LIFTING EQUIPMENT FEATURE VACUUM LIFTING FOR PRODUCTION AND PACKAGING
Within factories today the focus extends from the basis of producing goods at the most profitable rate while retaining high quality along with safety. Increasing online demands and extended consumer opening times means goods are required finished, packaged and dispatched faster. Current talk about Industry 4.0 which offers insightful suggestions for the smart factory is for the majority of UK manufacturers a far away ideal. Complete automation is often not an attainable destination due to ‘personalised’ production offering extra customer value. With or without automation, factories can still work toward being ‘smart’ factories starting with using material handling equipment to improve safety and quality. Customer value starts in production by
implementing handling solutions that integrate with human precision and control and with existing machinery. In particular, a common task such as handling boxes and sacks often involves lifting and carrying various loads of different shapes and sizes. During the multiple processes the individual operator will be required to switch between manual tasks, increasing the risk of strains and injuries and resulting in slower production. On production lines
where processes require human control vacuum lifting systems have shown to integrate well where repetitive lifting and bending is involved. A recently installed vacuum lifting
solution provided by Advanced Handling involved 50kg cardboard boxes. With each positioned on the floor, the operator was previously required to open the box, remove the bag inside and empty the contents into a drum. This three stage
Using the Vacuhand V the tube lifter performs the lifting of the boxes to the floor and the operator is able to open the bags while they are held in position using the ‘hands off hover’ function
process was improved with the installation of a vacuum tube lifter. Using the Vacuhand V the tube lifter performs the lifting of the boxes to the floor and the operator is able to open the bags while they are held in position using the ‘hands off hover’ function, allowing the contents to be emptied directly in to the drums. An internal protection grid was added to the oval-shaped suction head to protect the bags and stop them blocking the lifting tube. Attached to a jib crane a three metre
working radius was provided to suit this application, however the vacuum lifting solution is adaptable to different processes and working environments and can be designed to be fixed to the floor, a wall mounted crane or on overhead rails. Designed for handling boxes and sacks
from 50kg up to 200kg this vacuum lifter absorbs the load weight allowing the control and precision to be handled by the operator which retains quality and improves the ergonomic work flow. Vacuum lifting demonstrations will be on the Advanced Handling stand H86 at the PPMA Show, NEC Birmingham.
Advanced Handling
T: 01778 345365
www.theliftingsolution.co.uk Enter 321
TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION ADVERTORIAL
Considerable savings for Flowplant thanks to invend™
T
he UK’s leading distributor of industrial maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) products and services,
Brammer, has helped
Flowplant save 60 per cent on its consumable spend through industrial vending solution, Invend™.
Engineering group Flowplant manufactures and supplies equipment for a range of industrial applications, such as drain and sewer cleaning, abrasive blasting and descaling and hydrostatic testing. Working on a range of high profile projects, it is essential for Flowplant to have sufficient stock of consumables to ensure downtime is minimised. One of the problems Flowplant regularly encountered was with small value, high volume items, as they are difficult to track and control in terms of stock holding. Storage was another problem area for Flowplant, with items either locked up in cupboards which slowed down access, or handed out items to all employees, leading to a high volume of cash tied up in consumable stock. Additionally,
Flowplant’s
historic management of low-value consumables consisted of paper ordering and the purchasing department having to constantly liaise with stores, which were not always open when stock was required. Flowplant’s operators required a system that provided them with a clear understanding of where stock is and how it can be retrieved. Following research into an internal solution, Flowplant contacted Brammer after reading its whitepaper on industrial vending which highlighted the potential savings of between 25 and 40 per cent on consumables. Brammer’s Invend™ allowed Flowplant to benefit from an industrial vending machine service without the upfront cost of having to purchase the machine. Brammer installed the Invend™ machine into Flowplant’s factory, giving site managers a complete oversight of what is being used, by who and how often. Invend™ is a vending machine which dispenses a wide range of industrial consumables,
ranging from abrasives and cutting tools to hand tools, and from personal
protective equipment (PPE) to lubricants and greases. Brammer
0121 450 4281
www.brammer.co.uk/invend enter 804 High purity oxygen generators T
he latest Oxygen (O2) Generators available from Hi-line Industries Ltd can remove nitrogen from a compressed airline stream to provide air supplies with a range of enhanced oxygen content levels up to 98.5% purity. Normal, dry atmospheric air comprises approximately 78% nitrogen by volume, made up with 21% oxygen and the remaining balance incorporating argon, water vapour, carbon dioxide and other minor trace gases. The increasing reduction of the nitrogen content from compressed air therefore leaves the residual gas with highly enhanced Oxygen content. The separation of gases is achieved by forcing compressed air through a separation column containing a highly selective Zeolite sieve which adsorbs a large percentage of the nitrogen content in the air. This leaves the residual air that has passed through the separation process with appropriate enhanced levels of O2 content.
Hi-line Industries Ltd 01283 533377
www.hilineindustries.com
enter 805
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88