Material handling often results in a complex work environment with many moving parts (literally and figuratively). From the warehouse or facility you’re operating in to the specific materials you will be moving, every piece of the puzzle should be designed specifically to enhance efficiency and provide the best possible solutions to your material handling needs. This is what makes customized lift solutions so powerful, as uniquely-tailoring systems to meet your facility’s exact purpose.
Types of Lifts for Material Handling
While there are only a few types of lifting equipment available, each one can be retrofitted, modified, and customized in tandem with other material handling equipment to ensure the best possible system is in place for lifting and moving your products. Here are some of the material handling lift options available and how they can be customized to your specific needs:
Cranes
As your go-to mechanical engineering team for material handling, we work a lot with different types of cranes:
- Bridge Cranes offer custom flexibility as they can be mounted on the floor or ceiling or completely freestanding. There are also a lot of customization options for installing these cranes along a track or runway to move throughout a facility.
- Jib Cranes are floor-mounted with a rotating jib arm that can lift and move within a set radius.
- Gantry Cranes are usually mounted on the floor and travel along a track to provide lifting assistance.
Cranes should be selected based on the location, weight capacity, height, and movement required for the job at hand to be reliably safe and efficient. Having a crane that is custom-built by an expert team who thoroughly analyzes your needs to ensure the best lifts for the job will go much further than just installing a standard crane where it may not fit or operate at peak efficiency.
Lift Tables
Lift tables provide greater adaptability in the material handling workplace, allowing people, materials, and work surfaces to be raised and lowered as needed. With a sturdy base frame that can be floor-mounted or mobile, the majority of lift tables are scissor lifts—utilizing a vertical lifting mechanism in a folding x-pattern. Some customizable elements of lift tables may include:
- Lift platform size and configuration
- Lifting capacity
- Ergonomic lifting adjustments
- Horizontally traveling lift tables
- And lift tables designed for mobility throughout a facility
Why Customized Lifts are Better
Customizing your material handling lifts will provide you with solutions tailored specifically to the needs of your warehouse or manufacturing facility, improving efficiency, safety, and more! Here’s a breakdown of what makes customized lifts a cut above the rest:
Purposeful Design
Introducing new equipment and material handling systems to your facility will always create some change and adjustments to the layout and function of your existing space. You want these changes to work for you, not against you.
Customized lifts are built for the specific use case (or cases) in your operating space, and our team of experts will consult with you from start to finish, walking through your facility and making recommendations based on your workspace, needs, and motivations behind upgrading your material handling solutions. We will help you avoid common design mistakes with your material handling solutions, like inefficient use of space and the drawbacks of not customizing your lifts.
Improved Safety
Customized lifts are built to take the weight off of your employees, providing flexibility and ergonomic functionality to minimize risk and provide powerful load-bearing capabilities. When you choose customized lifts, there is a much lower chance of misuse because it is designed to exactly fit with facility and worker needs. Our installation teams can also partner with you to support training and certification as needed.
Enhanced Productivity
When you partner with a mechanical engineer who can design and install customized lifts, you are better equipped to think through material volumes and flow. This naturally will reduce waste and increase productivity throughout your material handling processes. Lifts can be designed with great flexibility, adapting to a variety of materials and uses, or they can be curated for very specific and unique needs.
Professional Installation and Maintenance
Choosing custom material handling solutions also means choosing a team that knows lifting equipment inside and out. At Mathews Mechanical, we assemble and install Spanco and Gorbel with the skill and expertise to modify or customize for virtually any situation. We are a high-quality mechanical contractor because we focus on the needs of individual customers in everything we do, never offering cookie-cutter solutions to complex problems.
Customize Your Lifts with Mathews Mechanical
If you’re in the market for customized lifts to boost your material handling capabilities, you’ve come to the right place. We’re in the trenches with you from the moment you call to set up your consultation until your customized lifts are successfully installed and your team is equipped to use it safely and correctly. From turnkey solutions to fully custom needs, we’re the engineering firm you need for the highest quality of material handling. Reach out to learn more and schedule your consultation today.
