Ergonomics are an essential part of any manufacturing process, as these innovations make for a safer and more efficient workplace. In the last few years, a major shift away from monument solutions and toward flexible carts and dollies has enhanced ergonomics and workplace safety.

Monument Solutions vs. Flexible Carts: What’s the Difference?

While these terms may be familiar to many in the manufacturing industry, here’s a quick breakdown of the distinction:

Monument solutions in manufacturing are stationary storage solutions that have to be loaded and unloaded with a forklift or other transport machinery when they need to be maneuvered throughout the facility.

By contrast, flexible carts and dollies combine ergonomic storage with mobility through wheeled carts that can be moved throughout the facility without the use of a forklift for heavy parts and products.

Both monument solutions and flexible carts and dollies can have ergonomic tilt capabilities, but these ergonomics are much more impactful when combined with the mobility of flexible carts, especially as this creates opportunities for more ergonomic transport equipment than forklifts.

From Forklifts to Tuggers: Using Carts to Transport Goods in a Facility

Because safety is such an important consideration in any manufacturing or warehouse facility, a lot of the movement toward using flexible carts has been driven by a need to reduce the number of forklifts operating within a facility. Forklifts have blindspots that can make them dangerous to drive around a bustling facility. When toting a crate of materials or products, the forklift operator cannot see in front of them and therefore has to drive backward, which puts a lot of strain on their back and neck.

The solution? Using tuggers to move trains of carts through a facility! Tuggers are essentially golf carts on which wheeled carts or dollies can be daisy-chained for quick movement throughout a facility while giving the operator full, unimpeded visibility. We’re seeing this shift in many automotive manufacturing plants, including Ford and AGG, with forklifts only being used in truck docking bays.

Ergonomics Innovations that Improve Safety and Efficiency

At American Manufacturing, we’re passionate about industrial ergonomic solutions for manufacturing facilities, from high-end carts and dollies to unique custom solutions that lay the groundwork for safe and efficient manufacturing processes. Here are two ergonomic innovations that can make a big difference in workplace safety:

Ergonomic Double Gravity Tilt Table

Gravity tilt tables are an excellent way to ease the strain on employees by tilting bins forward. This allows workers to load and unload them without lifting them overhead. At American Manufacturing, we provide double gravity tilt tables that stack two tilt tables on top of each other for space-saving ergonomic functionality. What’s nice about these tilt tables is that they can be two different sizes, depending on customer needs. The containers automatically lock into place when tilted and can be unlocked manually once emptied.

30 and 60 Degree Tilt Carts

Combining mobility with ergonomic tilting, our 30- and 60-degree tilt carts offer the loading and unloading ease of tilting functionality all on a mobile platform that can be pushed manually around a facility or daisy-chained on a tugger. The 30-degree tilt carts make lifting products out of the cart easier, and the 60-degree tilt carts significantly improve safety when pulling longer products out of packaging by keeping the hands below the shoulders as the worker unloads toward the chest instead of up above the shoulder line.

Future Innovations in Ergonomics

One of the most interesting trends in manufacturing ergonomics is not what you might expect. Robotic ergonomics is a fast-growing trend in the industry as the use of robotics and automation has increased. This largely influences rack design, as racks may be used by both human and robotic operators who have differing ergonomic needs.

At one plant, for instance, humans may be loading racks and need certain safety requirements in place. But at another plant, robots are responsible for loading and unloading parts and don’t need the same ergonomics in the set-up. This could mean different racks for robot versus human use or multifunctional rack systems that can be adapted to either scenario.

Industrial Ergonomic Solutions with American Manufacturing

At American Manufacturing, we provide industrial ergonomic equipment for several different industries, from warehousing to automotive parts manufacturing to aerospace. Our manufacturing solutions are designed with both safety and efficiency in mind to keep your employees comfortable and your productivity high. Take a look at our ergonomic industrial equipment and contact us if you’re interested in the production services we offer.