Archive
00:05 Speaker 1: So Newell Brands is a consumer goods powerhouse. It’s mostly consumer goods, such as Rubbermaid, Rubbermaid Commercial, Sharpie markers, PaperMate pens, Calphalon cookware, and the Mr. Coffee.
00:16 Speaker 2: Here at the Rubbermaid facility in Ohio, we were assembling all the kits on a box line. Basically, the box line was a 100-foot long conveyor with anywhere from 15 to 20 operators.
00:29 Speaker 1: The overall facility is 850,000 square feet, of which 500,000 is manufacturing and 300,000 is warehouse.
00:38 Speaker 2: The major challenge we were trying to solve with the robotic automation was gaining productivity with packing up these set boxes.
00:50 Speaker 1: The system will help us serve our customers by hopefully improve our margin. Approximately 80% of our set volume will be able to be processed by this robotic cell, and shipping a more accurate product to the customer, which is the most important thing.
01:04 Speaker 2: We wanted to improve on the ergonomics. We also wanted to improve on our quality.
01:09 Speaker 1: Along with our cost of failure metrics, one of our biggest components is how many parts we put in a box. We’re hoping with the accuracy of the cell, we’ll be able to improve that going forward.
01:21 Speaker 2: We decided to work with Bastian Robotics because their project management team was very knowledgeable of our business, our products. They put a lot of time and effort into understanding what our needs were.
01:33 Speaker 1: The parts are made in injection molding in this facility. So we mold the parts here, then we store the parts in the warehouse, from the warehouse are moved to our pack and assembly operation within the same warehouse. The different product lines will be EFLs, as we call our Easy Find Lids, it’s where the lid attaches to the base. They’re more of a thicker part, more of a durable product. We also do TakeAlongs, the very thin-walled product and more of a disposable product. Both those will be processed on this line.
01:58 Speaker 3: Once they get conveyed into the system, we have a special device called the denesting device. It’s a mechanical device that pulls product from the NP conveyor and presents it to the robot in a specific quantity. There’s up to 10 robots in the system, and those 10 robots can pick from one or two denesters on either side, depending on what the recipe calls for. Once the case gets to the end of the system, the last robot does something a little bit different. The last product, if it’s a lid, a twist and seal lid, it doesn’t nest like the rest of the products. So those are caps, they get fed to the robot and the robot would put down the standard tool, pick up a vacuum tool, pick those lids, and place those into the case. After the product exits the system, it’s either sent down one of the additional process lines or a reject conveyor.
02:51 Speaker 1: The robotics system will process items at two different cycle times. We’ll do some of our sets at a 4-1/2-second cycle, which is about 800 parts per hour, and we’ll do some at 6-second cycle, which is 600 parts per hour.
03:05 Speaker 2: My experience with Bastian has been really good. The project managers, the sales, the engineering as far as mechanical, electrical, and programming have all been a really good help with the project, helping us understand the nuts and bolts behind the project.
03:23 Speaker 1: My experience working with Bastian Robotics has been both positive and informative. Positive as I see the progress we’ve made on the cell, and the improvements that are in front of us that could help us go to the next level. And also informative, through all the project and from all the information sessions and team that we would be able to answer questions, and to walk us through logistics, willing to work with us, listen to both sides of the story. It’s not always their solution, but it can be a team solution, and they’ve been able to work with us to come to the resolution we have today.
For more information contact us at:
Lift Truck Supply
T:1.800.873.1828
E: marketing@lifttrucksupplyinc.com
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Aug20
00:08 Speaker 1: As the number one selling brand of pickles, relishes, and peppers, having reliable distribution processes is a really big deal to Mt. Olive Pickle Company. Helping to keep 170 million jars of product on the move each year at the Mt. Olive, North Carolina facilities is the work of Toyota forklifts. About 80 vehicles are typically deployed throughout the production and distribution areas of these operations.
00:35 Speaker 2: We chose to go with Toyota lifts because of our relationship with our partners, Southeast Industrial. We felt that those lifts fit our application very well. The safety features on the lifts as well as the mobility and the flexibility that Toyota provides, felt like it was a good fit for our business.
00:54 Speaker 1: The Toyota forklifts are involved in nearly every aspect of product movement at Mt. Olive Pickle Company. Here, Toyota’s 5,000 pound capacity, counterbalanced forklifts with internal combustion engines, unload raw cucumbers from delivery trucks. The powerful forklifts easily climb the ramps to reach trailers in the outdoor yard. These forklifts are equipped with special rotator attachments to quickly dump the cucumbers from their containers into large washing bins. Similar trucks with pneumatic tires work in large outdoor yards containing brine vats. The vats are used to ferment the cucumbers into pickles. Toyota forklifts also move pickle products to various processing stations, such as washing and cutting. Elsewhere in the building, jars to hold the finished pickles are unloaded and brought to packing stations. The packed items are then gathered from the end of lines and taken to storage. Once at the distribution center, cases of pickles are floor-stacked up to four pallets high. To fill customer orders, Toyota forklifts provide work platforms for associates to pick individual cases onto mixed pallets. Full pallets are also selected from storage and taken to stretch wrappers. The wrapped pallets are then loaded onto outbound trailers. In total, some 20 million cases each year ship from this facility to customers in all 50 states.
02:21 Speaker 2: It’s worked out great. The lifts are reliable, durable. We have a very high speed, high-paced type business, so we have to have reliable equipment, and the equipment has held up very well for us.
02:32 Speaker 1: Forklift drivers also appreciate the maneuverability and ease of operation that they experience when driving the Toyota forklifts, including the easy to reach controls.
02:42 Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, they’re right here at your fingertips. You got your forward and reverse. You got your up and down, your tilt and your side. It’s fine. I like it right here. It’s a lot better than the ones with the handles up here. I like the controls right here at my fingertips. I’ve been driving a lift for 30 years, and it’s good lift.
03:09 Speaker 1: Pickle production is a fairly seasonable business, with peak production between May and October when the company can take advantage of local cucumber crops. As a result, the forklift needs of the company vary with production volumes. For that reason, Mt. Olive Pickle looks to its Toyota dealer, Southeast Industrial Equipment, to supply the right quantity of vehicles needed throughout the year.
03:32 Speaker 4: Mt. Olive Pickle leases their equipment primarily because they want to have fresh equipment. It’s a very high use application. They run the equipment very hard. Having reliable, durable equipment is a key aspect to their expectations. We’re always looking for ways to save them money and partner with them.
03:54 Speaker 1: Southeast Industrial Equipment also provides regular maintenance on the vehicles, including preventative maintenance, as seen here, and any other repairs needed to assure that vehicles are in top working condition. Being able to depend on their forklift fleet is why Mt. Olive Pickle chose Toyota and Southeast Industrial Equipment in the first place.
04:16 Speaker 2: Really, really good. Very reliable. They’re really able to help us in a moment’s notice if we have an issue with equipment or have additional needs for additional pieces of equipment. They’re very receptive and a great partner. Two thumbs up.
For more information contact us at:
Lift Truck Supply
T:1.800.873.1828
E: marketing@lifttrucksupplyinc.com
F: Contact Page
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Aug20
00:08 Speaker 1: Stemco is dedicated to safety. This focus is reflected both in the commercial truck products it makes, as well as operations at its manufacturing facilities.
00:17 Speaker 2: We make wheel end oil seals, that’s the main product line. We do a lot of other things. Anything to do with the wheel and the truck, we can make it.
00:27 Speaker 1: Its manufacturing facilities, like this one in Longview, Texas, are rugged environments that need forklifts with the power and durability to assure production keeps running 24 hours a day. That’s why Stemco chose Toyota forklifts. There are 14 vehicles in the fleet here that perform a variety of work. They bring raw materials, such as these heavy steel coils, to metal stamping operations. They also feed parts to assembly cells and pick up manufactured goods when work is completed. Toyota forklifts also load and unload delivery trucks. Recently, Stemco acquired several three-wheel electric forklifts. With their tight turning radiuses, these trucks are designed for movement in narrow spaces. Utilizing these trucks allowed Stemco to add pallet racks for temporary storage near its shipping and receiving docks.
01:22 Speaker 1: The forklifts also transport these heavy dyes used in metal-stamping operations. The dyes are stored in two separate buildings, so the trucks must navigate outside across uneven pavement. Additionally, the forklifts pick up scrap metal from various operations for recycling. The metal is taken outside and dumped into large recycling bins. Working in such rugged environments is a challenge for any forklift, but these Toyotas are designed for this kind of work. The problem though, was that they were facing damage as a result of driver neglect and abuse, running into racks and overhead doors, hitting potholes outside, bumping machinery.
02:05 Speaker 3: We started seeing just a lot of carelessness, brackets being bent, forklifts being driven in locations they didn’t need to be; just a lot of physical abuse to the forklifts, but a lot of safety items, lights, forks, back-rests, just a lot of heavy steel that was being abused.
02:27 Speaker 1: That carelessness was adding up. During a six-month period in 2016, repairs to the vehicles as a result of this damage totaled $66,000.
02:39 Speaker 3: And that’s money that’s not budgeted for, that comes straight off of their bottomline.
02:48 Speaker 1: Stemco’s Toyota dealer in East Texas, Lift Truck Supply, recommended that the company add T-Matics COMMAND, Toyota’s vehicle management system, to 10 of the 14 trucks in its fleet at Longview.
03:01 Speaker 3: It gives us real-time. It tells us that there was an impact at any time that the impact happens. It tells us the severity of the impact, it tells us the operator. What’s nice about it, it tells us instantly that something has happened that put that forklift in an unsafe condition. It may email supervisors, it’ll email safety coordinators, it’ll email the dealers.
03:27 Speaker 4: I think there’s much more accountability with the system we have now. Each driver logs in with a unique passcode. And that gives them a little bit more sense of awareness that they need to pay attention to their surroundings and be careful when they’re driving the lifts.
03:48 Speaker 1: T-Matics provides a wealth of data to track both productivity and safety.
03:54 Speaker 2: Who uses the truck and how they use it, how often they use it; are they using it in a safe way, all that kind of stuff. We’ve had a drastic drop in the kind of incidents we had when we were having damages done to the truck. That’s helped a bunch and also, in keeping with that, we’ve had less damage to facilities like overhead doors, and racks. And since we put the telematics on, those kind of problems have gone away.
04:22 Speaker 5: Alright, all you wanna do now is a visual check, you wanna check your tires, you wanna check your seatbelt, your seat. You wanna check the horn.
04:36 Speaker 1: In addition, T-Matics guides drivers in conducting safety checks before starting their shifts. An onboard display guides them through the pre-check list. Their responses are stored electronically, eliminating the paper checklist previously employed.
04:52 Speaker 6: There was opportunities for improvement, just keeping a paper checklist on a forklift that goes indoors and outdoors throughout the day; sometimes they would get wet, ink would run. I’ve gotten good feedback so far. A lot of the full-time drivers have a much easier job at maintaining records.
05:11 Speaker 7: I do that, I like the idea of the checklist monitor that we have here, which all you have to do mainly is log on. There’s no paperwork, there’s no anything else, it’s just automatically done. It’d ask you a question, you answer your question. “Yes,” “No,” “Unsafe. It needs to be inspected.” If it needs to be unsafe, it’ll stop the process, you will not be able to move the forklift at all.
05:39 Speaker 2: They check all of the tires, the forks, they check the operation of the truck, the brakes, the horns, the lights. They do a visual inspection on it to make sure there’s no damage done to the truck before they get on it. We have 19 different things that are checked on the truck, and we also thought that telematics was a good way to help us ensure that we were doing our pre-checklist before we got on the trucks, to make sure that we were doing that and keeping records of it.
06:14 Speaker 1: Between the reduction in damages, improved information on truck usage and the assurance of safety checks, Stemco has already seen a significant return on their investment in T-Matics. But more importantly, the company has assured a safer working environment for everyone.
For more information contact us at:
Lift Truck Supply
T:1.800.873.1828
E: marketing@lifttrucksupplyinc.com
F: Contact Page
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Aug20
00:08 Speaker 1: Moving liquid products 24 hours a day can be very heavy work for any forklift. Some of these pallets weigh well over a ton each, but doubling that load with the same truck is much more than most other fork trucks can handle. This is the Keg 1 O’Neal Distribution Center in Weatherford, Texas. The company is a regional beer distributor, providing 135 brands of sudsy goodness from 67 different breweries and suppliers. The company’s customers include restaurants, bars, supermarkets, and convenience stores throughout 31 counties in North Central Texas. Keg 1 O’Neal owes its current size thanks to some timely acquisitions. Along with those purchases, the company acquired fork trucks from many different vendors, including counter balance trucks, walkie riders, and pallet jacks.
01:01 Speaker 2: And just never were satisfied with the quality and the durability of the brands, and the capability of what we wanted to do and accomplish in our business. So we reached out to Toyota and bought our first one in 2006. Today, we’re at 110 pieces of Toyota equipment. We’ve made a full conversion to Toyota handling equipment for our warehouse functions, inbound and outbound, our pallet building functions, preparing orders for delivery the following day, and then of course electric pallet jacks where we deliver at retail with a 48-foot trailer.
01:44 S1: Keg 1 O’Neal recently constructed this new facility with the goal of making better use of vertical space. While at floor stacks many of its faster moving brews, it also utilizes racking to store other brands.
01:58 S2: We designed and built our building and reached out to Toyota to design and build the perfect forklift for our application.
02:05 Speaker 3: Keg 1 was in a unique situation when they moved from the Mineral Wells facility to this Weatherford facility. In the ability to build it however they wanted to build it. One of their big things they wanted to do was take advantage of as much vertical space as possible. With the system built, they then had to find a piece of equipment that would meet those needs as well. So, really using the Toyota engineers, and the Toyota design, the Toyota special design process, we were able to develop a forklift that fit all those needs, given the capacity they needed with the capacity retention and again, get them as high as they needed to go to fit their system.
02:43 S1: The forklift design that Toyota and Shoppas came up with, is a counterbalance truck with the capacity to double handle pallets. Using the cascade single double pallet handler attachment. Moving two pallets simultaneously has been a tremendous time saver at Keg 1 O’Neal, resulting in a huge jump in productivity.
03:03 S2: It’s cut our inbound load and unloading time in half. Much more efficient because you’re removing two pallets or loading two pallets at once versus one. So, brought a great efficiency to our inbound and outbound process. In result, saving time and money.
03:23 S1: Another requirement that Keg 1 O’Neal had was being able to lift both pallets simultaneously for high storage, either on floor stacks, or in the rack areas. That requires the truck that is extremely stable under heavy extended loads. The Toyota trucks that are deployed in this application have the capability of safely lifting one pallet 276 inches from floor level, and two pallets 156 inches high. The Toyota trucks are also very versatile and able to work outside in loading areas and in a cold room where kegs are kept at just the right temperature.
04:03 S1: Elsewhere in the building, orders are built using a fleet of Toyota electric pallet jacks. These versatile units can easily maneuver close to the cases needed for customer orders. Electric pallet jacks also ride along on the company’s trucks to make store deliveries. Shoppas continues to support these vehicles and all the fleet at Keg 1 O’Neal with fast service and parts delivery within 24 hours.
04:29 S2: We had the equipment on hand because we need it to make money. We need that equipment functioning, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. So it’s important that our equipment stays up and it stays running and it functions properly. And Shoppas has been a great partner and helped us achieve that.
For more information contact us at:
Lift Truck Supply
T:1.800.873.1828
E: marketing@lifttrucksupplyinc.com
F: Contact Page
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Aug20
The manufacturing of windows and doors takes precision and skill. This is Anlin Industries in Clovis, California, the manufacturer of Anlin windows and doors, one of the largest and most successful replacement window providers in the Western United States. Anlin’s windows are sold throughout California and Sunbelt states. Handling these heavy windows also takes precision and skill, to assure that they are not easily broken or scratched. That is why Anlin chose dependable Toyota forklifts to do the heavy lifting in its production and distribution facility.
Anlin has a variety of forklifts. They have six order pickers, they have three 5,000-pound capacity propane forklifts, they also have a 9,000-pound capacity propane forklift with a rotator, and then a 10,000-pound capacity forklift.
These rugged forklifts perform a number of jobs at Anlin. First, as trucks arrive with raw materials such a glass and vinyl, the forklifts move the materials to temporary storage. Here, these long strips of vinyl are stacked within the facility’s large yard until needed in manufacturing. These 5,000-pound capacity vehicles extend their reach to easily maneuver the long loads around existing stacks, while the turning capabilities make them easy to move in and out of tight work spaces.
Like most window replacement manufacturers, Anlin produces each product on demand to precisely match the measurements of the window or door being replaced. The Toyota forklifts gather needed materials for transport to manufacturing cells. These vinyl strips stored in the yard are brought into the building. The forks are raised to easily clear obstacles below in the tight work areas. Pallet jacks also move large sheets of glass in and out of the work cells. These sheets of glass are used to manufacture each window or door. Silicone spacers are used to hold the two panes of glass together. Argon gas fills the air spaces in between the panes before it is sealed to provide insulation. The insulated glass unit is then inserted into vinyl frames, which are cut and welded together to provide a strong, energy-efficient product. Excess vinyl from the framing process is deposited into bins for recycling. Anlin recycles some 600,000 pounds of vinyl each year. The 9,000-pound capacity Toyota forklift with a rotating attachment gathers the bins from the production cells. The vehicle then travels outside to a large collection area. The load is raised and rotated, allowing the vinyl discards to drop into waiting containers.
Meanwhile, inside, completed windows and doors move from manufacturing to storage where they are held in these racks. Toyota order picker trucks service the racks, with associates working from platforms specially designed to hold windows. Upon reaching the proper storage location, the worker slides a window into the rack position. These order picker trucks provide very good maneuverability while operating in the narrow aisles of the rack areas.
And they’re designed to get in a very narrow space, but still lift the capacity needed for the customer. It also allows them to carry a large amount of windows, different sizes and weights.
When the windows are needed to fill orders, the same order picker trucks are used to retrieve them. Once gathered, the associate drives the vehicle to shipping docks, where the windows are removed from the work platform and loaded onto Anlin’s own fleet of trucks. The windows are strapped to the trailer’s walls to secure their ride in transit. Anlin relies on Toyota Material Handling of Northern California to provide its forklift fleet, and to keep all of the vehicles in top working condition.
Well, Anlin is on what’s called our Silver Full Maintenance Plan, and that helps them to ensure that their forks are operating at their full capacity, and to help them with any safety issues that might arise. Our technicians are servicing them on a regular basis, and it gives them the security knowing that they’re not gonna have any safety issues. It also helps them with standardized billing. They pay a flat rate every single month, so there’s not gonna be any maintenance hikes or unexpected expenses because they pay the same flat rate every single month.
Anlin has worked with Toyota Material Handling of Northern California since 2003. It has been a successful partnership because of the quality of Toyota forklifts, and the superior service and value that Anlin receives from its dealer, proving that Toyota is the clear choice for this window manufacturer.
For more information contact us at:
Lift Truck Supply
T:1.800.873.1828
E: marketing@lifttrucksupplyinc.com
F: Contact Page
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Aug17
Driving down workplace costs is a principal goal of nearly every business across all industries. But at a more granular level this is a goal that most businesses need strong partners to accomplish. Don’t let other manufacturers tell you differently. Toyota forklifts help reduce overall workplace costs by focusing in two key areas, operator costs and damage costs. Together, these two costs make up nearly 70% of an average forklift’s annual operating cost. As a cost reduction partner, Toyota’s unique system of active stability or SAS focuses entirely on making operators more productive while protecting the operator, the forklift, the materials handled, and the facility. The dynamic system is exclusive to Toyota forklifts and is comprised of six primary functions, speed reduction when cornering, swing lock cylinder, mast front tilt angle control, mast rear tilt speed control, fork leveling control, and active steering synchronizer. Together, these functions support driving down overall workplace costs. Forklifts must maintain minimal surface coverage in order to fit and operate in today’s increasingly compressed racking layouts. As extremely dense products themselves, forklifts can become unstable during certain operations, which risks serious accidents and damage to the forklift, loads, and the facility.
Without SAS, maintaining lateral stability while turning at speed can be a real challenge for forklift operators and facility layout. While operating the Toyota three-wheel electric forklift or the stand-up rider, SAS maintains stability by utilizing the speed reduction function when cornering. If the turning speed is too high, SAS will automatically slow the forklift down. When operating a four-wheel forklift, the swing lock cylinder will automatically lock the rear axle should the system sense instability while turning. The swing lock cylinder momentarily adjusts the forklift’s center of gravity, which helps reduce sideways tip overs. Product damage can also be a significant cost factor and has serious consequences for a business. Without SAS, uncontrolled backward mass tilt can lead to product being dropped on top of the forklift, striking the overhead guard or anything else nearby. Similarly, uncontrolled forward mast tilting can lead to dropped goods and forward tip over of the forklift. Any of these scenarios are almost certain to cause extensive product damage, facility damage, and forklift damage. While unstacking a load, SAS supports rear tilt speed control when it senses the load is at a certain height. The manual reverse tilt control speed is overridden by SAS to slow down, so the load moves surely and steadily into the right position to be lowered.
When stacking a load, SAS again senses load height and mast position to automatically adjust the tilt angle to protect the forklift operator, the product being stacked, and the racking system. When stacking or unstacking pallets, especially in higher racking applications, a difficult action and non-efficient behavior is constantly adjusting the mast angle to allow the forks to easily slide in and out of a palette. SAS supports automatic fork leveling which automatically tilts the mast to the position where the forks are at 90 degrees and perfectly horizontal to a level surface. When consistently stacking and unstacking pallets over an eight-hour shift, the fork leveling button can save days over the course of a year, as well as protect against damaged goods and damaged racking. The final SAS function, the active steering synchronizer, gives operators confidence that the steering wheel and the truck wheels are properly aligned. This helps operators work both ergonomically and efficiently. All SAS functions work together to drive down operator costs and drive up operator productivity all the while helping the forklift avoid accidents due to instability or dropped loads.
Many times, SAS is misrepresented by other manufacturers as a system that simply moves costs from one cost center to another in the form of replacement sensors, parts and maintenance. Fortunately for Toyota and for the hundreds of thousands of Toyota forklifts with SAS operating around the world, nothing is further from the truth. Studies have shown that on average, SAS costs $17 per year to maintain. With a principal investment that small, SAS delivers immeasurable returns. To learn more about Toyota’s system of active stability and the part it can play to drive down your overall workplace costs, visit Lift Truck Supply, Inc.
For more information contact us at:
Lift Truck Supply
T:1.800.873.1828
E: marketing@lifttrucksupplyinc.com
F: Contact Page
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Lift Truck Supply, Inc.
3305 Robertson Road
Tyler, TX 75701
T: 800.873.1828
P: 903.533.9600
F: 903.533.9927
E: info@lifttrucksupplyinc.com
Aug20