For years the maintenance crew at the U.S. Postal Service's Philadelphia Bulk Mailing Facility knew that they would spend anywhere from 30 to 35 hours every week patching up damage from forklifts running into dock doors.

That's changed now, however. For 5 years this facility has devoted hardly any time to this problem since they installed knockout dock doors. Now they devote those 30 to 35 hours to other areas.

Daily door damage had been one of the major maintenance headaches for plant engineer John Leafey and his crew. These incidents are costly and time-consuming. They also take repair technicians away from the upkeep of important production equipment.

After years of dealing with this repair chore, Leafey launched a search for a more permanent solution. Damage to the facility's 89 dock doors "was constantly pulling us away from other jobs," complains Leafey.

The causes of the problem were the high volume of mail at this 950,000 sq ft facility and the traffic needed to move it. "We have 60 forklifts travelling our floors, finding a number of ways to wreck our doors," says Leafey.

Most often needing attention were the clipped upper panels of doors that moved into target position as older springs de-tensed. The driver that busily runs shipments into and out of trucks does not notice the gradual door creep into the doorway. The driver's attention tends to be focused on the dock plate, not the door above it. Maneuvering around tight docks also puts doors at risk whenever forklifts need to make sharp turns to avoid parked pallet loads, personnel, or other forklifts.

"We had a lot of aluminum doors," adds Leafey. "All you have to do is just tap them – they turn out to be such as mess."

Leafey lined up four different door manufacturers to find the approach that was right for the USPS facility. After several months of door against door testing, one knockout door design emerged from the pack as the best able to withstand the abuse.

"This door had all the features we were looking for," relates Leafey, "including security, insulation, sealing, and most of all, damage resistance."

Once these doors were installed, the USPS facility tracked maintenance activity over an 8-month period. Just 10 hours were spent attending to the doors – for the whole 8-month period. "These hours were mostly for running inspections and preventative maintenance such as adjusting spring tension," recounts Leafey.

When a knockout door panel is hit, pins slide out of the door's track, offering no resistance to the vehicle's force. A quick pull resets the panel and the door is back in operation, sealing the doorway.

Facility security is maintained because of the fact that the track permits the door to be knocked out by forklift impact, but not knocked in by intruders.

The knockout doors eliminate two of the maintenance jobs common to standard doors: oiling guide rollers and tracks. With the knockout doors there is no metal-to-metal contact; instead steel pins contact a self-lubricating plastic track.

TKO Doors
888-428-0530
www.tkodoors.com