Tag: Material Handling

Ignoring Ergonomics Exacts High Financial Toll

In our last post, we noted that Michigan has proposed regulations that would mandate ergonomic training and penalize employers for ignoring repetitive-stress injuries. While cognizant of the health and safety benefits to their workers, employers are understandably concerned about the cost. What they may fail to realize is that the cost of implementing and maintaining an ergonomic program pales in comparison to the exorbitant costs of ignoring ergonomics.

The annual price tag for workplace injury and illness is estimated at $171 billion. Back injuries, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive-stress injuries result in decreased productivity, poor product quality, increased medical costs, higher insurance payments, inflated workers’ compensation costs, low morale and high absenteeism. According to an American Medical Association study, 6,500 people die from workplace injuries each year and non-fatal injuries afflict another 13.2 million. The total cost of workplace injuries is nearly equal to the combined annual profits of America’s 20 largest companies.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Workers’ compensation claims cost U.S. businesses $60 billion annually, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. More than 25% of those claims are for back injuries from repetitive lifting, pulling, pushing and straining, reports the National Council on Compensation Insurance. Back injuries, which involve lengthy and costly treatment, affect more than 1.75 million workers each year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. OSHA estimates that 1 in 5 disabling worker injuries is a back injury. Back injuries alone cost American businesses more than $12 million in lost workdays and $1 billion in compensation costs each year. The estimated time-lost cost for a single injury is $26,000.

Numerous studies have proved that ergonomically-designed equipment and systems can significantly decrease worker injury. Many manual tasks necessary during the handling of materials require repetitive motions — pushing, pulling, bending, lifting and carrying — that place undue strain on the human body. These actions can result in sprains, strains, back pain and other musculoskeletal injuries.

Installing ergonomically designed pushers, pullers and carts can save thousands of dollars a year in decreased medical, insurance and disability costs resulting from repetitive-stress musculoskeletal injuries. Implementing ergonomic practices in the workplace can improve worker morale considerably while increasing efficiency and productivity significantly. Retraining staff to utilize recognized ergonomic practices generally produces an immediate savings in reduced worker injuries and associated medical costs.

DJ Products specializes in providing affordable ergonomic solutions to material handling applications. Our highly trained staff can assist you in assessing your material handling needs and design ergonomic solutions tailored to the specific needs of your business.  For more information, visit the DJ Products website.

DJ Products Offers Versatile Material Handling Solutions

When we say that we make material handling solutions, we mean that we make products that can be used for more than one application. With some minor configurations, our products can be adapted for almost every heavy cart pushing or pulling application. And you don’t have to figure out these adaptations on your own: If you check out a product on our website and wonder if it can be used in a fashion other than the one mentioned, call us at 800-686-2651 and speak with a Sales Engineer who can help.

Many of our products are walk-behind units that eliminate the pain and strain of manually pulling and pushing a heavy cart and wheeled equipment. Also, our material handling solutions are less costly, smaller, and more maneuverable than traditional powered equipment.

Here are some of the ways our products have been used for various applications:

• A motorized cart pusher can be loaded up with linen just as easily as it can be loaded up with food.

• A powered trailer mover can of course move trailers, but it can also pull cannons.

• A battery powered car pusher will help you push cars, campers, trucks and buses, and it can also assist you as you push anything on wheels.

• A motorized carpet mover will get your carpet where it needs to be, but it can also push other cylinder-shaped items.

• A trailer pusher not only moves standard ball coupler, gooseneck, and kingpin trailers, you can also use it to move your trailer equipment too.

• A powered hand truck and help you transport heavy test weights, dies, carts and other equipment.

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.

U.S. Manufacturing Faces Dangerous Crossroads

One of the realities brought home by the worldwide recession is the fact that the economy truly has gone global. Manufacturers who fail to adjust their business models and adapt will be unable to compete. Many believe American manufacturing is at a crossroads. Driven by 282,000 small and midsize manufacturers — the backbone of U.S. industry — many of which lack the resources to meet the demands of global competition, American manufacturing must step up to the plate or find itself struck out by better prepared foreign competitors.

In our August 21 post, we talked about six essential next generation strategies identified by the American Small Manufacturers Coalition from a survey of 2,500 U.S. manufacturers. An online article on the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) website pointed out several of the most challenging threats to the viability of U.S. manufacturing revealed by the Next Generation Manufacturing Survey.

  • Too few manufacturers, only 28%, recognized the importance of global positioning. The days when the U.S. dominated world manufacturing are gone. The torch has passed to China, India and other emerging powerhouses. The reality is that market demand, talent pools and competitive opportunities are growing outside U.S. borders and declining within. The greatest opportunities lay in forming global alliances.
  • Too many U.S. manufacturers failed to recognize the growing importance of green operations and sustainable product and process development. Only 16% of survey respondents considered eco-friendliness important to their success with a like percentage denying its relevance. The reality is that consumer demand for green and sustainable products is increasing. Government regulation will mandate change if manufacturers fail to adapt.
  • U.S. manufacturers are clinging too tightly to the old management from the top down model. Too few manufacturers are taking competitive advantage of the opportunity to partner with employees, suppliers, even competitors. Less than half of survey respondents engaged employees in improvement efforts; less than a quarter sought supplier input. The reality is that productivity and innovation improve when employees, suppliers and customers are fully engaged. Future success will belong to the collaborators, not the mavericks.

The majority of American manufacturers seem to have stuck their heads in the sand rather than face the challenges of the future. Those who deny the future are apt to be buried by it.

Hospital Turns to DJ Products for Ergonomic Solutions

Respect for both its medical personnel and bottom line led a large California hospital to partner with DJ Products. Looking for ways to eliminate potential injuries caused by moving heavy hospital beds, food and linen carts, gurneys and wheeled equipment, this hospital turned to DJ Products for ergonomic solutions that would protect the health and safety of its staff. By implementing an ergonomic program to decrease injuries, the hospital also lowered medical, insurance and workers’ compensation costs. Absenteeism from worker injury and resultant added payroll and overtime expenses necessary to cover those absences also decreased.

Like most medical facilities, this hospital relies not only on paid staff, but also on what is fondly termed the “gray brigade” to function. An army of seniors provides a host of volunteer services to assist the perennially harried staff and enrich the lives of patients. Concern about possible injuries among its aging volunteer force and heavily female medical staff led this hospital to review tasks and procedures and update its equipment with ergonomic cart pullers from DJ Products.

DJ Products is a leader in the manufacture of ergonomic material handling products for the hospital, retail, hospitality, automotive and manufacturing markets. Our CartCaddyLite Cart Puller eliminates the pains and strains that can occur when manually pushing hospital beds, medical equipment and heavy food and linen carts. The battery-powered CartCaddyLite easily maneuvers beds, equipment and carts weighing up to 1500 pounds. Variable speed twist grips allow the operator to travel at speeds of 0 to 3 mph and maneuver forward and backwards in tight hospital rooms and congested corridors. Its compact, batter-operated, 24-volt motor can perform without recharging for an entire shift.

For detailed specifications and to watch a video of the versatile CartCaddyLite Cart Puller in action, visit the DJ Products website. We also make an electric cart pusher for maneuvering heavier carts and equipment up to 20,000 pounds and a versatile powered platform cart for moving heavy boxes and supplies.

Material Handling Equipment Choices Make the Difference in Safety and Productivity

Effective material handling — and material these days can be anything from stone to steel — translates to efficient completion of the project, perhaps with performance bonuses attached. But inefficient material handling can slow down job progress, cause duplication of effort, detract from efficiency, and may even lead to accidents and injuries.

Most contractors think of a material handler as a variable-reach telescoping boom forklift. These machines, usually seen at many building construction sites, feature a telescoping boom and typically include forks for easy handling of materials such as block, mortar, sheetrock, and plywood. But they can also be fitted with coupler systems for many different types of attachments that can increase versatility on the job. Whether unloading materials from trucks or delivering them over the phases of a project, telehandlers continue to be what most people think of when the subject is equipment for material handling.

But there’s more to material handling than telehandlers. For example, cranes are another class of material handling equipment. When heavy lifting is needed, a crane is usually preferred. That is why cranes take on most material handling for major projects such as bridges, where the loads can be heavy, or on high-rise buildings, where telehandlers cannot offer a tall enough reach. Cranes also assist on many sites with unloading trucks — an important part of material handling on just about any job.

But whatever machinery is used for material handling, the most important element remains the operator. Safety is paramount. Remember, material handlers handle material — and to do so safely, the load must be under their complete control at all times. This necessity drives not only load handling and maneuverability but also affects cab design and control positioning. For example, cabs on many modern material handlers are being designed with more glass to give the operator more visibility.

Designing machines that an experienced operator can safely and effectively control certainly are a key consideration, particularly in these days of scarce manpower, when selecting material handling machinery. But without question, an effective merging of operator and machine will increase safety which maximizes productivity — and that always mean a better bottom line.

New Line of Aircraft Tugs Introduced

Expanding territory, reducing vendor costs, eliminating underperforming products, layoffs and salary reductions were the cost-cutting measures most cited by Manufacturing & Technology eJournal readers in a recent online poll (see our August 3, 2009 post). Surprisingly, innovation didn’t make the list. At DJ Products we’ve had marked success in finding new applications for our ergonomically-designed material handling products and redesigning existing products to meet the specific needs of new applications. A case in point is the new line of Lindy’s Aircraft Tugs and Tractors manufactured by DJ Products’ subsidiary Lindbergh Aircraft Tug Co.

As the world leader in the manufacture of battery-powered, walk-behind carts and tow tugs, we saw an opportunity to apply current technology to a new problem. Working with Fortune 500 companies including Exxon Mobil, GM, GE, Ford, Cardinal Health, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, P&G, Boeing, Pfizer and Caterpillar, our engineers have successfully adapted our CartCaddy products to numerous unique applications to meet our customers’ specific requirements. Drawing on years of experience developing and manufacturing thousands of powered carts, equipment and tow tugs, our engineers applied their expertise to the problem of safely towing aircraft through crowded hangers, busy airports or FBOs. Our ergonomically-designed CartCaddy tugs proved perfectly adaptable to this new application and the Lindbergh Aircraft Tug Co. was born.

Named for famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, who made the first non-stop solo flight from New York to Paris, Lindbergh Aircraft Tug Co. is located in Little Falls, Minnesota, “Lucky Lindy’s” childhood home, where three AircraftCaddys are manufactured:

To learn more, we invite you to visit the new Lindbergh Aircraft Tug Co. website.

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.

How to Tell If Your Workers Are at Risk

We’ve been talking about the high cost of ignoring ergonomics in the workplace (see our Aug. 29 and Sept. 1 posts). Manual material handling tasks that are performed repeatedly or over long periods of time can lead to physical and mental fatigue and injury. So how do you tell if your workers are at risk from repetitive-stress injuries? The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends looking for the following risk factors:

  • Repeated motions including frequent reaching, lifting or carrying
  • Awkward postures such as bending, twisting or stretching to reach materials
  • Static postures where the same position must be maintained for a long period of time
  • Pressure points including handholds, footholds and any point where workers contact the load to grasp, push, pull or lean against a hard or sharp surface
  • Forceful exertions such as carrying or lifting heavy loads

Over time, repeated exposure to any of these risk factors can cause fatigue, pain and eventual injury, particularly to the back, shoulders, hands and wrists. Muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves and blood vessels can be damaged by repetitive-stress injuries. Continuing to perform the same tasks with such musculoskeletal disorders can cause permanent physical damage.

Reducing the risk of musculoskeletal disorders, or MSDs, in your workplace must involve both engineering and administrative improvements.

Engineering improvements. Work spaces and task procedures may need to be reordered, modified or redesigned. Environmental conditions such as heat, cold, noise and lighting which can contribute to worker duress may need to be addressed. Ergonomically designed equipment or tools may need to be purchased. For example, motorized carts can be used to carry loads and even move heavy machinery and equipment without physical strain. Scissors lifts can be used to elevate loads without physical effort. Adjustable cargo beds can be used to position loads at optimal lift heights for manual loading and unloading. Powered equipment can eliminate the push/pull forces that can lead to serious back and shoulder injuries.

Administrative improvements. Workers come in all shapes and sizes. Repetitive-stress injuries often occur when workers are forced to use equipment or perform tasks that are not tailored to their individual physique. They must engage in injury-risking bending, stretching and pushing to do their job. Ergonomics strives to mold the task or equipment to the worker to avoid such overexertion. Administrative initiatives can also reduce worker exposure to risk factors. For example, repetitive-stress injury risk can be reduced by rotating workers through jobs that use different muscle groups, alternating heavy and light tasks, providing task variety, adjusting work schedules and pace, and providing rest breaks.  

For help in finding ergonomic solutions to your material handling needs, visit the DJ Products website.

Trailer Mover Is RV, Boat Storage Workhorse

Summer is winding down and we’ve already felt the first breath of fall in our neck of the woods. Still time for a few more weekends at the lake, but it won’t be long before folks are hauling their boats out of the water and cleaning out their RVs for winter storage. Getting these expensive mega toys tucked in for the winter used to be a herculean task. All decked out with the latest features, these babies are heavy. It required a couple of burly guys and a lot of muscle and straining to push and pull these vehicles around the storage lot or boat yard and maneuver them into their winter berths. Then the recreational industry discovered DJ Products’ versatile TrailerCaddy trailer mover. 

Originally designed to maneuver large, heavy cargo trailers and trailered equipment short distances around factory lots and storage facilities, DJ Products’ versatile TrailerCaddy trailer mover has found a new fan base in the recreational vehicle and boating industries. Using DJ Products’ motorized trailer mover, a single operator can easily move hefty RVs and boats into place in RV storage lots and boat yards. Tricky maneuvering in tight spaces is effortless with the compact, ergonomically-designed TrailerCaddy. Move forward or backward smoothly from a full stop to 3 mph with a turn of the handy twist-grip control handle. Maximum operator control and compact size minimize potential damage to surrounding vehicles, even in tightly confined areas like stacked storage facilities, dealer showrooms, repair bays and trade show displays. Ergonomic design minimizes the risk of potential muscle strain, making it possible for a single employee of any size, strength or gender to move vehicles with equal ease.

Click here for complete information about DJ Products’ versatile TrailerCaddy trailer mover and to watch a video of the trailer move in action.