Finding a solution that worksPosted byEngineered Lifting Systems & Equipment Inc.
With over 40 years of experience, Engineered Lifting Systems & Equipment Inc. provides standard & custom overhea...Read more
One of this nation’s largest general retailers was analyzing productivity at its distributioncentre. The centre services 488 stores across Canada. In an effort to improveproductivity, management was looking at new technologies to semi-automate unloadingoperations of floor-loaded product from shipping containers. While some of the dockswere equipped with powered flexible roller conveyors, the necessity to increaseefficiencies was bookmarked as a priority.
The challenge
Shipments of product in floor-loaded containers varied greatly in size, weight anddimension, and encompassed anything from boxes to tires to poly-wrapped items.Typically, two workers emptied a container: one to unload and one to palletize. Onaverage, the unload time was 12 hours or 36 man hours. The company was looking toincrease productivity.
In addition, like many warehousing operations, unloading containers is a physicallydemanding job. It subjects workers to hours of lifting and twisting and unfortunately canresult in injury and possible lost time.
The results
The company was introduced to theDestuff-IT Unloader, from Engineered LiftingSystems and Equipment, and agreed to participate in an on-site trial that put twoidentical containers side-by-side. Each container was filled with 2,400 boxes weighingapproximately 30 pounds and assigned a team.
团队(两名工人)手动卸载盒子啊nto pallets. To reach the top of thebox wall, workers used a step stool.
Team B used the Destuff-IT. One worker was positioned inside the container. In order tokeep up with the flow of product being unloaded, two workers were required at the endof the conveyor.
The results of the trial showed over 100 per cent productivity gain: It took two employees17 hours (at 142 units an hour) to manually unload the boxes, while it took threeemployees only five hours (at 480 units an hour) using Destuff-IT. When you look at totalman hours to unload the container, the manual approach took 34 hours, while it was 15hours using Destuff-IT. That’s a savings of $403 per container.
In addition, workers involved in the trial reported less fatigue when using the Destuff-IT,as lifting motions were minimized and they were placed in a better ergonomic positionfor handling boxes.
Whether the objective is to reduce injury or improve productivity, the Destuff-IT is anexcellent solution. With proven productivity gains that not only reduce unload time, butalso reduce or eliminate demurrage charges, standby charges and drop trailer charges,the Destuff-IT can also reduce the number of doors needed for the unload operation withmore trailer turns per door.
Contact Engineered Lifting Systems and Equipmentfor more details.
Posted byEngineered Lifting Systems & Equipment Inc.
With over 40 years of experience, Engineered Lifting Systems & Equipment Inc. provides standard & custom overhea...Read more
