DC Velocity - September 2018

inbound

Think a conveyor is just a dull piece of industrial equipment? One material handling equipment maker begs to differ. And it has created a video that just might convince you that designing a conveyor is actually a feat of engineering, performed by professionals whose dedication to the craft could bring a tear to your eye.

To commemorate the 13th anniversary of its founding, Milwaukee,
Wis.-based Hilmot LLC produced the three-minute video to demon-
strate its employees’ passion for designing and building conveyor
systems.

The short film traces the development of a budding engineer from infancy to adulthood. He’s first shown as a baby, gleefully chewing on Lego bricks as he crawls around a carpeted living room. Over the years, he translates that love of building into progressively more complex products, constructing marble runs, cinderblock walls, and finally complex conveyors. As the scenes unfold, the narrator observes, “An innovative idea is half the battle; execution is the wind in the sail.” You can watch it here: https://vimeo.com/273591763.

Conveyor maker offers video salute to
engineers

Four letters—O-S-H-A—have the power to make warehouse and DC operators mighty nervous. They stand for Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the agency within the U.S. Department of Labor that’s charged with improving workplace health and safety. Almost everyone associates OSHA with investigations and penalties for safety violations. But there’s another—and some say healthier—way to view the agency: as a guide and reference point for improving one’s business.

“OSHA gets a bad rap a lot of times,”
says Bill Pedriana, chief marketing officer
of Lombard, Ill.-based lift truck maker
Big Joe. Too often, he says, people think
of the agency simply as a safety enforce-
ment body. But it’s far more beneficial to
think about how OSHA’s guidance could
help a warehouse or DC become “an
exceptional place to work,” he believes.
“Keeping people engaged, healthy, and
productive is more important than ever,
and that is really OSHA’s mission.”
One of OSHA’s general principles is
that if there’s a safer way to do a task, then
employers should consider adopting it,
Pedriana notes. It’s worthwhile following
that approach not only because employ-
ees are entitled to a safe workplace, but
also because safety is good business. A
work environment that adheres to safety
standards shows employees that they are
valued, empowers them with the proper
tools for their jobs, and seeks their input
on how processes can be improved, he
says. “The pursuit of safety can be key to
making employees vested in the mission
of business, more productive, and less
likely to leave,” he adds.

Bottom line? “If I had one overarching suggestion [pertaining] to OSHA, it would be to use the agency and the … resources it makes readily available as a baseline for what good operations look like,” Pedriana says.

Looking at OSHA in a
different light As robots take on more jobs in the DC, demand is growing for units that can handle a broader array of items than just cardboard boxes
and plastic totes. That challenge has led to one of the fastest-grow-
ing segments of the robotic marketplace—the grippers or “hands”
attached to robotic arms.

Many manufacturers address the “ gripping” challenge by using mechanical pincers or vacuum suction cups. But the Danish manufacturer OnRobot has developed another method: affixing tiny fibers to its grippers’ surface and then applying a small electrical charge that makes the fibers adhere to any object.

Because engineers derived inspiration for their method from the sticky pads on the feet of lizards, they call their system The Gecko Gripper. Originally developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Stanford University, the technology went public with OnRobot and recently won the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award at the 50th International Symposium on Robotics in Munich, Germany.