Manufacturing facilities in today’s competitive market strive to produce the highest quality product while taking into consideration operator comfort, ergonomics, and maintaining the lowest possible injury rate. In this case study, we will discuss the importance of recognizing areas where stress and fatigue can cause injury and therefore putting equipment into place to proactively guard against injury.
Customer
A leading manufacturer of donuts with locations worldwide which is headquartered in central North Carolina.
Challenge
This facility has a multitude of high-tech bag fillers, conveyors, mixers, and other top-of-the-line equipment to meet exceedingly high production demands; however, many of the raw ingredient bags and boxes were being lifted by hand many hours a day causing operator stress and fatigue. They needed help with a solution that could meet their weight requirements, be installed in the existing footprint, and would be fast and easy to use.
Air Power’s Solution
Air Power in conjunction with Schmalz was able to facilitate the customer coming into the lab to demo every type of bag and box that they needed to lift. Together we were able to determine the best method and equipment to fit their needs while keeping in consideration their space constraints and operator comfort.
Result
Currently, 3 vacuum lifting devices have been implemented in their mix plant in North Carolina with the potential of 12 more. The operators have been trained and are very satisfied with the devices, and both the plant manager as well as safety can take a deep breath knowing their operators are no longer dealing with the stress and fatigue of lifting heavy bags and boxes during their shifts.
