A MAJOR dairy company has reportedly saved money and reduced worker safety risks after purchasing a King Pallet Inverter system from King Materials Handling.
The dairy company required a better way of transferring incoming products from wooden to plastic pallets.
According to a spokesperson from the factory, "We were using traditional methods of transferring the pallet load of bags or cartons by hand, from wooden delivery pallets over to hygienic plastic pallets, before requiring storage in clean warehousing, as we had no record of where that wooden pallet had been".
All goods used to be manually transferred to plastic pallets, using spring loaded pallet stands and vacuum lifters prior to installing a King Pallet Inverter.
"Now, the pallet inverter removes all manual handling, and speeds up the process, allowing warehouse staff to tend to other duties," said the spokesperson.
The requirement was to check each item for contamination, spill or damage, especially the bottom layer, where it was imperative to ensure no splinters, nail tears, wetness or prior product contamination was present. Therefore, all of the transfer and inspection work was done by hand.
According to King Materials Handling, when the dairy company looked around for a solution, the company contacted suppliers and manufacturers, then sent a team out to view pallet inverters in the field.
The company then formed a committee to discuss the pros and cons of pallet inverters currently in use in the market.
The one overriding feature the group preferred was a non-hydraulic system, as they feared hydraulic fluid could contaminate their food manufacturing operation.
The King Pallet Inverter reportedly does not use hydraulics in any way. It is a purely electro-mechanical operation, therefore it cannot spill oil, and does not require hydraulic service inspections, pumps, control systems, parts or hoses to replace, the manufacturer claims.
The dairy processor can now save time (it now takes 20 seconds to invert a load, compared with 10 minutes to do the same job by hand) and operator effort, by simply rotating the load, inspecting the underside, then placing the load onto a plastic pallet and de-hiring the wooden pallet.
The company also requested safety measures including a mesh cage to prevent staff from entering the rotating area, and category 3 light curtains to shut the system down if entry to the area was accessed.
Installation, commissioning and staff training was completed in one day.