Transport Equipment – Industrial Trucks

Below is an example of industrial trucks used in a warehouse.

Counter-balance forklift trucks (CBFT)

Figure left and right shows the sit-down counter-balanced forklift and stand-up counter-balanced forklift respectively.

Two versions of counter-balanced forklift trucks are built to satisfy the demand of the operators. These trucks are the workhorses of the industry and they are indispensable in a warehouse. This is a general-purpose truck with at load capacity of 2,500 to 12,000 lbs. lifting heights range from 16 ft. to 18 ft.
Advantage of its low height is to enables it to drive into trailers and containers to store and retrieve goods. Different series of counter-balance forklift trucks are available to provide higher productive and higher capacity applicable in different areas.

Sit-down and stand-up have almost the same functions. Only difference is that sit-up counter-balanced forklift allows for easy driver entry and exit for ancillary operations such as scanning of bar-code label.

Accidents can take place anytime at anywhere in the warehouse. Below is one portion of an article taken from the internet that shows how miscommunication can lead to misfortune.

Forklift driver killed in warehouse accident

Metro News

SAEED AHMED
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A miscommunication between workers at a Cobb County warehouse led to the accidental death of a forklift truck driver Thursday morning, police said.

Shannon Lee Griffith, 32, of Dallas was loading a semitrailer truck at the Atlanta Bonded Warehouse on Cobb Industrial Boulevard when the truck driver pulled away from the dock, police said.

The driver had been told to move the trailer because he apparently was at the wrong door, Kennesaw police Officer Scott Luther said. Not knowing that Griffith was still loading, the driver pulled forward while half of Griffith's forklift was on the dock plate and the other half was on the truck. The forklift fell about three or four feet to the ground, pinning Griffith against a wall, Luther said. That's how police found him when they were called to the scene shortly before 9 a.m. The victim died of severe head trauma, police said. Luther did not know what Griffith was loading at the time of the accident, but the company's Web site lists it as storage and handling facility for confectionaries.

Therefore, it is important to be alert in the warehouse.

Below are just some of the main points for us to keep in mind while handling manual and powered pallet trucks.

-You must give right-of-way to emergency vehicles.

-Keep a clear view of the direction of travel (staying within the running lines of the vehicle). If the load blocks your view, drive with the load trailing.

-Operate in designated powered industrial truck routes.

-Keep aisles clear.

-No eating, drinking, or smoking while driving.

-Maintain control of vehicle at all times.

-No horseplay or stunt driving.

-Avoid overloading truck

-THINK and ACT SAFELY

Also, a recent article, Reed Business Information, has reported that a new Class 3 pallet truck will be available in the U.S. market in early 2008. The new pallet truck, part of Jungheinrich’s EJE series, features a redesigned chassis and a tight turning radius for easier trailer loading. The company has invested heavily in redesigning its two German production facilities in an effort to reduce lead times for its trucks.

Thus continuous evaluating of existence equipments is important to ensure safer and efficient equipments can be produced.

Transport Equipment - Cranes

Cranes are used to move materials over variable paths within a restricted area

Gantry crane
A gantry crane is very similar to a bridge crane but unlike bridge crane which emphasizes on utilizing overhead space, gantry crane is making so that they can be move around easily.

-3 main types of granty crane

- single leg, double leg and the mobile type

- for single leg and double leg, they are rooted to the ground

- mobile type can be moved around compares to bridge cranes

-gantry cranes takes up less space

-is also cheaper than a bridge crane

-could be use either indoor or outdoor

-different sizes and models are available to suit different needs and situation

-height can be adjusted and could be made from lots of materials

(e.g. aluminum so that it will not be affected during wet condition)

Jib cranes

Jib cranes are one of the most commonly use crane in the industrial, there are basically 2 main types wall-mounted and floor mounted.

-wall mounted cranes allow up to 220 degrees rotation

-floor mounted allows 360 degrees turn

-for the transferring of heavy loads and for positioning purpose

-hoist attached to the arm allows more precise positioning

-assist in the movement of load ranging from 100lbs. to 30000lbs

-are operated manually by the crews

-also have an advantage to be used indoor and outdoor

-price of the jib crane is much cheaper than other cranes

-many other different models to choose from

-usually more than 1 jib cranes will be use at construction site for higher efficiency

Safety is Everyone’s Responsibility

Safety Instructions

-Do not lift people and never ride the hoisting load.

-Make sure the sling is well balanced.

-Avoid tip loading, and loading on hook latch.

-Never be used to drag or pull a load

-Never lift the load over the rated capacity.

-Clearly inspect the entire proposed path of the crane

-Paying particular attention to overhead obstacles

-Do not operate with kinked, twisted or damaged chain.

-Avoid side pull or end pull, and quick reversal operations.

-Make sure you take up slack slowly.

-No one is to ride the crane without permission.

-No obstructions while lifting or traveling

- Loads should be well secured

Everyone plays a role in crane safety – management, supervisors and employees. Safe crane operations depend on teamwork and careful planning, supervision, training and maintenance.

Crane Owner
· Identifies and assigns specific responsibilities for equipment, lift supervision and crane maintenance and operation.

· Understand the requirements of every job and provide the appropriate equipment and personnel to complete the job in a safe, efficient manner, according to applicable standards and regulations.

· Ensure that all personnel involved in maintaining, repairing, transporting, preparing and operating the equipment are experienced and well trained to handle their specific jobs.

Equipment Supervisor
-Selects a suitable crane to meet the job requirements

-Makes sure that competent worker is available for the project and that all cranes are properly equipped.

-Implements a maintenance and inspection program for the crane

-Also ensures that the weight and capacity are clearly marked on any parts or accessories of the crane that affect load handling.

-Makes certain a qualified employee operates the crane and understands all aspects of the load chart as it applies to the crane.

Lift Supervisor
-Supervises all aspects of the job, from machine location to the actual lift.

-Determines the correct weight of the load and the operating radius and shares this information with the operator.

-Ensuring that the load is properly rigged.

-Designates qualified signalers and provides this information to the operator.

-Keep workers clear of the crane during operation, control the movement of personnel in the lift area

-Oversee safety precautions when the lift is in the vicinity of power lines.

Operator
-Before operating equipment, the operator must perform an inspection to make certain that the equipment is in proper working order.

-This includes brakes and clutches, wire ropes, hydraulic circuits and controls.

-Should have a Checklist to address the inspection in a consistent, thorough manner.

However, each crane operator should be held direct responsible for the safe operation of the crane or hoist. Operator should stop the crane and refuse to handle loads whenever there is any doubt during their operating process. Safety rules and guidance should be also be applied to all operations that involve the use of cranes and hoists installed in or attached to buildings and to all employees, supplemental labor, and subcontractor personnel who use such devices.

Beside the carelessness of operators that result in accidents, weather too can cause accident to happen. Below is a picture showing Gantry Crane from the Port of Pusan in Korea. Damage was caused by a severe storm.

Selecting a suitable crane is also as important as ensuring the safety of workers.
Some of the Selection Criteria are:
• Weights and measures of the heaviest and largest loads.
• Maximum lift height.
• Maximum lift radius.
• Number of lifts.
• Precision placement of loads, including whether or not loads have to be walked or carried.
• Tackle and rigging equipment needed for the safe working load.
• Stability of the ground to support the weight of the crane.

Transport Equipment - Conveyors

In our everyday life, we use escalators, escalators are also part of conveyors.



There are many kinds of conveyor under this category; however we will only be covering on some conveyors, such as Sortation Conveyor and Chain Conveyor.

Sortation Conveyor

Sortation conveyors are used to put, separate, and identify products from one point to other point.

Under Sortation Conveyors, there are
- Diverter
- Pop-up device
- Sliding shoe sorter
- Tilting Device
- Cross-belt Transfer Device

Diverter

-stationary or movable arms that deflect, push, or pull a product to desired destination

- they can be used with almost any flat surface conveyor

- most cost effective sortation devices available

- very simple to use

- can be manually used, or automatically used through scanning of technology.

- often for low speed sortation

Pop-up Device

-used to move material on or off of a conveyor line

-used for medium speed sortation and when the products have a flat conveying surface.

-products must be same size so that it can be diverted consistently

-pop-up transfer eliminates curves, therefore more efficient use of space leading to more space for production because it resides within the conveyor frame.

-transfers loads quickly and minimize the interruption of material flow.

Sliding Shoe Sorter

- suited to sort out parcels, envelopesand etc with an irregular form.

- commonly used for high speed sortation.

- Bi-directional shoes allow items to be offloaded to both sides of the sorter, improving space efficiency while providing greater design flexibility

Tilting Device

- a high accuracy, high speed sortation system

-provides the user with the flexibility of sorting most small items or small products that vary in size, shape, and packaging.

- Tilt Tray Sorter that sort small items and packages, lightweight poly bags as well as larger boxes equally.

The picture above is a Tilt slat sorters. It helps to carry products on flat-surface slat conveyor and can handle more kinds of products compared to tilt tray sorter.

Cross Belt Transfer Device

- like a continuous loop sorters

- it is a bi-directional sortation conveyor

-which transports products safely and gently to their designated locations regardless of their shape or size.

-can handle a wide variety of product

-high accuracy when it delivers the product to a particular destination

-Also very reliable ( if one motor stop working, it has very minimal effect on the production as the rest will continue operating)

Chain Conveyors

-uses one or more endless chains on which loads are carried directly.

- often used to transport tote boxes and pallets.

Safety precautions when using conveyors

Conveyors are safe when used correctly, but they can be dangerous, and even deadly, if workers fail to follow safety procedures when working on or around them.

Below is some knowledge that we need to have when we are in contact with conveyors
· Materials should be placed on the conveyor so that they will ride safely
· When removing material off conveyors, workers should remain alert and safeguard their hands

· How someone is dressed - loose clothing, long hair, and jewelry – when working on or around conveyors can present the risk of conveyor entanglement.

· All equipment must be locked or blocked and operating controls tagged, when repairing or cleaning a conveyor
· If Conveyor runs overhead, ensure that materials may fall from above.
· If the conveyor runs at head height or carries material hung from hooks, workers in the area should remain alert
· Do not operate without guards in place

· Anyone that doesn’t work directly with conveyors should never climb over or crawl under a conveyor and NEVER ride on or otherwise use a conveyor for transportation.

· Workers in the area should remain alert to possible danger and measures should be taken to prevent workers from being accidentally struck by moving material.

Scenario: A case study of MHE

Giraffee Logistics Center Pacific Co. Ltd.

Giraffee Group is a large Multi-national Company. It has many logistics company in 15 other countries. Just recently, Jerry Lim, the CEO of the company decided to set up another logistic company in Singapore as it is one of the busiest port in Southeast Asia. The company in Singapore handles electronic products with many product lines.

So now, Steven Lee, the branch manager need to think of ways to identify and control the products to ensure more efficient and effective movement of goods in the company.

Suggest what identification method Steven Lee should use to improve efficiency.

Ans:
He should use RFID to identify the products, because Giraffee company is handling many product lines. RFID can read multiple tags at the same time whereas bar code can only scan products one by one. Therefore, alot of time can be saved by using RFID. By using the bar code method, the bar code label on the product can be scraped off or destroyed, but RFID uses a very very very small micro-chip which inscribed in the product itself, hence products with RFID can go through rough handling compared to bar code. Range of the RFID is also much longer than bar codes.

However using RFID is very expensive, but to the multi-national company, the cost of using RFID can be trade off by using the time saved to handle even more products. The company will actually earn back the cost and eventually profits on a long term basis.

Conclusion: Different equipment can be used for different purposes. By choosing the right equipment, it can actually benefit the company alot in terms of lower cost, lower risk of damage goods and accident, space saving etc. The company will have to analysis the situation and choose the correct handling equipment that will best suit and benefit the company. Ultimately, the objective of maximizing the effective use of warehouse resources while satisfying customer requirements can be achieved.

Test your understanding!

The questions below are just to test your understanding of MHE

Qn 1:There are two versions of counter-balance forklift trucks (CBFT), the sit-down counter-balanced forklift and stand-up counter-balanced forklift. True/ False
ans:T

Qn2:Is it true that everyone plays a role in crane safety? If yes, please name the players.
ans:Yes. They are management, supervisors and employees.

Qn3:What is the storage equipment called? Can you name one of its purpose?

ans:mezzanine. To allow modular offices to set on a mezzanine create more storage space on the plant floor while giving supervisors a clearer view of employees.

Qn4:Is a dock leveler a positioning equipment or a storage equipment?
ans: a positioning equipment

Qn5 : What does a ERP system made use of ? Is it a bar code or a RFID ?

ans: A RFID is used.