How to Use Industrial Boot Washers – Video Transcript

Hello and welcome to the Premier Handling Solutions’ video series on running a safer and more efficient warehouse. Today we’re focusing on the extraordinary benefits of industrial boot washers.

Industrial boot washers are a staple for the food industry. Sterile clothing and equipment is essential to a safe food handling operation. Boot washers allow all employees to thoroughly sanitize their footwear, virtually eliminating the chances of contamination from feet-borne bacteria.

Boot washers are very simple to use and maintain. Employees will have no trouble learning the process to completely clean their footwear. Because of this, very little financial investment will be needed to implement these systems.

There are two main types of sole and boot washers.

• Walk Through Sole & Boot Washers
• Stationary Sole & Boot Washers

Stationary boot washers are very self-explanatory. The designs may vary, but most models are designed to wash one boot at a time and are push-button or sensor operated. Simply place your boot into the brushes and it will do all the cleaning for you!

Walk through boot washers are bigger and size and are designed to handle a larger number of employees. Follow these five easy steps to use industrial walk through boot washers.

1. Step on the platform just before the boot washer entryway.

2. Firmly grasp the stainless steel handles on either side of the boot washer to maintain your balance.

3. If your boot washer is push-button activated, simply push the button and begin shuffling your feet through the horizontal and vertical brushes. Some walk through boot washers are sensor operated, and don’t require the push of a button.

4. Allow the water and cleaning solution to immerse your boots as you shuffle through the boot washer.

5. Once through the boot washer, simply step off of the boot washer to the ground.

Thoroughly washing your boots is that easy! Shuffling through a boot washing machine takes mere seconds and saves your company valuable resources. No longer will your employees have to manually clean their boots.

Thanks for stopping by to watch the Premier Handling Solutions video series on running a safer and more efficient warehouse. Read more of our how-to’s and warehouse safety guides on our website at premierhandling.com; be sure to wipe your feet before entering!

Green warehouses are on the rise. More and more companies are realizing the importance and money-saving potential of green warehouses. The initial capital and time investment of converting to a green warehouse scares many companies away. Luckily, choosing to upgrade to green equipment is more popular than ever before.

Climate Control in the Warehouse

• Cool Roofing – Certain coats and reflective paints will significantly reduce warehouse cooling bills.

• Efficient Heating and Cooling Units

• Entrance Overhangs – This ancient technique is still underutilized. Blocking the sun from an entrance is the most cost-efficient way to keep a room cool.

• Insulating – Replacing old batt insulation with foam insulation can have a significant impact on heating and cooling bills.

• Regulated Thermostats

• Large Fans – Climate control systems don’t have to work nearly as hard when used in conjunction with large fans. Fans can circulate cool air to reduce air conditioning costs; as well as push warm air to a warehouse floor to reduce heating costs.

Warehouse Operation

• Water Based Paints

• Water-Based Inks

• Eco-friendly Cleaning Agents

• Rainwater Harvesting – Use rainwater for toilets, landscaping, and washing equipment. Be careful though, as harvesting too much rainwater can affect the health of the land around your warehouse.

• Motion Sensors

• Fluorescent Lighting

• Induction Lighting

• Solar Light Tubes – Easy way to direct light without changing the structure of a building.

• Solar Lighting – Solar energy lights are a very efficient way to reduce your carbon footprint. While solar panels take a while to pay for themselves monetarily, the benefit to the environment is priceless. Solar lighting is well worth the investment.

• Natural Lighting

• Energy-Efficient Equipment – some equipment is able to generate electricity and store it for later use.

• Pallet Tracking

Studies have shown some warehouses have been able to significantly reduce their costs using pallet tracking systems, some even reporting reduction in shipping errors by up to 80%. Imagine the savings!

Reducing Around the Warehouse

While reusing and recycling are very important steps to creating a greener environment, simply reducing energy used is by far the best way to keep our planet healthy. The following topics are often overlooked and can significantly reduce cost and material needs.

• Advanced packaging materials

• Charging electric equipment in non-peak hours

• Biodegradable packaging materials

Packaging materials have come a long way in the past few years. Stronger and lighter materials are being used which reduces the energy needed to move packages.

Reusing Around the Warehouse

The following items can be reused many times before needing replacement:

• Wood pallets

• Plastic totes

• Plastic bulk containers

• Packing material

Implementing an incentivized package-return system can reduce your packaging materials cost to a fraction of its current cost. Many warehouses have offered a small buyback for consumers that return their boxes and other packaging materials.

Recycling Around the Warehouse

While the material handling industry is already one of the most prominent recycling industries; it’s still far from perfect. Many companies are infamous for irresponsibly disposing of hazardous materials.

• Take waste to correct disposal locations

• Make recycling bins plentiful and easily accessible

• Incentivize employee recycling

Hygiene stations significantly reduce the risk of cross-contamination and food poisoning in the food industry. Food hygiene systems that use color-coding such as HACCP are excellent tools, but they can’t be completely relied upon. Perfect hygiene must be accomplished by food handling industries due to each product having strict handling procedures.

Food Poisoning

Food poisoning was the cause of approximately 5,000 deaths and 76 million illnesses in 2012 according to StatisticBrain. Meats, dairy products, and eggs have the highest chances of contamination.That’s why it’s imperative to have outstanding hygiene systems in place.

Data provided by StatisticBrain.com

Food contamination is also the reason for millions in lost revenue for the food industry. Not only will a large contamination cost a company an initial loss, but news coverage will provoke many consumers to boycott a specific brand for a very long time.

How It Works

Industrial hygiene stations are the best way to prevent cross-contamination when paired with an HACCP system. Hygiene stations set up between transition zones and changing rooms have proven to be extremely effective. These stations are designed to be quick, thorough, and extremely easy to operate.

When a worker decides to move from one designated area to another, he just simply walks onto a hygiene station and uses the built-in hand sanitizing system to dispense soap and water onto his hands. Built-in turnstyles unlock when workers have spent enough time washing their hands.

Also built into most hygiene stations is a boot washer. Boot washers come in several different designs to best fit a warehouse’s application. The most popular designs for hygiene stations are: the walk-through design, sole cleaning, and sole + vertical boot cleaners. Each of these designs are very effective at removing bacteria from footwear.

Several sizes of hygiene stations are available for a large variety of warehouses. Multi-entrance hygiene stations are capable of allowing large numbers of employees to pass through with ease. The mixture of soap and water dispensed by the hand sanitizing system is easily adjusted for different uses.

Have any food poisoning horror stories? Let us know on Twitter, or leave us a comment below!

Warehouses to the common public are basically just settings for terrible things to happen in movies. What most don’t realize is the effectiveness of modern warehouses and the impact their design has on the cost of our goods. Decades of research has gone into strategically designing warehouses to be most efficient.

You might have read studies such as this one that shows how grocery stores strategically place items in their stores for maximum effectiveness. Placing essential items such as milk and bread at the back of the store results in consumers seeing more items; thus purchasing more than just milk and bread.

Warehouses are designed even more meticulously than grocery stores; due to the time and money-saving potential of certain layouts. For example, placing the loading dock and warehouse inventory on opposite ends of the warehouse will probably result in significantly reduced loading and unloading times. The longer it takes a forklift driver to load the truck, the higher it costs the warehouse to handle the goods; resulting in higher costs for the end user.

Six Main Objectives in Warehouse Design:

• Research and understand products being stored
  • Does the product react poorly to moisture, bugs, etc.
• Anticipate problems
  • A pipe could burst overhead and ruin inventory below.
• Develop warehouse flow path
  • Avoid constant forklift and foot traffic interaction
• Establish facility requirements (loading dock, offices, creation, etc.)
  • How many departments does your warehouse need? Where will they fit best?
• Make note of obstacles (columns, doors, different terrain)
  • Use obstacles to your advantage when possible
• Maximize blueprint space
  • Can’t expand outwards? Expand up!

Essentially, measuring space and maximizing material handling mobility is the name of the game. Mistakes happen, so warehouses will often take on too much of a product. This doesn’t have to be an incredible burden to a well designed warehouse. An agile warehouse will quickly transition from one product to another when necessary.

Safety is another concern. A packaging plant that handles food is especially susceptible to dangerous and costly mixups. Raw meats, when mixed will result in a warehouse making national news. To prevent such mishaps, internal systems such as HACCP and physical department placement within the building are essential to warehouse design.

Think shipping and handling costs are expensive now? Imagine a world without complex warehouse logistics. Our lifestyle would be much, much different.

Standard pallet trucks are perfect for most applications and will never have to leave a smooth paved surface. They are built with smaller wheels which aren’t designed for a wide range of surfaces. However, for the select few industries that leave the luxury of indoor material handling and require passage over rough terrains like grass, dirt, mud, and sand, all-terrain pallet trucks are an excellent solution.

All-terrain pallet trucks are an astute ally to thousands of companies around the world.  Certain material handling warehouses, agriculture, and construction businesses require  vehicles that can handle large loads over rough terrain. All-terrain pallet trucks are also a fraction of the cost to purchase and maintain than heavier machines such as skid steers.

Industries utilizing all-terrain pallet trucks include:

• Outdoor Concert Organizers
• Farms
• Construction
  
• Nurseries
• Storage Unit Facilities
• Outdoor Racing Teams
• Portable Outhouse Services

Since all-terrain pallet trucks are incredibly easy to use, the learning curve is very small, and properly training employees isn’t a large investment. Some all-terrain pallet trucks significantly reduce employee fatigue while increasing company efficiency. Gas powered all-terrain pallet trucks are especially easy to operate and move materials.

The procedures for loading an all-terrain pallet truck is the same as loading a common pallet truck. Simply positions your forks under a load, raise the forks, and transport your load. All-terrain pallet trucks are just simply more rugged and versatile.

Don’t let a patch of gravel get in the way of your operation! Utilize an all-terrain system to overcome it!

The Walking Dead has become one of TV’s most popular shows, with more than 12 million people tuning into the season three finale. Despite airing on basic cable, the show is still the number one show on all of TV in the 18-49 year old demographic highly coveted by advertisers.

This vast popularity, and the show’s abundance of pallets hanging around its various locales got us thinking…

Is there a better place to survive the zombie apocalypse than a warehouse?

Through history’s various zombie movies and shows, we’ve seen Pubs, Houses, Malls, Prisons, Islands, and so much more idealized as the ultimate zombie survival locations. None have stood up to the test though. Let’s see why warehouses could be the best place to wait out a zombie apocalypse:

Protection

Most large warehouses are in remote rural locations. They’re literally in the middle of nowhere with great sightlines on all sides. If any “walkers” are on their way towards your building, you’re going to be able to see them.

The buildings themselves offer great protection as well. Warehouses are hulking structures made from some of the strongest building materials known to man. Zombies aren’t breaking through concrete and bricks, and the relative lack of windows is just an added bonus. The height of these buildings also offer great protection from zombies. You can always chill out on the roof safely for a bit to avoid going stir crazy. The roof provides a great place to safely pick off approaching zombies as well.

The large buildings also offer the huge benefit of not being in a small space with multiple people. Being able to spread out a bit is great for the psyche.

Tools and Resources

As we’ve seen throughout season three of The Walking Dead, pallets can be a huge help in surviving a zombie apocalypse. Aluminum pallets, wood pallets, and plastic pallets can each be used to help fortify any weak points in the structure. You can easily transfer zombies to your burning pit on pallets, and can also transfer supplies and people throughout a warehouse. Box pallets and bulk containers can be equally effective at this with the benefit of sides to keep supplies from falling off.

Pallet trucks can be used to further your ability to move around people and supplies. Think of the precious calories you’ll save!

The floor tape and signage most effectively used for 5S can be used to help your residents keep track of everything in the warehouse. As far as we know, zombies can’t read, so make sure everybody knows the escape routes and safe rooms with some signs.

A warehouse won’t have a shortage of cleaning products. You’ll be able to find scrubbing brushes and cleaning chemicals for sure to make sure everybody stays sanitary.

Weapons

Pallets can also be used as weapons against zombies. Ripped them apart and sharpen the boards for a useful stake. All the heavy objects you can find around a warehouse will surely help destroy some zombie brains.

Just like in season three’s best episode of The Walking Dead, these plentiful tools and materials are great for creating zombie booby traps too. They may also keep out dangerous people too!

So what do you think? Warehouses…good or bad for survival during a zombie apocalypse?

Packing tape dispensers can be a nuisance to use if you don’t have a basic understanding of how to operate one. Once perfected, however, these packing tape dispensers can save you a ton of time. If you’re taping several packages, they’re an absolute necessity!

Before taping and shipping a box, make sure you know the requirements of the shipping company you’re using. Certain materials and box sizes are more expensive to ship. Don’t get caught with unnecessary expenses and shipping fees. It’s also common for a shipping company to reject a poorly-taped package.

To use a packing tape dispenser:

1. Load the tape dispenser with the sticky side of the tape facing away from the blade edge.

2. Unfold your box and place it on a flat surface with the top facing down.

3. Use your dominant hand to handle the tape dispenser and your off-hand to pick the tape tab off the roll.

4. Put the end of the tape approximately ⅜ of the way down the side of the box.

5. Hold the tape on the box and pull the dispenser straight towards you.

6. Lay the tape on the box and continue pulling the dispenser until the entire bottom ridge is taped.

7. Finish pulling the tape until it is ⅜ of the way down the opposite side of the box.

8. Rotate the tape dispenser upwards until the blade edge cuts the tape away from the dispenser.

9. Firmly press the tape on the box.

10. Repeat steps 2-9 two more times, overlapping the tape by ½ for a stronger box.

11. Flip your box over and package your materials.

12. Repeat steps 2-10 to secure the top of the box.

Have any questions, comments? Head over to our Twitter or leave a comment below!

The Q-Tek Bomber is a 7’ x 7’ stationary machine with four case clamps. This unique “Case Stacker” is used to assist warehouse case pickers to combine and separate palletized products. The Q-Tek Bomber’s rubber case clamps are gentle, air-operated, and easily support 1 layer or an entire pallet.

Apron Cleaning Machine Video Transcript

Hello and welcome to Premier Handling Solutions’ video series on running a safer and more efficient warehouse. Today’s video will focus on our apron cleaning equipment – automatic apron cleaning machine model HSWM and the apron washing cabinet model HSWK.

Importance of Apron Washers

In industry’s where aprons are used as frequently as napkins, it is imperative to have systems in place to effectively and efficiently clean those aprons. Case in point – a machine used specifically for quick, easy cleaning of work aprons is a necessary piece of equipment in many warehouses and factories. Even without the automation process, an apron washing cabinet can serve as a better method than traditional hand washing. Able to clean several different types of materials, these apron washers are both ergonomic and very easy to clean and adjust on the fly.

How to Use Manual Apron Washer

Step 1: Load aprons (or other small pieces of washable attire) into cabinet by hanging on hooks.

Step 2: Use the attached manual hand held brush to scrub away dirt and grime from aprons.

Step 3: Let hang dry in appropriate area.

How to Use Automatic Apron Washer

Step 1: Load aprons into machine.

Step 2: Place preferred detergent into the detergent injector system. Close lid on machine to isolate cleaning.

Step 3: After pressing the start button, the horizontal brushes will rotate against each other, cleaning the aprons.

Step 4: Let hang dry in appropriate area.

With these simple steps in mind, cleaning aprons can be a breeze! Leave the old-fashioned cleaning methods involving tangled apron ties by the wayside with these ergonomic, convenient methods.

Thank you for stopping by to watch the Premier Handling Solutions video series on running a safer and more efficient warehouse. Be sure to stop by often for more warehouse tips!

PalletX Load Transfer System Video Transcript

Hello and welcome to Premier Handling Solutions’ video series on running a safer and more efficient warehouse. Today’s video will focus on a piece of our load transferring equipment – the PalletX.

What is the PalletX load transfer system?

PalletX is truly an impressive piece of equipment. It is unique in the fact that it is a standalone transferring system that doesn’t use and potentially damage costly attachment parts like that of a forklift. The equipment is built for many different types of material handling, from extremely heavy loads to very light, fragile material. Because of the equipment’s proximity to the ground, the transfer of goods is extremely safe as well! The process of transferring loads to and from different pallet trucks is quick, easy, and most importantly, efficient with the PalletX.

The benefits of using this system as opposed to others are simple:

• NO more damage due to sliding, pushing, or pulling goods
• NO fork truck loading or unloading
• NO more overexertion by manual laborers
• NO accidental tipping or turning over

How to use PalletX

Step 1. Using a pallet truck, slide the material straight into the PalletX. Ensure the front clamp is lowered – this guarantees the load is securely in place.

Step 2. Using the monitor to guide, press the button that forces all four sides of clamps to fit into place, thus capturing the load in preparation for the lift. The monitor can also verify the product’s height before and after lift.

Step 3. Remove the pallet truck that brought the material to the PalletX. The new piece of material handling equipment is brought into the same place the other pallet truck was to complete the load transfer. Raise the pallet to the applicable height, verified by the monitor.

Step 4. At this point, the clamps on all sides will release the load onto the new piece of equipment. The front clamp will lift, allowing you to remove the load.

It’s as simple as that. The PalletX will make most any load transfer a breeze with those 4 simple steps!

Thank you for stopping by to watch the Premier Handling Solutions video series on running a safer and more efficient warehouse. Be sure to stop by often for more warehouse tips!