Need to save money in this tough economy? How about increasing productivity.

This Gorbel customer was able to decrease the manpower to do the job from 2 employees to 1 employee with a very inexpensive Gorbel workstation crane. Besides the manpower savings, there were electricity savings, and maintenance savings. Their ROI was less than 1 year.

An aircraft maintenance remanufacturing plant needed a safer, more productive process for disassembling and reassembling turbine engine reduction gear boxes without product damage.

The operation utilized a motorized I-beam crane with an electric hoist to lift shafts from gear boxes. It took one person to work the motorized crane controls and another person to position the shafts through the bearing housings. The motorized crane did not allow for precise positioning of the required load, therefore, two operators were absolutely necessary. Damaged parts and back injuries resulted from employees trying to manually position the 600 lb. loads the last ½ in. or so to achieve the exact position required.

To resolve the problem of product damage and employee safety, the company chose three 1,000 lb. free standing work station bridge cranes, all with aluminum bridges on steel enclosed track runways. The aluminum bridge is 40% lighter than a comparable enclosed track steel bridge and is 300% lighter than an I-beam crane system. Less than 5 lbs. of force is necessary to position the loads. An electric chain hoist is used for lifting. The company reached its goal of increasing productivity. Now, disassembly/reassembly can be easily and safely performed by one person, rather than two.

In the two years of this operation there’s been no product damage or worker injuries because of the ease of movement and positioning of the product within the work cell.

Drop us a note at sales@ergonomicpartners.com if you would like to look at what we can do for your company to increase prodictivity.

Obama seeking ways to curb repetitive motion injuries

Author: John Wojcik
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 05/12/09 14:08

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/15597/

There once were job safety rules that helped keep down the number of ergonomic injuries. They were killed by President Bush and a GOP-run Congress.

Ergonomic injuries, also called musculo-skeletal and repetitive-motion injuries are by far the most common injuries workers get when they go to work. Hundreds of thousands of these injuries happen annually, costing millions of lost workdays.

Exact figures are no longer available because the Bush administration, after trashing the ergonomics rules, trashed separate rules requiring companies to report the number of such ailments.

Examples of ergonomic injuries include the back injuries health care workers suffer after they lift and turn patients, without benefit of mechanical assistance, and carpal tunnel syndrome, a condition of nerve degeneration requiring arm or hand surgery. Carpal tunnel affects categories of workers ranging from typists to meat cutters.

Recently, President Obama recruited Jordan Barab, a long-time occupational safety and health specialist and activist, for the position of acting director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Barab spoke about ergonomics at a May 5 legislative conference of union nurses in Washington D.C. He assured them that the Obama administration is committed to bringing back regulation in this area.

During the last year of the Clinton administration, after 10 years of lobbying by the labor movement and hard work by people inside and outside the Clinton White House, the Department of Labor issued a rule designed to reduce ergonomic injuries. The very first bill that Bush signed into law, after he was installed in the White House by the Supreme Court, was a law that repealed all the ergonomic injury rules.

“I remember the rules very well,” Barab, who worked in Clinton’s Department of Labor, told the nurses. “I remember nurses testifying, in tears, about ergonomic back injuries that cost them the careers they loved.

“We either have to get the repeal repealed, or go sector by sector to create new ergonomic rules,” he told the nurses. A third alternative, Barab added, “is to sit down with everyone,” including unions and business “to see what will work in the workplace and politically, to get around the repeal law.”

We can help your company be proactive and protect your workers now. Contact us at sales@ergonomicpartners.com

New plant gets a Gorbel makeover!

Check out a couple of pictures of this customer's new Gorbel systems. They had old homemade plain push cranes, and the new ergonomically friendly cranes are greatly appreciated by the operators. Note the multiple cranes on the runways. Bar electrification was used so they could have full travel up and down the runways. For those of you not familiar with Gorbel, it is normally powered up and down the runway with flat cable festoon.

If you are planning a new plant or just needing to upgrade and/or replace your existing overhead cranes, let us show you what Ergonomic Partners and Gorbel has to offer.

www.ergonomicpartners.com

sales@ergonomicpartners.com

314-766-4578

Are you ignoring ergonomic needs of your employees?

With the recession, safety is one place that some companies are looking to save money. But one injury can offset the money saved and then some.

The High Cost of Ignoring Ergonomic Work Practices

As any company manager knows, it is important to weigh the costs of implementing new work programs with the expected long-term financial gains. Items labeled as being ergonomic can put a large dent into budgets. The business of ergonomics has become big business. A fully adjustable ergonomic chair alone can cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Then there is the fear that if one work station is altered, every work station will need to be similarly altered. Or that by bringing up the topic of ergonomics, employees will be made aware of the potential for injuries and start making claims. It is not surprising that many companies do not look towards ergonomic solutions as a means of controlling costs.

On the other hand, not addressing ergonomic issues can be quite costly as well. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the direct and indirect costs of musculoskeletal injuries can total as much as $20 billion dollars a year. A survey conducted by Liberty Mutual in August of 2001 revealed that 95% of respondents felt that workplace safety had a positive impact on a company's financial performance; 86% felt that workplace safety provided a return on investment; and 61% felt that $3 or more is saved for each $1 invested in workplace safety.

So, we know that ergonomic solutions can decrease the incidence and cost of injuries and enhance employee satisfaction. We can further maximize ergonomic investment by looking for no-to-low cost solutions. Here are a few basic ergonomic freebies to get you started.

Some solutions can be as simple as rearranging a work space, moving the work area higher or lower or closer, placing tools within easy reach, and keeping the working space directly in front of our bodies. Avoid excessive reach. Place most frequently used items within an easy reach envelope. Position furniture and work equipment to promote healthy posture.


The more repetitive your job tasks, the more you are at risk. Rotate tasks often. Get up and get moving: get a drink of water, make a phone call; take a walk to the copy or fax machine; walk down the hall to discuss an item with a co-worker rather than using email.

Ensure that tools are in good working order. If using sharp tools, make sure the blades are sharpened to reduce the exertion needed during use. Do not disengage any safety features.

Make the environment as comfortable as possible. Avoid clutter and do not place items under desks or tables (you need to be able to get close to your working space). Re-direct air vents that are blowing down directly onto work stations. Reduce noise. Reduce glare. Provide sufficient lighting; use task lighting if necessary.

From http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art47497.asp
Ergonomics Site
Marji Hajic
BellaOnline's Ergonomics Editor

Give us a call at 314-766-4578 or email us at sales@ergonomicpartners.com

www.ergonomicpartners.com

Another happy Gorbel customer

There are many happy Gorbel end user stories. You can cut and paste the below link in your brower to view a customer explaining how they changed their whole plant over to Gorbel. Most of the time if a customer puts in one system they will use Gorble for all of their workstation crane applications.

Featured Customer Testimonial:

“We got one system in and it was so much easier to move...less operator fatigue, easier to position the parts in the machines. We've completely switched over the machine shop to all Gorbel Bridge Cranes.” - Arlen Seeman, Professional Engineer

View the video Testimonial...https://www.gorbel.com/videos/Testimony.html

Contact Ergonomic Partners at sales@ergonomicpartners.com

Special lift table

Bishamon Solutions
“Bishamon EZOFF Series Meets the challenges of this work cell”



Application:
This manufacturing operation handles a wide range of boxed shipments. The loads can range from several hundred to over two thousand pounds. Pallets are loaded on the floor beside each conveyor line. The completed pallets are transported by pallet jack to the shipping area.
Problem:
The operators handle various size and weight of cartons in this shipping area. The area for staging and transporting the loaded pallets is very cramped. Lifting, bending, stretching and reaching to position cartons of various size and weight takes a physical toll on line operators. Lift trucks cannot access the congested work cells.

Solution:
Bishamon EZOFF lifters are positioned at the end of the packing lines. The empty pallets are placed on the Lift table. The lift is lowered as the pallet is loaded to accommodate the workers comfort level. In addition the operator can rotate the platform to position the lift for loading thereby eliminating reaching across the load or walking around the lift to position cartons on the pallet. The result is less bending, reaching and stretching, reduced fatigue and improved productivity. The EZOFF has surely made the work EZ as well as improving overall efficiency for these work cells.
Please allow Bishamon an opportunity to offer solutions for your client’s work positioning problems.
Contact us at sales@ergonomicpartners.com or call us at 314-766-4578