Oerlikon Fairfield is a leading provider of engineered gear and drive products for original equipment manufacturers throughout the world.
In one of its work cells, 50 to 80 lb Torque Hubs® are assembled by picking up and moving the parts to an assembly table, then picking and flipping the part to place for a complete Torque Hub® assembly. This process was all done manually and by the end of a shift, workers were exhausted. And productivity was suffering.
Ergonomic Concerns
To address ergonomic and productivity concerns, the customer chose an Easy Arm® Intelligent Lifting Device from Gorbel for this work cell. The tooling on the end of the G-Force® handle allows them to pick and flip the parts as needed to make the final assembly.
"Now the guys get done at the end of the day and not only did they get everything done, but they're not exhausted from all the physical labor and wear and tear on the body," says Anthony Schenck, the facility engineering supervisor.
Before making the change, the company was running three shifts, which could produce 20 units a day. With the addition of the Easy Arm® they were able to put together those 20 units in 1 shift, resulting in a 300% increase in productivity.
