Gorbel Double Girder Bridge Crane with Custom Manipulator helps out with a roll handling application

Gorbel Work Station Crane Helps Eliminate Injuries And Product Damage Green Bay Packaging is a pulp and paper manufacturer using 100% recycled materials to produce a wide variety paperboard packaging. The large rolls are slit and sized based on customer demand, and moved to a work cell in stacks where they are loaded onto skids for final shipping. The size of the rolls vary significantly, but can be as large as 3’ x 5’, and weigh as much as 600 pounds. The primary problem facing the company in this application was operator injury, especially back strains. Back injuries were the leading cause of lost time injury for the company, and at one point were occurring as frequently as once per week. While most rolls are far too big for a single operator to lift, some smaller rolls may only weigh 60 pounds, which are tempting for an operator to move manually in a time saving effort.

The company began looking for a lifting solution that would be able to reduce the
number of employee injuries, while at the same time handle the paper rolls without
product damage.

“The two options being considered were an up-ender and a crane with a manipulator,”
said John Frederick of Green Bay Packaging. “The problem with the up-ender was that
we couldn’t handle the rolls the way we wanted to when loading the skids. The
manipulator became important for stacking multiple rolls.”

With the manipulator selected for tooling, Green Bay Packaging selected a 4,000 pound
capacity Gorbel work station crane, featuring dual girder bridges to support the
manipulator. The crane also features tractor drives to make movement along the runways even easier for operators.

The implementation of the new process was very effective, as workers found moving
even the heavier loads was easier. The manipulator inserts into the hole of the paper rolls and turns it to the proper position. Though the manipulator itself is quite heavy, the dual girders of the Gorbel workstation crane keep the load completely stable, even when the load is not centered beneath the base of the manipulator. The tractor drives assist the operators movement on the x and y axis so that stopping and starting motion of a heavy load does not strain operators.

Of course, the primary goal the company when putting the system in the area was to
reduce injuries. “There’s been a huge reduction in workplace injuries,” said Frederick. “Keeping our workers safe is our top priority. With this Gorbel workstation crane, there have been no injuries, and that was this project’s biggest success.”

If your facility needs help with custom manipulators or Gorbel workstation cranes, please contact our sales department at sales@ergonomicpartners.com.