Material Handling: Industrial Turntables At the forefront of productivity

In its earliest stages, material handling was far more tedious than today because workers had to move individual units of product from one place to another, which was physically taxing, time-consuming, and inefficient.

Ergonomics and the risk of physical conditions like Repetitive Strain Injury were given little consideration. Granted, there was not the number of goods being transported from place to place as there is today, but the process was laborious.

As demand and subsequent supply increased for various goods, the material handling process evolved to create the time-efficient, safety-driven process we have become more familiar with. Given today’s market volume, material handling has become one of the most rapidly growing industries in the modern working world.

At its most basic, material handling involves the movement, protection, control, and storage of materials using a wide range of manual, automated, and semi-automated equipment. The balance between safety and efficiency is delicate; the goal is to keep operator costs at a minimum while holding safety and productivity at a maximum.

The fewer times a product is touched on its way to distribution, the less cost it takes to produce the item. However, during the few touches required to complete production, it is imperative to use heavy-duty equipment and adequate storage and transport methods that maximize the safety of the material handling procedure.

There is a wide range of heavy-duty material handling equipment. Some examples of this heavy-duty equipment include (but are not limited to):

• Industrial turntables and conveyors
• Storage racks
• Cranes and hoists
• Mezzanines

Industrial turntables are circular, horizontal pieces of equipment designed to rotate in conjunction with one another to assist with loading and unloading materials to and from conveyors during the material handling process.

These devices were meant to increase efficiency while decreasing the physical risk for human beings. Before incorporating turntables, the conveyor footprint might have to be substantially larger.

Conveyers required that a product turn could only use manual handling, long radius conveyor turns, or possibly a cross-transfer conveyor. Instead of having to lift and maneuver heavy products, the workers in a facility can instead focus on other areas of production and distribution.

In addition to moving objects through the conveyor system, turntables can help load and unload pallets or other container systems while reducing the times requiring contact with a lift truck. In short, the automated industrial turntable system helps keep the line moving to discourage any disruption in the movement of materials and increase uptime.

There are several merits to using automated industrial turntables in your material handling process. Among those merits are the following:

• Increased product output with decreased production time
• Varying power configurations to fit your organization’s production needs
• Lower production cost due to increased lifespan of turntables
• Reduced risk to personnel from repetitive, strenuous movements
• Decreased risk of product damage from personnel mishandling, unnecessary lift truck movements, or improper storage

Although some express reservations about integrating automation into the material handling process, it does not detract from the human power necessitated to operate the equipment and oversee the shipments. This equipment requires human power to achieve its maximum output but reduces the potential for injury that manual turntables possess.

Due to the decreased liability and production time, the return on investment for this piece of machinery significantly increases the financial value of the manufacturing facility and therefore increases profit for the business overall.

Additionally, the amount of physical space that automated turntables occupy is so much lower than other pieces of similarly functioning equipment, the facility can maximize the storage potential for its products, and the inventory is easier to manage and access for shipping, which further reduces the potential for employee injury or product damage.

Although the initial price of installing an automated turntable system can be daunting, the overall maintenance cost, as well as the lowered risks associated with using this type of equipment, significantly lowers the cost per use, proving to be a favorable business decision in a nominal amount of time.

Industrial turntables are instrumental in material handling because they rotate heavy-duty loads of equipment or materials using a powered or manual configuration. Our Precision Pallet Turntable maximizes industrial efficiency by rotating heavy loads quickly and safely, thus increasing profitability for manufacturers and distributors and decreasing production costs and liabilities in the work environment.

What sets our turntables apart from competitors is the included Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) and the impeccable customer service throughout the sales and installation process. Other turntables may only be available in off-the-shelf configurations, whereas Russell Conveyor & Equipment Precision Pallet Turntables can be customized to meet your personal business needs.

Russell Conveyor & Equipment upholds a stringent customer relationship policy, meaning that we are committed to providing our customers with premium equipment at an optimum price using exceptional service. We provide superior customer service through our consistent availability of contact, and we are always more than happy to educate our customers on the best equipment to meet their individual material handling needs. We encourage you to schedule a consult with us so we can help you put your business on the right track today!