christopher Harper, Author at DJ Products

Dumpsters Need Love Too: Benefits of the WasteCaddy

Dumpsters Need Love Too!

Even though they perform an important function, dumpsters don’t get much love. They provide a convenient disposal location for office and apartment buildings, malls and construction sites, but for most people they’re barely an afterthought. Would you feel differently about a dumpster as a housing option?

A photographer in San Francisco recently used this humorous concept to make a serious point. Fed up with exorbitant real estates prices in his home town, he published a series of tongue-in-cheek photos of “alternative” housing such as mailboxes and manholes covers. The picture of a dumpster was accompanied with a caption referring to it as a “$5,000 waterfront condo”.

All joking aside, without dumpsters trash disposal and recycling would be nearly impossible. The downside is that their size makes them difficult to move, especially when they’re full. Our WasteCaddy and WasteCaddyLite offer perfect solutions to this workplace problem.

These battery-powered pullers are so powerful that one person can easily use them to move dumpsters from underground garages and across dirt and gravel. Their compact design makes them maneuverable even in narrow, confined spaces. Ergonomic features such as the variable speed twist grip help to reduce occurrences of repetitive stress injuries. We also offer a variety of add-ons so you can tailor the caddy to meet your specific needs.

The WasteCaddyLite can handle loads up to 2,000 pounds while the WasteCaddy accommodates up to 5,000 pounds. Our friendly Sales Engineers at DJ Products are ready to help you choose the one that’s right for your application. Please contact us at 800.686.2651 or visit our website to use our convenient real-time chat assistance.

US Navy Signs on the Dotted Line on $4.3 Billion Aircraft Carrier Deal

To the shock of some financial observers, the U.S. Navy has agreed to terms for a second Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier from Huntington Ingalls. The contractor is the Navy’s only source for nuclear-powered carriers.

The construction of the first ship (in a planned four-ship series) has ballooned in costs beyond congressional expectations. Total price tags have been estimated at around $14 billion. This second ship, to be named the USS John F. Kennedy, has been commissioned with contracts totaling $4.3 billion. The price tag will grow, but Navy leadership stands by a current estimate of $11.5 billion or less.

High Costs to Keep Navy’s Aircraft Carriers Afloat

The Department of Defense has already spent nearly $5 billion on R&D for the Ford class. With the design and planning largely taken care of, the Navy decided to forge ahead with the additional carriers.

The Navy has been operating with fewer than the congressionally mandated 11 aircraft carriers it must employ. Despite calls for smaller or fewer carriers, military leadership has decided to go the current route — enormous, nuclear-powered carriers with a variety of advanced features. Following the retirement of a carrier in 2014, the two new Ford-class ships will bring the Navy’s total number of carriers back to 11.

The Navy can employ GSA-approved equipment to help streamline operations on aircraft carriers. Military and DoD truck and trailer moving vehicles can help move and relocate aircraft, transport maintenance carts, and haul heavy tanks of jet fuel around an aircraft carrier.

For more info on military and DoD truck and trailer moving and other GSA equipment solutions, visit DJProducts.com.

Keeping Up with the Trends

The world of business, and subsequently warehousing and material handling, is ever changing. To be successful you must adapt as your customer needs change and there is never a more serious time to serve your customer as a time where the economy is suffering. If you can’t provide the service that your customer needs, you better believe that he or she will find someone that can in an effort to serve their customer and keep their doors open.

Recent trends have shown that some businesses are being forced by the economy to move into smaller properties in an effort to cut overhead and continue operating. Some of these businesses will require their suppliers to change from a customary “pick and pack” type supplier to someone who is willing to store materials until they are needed.

Warehouses and distribution centers who are asked to provide this service to their customers need, more than ever before, to be properly organized and capable of staging and shipping orders quickly and accurately once an order is received from their customer. Direct shipments to end users may be necessary and the overall volume of shipments may increase causing the environment to become faster paced and more hectic.

The need for accurate and properly stocked inventories becomes crucial in this type of environment; because there is no time for error when direct or expedited shipments are required. One way to ensure that your workers can both accurately receive and store materials and to ensure that material can be pulled and staged for priority shipments quickly is to have the proper material handling equipment available for use.

The ergonomic, battery powered carts and scissor lifts from DJ products operate quickly, cleanly and quietly for an entire shift on a single charge, allowing your employees to focus on the accuracy necessary for pulling and receiving orders rather than on the back breaking labor of manual material handling. In order to become and stay successful your team needs to be fast, accurate and efficient and one of the best ways to achieve that level of performance is to operate with the best possible equipment.

Surviving and Thriving during Mergers and Acquisitions

Having to cutback, downsize or merge with a competitor has become the reality for many logistics and storage companies if the want to keep their doors open. There just currently aren’t enough customers and enough money/product moving around in order to keep every company busy enough to justify, or even allow, them to operate at the level that they had prior to the economic downturn.

Mergers with competitors can pose a whole host of issues in terms of operations; the most obvious would seem to be the personal and computer program interactions. Adopting a brand new and potentially very different system of daily operations and having to interact with a bunch of new personalities can be a daunting task, but few people view just how much difference their can be in the warehousing and storage aspect and it’s profound affect on the employees involved.

Differences in equipment, inventory control and shipping and receiving practices can be difficult obstacles to overcome. In order for a newly developed company with employees from two different backgrounds to be successful, some operational changes may be a necessity. Customers coming from both businesses will need to see accuracy and speed at least comparable, if not improved, to what they were used to in order to feel confident with the new situation.

Increasing speed and accuracy may require upgrade changes in equipment as well as operations. Outdated, inefficient and unreliable machines could spell doom to a company who is attempting to keep current customers from leaving during a period of transition. The proper material handling equipment will more than pay for itself in a very short period of time with reduced fuel/energy costs and increased employee productivity; and the capability of delivering goods quickly and accurately will keep customers loyal and could possibly increase your bottom line.

DJ products offers affordable, reliable and easy to use solutions for material handling, the exact type of equipment needed for a warehouse to maintain, or exceed customer expectations during the transition period of a merger.

Safety Breeds Productivity

Too many warehouses and material handling companies view safety as secondary in order of importance compared to customer service – but a clean, safe and clutter free workplace can have a huge effect on productivity.

Organization is key in being able to deliver optimal customer service as orders can be pulled, stationed, packed and shipped much more quickly and efficiently in an environment that is clutter free and safe. There is also a much lower chance of injury in an environment that is organized, properly equipped and well designed.

Warehouse and plant managers shouldn’t wait for fire or safety inspection time to roll around to get their operations organized and clean – the possibility for greatly increased productivity and, in turn, an increase in the bottom line along with a loyal customer base are readily available for business that can provide lightning quick and pin point accurate service.

Employees who work in atmospheres where the equipment is outdated and unreliable are more likely to have to perform the brunt of their jobs manually; this can lead to oversights and errors that may affect the accuracy of orders and of your inventory. It can also result in material being left in areas that weren’t necessarily meant for storage, potentially leading to accidents or injuries.

Upgrading your material handling equipment to battery powered carts that are quiet, ergonomic and long lasting will allow your employees to work at a faster pace without having to worry about resorting to manual handling when the equipment fails. Nothing hurts moral and performance worse than equipment failure during the picking or stocking of a large order when the pressure is on to perform.

Electric Carts from DJ Products have the power to last for an entire, fast paced shift of shipping/receiving without any worry about failure. This means that your employees can fully receive stock orders and put them away, or pull and stage large orders without interruption – with the right equipment; your warehouse will be clean, organized and operating at the highest possible level of efficiency.

Bigger isn’t always Better

Staying operational in rough economic waters sometimes means having to make some big changes – one of those changes that some distribution centers are making is to open more locations. Opening more locations doesn’t really sound as though it would be a good way to cut costs and increase the bottom line; but if those new locations are smaller and better equipped to serve the customer – it can certainly be a way to turn more of a profit.

Many companies are looking to eliminate extremely large facilities that carry high overheads in terms of rent and utilities in favor if smaller, lower cost buildings that are able to deliver service at faster speeds. One large centralized location that is capable of carrying plenty of inventory does have some advantages, but multiple locations that are strategically placed can have many more benefits when it comes to provide quick and accurate service to customers.

It can be quite a bit easier to keep track of product in a smaller and well organized building, everything needs to be processed and put away upon arrival because your employees won’t have the extra space for product to sit around on pallets. With your entire inventory put exactly where it needs to be up receipt, there won’t be any room for error – inventories will be easier to control and orders won’t be lost due to misplaced product.

Bigger isn’t always better in terms of equipment either and when distribution centers shrink down in size to become faster and more effective, they often need their material handling equipment to do the exact same thing. In a small and fast pace environment, you can’t afford to have over-sized, unreliable and outdated equipment – you need carts and lifts like those offered by DJ Products; equipment that is small, easy to use and that will last an entire shift (or more) on a single charge with no fear of failure.

Your employees will be moving at lightning speeds in order to process customer orders; they’ll need safe, effective and reliable equipment to help them perform their job properly – equipment like the carts and lifts offered by DJ Products.

Diversification and the Willingness to Grow

Stocking distributors and manufacturer’s representatives are finding themselves in a position where they have to play the roll of the chameleon, constantly changing to meet their customer’s needs in the ever changing construction environment.

When you are in a field where the products are constantly evolving to meet the end users unique needs it’s difficult enough to try and keep up with the trends, but when the ravaged economy is wreaking havoc with your and your competitors’ businesses you need to truly be the most versatile business you can be in order to remain successful.

Your closet competition may be forced to close its doors, which could open up an area of the market that you were previously unable to service – but in order to attack and hold onto that business you may need to add new product without losing a step in terms of serving your customer.

This type of rapid fire adaptability requires you to have the most reliable and easiest to use equipment in order to be able to receive and fill orders at the rate necessary to meet existing and new customer needs. You can’t have your employees fumbling with outdated machinery that is prone to failure, or with manually moving thousands of pounds of product due to the fact that there is no fuel in your lift or charge left in its battery.

DJ Products offers battery operated lifts and carts that are designed to meet the demands of the fast paced atmosphere of material handling. These lifts and carts are among the safest, most reliable and most versatile available – each ergonomically designed to not only get the job done, but to keep your employees safe while they are doing it.

Whether you are feeling pressure from an influx of new product and new customers or just trying better your business status enough to not become a statistic, the right equipment for the job is necessary to exceed your previous level of productivity.

Hazards in the Workplace

Many things located in your workplace; things that you use every single day without a second though, things as common as pallets, ladders, hand trucks can all prove to be dangerous if not used properly. Many of the pieces of equipment that you use on a regular basis, the things that you come in contact with so often that you take their necessity for granted, can pose a serious health risk to you and others if they aren’t in good condition or if they aren’t properly used.

Regular inspections of all equipment should be made to ensure that everything is in good working condition, regular maintenance should be performed on any equipment that contains moving parts and you should ensure that all of your employees are educated on the proper use of the equipment.

The equipment that you use everyday needs to be: properly used by your employees, in good working condition and capable of handling the work that you are using it for. Many workplace injuries can be avoided simply by the use of the right equipment for the task at hand. The electric carts and lifts offered by DJ Products are easy to operate – your employees can be trained quickly to operate these lifts properly, safely and efficiently. They are quiet – the rest of your employees won’t be distracted by excessive noise while DJ Product’s equipment is operating. They are highly efficient and have long battery life – your employees won’t be stuck with an unfinished load of material in the middle of your warehouse due to the fact that their cart died. All of these attributes will make your warehouse more efficient and much safer for all of your employees.

Safety should be a prime concern when you work in material handling – and safety starts with the right equipment for the job and properly trained employees. You can make your operation as safe as possible and dramatically increase your company’s efficiency by using the right equipment for the job.

Functional Equipment doesn’t necessarily mean Basic Equipment

Many of the duties performed in a warehousing environment are repetitive, especially if much of the material distributed is similar. Employees in the receiving department follow the appropriate procedure from unloading to stocking and the shipping department will follow their detailed procedure for pulling, stationing and prepping the materials to be picked up by the freight carrier.

This seemingly simple operation might lead people to believe that any old equipment can perform the job – all the employees are doing is moving materials from one spot to another right? This assumption couldn’t be further from the truth though, the procedures followed in many warehouses and distribution centers follow a similar path – but if safe, reliable and properly designed equipment weren’t available, the business would never be able to keep up with the competition.

Some warehouses would probably be able to function for a very brief period with just the most rudimentary materials, like hand trucks and pallet jacks – provided that the material is to large or cumbersome to be handled manually. There are probably some distribution centers that could squeak by for a brief period with outdated propane fueled forklifts that are prone to breakdown and require regular maintenance but operating in this fashion would certainly mean the most difficult road for the employees and the biggest risk of not being capable of accurately fulfilling orders.

The ergonomically designed and battery powered lifts from DJ Products are the solution to any material handling problem plaguing a warehouse or distribution center. These lifts and carts are easy to operate, quiet, safe and the most reliable available. These days, just keeping up with the competition in the distribution industry may not be enough to survive – you have to give your employees every edge to be able to fulfill orders as quickly and accurately as possible. The edge often begins with the equipment used to get the job done, that’s why many warehouses and distribution centers are turning to the lifts and carts produced by DJ Products for their material handling needs.

Always be Prepared

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, also known simply as OSHA, is responsible for setting and enforcing the standards of safety in the workplace. The main goal of OSHA is to reduce on the job injuries and fatalities by assuring that workers are performing their jobs in the safest environments possible. Since it’s inception at the end of 1970, OSHA has dramatically reduced the incidents of accidents in the workplace and they continue to inspect facilities and enforce their policies in an effort to make working people even safer.

Between the federal and state run divisions of OSHA, more than 100,000 facilities are inspected each year and those not meeting the standards could receive heavy fines depending upon their infractions. The number one violation cited by OSHA has to do with forklift operation. This should serve as a warning to all warehouse and distribution environments that if they are operating outdated and unreliable equipment or if they haven’t properly trained their employees on correct usage procedures of equipment that they could suffer citations and heavy fines from OSHA.

There is much more at stake though than a fine, operating your facility with under trained employees or old and unreliable equipment could make your facility run poorly, inefficiently and it can put the health of your employees in jeopardy. In order to have the safest facility possible you need to be running equipment that was designed for the tasks that your employees perform and you need to properly train your workers to operate that equipment.

Electric lifts and carts from DJ Products are designed with safety and performance in mind – they are easy to operate, ergonomically designed and can last for an entire shift on a single charge. Properly using the right equipment is the first step to a safer, more effective and more efficient workplace – and it will eliminate the most cited infraction of the standards set by OSHA and keep you one step closer to compliance.

Author: christopher Harper