Bridge Cranes Provide Total Coverage for Bruno’s Manufacturing Facility
Products used
Overview
Bruno Independent Living Aids is a global manufacturer of accessibility products designed to enhance the lives of people suffering from mobility disorders. Located in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, Bruno’s manufacturing plant has more than 250,000 square feet of production space. The plant produces power chairs, scooters, vehicle lifts, stair lifts, vertical platform lifts, and specialized automotive seating. Their production space is divided up into work areas for metal fabrication, manufacturing, machining, and testing.
In the past, workers used manual lifting and multiple forklifts to move raw materials and components from one section of the plant to another, which was dangerous and time consuming. Workers also used forklifts to hoist heavy components in their testing center, where they conduct quality inspections to ensure the integrity of their mobility products. Accessing those components using a forklift was inefficient and cumbersome. In addition, Bruno’s rapid growth encouraged them to begin manufacturing new products. With their manufacturing plant reaching full capacity, they needed to free up space and introduce a more efficient, multi-functional material handling solution that would eliminate the hazard of manual lifting and allow single operators to independently move numerous loads. Forklifts did not provide the flexibility Bruno needed to move multiple loads for multiple applications, and their setup didn’t provide enough lifting coverage for their current operation. Bruno’s manufacturing team wanted to find a solution that would allow them to expand in the future.
Solution
The company contacted Productive Products, a local Spanco distributor, who assessed their current needs and provided material handling expertise to devise a solution that would improve production time and eliminate safety hazards. Productive Products suggested a Spanco Freestanding Workstation Bridge Crane for their testing facility. The freestanding workstation bridge crane was the perfect solution because it offered total flexibility and gave them the option to expand their overhead crane system in the future. The ability to connect multiple parallel systems meant that they could continue expanding to eventually cover their entire building. Bruno purchased a 1,000-pound capacity workstation bridge crane with two 500-pound capacity bridges spanning 23 feet each. The runway is 30 feet in length and includes 18-inch cantilevers on both ends.
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Impact
According to Productive Products, since installing the workstation bridge crane from Spanco, Bruno has seen a major increase in efficiency, production, and overall safety. In fact, Bruno has already started expanding their overhead crane system to include several more Spanco Workstation Bridge Cranes. Their new crane system provides total coverage in their massive manufacturing facility without sacrificing flexibility. Connecting the workstation bridge cranes has improved material flow from one work area to another, enabling workers to operate multiple processes safely and efficiently.