Labor

Labor costs can be one of the most substantial items on a plant manager’s budget, so using labor inefficiently or unnecessarily can be a huge strain on the balance sheet.

Industrial vibration is a highly effective way to streamline your operations and keep your labor costs in areas where they are the most productive.

For example, emptying bulk solids from a rail car, truck trailer or hopper can often be challenging because the material can stick together inside the container, especially if it’s been exposed to humidity or moisture. Typically, when bridging or ratholing occurs, or when residual material sticks to the sides, a worker will take a mallet and strike the sides of the hopper to move the product along.

This is expensive because it doesn’t always do a thorough job of emptying the container, so your workers spend far too long trying to get all of it. Additionally, you risk injury to the worker and damage to the equipment, which incurs more costs.

By attaching an industrial vibrator, either permanently or by using a portable model that attached with suction, you can get all of the bulk solid out of the hopper quickly, easily and thoroughly.

Another inefficient use of labor can be found in plants where product is packaged for retail sale in small containers. Without vibration equipment, this requires a worker to manually hand-scoop the material from a large container into smaller containers, while watching a scale to get the right amount.

This is a slow, laborious process that is also very inaccurate. A better alternative is to use a vibrating feeder equipped with an electronic scale. The result is a highly accurate packaging process that moves much faster than manual scooping. Repetitive motion injuries are also eliminated from the process.

Finally, to truly minimize labor costs, it is important that the correct equipment is installed for the specific application. Mounting a vibrator onto equipment that it wasn’t designed for can damage the equipment, and sometimes even damage the vibrator. The resulting maintenance can be another drain on labor resources, in addition to the lost revenues due to the downtime of the equipment.

At Martin^® Vibration Systems, we have hundreds of products that fulfill a wide range of needs. We’re happy to discuss your operation’s needs and help you determine which product can help you streamline your process and reduce your costs. Just give us a call at 1-888-920-1933 or send a message to our Engineering/Application Department to connect with us.