Tag: Material Handling

Rethinking Tactics for Warehouse Storage and Handling

Large warehouse
Warehousing

Savvy consumers and a fiercely competitive marketplace have created a demand for condensed delivery schedules, with buyers thinking in terms of days instead of weeks. As a result, companies are using new strategies to streamline putaway and storage functions.

Have you implemented any of these procedures in your warehouse?

Crossdocking

Crossdocking involves moving product directly from the inbound dock to an outbound trailer without putting it in your physical inventory. This process frees up warehouse space while reducing the amount of handling required. In order to realize maximize benefits, appropriate systems should be installed.

Pre-Allocation

Instead of storing products in different warehouse areas or even different DCs based on distribution channels, companies are using one common inventory. Products are then pre-allocated and batched ahead of time to allow for different value-added services.

Supplementing with Automation

Labor is a major expense, and competition for manpower presents a challenge in finding skilled workers. Companies are augmenting their workforces with automated storage and retrieval solutions to improve efficiency and control labor costs.

Single Locations

Sometimes old-school techniques are still relevant. With e-commerce creating the need to maintain increasing numbers of SKUs, placing a single carton in a single location makes it easier for employees to quickly access specific products.

Save Time and Labor with Warehouse Tugs from DJ Products

Minimize material handling time with our battery-powered warehouse tugs. Ergonomically designed pushers like our CartCaddy5WP enable a single employee to smoothly and efficiently transport and maneuver loads up to 10,000 pounds. Call 800.686.2651 and let our friendly sales engineers help you find the best solution for your company’s needs.

Push, Pull, Crush: Car Dealerships Deal with Safety Issues

Let Our CarCaddy Help You Move Your Car so You Don't Have To!
Let Our CarCaddy Help You Move Your Car so You Don’t Have To!

When you own a car dealership, it may seem as though you shouldn’t have any real concerns about safety. When your employees aren’t in the office, they’re probably working with customers on the floor, taking them on test drives, discussing service, etc.

Even so, here at DJ Products we believe there are safety concerns in every business, and the dealership is no exception. In some ways, because the risk of safety problems seems so low, we remind all business owners to remain diligent. An insurance company by the name of The Zenith recently came out with several forms that are available online for you to use in your dealership’s safety program.

Moving Cars Safely

At some point, your employees will have to move cars for one reason or another, and it may not always be feasible or even possible for them to get behind the wheel. In these instances, a dealer caddy (car pusher) is a perfect solution that was developed for car dealerships. It’s a great resource because it saves employees’ backs and keeps you from having to compensate them for potential injuries.

Moving Parts Safely

Don’t forget your employees in the warehouse and the service department. They often take delivery of large bulky items when your parts are received, and carrying those heavy pieces back and forth to the shelves can take a real toll on their bodies. Instead, a parts caddy can help them stay safe and do their jobs much more efficiently.

Whether you’re in need of a car pusher for car dealerships, or just about any related business, contact us at DJ Products to help.

Preventing Workman’s Compensation Claims

Workman’s compensation claims are a fact of business life, especially when the work involved is primarily physical. Unfortunately, they take a serious toll on your company’s operations. First and foremost is the temporary or permanent injury to the affected employee. In addition, they cause losses in terms of work interruptions, turnover and increased insurance premiums.

While it’s impossible to eliminate all accidents, there are measures you can take to reduce the number of claims in your workplace. Implementing these ideas can help boost safety awareness throughout your organization.

  • Safety programs are often spread across separate departments, including human resources, loss control and data analysis. Integrating these parts into a unified safety program ensures that everyone is working on the same page and understands each other’s roles.
  • You most likely have on-the-job safety training included for new hires. However, you should also make sure they’re being trained in the administrative side of safety measures. All employees should know the proper procedures for reporting an incident, including who can help them fill out the paperwork. Emphasize the importance of reporting claims as soon as possible before they grow into bigger problems.
  • Ensure that your company has a well-rounded return-to-work program with a number of modified-duty job options. Develop a relationship with your local clinic to facilitate effective injury treatment.
  • Use equipment that’s ergonomically designed to reduce stress and strain on operators. Promptly repair or replace any machines, vehicles or tools that present a safety hazard.

DJ Products can assist you in maintaining high safety standards with our full line of efficient, easy-to-operate tugs, carts and pushers. Call 800.686.2651 and let our Sales Engineers help you find the best solution for your application.

Move Construction Waste Efficiently with a DJ Products Dumpster Mover

Building something new often requires getting rid of what was there before. Working on construction and renovation projects means that you are likely to encounter a lot of debris and waste that needs to be disposed of properly. It can be difficult to progress if your workers have to navigate debris to complete their tasks. One way that you can make the work go faster and prevent workers from being injured doing cleanup, you can use a dumpster mover from DJ Products.

DJ Products’ WasteCaddy dumpster mover pulls heavy trash and recycling containers and dumpsters, turning a three or four person job into one that one person can handle. Rather than have your employees manually push large dumpsters, possibly causing injury due to overexertion, a DJ Products battery powered waste mover can push or pull heavy dumpsters or trash bins over asphalt and through snow and ice.
The compact, ergonomic design allows the WasteCaddy dumpster puller to maneuver in tight areas, so you don’t need to worry that it will be too bulky for construction and renovation projects in small areas. For example, you can move a dumpster through a small alley or among other heavy equipment.
Moving debris and waste is a part of the work you do but it is not where you want to concentrate your efforts. This part of your projects can be made much more efficient with
an ergonomically designed dumpster mover. You can see to it that dumpsters full of waste are moved quickly and without taking away too many workers from more important tasks.

Call us at 800-686-2651 to learn more about the WasteCaddy and our other ergonomic material handling solutions.

A Dumpster Mover Can Be a Lifesaver in the Summer Heat

DJ Products makes material handling solutions to eliminate strains and pains that can come as a result of pushing heavy loads using carts and other wheeled equipment that was not designed to work in concert with the human body. Many of our applications are used inside of warehouses, hospitals, hotels and other facilities that may offer air conditioning to counteract summer heat.

However, if your employees need to move waste containers, compactors and dumpsters, there is a good chance they will be doing this work outside, under the hot sun. So, in addition to helping protecting an employee from musculoskeletal strain, a DJ Products Dumpster Mover or Waste Container Puller will help them to not overexert themselves when the temperatures rise. Our powered movers are designed to aid in making work efficient so your employees will have a reduced risk of heat stroke and exhaustion since they will not be pulling and pushing heavy dumpsters or other waste containers using their own strength or poorly designed carts.

One of our dumpster movers or waster container pullers can turn a three or four person job into a one person job, whether the application is needed in an apartment building, a condominium complex, a shopping mall, hotel, or an office or manufacturing complex. And having a material handling solution such as this will also be of great benefit if it is necessary to push a trash container up an incline, be it a sidewalk or a ramp to get into a building.

To learn more about material handling solutions and to hear about how we can customize them for your specific needs, contact one of our Sales Engineers at 800-686-2651.

Highlighting the Cart Caddy Shorty

Moving carts through the narrow, congested hallways and sharp corners of hospitals and nursing homes can be challenging. Our Cart Caddy Shorty combines compact size with power and flexibility to allow smooth transport of even the heaviest loads.

Dealing with sick patients and elderly people requires quick and efficient movement of beds, food carts and other bulky equipment. This durable electric cart pusher attaches to the swivel-caster end of four-wheeled carts. Once the arm attachment is in place, the pivot feature allows for a full 90-degree turn of loads, preventing awkward and time-consuming jack-knifing.

The 36-volt system includes three 12-volt batteries designed to provide enough battery life for two shifts. Forward and reverse speeds of up to 3 MPH  enable the Cart Caddy Shorty to easily keep pace with the operator. The twist grip control is ergonomically designed to prevent carpal tunnel and allow easy operation.

Densely populated buildings such as hospitals and nursing homes make safety a vital concern. The Cart Caddy Shorty offers a safety stop switch at the back of the pusher handle, making it readily accessible in case of emergencies. Safety horns and lights are also available for even more visibility in crowded areas.

Whatever your equipment handling needs are, DJ Products has a solution for them. We have equipment tugs to handle loads from dumpsters and waste containers all the way up to airplanes and helicopters. Our knowledgable Sales Engineers can help you find just what you’re looking for. Contact us at 800.686.2651 for more information.

New Nanotechnology Development Could Change Manufacturing

Nanotechnology used to be the stuff of science fiction movies. Recent advances could turn it into a household word within just a few years. Cost has been the primary sticking point, but performance problems have also prevented industry from full scale adoption of nanotechnology. With the development of nano-graphene platelets (NGPs), nanotechnology has become both cost effective and relatively problem free, according to the March 19, 2009 article written by Dr. Bor Jang of Angstron Materials LLC for Manufacturing & Technology eJournal.

A better alternative to carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers, nano-graphene platelets don’t have the performance issues of their predecessors which exhibited frustrating clumping problems and were difficult to form into composites. And NGPs finally bring nanotechnology down into an affordable price range for high volume manufacturing. You can read the Manufacturing & Technology eJournal article for Dr. Jang’s technical explanation of how NGPs are formed, but the bottom line is that NGPs provide “a much higher thermal conductivity and twice the specific surface areas” of their predecessors.

The flexibility of new NGPs, which can be combined with a wide range of materials and configured in a variety of forms, provides manufacturers with their first viable and accessible nanotechnology option. Potential applications include reinforcement of polymer materials, improved injection molding and extrusion techniques and products, ground and air lightning strike protection, aerospace thermal management and radio frequency interference protection, and battery and fuel cell innovations that could help spur large-scale transition from gas- to electric-powered vehicles in the U.S.

Dr. Jang lists a number of provocative features and benefits derived from current testing of NGPs and NGP nanocomposites, including:

  • Thermal conductivity five times greater than copper with faster dissipation.
  • Electrical conductivity similar to copper with a density four times lower.
  • Fifty times stronger than steel.
  • Very low weight, low density and small volume.
  • Chemical bonding to a range of resins.
  • High resistance to gas permeability.
  • Excellent corrosion resistance.
  • Able to remove heavy metals and radionucleides from wastewater and ground water.
  • High organic material absorption.
  • Exceptionally high intrinsic strength.
  • High specific surface area.
  • Ability to produce mass quantities in high volumes.

An innovative leader in the design and manufacture of ergonomic powered carts, DJ Products is always interested in new innovations in manufacturing. Development of NGPs puts cutting edge nanotechnology within the practical reach of U.S. manufacturers for the first time.

Part 4: Why Businesses Fail

Financial experts seem to be teetering on the verge of labeling the country’s current economic situation a recession. It’s a label the government seems loathe to use, believing it will wreak further havoc on the stock market and send the economy spiraling down even further. No matter what you call it, things are difficult and it looks like they’re going to stay that way for a while. The economy is slow, credit is tight, fuel is high and bankruptcies are up. For many companies, the combination has delivered a knockout punch and they’re down for the count.

Last week we started a series on Why Businesses Fail (see our July 14-18 posts). We figure it’s better to learn from the mistakes of others than repeat them yourselves. This week we continue our list of the most likely reasons businesses fail:

  • Inappropriate inventory. You can’t sell what customers don’t want. Too much or the wrong inventory causes cash flow problems, wastes sales time and drains profits. By constantly tracking individual inventory items, you can make adjustments and effectively manage product flow on a weekly and monthly basis. Don’t make the mistake of relying strictly on accounting summaries to track inventory. Accounting tracks inventory by dollars, lumping moving and non-moving inventory into an average. To adequately control inventory, you need to track the actual physical items.
  • Excessive capital investments. Americans seem to equate success with things. Bigger cars, bigger houses, the latest gadgetry. In business there can be a tendency to buy newer, bigger, more expensive tools and equipment as a mark of success. But success in business is really based on the quality of the product or service you produce. That’s what drives sales and repeat business. Equipment purchases should relate to your ability to improve or maintain the quality of your product. Certainly, you need to update equipment as technology changes to be competitive. And often the expense of new technology can be recouped in short order by savings in energy, floor space or worker health and safety. But capital equipment purchases should always be evaluated for their ability to enhance the production of a quality product. 


If you’re looking for a cost-saving solution for your capital equipment investment, turn to the material handling experts at DJ Products. At DJ Products we manufacture ergonomically designed electric carts and motorized cart pushers for business, industry and service providers like hospitals. Our products are smaller and more maneuverable than traditional powered equipment like fork trucks, walkies and riding tugs, yet are capable of moving the same sized loads with ease. A smart capital investment, our products are less costly than purchasing traditional powered equipment. Because our carts, tugs and equipment movers are ergonomically designed, you’ll also realize an attractive savings in worker health and safety costs, including medical bills, insurance payments, workers’ compensation and lost man-hours. Visit the DJ Products website to check out our full line of ergonomically designed electric and motorized carts.


To be continued

More Tips to Improve Warehouse Efficiency

Continuing our Monday post, today we provide more tips to ramp up warehouse efficiency by improving material handling processes in distribution centers. In a recent Supply Demand Chain article, TriFactor systems engineer Greg Tuohy offered these suggestions:

  1. Re-evaluate pick tech. Eliminate paper-based picking in favor of auto-enhanced technology. Implementing radio frequency (RF), pick-to-voice or pick-to-light technology can make your operation more efficient. Evaluate the density of SKU locations, throughput, product characteristics and specialized procedures such as serial number tracking to determine the pick technology best suited to your operation, Tuohy advises.
  2. Evaluate pick method. Decide which picking method is most cost effective for your operation. Piece picking where the picker walks the aisles picking and completing one order at a time is the most time-consuming and, therefore, most costly. Small, maneuverable powered tugs can facilitate far more efficient batch picking where all orders are picked simultaneously in a single pass. Dolly pullers and electric tugs can also be used to streamline operations that use assembly-line style zone and wave picking. Powered carts and tugs help streamline your operation by increasing the speed and volume of work that can be accomplished by each worker.
  3. Multi-task. Practice task interleaving which combines picking with the put-away process, Tuohy suggests. Interleaving ensures that operators and equipment are always tasked, that time and energy are not wasted on empty loads. The idea is to create a continuous loop where equipment is always loaded, bringing materials to pick locations and returning empty pallets or delivering picked product to shipping locations.
  4. Minimize downtime. Equipment requires planned maintenance. A proactive maintenance plan will minimize downtime and save time and money. Planned maintenance should be conducted on equipment and automated systems on a regular schedule. Correct small problems immediately and keep frequently needed spare parts on hand.
  5. Protect power supply. Assess the vulnerability of your power supply. Lightning strikes, power outages and power spikes can wreak havoc with distribution systems, says Tuohy. Work with your local electric company to install surge protectors and other recommended protections. Battery-powered carts and tugs with enough juice to work through an entire shift can be the lifeline that keeps your operations moving when Mother Nature throws a fit.

The Benefits of the Dumpster Caddy

Few pieces of heavy equipment require as much movement as dumpsters. They’re necessary containers at all types of facilities, from office buildings to hospitals to apartment complexes. Simplify this regular task with use of the Dumpster Caddy from DJ Products.

Fully loaded dumpsters can weigh thousands of pounds, particularly those used at locations such as shopping malls or hotels. Although they generally have wheels, they’re cumbersome to move and turn. They’re often stored in an underground lot where they need to be transported to ground level for pick-up by a waste management or recycling service. It’s not unusual for this task to require at least two or three employees to complete.

Our Dumpster Caddy fastens securely to the container to safely move loads of up to 10,000 pounds. Corners and tight spaces are easy to negotiate thanks to the caddy’s compact size and efficient operation. In addition, battery power enables the caddy to go up and down inclines as well as over ice, snow and other outdoor conditions.

Using a Dumpster Caddy can help streamline your overall operations as well. You can have only one person handle the job instead of sending two or three others. Its ergonomic design reduces the possibility of injury and job-related absences. 

DJ Products has a full line of caddies and tugs that can address any of your material handling problems. Our products fit applications from moving shopping carts to maneuvering aircraft. Contact our knowledgeable Sales Engineers at 800.686.2651 for information on solutions to fit your needs.