Bi-parting doors maintain safety, contribute to productivity
Gardetto's maintenance-free power doors protect employees, increase productivity, and act as an effective energy buffer.
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 2/1/1999
"Give highly competent employees quality equipment to perform their jobs, and the result will be outstanding product at low cost.''Gardetto's Snack Foods attributes its growth to this creed," says John Gardetto, Sr., Gardetto president. "If we accept anything less than that we'll pay for it time and time again."
The company was in need of doors that would protect its employees from accidents, contribute to worker productivity, provide an effective energy buffer, and eliminate maintenance downtime.
The selection of 12 horizontally bi-parting power doors improved the company's safety, productivity, and energy efficiency, while eliminating door maintenance expenses.
Decreased maintenance costs justified the upgrade to new doors. The doors open at 84 in. per second, a key safety benefit. The time Gardetto's drivers save at each door is important to the facility's overall production and distribution.
By installing power doors that open fast enough to accommodate approaching lift trucks, damaged doors are virtually eliminated.
Originally, Gardetto's used "bump" doors to separate it's processing, packaging, and distribution areas. But the high volume of lift truck traffic didn't wear well on the doors. The bump doors were repeatedly damaged.
Productivity suffered when door openings were closed for repair and lift trucks wasted time searching for alternate routes. Also, the impact doors were not energy efficient. Gardetto's air-conditioned areas were not effectively sealed from the high temperatures of its processing rooms.
With temperatures surpassing 105 deg F, the production room must be sealed to reduce energy costs and to maintain a comfortable working environment for employees. Gardetto's estimates a savings of $465 per month on utility bills with the bi-parting doors.
Employee safety was the most important concern due to Gardetto's high volume of traffic. The primary safety advantage of the new doors is immediate, full- height vision to the horizontal opening as opposed to a conventional roll-up door which opens vertically. Although the roll-up doors had vision panels, visibility was temporarily blocked while they opened.
"With our conventional roll-up doors, our drivers would be at least partially blind until the doors were fully open," says John Gardetto, Sr. Gardetto president. "Since the new doors open horizontally, drivers can immediately see what is ahead of them."
Additionally, in the unlikely event that an employee eludes the door's monitoring sensors and the door begins to close, automatic reversing sensors immediately cause the door to open if its edges contact anything while closing.
Rite-Hite 414-355-2600
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