considered, including mental loading and decision making. Ergonomic design may call upon the expertise of engineers, safety professionals, industrial hygienists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, nurse practitioners, chiropractors, physicians and the workers themselves.

In creating ergonomically designed equipment, both typical tasks and work sites are evaluated. By identifying potential risk factors and conditions, equipment can be engineered to reduce those risks. Ergonomic design must account not only for a range of work site conditions, but also for an even broader range of potential workers. After all, workers come in all body types. Height, weight, physical condition, physical and mental ability, age and sex must all be considered in designing ergonomic equipment. Ergonomic design generally allows equipment to be adjusted to allow for individual differences. 

DJ Products manufactures quality ergonomically designed electric and motorized carts. On our website, you’ll find a handy Ergonomic Load Calculator you can use to estimate the amount of horizontal force necessary to move loads in your particular business environment. The experienced staff at DJ Products can assist you in selecting ergonomically designed equipment that meets the needs of your business. Contact a DJ Products ergonomic design specialist today.

Specialized Carts Designed for Hospital Use

Any nurse, therapist, aide or worker will tell you that working in hospitals, nursing homes and similar settings is back-breaking work. Workers are on their feet all day long and constantly on the move. There’s a lot of bending, stretching, reaching, pushing and pulling involved — all activities that can strain and stress muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints and lead to potentially debilitating musculoskeletal injuries.

Most hospital workers, who typically work 12-hour shifts, will tell you that workloads are already heavy. No one appreciates the extra burden imposed when a fellow worker calls in sick with a strained back. Musculoskeletal injuries aren’t a quick 24-hour fix. They entail days to weeks and sometimes even months of treatment and physical therapy. Returning workers must often be assigned to light duty jobs or face re-injury if they attempt their former activities. The lost man-hours, reassignment and rescheduling needs can create significant problems, both for administrators and fellow workers. The high costs of medical treatment, insurance and workers’ compensation make the elimination of musculoskeletal injury risk a high priority for hospitals, nursing homes and similar facilities.

The heavy pedestrian traffic, narrow corridors and constrained spaces typical of hospital settings present a unique challenge in designing ergonomic equipment to take the physical burden off medical workers. That’s why so many tasks in these settings are still performed manually, despite the risk of injury. To answer the unique needs of hospital settings, DJ Products has created a specially designed line of motorized cart pushers. We have produced a line of small, extremely maneuverable caddies that are designed to carry lighter loads. The quick and easy maneuverability of these carts makes them ideal for use in confined spaces and in areas with high pedestrian traffic.

  • The CartCaddyLite is the smallest, most maneuverable tug available on the market today. This battery-powered electric tug can push or pull up to 1,000 pounds and is versatile enough to handle a variety of cart types, including dollies, hand trucks, laundry carts, hospital carts, maintenance carts and hospital beds. Click here for CartCaddyLite specifications and a video demonstration of this versatile cart puller/pusher.
  • The CartCaddyShorty has enough power to handle carts and equipment that weigh 3,000 to 20,000 pounds. This battery-powered electric tug is a powerful workhorse that can transport heavy equipment, food carts, laundry bins, x-ray machines, respiratory equipment, dialysis equipment, oxygen canisters, wheelchairs, IV poles, even bags of garbage. Click here for CartCaddyShorty specifications.

For more information on these and other DJ Products’ carts, tugs and caddies designed for the hospital industry, visit the DJ Products website.

5 Eco-Friendly Tips to Help Your Facility Go Green

“Going green” isn’t simply a trendy buzzword. Eco-awareness should be an integral part of everyone’s lifestyle. Your carbon footprint, no matter how great or small, is part of the overall environment that affects the health of our planet and its population.

Due to their significant consumption of resources, warehouses and manufacturing facilities present numerous opportunities for conservation. Here are five tips you can implement that pay major dividends in energy and material savings.

  1. Reuse items like boxes and packing material wherever possible. These types of items have long been considered disposable, but they’re usually good for several uses before they become worn out.
  2. If it can’t be reused, recycle it. Make it easy for your employees by providing several well-labeled stations with generously sized containers. Don’t forget about offices, lunchrooms and break rooms as well.
  3. Reevaluate your lighting system. Wherever possible, replace older light bulbs with newer LED models. You may even want to consider installing skylights to take advantage of natural lighting.
  4. Check the condition of your facility’s doors. Poor insulation may be causing your heating and cooling system to work harder. Remote-controlled and motion-sensor doors are available that limit the amount of heat that escapes when they’re opened.
  5. Switch from propane or diesel forklifts to battery-powered equipment tugs. Not only do they conserve energy, they’re safer and more efficient to use.

Whatever your material handling needs are, you can find an eco-friendly solution from DJ Products. Please contact us at 800.686.2651 for more information on our CartCaddy5WP and other models from our full line of equipment tugs. 

Shopping Cart Retriever Allows Retailers to Focus on Customers

During the holidays, they’re particularly noticeable. The bundled up teens sloshing through the slush in search of errant shopping carts left stranded by harried holiday shoppers. They struggle to push them into long, snaking lines and over ruts of ice and snow, muscling them from side to side as they push them toward the store where shoppers wait impatiently to grab one and hit the aisles.

Shopping cart retrieval is a perennial problem for retailers across the country, but especially during the busy holiday shopping season. Each moment you keep your customers waiting for a cart adds to their frustration, not exactly the feeling of good will you’re trying to promote during the make-or-break holidays. You want your customers pushing their cart through the aisles of your store, filling it will all kinds of holiday goodies.

And the more staff you have to task to collecting shopping carts, the fewer staff available to wait on anxious customers and ring up their purchases. During your busiest hours when you need your full staff complement working on the floor, sending two or three (and in bad weather, often four or six) employees out to retrieve needed shopping carts can put an unfortunate dent in your ability to serve your customers quickly and effectively. With the poor economy forcing most businesses to cut back on staff, delegating employees to shopping cart retrieval puts an even bigger burden on your staff and taxes the patience of your customers.

DJ Products’ powered shopping cart retriever takes the strain out of gathering shopping carts and delivering them back to the store. A single employee can quickly and easily maneuver up to 50 shopping carts around a parking lot and in the door without assistance, even through parking lots rutted with frozen snow and ice. The ergonomic design of our shopping cart retriever system eliminates the pushing and straining that often causes muscle injury and back strain when employees are forced to maneuver a line of carts manually. Your employees will thank you for making an onerous job easy. Your customers will thank you for keeping maximum staff on the floor to make their shopping experience more pleasant. And your accountant will commend you for finding a cost-effective way to improve efficiency and productivity. It’s a win-win-win scenario. Visit the  DJ Products website to find out more about our shopping cart retrieval system.

Recognizing Opportunity in the Marketplace

The economic slow down has certainly presented its challenges, but it’s also presented business owners with a unique opportunity to reassess both their products and the marketplace. Savvy business owners are making good use of down time necessitated by decreased sales and lowered production to shift more resources into market analysis and research and development. It’s a move geared to discover new opportunities in the marketplace and position businesses to compete more strongly as the market recovers.

While it’s stripped to its bare bones, this is an excellent time to focus on the most essential aspects that drive the market in which you compete. And that’s a smart thing to do periodically, but a chore that is easily put off in the hustle and bustle of meeting customer demands and production schedules when the market is thriving and you’re focused on sales. While the economy is slow, you have time to focus on the essential needs of your customers and that can sharpen your insight into the primary forces that ultimately drive your business. The process provides opportunities to discover new and innovative ways to meet those needs.

In every industry there are core needs that drive business. Applying new technology to address those core needs allows you to offer customers a competitive advantage they can’t get from your competitors. A down market allows you the time to research and develop new technologies and applications that will allow your business to stand out from the competition and offer your customers a way to compete more effectively in their own markets. This is also a time to explore new applications for your products that can open new, untapped markets for your products. The creation of multiple revenue streams through diversification minimizes your business risk when the economy tightens up.

DJ Products’ own story provides an excellent example of how analysis of core market needs can lead to the innovative application of technology to create unique new products. Early on DJ Products saw a need for the development of ergonomically-designed material handling equipment. You have only to look at U.S. Bureau of Labor and Workman’s Compensation statistics to recognize the high cost in both production losses and worker medical expenses caused by musculoskeletal injuries from moving equipment and products in the workplace. Applying ergonomic design techniques to material handling equipment provided a unique solution that successfully resolved these issues, providing practical and affordable solutions to a core industry need. DJ Products’ continued dedication to developing unique solutions to meet customers’ needs has made us an innovative leader in the material handling industry.

Customers Find Unusual Applications for DJ Products’ Powered Carts

Here at DJ Products, we love to hear about some of the unusual and unique uses our customers have found for our motorized carts and powered movers. Often our customers’ inventiveness matches our own when it comes to finding new uses for our ergonomically-designed, compact and highly maneuverable CartCaddies.

S.B. of Sound Construction, who uses our versatile TrailerCaddy on job sites, found a unique personal use for his motorized vehicle mover during off hours. Boating and fishing are the big sports in his neck of the woods where nearly every driveway sports a boat on a trailer. Tired of the tedious back and forth maneuvering it takes to back a boat trailer into a narrow driveway, S.B. put his TrailerCaddy to use and easily positioned his boat in record time — and still had plenty of space to get the family car into the garage. His neighbors were so impressed, his TrailerCaddy is now in hot demand.

“No more must I watch the neighbors look like geeks trying to back their boats into the driveway — they simply borrow my TrailerCaddy,”  S.B said.

Often, customers come to us with a specific problem that challenges us to find new applications for our motorized equipment movers. We’re always pleased when our solution is a hit, as it was for J.A. of Wausau West High School.  

Lugging heavy, unwieldy, free-standing bleachers from one site to another was a problem for the maintenance crew at Wausau West High School. If you have ever tried to move one of these massive blocks of “portable” temporary bleachers, you know portability played second fiddle to sturdy construction when these units were designed. Unfortunately, the multiple uses to which schools must put their space demand flexible equipment use. Muscling bleachers into position for band concerts, school assemblies and various sporting events can tax the physical resources of even the stoutest maintenance crew. The risk of muscle and back strain and other injuries is high.

J.A. came to us seeking a solution. Our small profile, highly maneuverable, powered tugger, the CartCaddyShorty, proved to be the perfect solution. Capable of handling 3,000 pounds and maneuvering in tight spaces and crowded school corridors, the CartCaddyShorty allows a single worker to move and maneuver into place the school’s bleacher units in record time with no more backaches!

“Planning on spreading the work on this solution to the bleacher problem in other schools,” said a pleased J.A.

If you’ve found an unusual use for our equipment, we’d love to hear from you. And if you have a particular problem, give us a call. We love a challenge!

CartCaddy Tug Solves Auto Manufacturing Problem

The task was to design a robotic work cell to fabricate car doors. It was a difficult problem. The jig assembly that would hold the doors weighed nearly 5,000 pounds. The entire assembly would have to be pushed into the robotic work cell. The tier 1 robotics integrator for a major auto manufacturer turned to DJ Products for the solution.

DJ Products’ CartCaddy5WP tug was the answer. This powerful battery-powered tug allows a single operator to smoothly and safely change-out a finished car door with ease. State-of-the-art ergonomic design eliminates any potential injury to workers from manually pushing door assemblies into position. The tug’s powerful 36-volt motor provides effortless maneuvering of loads from 2,500 pounds up to 30,000 pounds. Highly maneuverable in tight spaces, this exceptional tug is equally effective in open spaces, hallways, aisles and assembly lines.

The CartCaddy5WP tug is a more powerful upgrade of our CartCaddy5W tugger. By adding weight over the drive tires, greater traction is created allowing the 5WP tug to manage heavy loads and equipment up to 30,000 pounds. This tug has the power to push or pull almost any heavy cart or piece of equipment.

In common application, the CartCaddy 5WP is used with carts or equipment having two swivel casters in front and two straight casters in the rear. Attaching the 5WP power tug to the swivel caster end of the cart/equipment allows the tug to easily power carts/equipment through turns and maneuvers, even in tight spaces. An ergonomically designed variable speed twist grip prevents carpal tunnel syndrome and allows the operator to maintain smooth control through intricate maneuvers in both forward and reverse at speeds of from 0 to 3 mph. For full specifications on the 5WP power tug, click here.

The electric lift option on the 5WP power tug raises and lowers the tug’s arm for firm attachment to the bottom of carts or equipment. With the arm attached, the tug can pivot a full 180 degrees under the arm, allowing loads to be turned 90 degrees without problem. The CartCaddy5WP power tug is among the most powerful, most maneuverable and most versatile tugs on the market. Click here for more information about the CartCaddy5WP power tug and a video of this tug in action.

Frugality Is New Business Reality

The nation’s economic gurus may have declared the recession over, but they’re warning businesses and consumers alike that recovery could continue for years. And we shouldn’t expect things to get back to the way they were — ever! The country is going through a major reset. After decades of inflated prices, inflated egos and inflated dreams, we’ve had to face the cold, harsh realities of life and — we hope — the experience has left us wiser and a little more wary of falling into the same pit again. The smaller employee pools, tighter resource management and lean production practices developed out of necessity during the recession are here to stay. Frugality is the new reality.

The frugal measures taken to keep American businesses from sinking will help us swim leaner, faster and farther in the post-recession marketplace. Having found that we can function and compete in a frugal environment, businesses are expected to use that new-found frugality to give themselves a competitive edge, using less to produce more. Sure it means that everyone will continue to work harder and do more; but that’s what it’s going to take to compete successfully in the new, tougher post-recession marketplace.

Smart business owners will seek out equipment that allows them to make more productive use of their more limited post-recession workforce. Material handling products like DJ Products ergonomically-designed CartCaddys allow a single worker to perform lifting and transporting tasks that it takes two or more workers to do manually. Because ergonomic design enables multiple workers of any size, shape or physical ability to perform the same task without risk of injury, DJ Products carts, tugs and movers allow employers to maximize use of their workforce. Eco-friendly, battery-operated motorized carts decrease fuel costs while cutting downtime and maintenance costs. And adoption of ergonomic equipment significantly reduces medical and workers compensation costs while letting your workers know you value their health and safety.