Assembly Carts Bear the Brunt of Manufacturing’s Heaviest Trials – Are Your Industrial Casters Up to the Challenge?
Assembly carts are manufacturing’s utility player – the lumbering linchpin of the factory, whether delivering materials used in the manufacturing process, or removing goods that are ready for sale. Such carts are a critical link in the manufacturing chain – often moving loads that tip the scales at thousands of pounds or more.
With the cart itself adding hundreds of pounds to the equation, this results in a lot of weight that an individual has to handle at some point – singlehandedly having to push, pull, turn or maneuver the assembly carts and loads. This puts a tremendous amount of stress on the operator’s body, which could possibly lead to overexertion injuries.
According to the “2013 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index,” injuries due to overexertion caused by outside forces cost U.S. businesses $14.2 billion in 2012. As you can see, this is a very serious – as well as costly — risk in manufacturing plants.
One solution to these challenges can be achieved by a simple modification of the heavy-duty caster wheels upon which these carts are positioned. At Caster Concepts, we addressed this by developing TWERGO® — which stands for “Twin Wheel Ergonomic.” TWERGO® is an industrial caster with a patented parabolic face and independently rotating wheels – a combination which can help achieve a reduction of, on average, 25 percent on starting forces, turns, and maneuvers, when compared to conventional casters.
The independently rotating wheels on the TWERGO® industrial caster reduce friction by allowing the wheels to rotate in the direction and amount needed to turn and maneuver. The parabolic face design with tapered tread design reduces the amount of force exerted to start rolling.
Not only does the 25 percent average reduction in force reduce the risk of overexertion injuries, it can also increase productivity. For example, if a fully-loaded cart weighs 3,000 pounds and requires 45 pounds of force to start rolling, changing the casters to TWERGO® will reduce push force to about 34 pounds – a significant reduction. Conversely, a TWERGO® configured cart can also be used to handle increased capacity, which would lead to not only reduced push forces but also a reduction in total trips.
What challenges exist in your manufacturing operations that could be solved by a more maneuverable industrial caster wheel, like TWERGO®?
