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Benefits of Lean Manufacturing and Related Blogs

Lean manufacturing is the process of cutting back on certain materials or speeding up certain processes to lower the overall cost of manufacturing. There can be key benefits to this approach to manufacturing, but it's important to move forward with a balanced view of lowering costs without compromising quality. This blog looks at that concept, but it also delves into other information related to the manufacturing and industrial fields. Ultimately, this blog is designed to help manufacturing professionals as well as B2B clients who purchase products or outsource processes to this field. If you have questions, I hope that you find the answers you need here.

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Benefits of Lean Manufacturing and Related Blogs

2 mistakes that can shorten the lifespan of the scissor lifts you use in your industrial facility

by Mark Peters

A scissor lift can be very useful in an industrial work environment. If you use this type of equipment in your facility and don't want to have to replace it prematurely, it's important to be aware of the mistakes that could potentially shorten its lifespan. Here are two such mistakes.

1. Failing to implement a maintenance routine

Much like a car, a truck or a motorbike, a scissor lift needs to undergo regular maintenance. If the scissor lifts that are used in your facility are not well-maintained, it is very likely that some of their most important components will deteriorate to the point where the scissor lifts will need to be replaced. For example, if a scissor lift's engine oil levels are not checked regularly, the quantity of fluid in the oil reservoir may become so low that there is not enough oil to prevent the moving parts of the equipment's engine from becoming abraded.

If several engine parts become severely abraded, the scissor lift may stop functioning. In this situation, the cost of repairing the damaged engine would probably be so high that it would be more economical to simply replace the equipment itself.

Likewise, if the hydraulic fluid hoses are not checked for holes regularly (and if the holes are not repaired promptly), the scissor lift's hydraulic fluid could leak out. This could then lead to the partially-elevated boom suddenly falling downwards and hitting the base of the equipment so hard that it breaks (as the hydraulic fluid is what helps to keep the boom elevated).

As such, if you don't want to have to replace your facility's scissor lifts anytime soon, it is important to implement a maintenance routine and to periodically check that the employees you assign maintenance tasks to are carrying out their work correctly.

2. Failing to provide employees with the correct training

A scissor lift looks like it would be easy to operate. However, it actually requires quite a bit of knowledge and skill to use this equipment without damaging it. If you fail to provide the employees who need to use your scissor lifts with the appropriate type of training, there is a chance that one of them could make a serious error that could destroy the equipment and put them at risk of injury.

For example, if an untrained staff member decides to use a scissor lift in an area of your facility where there are a lot of overhead hazards (such as beams or elevated conveyor chutes), but they fail to check for these hazards because they were not taught to do so, there could be disastrous repercussions.

In a scenario like this, they could accidentally drive the scissor lift's elevated boom into one of these overheard hazards. This could destroy the boom and leave the person standing inside it badly hurt. Given this, it's worth taking the time to train your employees who will be using the scissor lifts in your facility.

For more information, contact a company like Instant Scaffolding WA.

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