Goulds Pump manufactures pumps, a process that presents high risks to both personnel and product. Operators at one of Goulds' workstations were constantly in harm's way as they placed castings weighing 35 to 70 pounds into a milling machine, either manually or with an air balancer. Costly pump components were also repeatedly damaged when workers put them onto the machine with too much force. And the air balancers took so long to bleed pressure before placing a load that valuable cycle time was often lost.

Now, Goulds uses an intelligent lifting device that eliminates all former risks and costly practices. The intelligence of the device, used for picking up heavy castings and placing them onto a soft-jaw chuck or into the milling machine, includes pre-programmable limits and speed reduction points to maintain safe operation.

When operators are in a pick zone, they move freely with the device as they lift a casting out of a bin. As soon as an operator approaches the milling machine area, a sensor mounted on the crane system detects the hazardous zone and automatically activates travel and speed limits. By shifting to a slower speed, the unit prevents operators from crashing product onto the machine.

Safer working conditions and reduced damage to product and to the plant's machines are only some of the advantages gained with the new lifting device. Combined with a new production machine, Goulds has increased productivity at this workstation 100%, and decreased its on-floor inventory by as much as 50%.