Tag: ergonomic products

New Retrofit Cart Kit Removes Strain From Common Tasks

DJ Products has introduced a revolutionary new motorized retrofit cart kit that takes the pain and strain out of common tasks performed by many workers in a broad section of U.S. jobs. Designed to be mounted to almost any cart, this new retrofit kit can increase usefulness, flexibility, efficiency and worker safety in a wide variety of environments, including applications in hospitality and resort, hospital and healthcare, food service, retail, distribution and warehousing, vending, casino, banking and a host of other industries.

Designed to enhance and improve the capacity and flexibility of your cart investment, DJ Products’ retrofit cart kit is ergonomically designed and motorized to eliminate the musculoskeletal strain placed on workers when manually maneuvering heavy carts through the work environment. As America’s workforce ages, the risk of bodily injury increases as workers struggle to push and pull heavy carts from place to place and into position for use. Particularly common are back and muscle injuries that usually require expensive, long-term treatment and account for considerable lost man-hours.  A single back injury can cost a business $26,000 in time lost.

Employers who have installed DJ Products’ retrofit powered cart kit on their carts have reported a significant decreased in work-related injuries and employee turnover. Hand-in-hand has come improvement in employee efficiency and productivity. Employees have also expressed increased satisfaction with their jobs, a common phenomenon when employers act in their workers’ best interest to safeguard health and safety.

Able to power carts up to 4,000 pounds, DJ Products’ motorized retrofit cart kit is equipped with ergonomically-designed, variable-speed twist grips that allow forward and backward motion at speeds up to 3.2 mph. The motorized kit can move carts over a wide variety of surfaces, including carpet, tile, marble, cement and asphalt. Powered by two heavy-duty 12-volt batteries, the 24-volt motor in DJ Products’ retrofit cart kit is powerful enough to perform for an entire shift without recharging. Customizable to any application or environment, the DJ Products retrofit cart kit can be field installed by the customer or DJ Products can provide onsite installation.

For complete specifications and to view the revolutionary DJ Products motorized retrofit cart kit in action, visit the DJ Products website.

CartCaddyHD Chain Drive Cart Mover Increases Productivity

When companies purchase material handling equipment they usually consider the product and where and how it’s going to be moved. What they leave out of the equation is people. But as Bob Trebilcock reminds us in a March 24, 2009 posting on Modern Materials Handling online, it’s people who move products and supplies from point to point. Neglecting to consider the impact of workers on production will invalidate your productivity assessments.Trebilcock mentions programs some companies have implemented to improve worker morale and health that were showcased at the recent annual meeting of the Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association. He talks about one manufacturer’s installation of a company cafeteria for worker use to cut down on driving time during lunch breaks and to provide workers easy access to nutritious food. He mentions a firm that opened an onsite medical clinic and pharmacy to improve employee health, conduct medical screenings and reduce medical costs to its self-insured health plan.What surprised us here at DJ Products is that Trebilcock failed to mention the health, cost and productivity benefits of using ergonomically-designed material handling equipment such as the CartCaddyHD Chain Drive cart mover. Moving to ergonomic material handling equipment has been proven to drastically reduce on-the-job musculoskeletal injuries, improve worker morale and significantly increase productivity. Equipment costs are generally recouped within the first year, but savings in medical, health insurance, disability and workers’ compensation costs continue, as do savings from increased productivity. If a company is concerned about its workers’ health and safety, a move to a cart mover should head the list of improvements to be made.A leader in the design and manufacture of ergonomic material handling equipment, DJ Products produces a wide variety of cart movers and battery-powered cart movers for every application. From heavy industrial/manufacturing and assembly line settings to the busy, narrow corridors of hospitals and hotels, DJ Products’ ergonomic material handling equipment is improving workers’ health and safety and increasing their productivity across America.DJ Products’ designs its cart movers to take the strain of labor off the backs (and legs and arms and shoulders) of workers and put it where it belongs, on the material handling equipment they are using. Workers avoid the aches and pains that can make them less productive. Ergonomic equipment is less tiring to operate, keeping workers alert and productive for the entire length of their shift. Ergonomic equipment is easier to operate, allowing workers to complete each assignment more quickly, increasing shift productivity.If you really want to do something that will benefit your workers and increase productivity, make the switch to a cart mover. Visit the DJ Products website and let one of our ergonomic equipment specialists tell you how.

How Ergonomics Is Shaping Our World

Ergonomics gets a lot of buzz in the press when people talk about computer workstations or keyboard design, but few realize how pervasive the science of ergonomics has become in making our daily lives more functional and more comfortable. From the lowly office chair to high tech electronics, ergonomics has become a critical element in product and systems design.

In conjunction with a new exhibit on ergonomics at London’s Design Museum, BBC News Magazine recently took a look at how ergonomic products impact everyday life and highlighted five ways ergonomics is shaping the world we live in.

At the controls. Controls on automobiles, trucks, material handling equipment, machinery and anything that involves a human operator must be designed to be used by people of all shapes and sizes. Steering and brake controls must be equally useable by 6 ft. 7 in. Kobe Bryants and 4 ft. 9 in. Mary Lou Rettons. Multi-adjustable car seats that move back and forth, up and down and even slant forward and backward are just one example of how ergonomic design impacts our daily lives.

Life or death. The 1979 core meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power station in Pennsylvania highlighted the extreme danger posed when complex systems intersect human error. Ergonomic redesign of the complex control panels that contributed to the accident created safer nuclear facilities.

Eye candy. With its emphasis on utility, people don’t associate ergonomics with beauty; but the sleek good looks of Apple’s iPod, iPhone and other electronics products owe their beauty to good ergonomic design.

Wrap rage. Poorly designed packaging is the bane of everyday existence. Consumers are injured everyday trying to remove impenetrable wrappings. Ergonomics has sent clamshell plastics packing in favor of cardboard CD wraps and added screw caps to milk cartons.

At work.  From chairs, keyboards and computer mice to material handling equipment that moves supplies, equipment, trash and more, ergonomics has profoundly impacted the workplace.