Features/Benefits Provided: Improved safety Ease of Movement Productivity Improvements Cost Savings

A glass mirror manufacturer makes large mirrors for the furniture industry. In the packaging process of these mirrors, the large, heavy (up to 300 lbs.) sheets of glass must be lifted off a conveyor, tilted 90 degrees, and then placed in a wooden shipping crate. To keep the fabrication process running efficiently, one mirror must be lifted and placed in the crate every 60 seconds.

Before the Gorbel system was installed with the vacuum lifter, it took four people to lift, tilt, and position these mirrors in the crates. Doing this activity by hand was a problem for many reasons:

1. People were getting hurt while trying to position the mirrors
2. Female employees had a difficult time performing this task
3. Mirrors were being damaged and dropped during the process
4. Employees were getting injured by broken glass when mirrors were dropped

To resolve the problems the customer considered the following two options:

1. An automated handling system with a lifter.
2. A manually operated Gorbel Work Station Bridge Crane with a vacuum lifter (by others).

The Gorbel Work Station Crane was purchased for the following reasons:

• Improved safety: The system eliminated manual lifting
• Ease of movement and positioning: women / older employees could now perform the task
• Less product damage: no more dropped mirrors
• Productivity improvements: operation can be performed by two people instead of the previous four
• Cost: Gorbel system was 3X less than the automated system.

is a proud member of MMA, a Product Section of the Material Handling Industry of America

Jeff McNeil
600 Fishers Run
Fishers, NY 14453-0596
800-821-0086
Email info@gorbel.com
Website: www.gorbel.com