Tag: Business Tips

Ergonomic Equipment Benefits Aging Workforce

America’s workforce is aging. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of workers aged 65 and older increased 101% from 1977 to 2007, nearly twice the rate for total employment — and that doesn’t even reflect the aging Baby Boomer population, the first wave of which is just hitting 65 this year. Slightly more than 50% of older workers now work full-time. From 2006 to 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects older workers aged 55 to 64 to increase by 36% and workers over the age of 65 to increase by 80%.

The graying of America’s workforce means that business and industry will increasingly need to accommodate the physical strength and endurance limitations of older bodies. Ergonomic equipment and practices will become increasingly important, both to protect workers’ health and welfare and to enable workers of variable abilities to perform the same job. Ergonomics allows businesses to fit the job to the person — no matter the worker’s size, age, gender or physical abilities — instead of forcing the worker to torque his body into unnatural and uncomfortable positions to make the equipment work or get the job done.

Manual material handling injuries account for approximately 35% of workers’ compensation claims. Injuries to the back and upper extremities caused by reaching, lifting and carrying result in an estimated 44% of all lost time injuries. As workers age, the risk of injury increases. The bottom line is that without ergonomically-designed equipment and the institution of ergonomic practices at workstations, you can expect your injury rate — and medical/disability costs — to increase as the age of your workforce goes up. However, ergonomic equipment can level the playing field.

Ergonomic equipment that helps to lift, position and move materials and finished products takes the burden off workers, insures worker safety, and increases worker productivity. Ergonomic equipment improves worker safety and productivity when bending, twisting and reaching are required. Ergonomic design can also allow the height and tilt of containers to be adjusted for easier access. Ideally, you should utilize ergonomic principles in every aspect of your workplace operations to promote worker safety and productivity. As a bonus, you’ll build good morale and save money.

DJ Products is the national leader in ergonomically-designed motorized and battery-operated material handling carts and cart movers. We offer a complete line of powerful, compact, ergonomically-designed material handling products for every application. Contact us today for personalized help meeting your material handling needs.

Working in the Crowd

Some positions require material handling equipment that is powerful enough to tackle heavy loads reliably, but that is small and easily maneuvered to where it can weave in and out of tight corners among crowded areas.

Consider feeding times in places like hospitals, nursing homes and institutions – many of the residents of these environments are incapable of visiting a cafeteria so there food must be delivered.  In buildings that have potentially thousands of residents who are on a tight schedule, feeding time can be a very busy time.  Individually carrying meals to the residents is completely impractical, but large manual carts could be too cumbersome to move throughout hallways where there will be residents/patients and other members of the staff constantly moving.

These aren’t atmospheres where the hallways can be tied up for extended periods of time for food service; meals need to be delivered on schedule, quickly and without blocking access to other areas of the unit.

This is where equipment like the Parts CaddyLite from DJ Products becomes a necessity.  This super efficient, quiet and powerful little cart is easy enough to maneuver that even crowded hospital hallways are easily navigated.  Food and supplies can be easily delivered without interfering with other necessary operations and without causing any excess noise that could potentially disrupt residents or patients.

The Parts CaddyLite is easy to use and designed with both efficiency and safety in mind.  With a variable speed adjustment, the job can be completed as quickly as is necessary, but without putting anyone’s safety at risk and the battery is capable of lasting for two whole shifts on a single charge – so reliability will never be an issue.  If your business requires that your employees be capable of delivering goods on time, without fail in an environment that has close quarters and crowds – the Parts CaddyLite will deliver every time.

Save Money with a Shopping Cart Retriever

We see shopping carts everywhere and think little of them but if you are a retailer who offers them to customers they are one of the many items that you must account for. A DJ Products Shopping Cart Retriever can save you money on to separate fronts:

Reduce Employee Injury
Shopping cart retrievers are great labor-saving devices. Employees that have to round up shopping arts risk possible injury from the physical labor and must deal with weather conditions such as extreme heat and cold, rain, snow and hail. Providing your employees with this mechanical assistance means you lessen the chances that one of them gets injured retrieving carts or calls in sick because of heat exhaustion. And since cart retrieval tends to be the kind of task assigned to new or low-ranking employees, you may not make these employees excited to do this work but you can make this work easier because retaining employees you have trained also saves you money.

Lose Fewer Shopping Carts
The other way that a shopping cart retriever can save you money is pretty simple: The faster you get cart rounded up, the less likely it is that stray carts will be removed from your property. You may lose some carts here and there, but overall you do not want to see a number of your shopping carts either abandoned or being pushed around other parts of town. Retailers have been used to absorbing the loss of shopping carts but you can be proactive and see to it that your carts remain on your property for your customers to use.

Call 800-686-2651 to speak with one of our Sales Engineers about cart retrievers and other material handling solutions.

A Heavy Duty Cart Mover Gets the Job Done Safely

You would think that a cart itself would be enough to transport loads that a person cannot carry on his or her own, but when it comes to industry, sometimes even the carts need a little help. This is when a cart mover can come in very handy. The CartCaddyHD from DJ Products has been designed to push, pull, or maneuver carts or equipment up to 50,000 pounds.

If you’re wondering just why someone would load something up with that much weight, think about how long it would take if you were to break that 50,000 pounds in to smaller, more manageable loads—the kind that one person could carry comfortably. It would take a very long time to transport the kind of load or move a very heavy piece of equipment that has been broken down in that way. Sometimes transporting goods and machinery in these large quantities just makes sense.

So while many warehouses, factories and other places have seen the logic in having weighty loads to make things more efficient, they haven’t examined another factor in efficiency and that’s human capacity. There will be times when it is necessary to transport loads that are quite heavy for efficiency’s sake but you do not want to overburden workers. Have an uninjured workforce is also a key component in keeping things running smoothly and you don’t want workers with overtaxed musculoskeletal systems continuing to work until they become injured.

Try the CartCaddyHD—this battery powered cart mover offers a variable speed twist grip that allowed the cart to move forwards and backwards, allowing smooth movement and protecting the operator from carpel tunnel syndrome.

New Chat Features on Our Website Give Realtime Help

The Internet has changed the way we shop. Company websites allow us to gather information and even “see” products before we decide to buy. However, there are still times when we need some knowledgeable input and advice. Our new chat features let you get real time help from the friendly, experienced Sales Engineers at DJ Products.

As you browse our website you’ll see a box in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. Simply enter your information and question in the corresponding boxes. A Sales Engineer will be waiting at the other end to give you a prompt response and answer any other questions or concerns. 

If you’d rather chat the old-fashioned way, you can contact a Sales Engineer via phone. The chat screen gives you three options to match your preference. You can conduct your phone call on your computer, on your telephone or via Skype.

Our website is open 24 hours a day, but our Sales Engineers may not be available after business hours. Use our “answering service” to send a message detailing your questions. You’ll receive a response to your question as soon as business hours resume.

Let our Sales Engineers know what type of business you have. They have extensive experience in finding the right solution for any application. In addition, they can provide recommendations regarding customized features that may be of benefit.

Feel free to browse our website with full confidence that we can provide assistance for any questions or concerns you may have. Use our convenient chat screen or call 800.686.2651.

Capital Investments That Make Sense

It may be a bear market, but this is no time to hibernate. If you want to weather the pending economic winter, you can’t afford to crawl into a cave and wait for better times. This is a time when the old saying, “You snooze, you loose,” rings true. Competition gets more cutthroat when times are tough and only the smart survive. Everyone’s going to be reining in expenses to maximize their cash flow, and many will limp along with out-dated equipment or technology, afraid to make any capital investments until the economy eases up. Savvy businesspeople know this is faulty thinking. Even in a poor economy, certain capital investments not only make sense, but give you a critical edge over your competition.

What kinds of capital investments make sense? Industry experts say capital expenditures that give you both immediate and future value should get top priority.

  • Equipment and technology that make and keep you competitive are essential, especially in a tough economy. You can’t afford to lag behind competitors or you’ll be left choking in their dust. As U.S. industry moves ever closer to integrated automation, you’ll need to embrace state-of-the-art technology and equipment to remain competitive.
  • Equipment that decreases your fuel expenses will become increasingly valuable as oil production continues to drive world economy. Battery and electric-powered equipment not only produces immediate savings in fuel expenses, but decreases future dependence on fossil fuels. 
  • Businesses shouldn’t overlook the powerful message that energy efficiency sends to customers: that you care about the environment and the planet we live on. As global warming heats up, more businesses will be choosing environmentally-friendly partners over energy-wasting ones.
  • Ergonomic equipment that improves worker safety and significantly decreases medical, insurance and workers’ compensation expenses will gain even greater importance as healthcare costs rise. Both presidential candidates are furthering healthcare platforms that will force U.S. businesses to shoulder an even greater burden of our country’s healthcare costs. Equipment that decreases the direct and peripheral medical costs of worker injury will benefit your bottom line. 
  • As the U.S. workforce shrinks, ergonomic equipment will play an important role in maintaining worker satisfaction as well as safety. As competition for workers increases, businesses will need to offer workers more tangible job benefits. Use of ergonomic equipment shows your workers you care about their health, safety and comfort on the job. And it has the added benefit of making your operation more efficient and more productive.
  • Ergonomically-designed equipment that allows a single worker to accomplish a greater volume of work safely will also reap savings in a shrinking workforce. With presidential candidates promising to penalize businesses for taking jobs overseas, the ability to maximize productivity with a minimal American workforce will gain importance.

Lessons to be Learned from the Auto Industry Meltdown

The plight of the American automobile industry should serve as a cautionary tale for all U.S. manufacturers and businesses. To survive in today’s global marketplace, you must be flexible, embrace change, and constantly re-shape your business to meet future trends. Survival is as much about preparing your business for the future as it is about being competitive today.

Detroit’s problems are complex and have been exacerbated by a 15% sales drop as the economy has worsened, but at their core is the failure of U.S. auto executives to acknowledge the trend toward more fuel-efficient cars and to innovate. Rather than meeting the challenge posed by rising well-made, fuel-efficient Asian competition, Detroit continued business as usual, putting its efforts into advertising and Congressional lobbying to support bigger, better, fuel-guzzling cars. And until the rising cost of gas bit us in the wallet, the American public played along.

The sad thing is that back in 2000 Detroit did flirt with a program to push fuel-efficient vehicles but abandoned the effort as too expensive and unnecessary. It makes you wonder if the auto industry would be in cardiac arrest today if industry leaders had had the foresight to imagine the future and the courage to make the hard decisions necessary to prepare for it.

In the material handling industry, DJ Products faced this dilemma successfully. With the vision to spot new trends and the flexibility to act, DJ Products was one of the early responders to need for ergonomic material handling equipment. Well before the high price of repetitive stress injuries became a national cause, DJ Products saw a need to design material handling equipment that would reduce the potential for musculoskeletal injuries and improve the health and safety of workers.

DJ Products manufactures ergonomically-designed motorized carts and powered cart, equipment and vehicle movers that eliminate the pain and strain of manually pushing and pulling heavy carts and wheeled equipment. Our products are less costly, smaller, more maneuverable and more versatile than traditional material handling equipment used to move carts and equipment, such as forklift trucks, walkies and riding tugs. Forward-thinking business owners are revitalizing their operations and positioning themselves for the future by turning to ergonomic equipment to meet their material handling needs.

With an Obama administration expected to increase ergonomic standards and requirements in the next year, a proactive approach toward worker health and safety is a  smart business move. And it’s a decision that will have a positive impact on your bottom line. The cost of most ergonomic equipment purchases are recouped in the first year in savings on medical costs, insurance, workers’ compensation and lost work days. A move to ergonomic equipment also provides a substantial benefit in improved worker morale and increased productivity.

To find out how ergonomically-designed material handling equipment can help prepare your business to meet the challenges of the future, contact the ergonomic experts at DJ Products.

Use ETO Manufacturing to Differentiate Yourself from Competitors

Customer manufacturing may be a way for U.S. manufacturers to hold on to and even increase their marketshare and margin, Thomas Cutler wrote in a recent issue of Manufacturing & Technology eJournal. The ability to meet your customer’s engineer-to-order (ETO), build-to-order (BTO) and assemble-to-order (ATO) demands is one way to differentiate yourself from your competition. By building or redesigning products to meet customer specifications, you create a niche for yourself in today’s challenging industrial market and build customer relationships that can’t be easily transferred to competitors.

“Standard products are the easiest targets for competitors to attack,” Dennis Parass of Burlington, Ontario’s Questica told Cutler. “If the client feels that there are a number of alternatives, there is a devaluation of the supplier and profit margins fall.”

Clients value and are often willing to pay more for the problem-solving skills needed to redesign standard products to meet specific needs. “Successful ETO or customer manufacturing companies develop relationships with their clients who value the expertise they bring to a project,” Parass told Cutler. “They differentiate competitors and force the client to weigh more than just the ‘economics’ in making a choice. The margins are better. Reputations are built on successful projects with happy clients and the value of references cannot be overemphasized.”

Industry experts predict an increase in ETO manufacturing in coming months. DJ Products has long recognized the advantages and necessity of offering ETO services to our customers. We’re experienced at working with our customers to design solutions that meet their specific needs. Many of our ergonomically-designed carts, movers and tugs are adaptable to a variety of specific needs. Our innovative designs are engineered to help our customers get the greatest and most flexible use from their equipment. Recently, we came out with a motorized retrofit cart kit that allows you to instantly power all your carts with a simple, easy-to-install kit.

Our RaceCarCaddy, a redesign of our popular vehicle pusher, is manufactured to meet the specific needs of the race car industry. Our CartCaddyShorty Power Tugger features a spring hitch option and customized tugger attachment that eliminates the need to fabricate multiple attachments on each of your carts or equipment. We’ve created a variety of specialized attachments that allow instant customization of our standard products. But we also regularly design specific custom applications where our base products don’t match customer criteria. Call DJ Products’ sales engineer to discuss your ETO needs.

Part 6: Why Businesses Fail, the Conclusion

Today we conclude our six-part series on Why Businesses Fail (see our posts starting July 14). One of the primary reasons businesses fail is:

  • Faulty attitudes and objectives. Businesses fail when personal or company desires are placed ahead of customers’ wants and desires. You don’t run your business; your customers run your business. Customer satisfaction is the single-most important factor in driving business and repeat business to your door. Businessmen who forget that don’t remain in business long.

    Employee satisfaction goes hand-in-hand with customer satisfaction. When businesses fail to value their employees, employee satisfaction plummets, taking with it production quality and efficiency and customer satisfaction. It’s a downward spiral from which businesses don’t recover without an attitude adjustment. The bottom line is that it’s the human element that guarantees business success.

DJ Products understands the value and importance of customer and employee satisfaction — both ours and yours. That’s why we manufacture and use ergonomically designed electric carts and motorized cart pushers and equipment movers. Our equipment is smaller, more maneuverable and less costly to purchase and operate than traditional powered equipment like fork trucks, walkies and riding tugs. And our equipment is designed to eliminate the pain and strain of manually moving heavy carts and wheeled equipment. We value the health and safety of our workers — and yours.

DJ Products’ expert sales staff can assist you in assessing your material handling needs. On our website you’ll find a handy Ergonomic Load Calculator designed by experts to estimate the amount of horizontal force needed to move wheeled loads. Our sales staff can help you calculate load factors and recommend material handling products designed to protect the health and safety of your workers. Visit the DJ Products’ website for detailed specs on our complete line of products. If you have a material handling problem, DJ Products can provide the solution.

Failing Auto Industry a Warning to U.S. Manufacturers

The auto industry bailout is in peril and may be beyond saving. The demand by Senate Republicans that the UAW agree to slash auto workers’ salaries to compete with their Japanese counterparts may have put “paid” to the deal approved by the House. If any of the Big Three automakers fail, the fallout is expected to send our already troubled economy plummeting even further downward. The strain on unemployment and social resources, the trickle-down effect on the industry’s supply chain, irreparable erosion of America’s already diminished manufacturing base, a drastic decrease in consumer choices — we’re going to be paying for Detroit’s poor management and poor choices for years to come. There is no silver lining here, but there are important lessons to be learned.

While the issues are complex, experts have boiled the U.S. auto industry’s woes down to four basic problems: failure to embrace the future, lack of flexibility, failure to effectively manage labor, and failure to rein in expenses. These are the basic cornerstones for success in any business.

  • Embrace the future. Globalization of the economy, resource depletion, and the speed at which technology changes will continue to bring vast changes to industry and manufacturing. Companies with the vision to position themselves to meet future needs by taking advantage of these changes will prosper. Those like the U.S. auto industry who don’t will eventually fail.
  • Maintain flexibility. Rapid response will separate the men from the boys. Companies with the mental, financial and physical flexibility to react quickly to changing market needs and strictures will prosper most.
  • Manage labor. U.S. labor costs are the arena in which America is least competitive globally. An inability to manage labor demands is one of the core causes of Detroit’s failure. To remain competitive into the future, American businesses and the workers that depend on them for their livelihood will need to address this issue and both sides may need to moderate their expectations.
  • Rein in expenses. Maintaining tight control over expenses and instituting proactive accounting practices are essential for survival in a poor economy. But maintaining these practices as the economy improves will give you the financial flexibility to reach future goals.

DJ Products ergonomically-designed, powered carts and tugs can position you to meet the future successfully. On Monday, we’ll tell you how.