Tag: Business Tips

Bootstraps Still in Fashion for Budding Entrepreneurs

It’s heartening to hear that entrepreneurship is alive and well in America despite the dismal economy. A new business organization is growing in the heart of the American Midwest where it seems that bootstraps are still in fashion! The International Bootstrapping Association held its inaugural meeting in Columbus, Ohio this week. Its goal is to give budding entrepreneurs, known as bootstrappers, a leg up, help them get started, and teach them to survive on self-funding while the economy fights its way back to full recovery.  

“A bootstrapping entrepreneur has to solve problems with creativity and perseverance because they can’t buy the answer,” association co-founder Bill Troy told Margaret Harding of The Columbus Dispatch in an article that appeared on April 10, 2009. “They have to come up with some creative solution that doesn’t cost money.”

Most entrepreneurs don’t have the luxury of investment funding, particularly in the current economy. To keep American entrepreneurship alive, successful Ohio entrepreneurs have pooled their talent and resources to create a self-help organization by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. The organization provides an opportunity for would-be entrepreneurs to learn from the start-up experiences of their already successful, experienced counterparts. The group hopes to create a model that could spark similar chapters nationwide.

The first meeting debuted with a panel discussion followed by work groups. “We really focus on experience, not advice,” Troy, president and founder of Troy Research, told the Dispatch. The group takes a real-life approach to problem solving during its discussions. “It’s what people have really tried and done in the situation, not people telling you what you should do,” Troy explained.

Concerned about the pitfalls of investor-driven business, as all too clearly elucidated by recent events, the Ohio group aims to give entrepreneurs the tools to survive on their own. Troy believes that to survive U.S. entrepreneurship needs to return to the perseverance and scrappiness that defined its early pioneers.

As innovators in the field of ergonomically-designed, battery-powered material handling equipment, DJ Products understands the challenges faced by today’s budding entrepreneurs and salutes the launch of the International Bootstrapping Association. 

Business Survival Requires Effort on Multiple Fronts

Survival is the name of the game these days. Savvy companies large and small are tightening up their production and accounting procedures, taking care of their customers and working to expand their customer and product base. As we’ve discussed this week, some companies are improving their market share through consolidation mergers. Last week we talked about the importance of innovation, flexibility and customer service in surviving in today’s highly competitive market. We’ve also discussed the need to broaden your reach by finding new market opportunities for your products and services. The bottom line is survival in a recessionary economy requires businesses to make a constant effort on multiple fronts. Survival requires continuous effort to maintain current excellence and constant innovation to explore and pursue new opportunities.

Through economic highs and lows DJ Products has maintained its standing as a national leader in the manufacture of ergonomically-designed motorized carts and powered cart movers by blending the old with the new. We have always maintained the highest quality production standards in the manufacture of material handling equipment, but we’ve introduced new, innovation, ergonomic designs to material handling that allow our customers to meet future challenges. Early on, DJ Products identified the growing concern about worker health and safety and the growing expense of ignoring musculoskeletal injuries. We predicted the increasing importance of these issues to employers and their workers as well as government and potential customers and worked to design innovative products that would meet growing demand.

Understanding the value of a satisfied customer, DJ Products has provided superior customer service. But we also understand that customer needs change as business changes. Our material handling products are designed with versatility and flexibility in mind so that they’ll be able to perform multiple functions to keep up with the changing demands of our customers. Lift kits and retrofit kits provide even more innovative flexibility to serve our customer’s needs. DJ Products also has the ability to offer our customers engineer-to-order material handling products to meet their specific needs.

DJ Products has been diligent in finding new uses for our ergonomically-designed material handling equipment. CartCaddies that were originally designed for manufacturing environments are now employed regularly in the healthcare, hospitality and retail industries. Our auto pushers are also being used at truck depots, RV sales lots and boat marinas. Working with our customers, DJ Products is constantly searching for and finding new uses and new markets for our innovative products.

Tips to Having Truly Efficient Warehouse Operation

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Warehouse Efficiency

Warehouses greatly benefit from a “work smarter, not harder” mentality. Better processes can lead to far greater results than any amount of elbow grease.

Here are some key ways to improve warehouse efficiency:

All Employees Should Use the Same Methods

Warehouse employees often develop personal methods that work best for them, but everybody should be following the same general operations. The process can’t vary depending on who is on shift. Develop a system that works well dependably, so you can enjoy consistency and efficiency even after turnover.

Don’t Bury and Forget Suggestions & Improvements

Do you have an employee suggestion box and conduct regular meetings? And more importantly, do items on the agenda tend to get buried?

These should be sources of improvement, not thoughts on the back burner. Set aside time to take action. Use a plan of action sheet, set reminders for follow-up, and actively test new solutions to gauge efficiency improvements.

Automate Repetitive, Labor-Intensive Tasks

Warehouses don’t just lose efficiency when workers go down with injuries. Your employees slow down and take more breaks when sore and tired from repetitive tasks. Motorized industrial tugs reduce the impact of pushing and pulling heavy loads — one of the most common sources of warehouse injuries and inefficiencies.

If your workers manually push wheeled carts or heavy equipment, industrial tugs speed things up and keep them working efficiently day in and day out. Our industrial tugs can be efficiently maneuvered at up to 3 mph by one worker, even in tight spaces.

Need to boost warehouse efficiency? Browse industrial tugs and cart pushers at DJProducts.com and follow our blog for more advice.

A Shopping Cart Retriever Can Keep Costs Down

Using a cart retriever to corral and keep track of shopping carts does not just address safety concerns; it addresses fiscal concerns as well. If you provide shopping carts for customers to use, then the upkeep of the carts is a part of your overhead. If they are damaged, you need new carts to replace the ones that can no longer be used. However, if a number of carts never make it back into the store because people take them and put them to use in other places, you will spend money you could use for other things to buy new shopping carts.

A 2006 article from The New York Times said that in 2005, one company that hired people for the specific task of getting back shopping carts found that their “retrievers returned 86,000 carts from the streets of the metropolitan [New York City] area.” At this time, the carts were $90 each, so finding them saved quite a bit of money.

A DJ Products shopping cart retriever helps employees to quickly gather carts and keep them close to the store so there are fewer stray carts available for those who would be tempted to take a cart for their own use.

The retriever attaches to the back of the line of up to fifty shopping carts. The cart retriever pushes the line of carts from behind, following the direction that the operator steers as he guides them from in front. Once he gets to the front of the store, he is free to head back out to the parking lot with the shopping cart mover to collect more carts.

Got a Fleet of Vehicles? You Need a Vehicle Pusher

If your company has a fleet of vehicles that are used on a regular basis, there is the possibility that one of them may break down. And while there may instances where an employee needs to wait on a tow truck, there are probably just as many times when you could use a vehicle pusher. A car pusher from DJ Products can help you get that car, truck or van out of the road or transport it across your property as needed.

A helpful employee’s first instinct may be to just go ahead and push the vehicle–either alone or with the help of a few co-workers. It is great when someone jumps in and takes the initiative to get the job done. What is not so great is when that person’s instinct leads to overexertion and he or she ends up sidelined later with an injury that could have been prevented.

Not only can your employees injure themselves; they may also unintentionally damage a stalled vehicle should they decide to use another vehicle to move one that is stalled. Both vehicles can be dented, scratched, or cracked when this is done.

Of course your employees would only be trying to do what needs to be done but you can prevent possible injury and property damage by providing a vehicle pusher in advance of situations like these. The CarCaddy car and vehicle pusher is a battery-powered pusher for pushing stalled vehicles that generally have pneumatic tires and don’t need to be steered by the CarCaddy itself.

Call one of our Sales Engineers at 800-686-2651 to learn more.

Why Do We Need Material Handling Solutions?

If you are new to an industry in which your employees labor in plants and warehouses, you may not be fully aware of the need for material handling solutions to assist with transporting goods. You may think that if you are supplying your employees with carts or trolleys that they should not need more than that to move products or raw materials around. What you may not realize is just how difficult and possibly dangerous it can be to just use a cart in certain situations.

While a cart or trolley may be equipped with casters, this does not mean it is equipped to handle all of the spaces and surfaces where your employees work. Slight inclines and tight corners may make it difficult to maneuver some types of wheeled equipment that would otherwise move with ease.

A tug from DJ Products can help ease possible muscle strain that could occur when an employee attempts to push or pull carts, especially ones with heavy loads. You can use our industrial tuggers to help transport carts with casters, carts that use 4-swivel casters or a wagon-wheel style of turning, and carts in a straight line. Not only can you avoid employee injury, you can also avoid collisions and accidents that might damage valuable raw materials or products.

It is our goal to provide solutions for material handling situations that are ergonomically correct, safe and cost effective. You can feel free to call us at 800-686-2651 if you are unsure as to which material handling solution will work best for you. Our Sales Engineers can provide recommendations. The will also be happy to explore custom applications where our base products match primary criteria.

Reduce Risk of Food Processing Plant Injury with Industrial Tuggers

A study from commercial insurer CNA that examined the risks associated with working in the food processing industry found that “the types of incidents most likely to cause worker injuries are manual material handling and physical stress; struck by and struck against; and falls on the same level.” The report also noted that while the industry has increased its use of power movers, there was still a reliance on manual transport that lead to injuries that may have been prevented.

As the reports also states, “Profitability in the food processing industry depends on the rapid production of final product and its timely shipment to customers. The continuous rapid movement of large amounts of raw materials and finished products throughout the production cycle exposes workers to injuries resulting from contact with moving objects.”

We know that you cannot afford to slow down operations. We also know that you would like to avoid costly worker compensations claims and the loss of productivity and morale that go along with those claims. So, try using a DJ Products powered mover, like the CartCaddyShorty for example.

The CartCaddyShorty can be used to transport a variety of heavy loads, including things like large quantities of cold cuts or a cart full of cookie dough. This small, but powerful tugger is one the most maneuverable tugs you’ll find today.

While you can continue to allow your employees to push heavy carts because they are ‘getting the job done,’ consider that ergonomically designed equipment will still help them complete their tasks with the added benefit of preventing strains and sprains that can harm your staff and your financial outlook.

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. 

Powered Carts Allow You to Consider More Job Candidates

A powered cart is one of the many material handling solutions that DJ Products offers that can help ensure that your employees don’t become injured as they try to transport boxes filled with products or medication, equipment, and other heavy items.

You may have already known that a DJ Products powered cart is can go a long way towards preventing strain and musculoskeletal injuries but did you also know that using our material handling solutions might change your hiring process? The powered cart allows your workforce to be more productive and human resources to be less selective when hiring personnel for a position that may require some physical labor. Instead of passing over a reliable candidate because you imagine that he or she will not be able to handle some of the physical labor required, you can widen your prospects to include people you may not have considered before.

Sometime hiring decisions can be tough: if you have turned down people in the past because you didn’t think they had to physique or have had highly-qualified candidates reconsider accepting a job offer when they find out about some of the physical labor involved, a DJ Products powered cart can change your hiring process. A candidate can’t change her or her physique but you can see to it that a variety of people can do the heavy lifting, even if they can’t do it with just their own strength.

Want to discuss specific applications for our products in your workplace? Call us at 1-800-686-2651 to speak with one of our Sales Engineers.

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.