Barkman Concrete produces thousands of products a day from their kiln, each needing to be inspected by quality control personnel. Manipulating the product by hand was slow and a potential safety concern. Working with Acculift, a solution was implemented that exceeded their demands and expectations.
A high-speed production line of concrete blocks necessitated a way to cull products that don’t measure up to Barkman Concrete’s high level of product quality control. As products come out of the production kiln quality control staff need to inspect and cull product before they reached the shipping department. Originally, two people were required to manually move a block off the line – interrupting the cleaning and quality control functions of the staff – which posed a significant safety challenge due to the heavy weight of the concrete blocks. One person would have to cross the line to help the other person remove faulty products. A better method of material handling was required.
Acculift designed and installed a four post, single bridge, 500lb workstation crane that straddles the production line and covers the entire quality control area. This gave Barkman the necessary reach to remove products by a single individual. A custom double high-speed vacuum lift was installed to easily handle their largest concrete products. The vacuum lift can be adjusted for a faster, single lift, when smaller products are coming down the line.
By completely removing the manual lifting of the concrete blocks, the line speed was greatly increased and the risk of injury and strain greatly reduced. Operators now stay on their side of the line, continuing to inspect product while a single operator removes defective products. No injuries have been reported since implementing the new system and no product has been damaged while removing defective product with this material handling implementation.
“Acculift has answered all our questions and searched for solutions to our concerns. They’ve been great to deal with. Got our equipment up and installed in a timely fashion and have been very accepting of our needs. Very supportive, very professional.” Warren Loupin, Operations Manager
