Dual Bridge Workstation Crane: Increase Safety, Reduce Costs & Manpower
Client
Since their establishment in 1999, Tops Solid Surface serves customers ranging from builders and contractors to homeowners and RV owners. Offering the area’s most impressive selection of quarts, marble, stone, and more for kitchen, bath, and home projects. Tops uses robotic fabrication equipment allowing them to process, cut, and finish their materials with precision and accuracy.
Opportunity
The cumbersome operation process for material slab handling was lacking efficiency and safe practices, requiring two or three persons to perform a task. The implementation of a new system was needed to allow a single crew member to safely and quickly move materials to and from cutting tables.
Design PROCESS
“It’s been a great investment for us.”
Jib crane and overhead crane options were considered from multiple vendors. A jib crane however, would not have offered sufficient coverage for Tops usage needs and would have required significant footing and slab work. The facility clear height mixed with a sloped roof line made for a very tight fit in order to maximize the hook height, bridge movement, and avoid processing equipment below. Header and column placement was also very tight, in fact down to half an inch, working to avoid walkways, drainage channels, and storage areas.
Design Solution
The ideal solution for Tops Solid Surfaces was a bridge workstation crane. Initially designed with a single bridge; the revision to a dual bridge was soon after made to better support growth plans and productivity improvements. The dual bridge cranes mixed support system allowed for free standing ends with facility supported center sections while the enclosed track design dramatically improved operational ease compared to a conventional I-beam system. Overall runway and bridge lengths were revised multiple times to maximize the hook coverage required 'today' and in the future with plans to implement an additional cutting table.
Impact
A ‘Productivity Factor’ of 100:1 is maintained with all of ReSolve’s enclosed track solutions, translating to a 2000 pound load only requiring 20 pounds of force by the operator to move. The completion of this facility improvement resulted in reduced manpower needs by 25% on two shifts. The end users safety record has also dramatically improved leading to a much higher safety rating and many thousands of dollars saved in costs paid to Washington State Labor and Industries.
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