Overhead bridge crane systems: Handling with care
A residential window glass supplier uses an overhead lifting solution to reduce handling time and increase safety and efficiency.
By Lorie King Rogers, Associate Editor -- Modern Materials Handling, 9/1/2009
When it comes to manufacturing window glass, there's only one way to handle the process: very carefully.
The Cardinal Glass company, Spring Green, Wisc., supplies energy-efficient glass to residential window manufacturers. The glass is coated with an ultra-thin metallic layer in a process that sends raw product through a series of cathodes over a conveyor. The cathode tubes rest in box of casings that weigh about 4,600 pounds. When a cathode needs maintenance or replacement, it has to be removed from the conveyor line and replaced quickly. The company uses overhead bridge crane systems (Gorbel, 800-821-0086, www.gorbel.com) to load and service its glass coating machines and keep production running without incident.
"Using the overhead bridge cranes to load and service the machines reduces handling time considerably compared to using a conventional lift truck," says Len McNamer, the stores supervisor for the Spring Green facility. "It's definitely a safer and more efficient means of servicing the machines."
Once the cathode has been removed, it's transferred to a maintenance area parallel to the production line, which features a 300-foot runway with two 34-foot bridges that can service as many as 10 cathodes a day.
Another benefit Cardinal Glass gets from this lifting solution is reduced maintenance costs because new components are compatible with original systems. Throughout the facility there are runways varying in depth and capacity, but they are compatible to the width of the track's lower running flange. This allows the maintenance department to keep a low number of repair parts in stock.
In keeping pace with the evolution of the glass-coating process, McNamer says, "A lot has changed in 24 years, but we could not have moved along without the overhead bridge crane systems."
Focus on overhead handling
01/01/2006Trucks for overhead bridge cranes
06/30/1999
View All On-Demand Webcasts